Macedonia paid its respects Saturday to its revolutionary Goce Delcev on the 140. anniversary of his birth. Delegations of President's Cabinet, Parliament, Government, political parties, and associations bearing his name laid flowers on his tomb in Skopje church 'Sv Spas' and Delcev's monuments on 'Macedonia' square and the City Park.

In a religious service, honoring Delcev and other heroes of the Ilinden Uprising, Skopje Eparchy Metropolitan Kiril called on citizens of Macedonia to respect their legacy, messages, advises and turn them into actions in favor of the beloved fatherland.

Delcev,  a visionary, prominent by his proverbial sentence: 'I understand the world solely as a field for cultural competition among the peoples', was born on 4 February in 1872 in Kukus. He was a student of Solun High School and Sofia's Military Academy.

Delcev lived only 31 years and was active on the Macedonian revolutionary stage for about one decade, yet he exerted a very profound influence on the Macedonian national liberation movement; being one of the leaders of what is commonly known today as Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization (VMRO), he revealed the idea of liberty to the Macedonian nation, tracing the path of national and social emancipation for the working masses of Macedonia. He died on May 4, 1903 in a skirmish with the Turkish police near the village of Banitsa.