Serbian Church Leader’s Enthronement Raises Tensions in Montenegro

Serbian Orthodox Church Metropolitan Joanikije and Patriarch Porfirije. Photo: Serbian Orthodox Church.

The planned enthronement of the new Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral in the old royal capital has angered some Montenegrins who claim that holding the event there is an insult to Montenegro's "centuries-long struggle for sovereignty", calling for the ceremony to be held somewhere else.

But the Serbian Orthodox Church says that all its metropolitan in the country's history were enthroned in Cetinje Monastery, warning against the politicization of the traditional church ceremony.

"The only thing I have asked our leaders is to sit down, agree, and put the interests of the people above all other interests. I am not ready to trade hatred because in that way hatred multiplies even more," Metropolitan Joanikije said on Friday.

"With apologies to all inhabitants of Cetinje, they have not yet created their own state, called Cetinje," he added.

The outgoing Bishop of Budimlja-Niksic was elected Metropolitan of Montenegro at the Bishops' Council of the Serbian Church in Belgrade on May 29, to succeed the late Metropolitan Amfilohije, who died of coronavirus infection last year.

On Saturday, Serbian Orthodox Church Patriarch Porfirije will be welcomed in front of the Christ Resurrection church in the capital, Podgorica. Only clergy will attend the enthronement on Sunday with no politicians present. The ceremony will be aired live on the public broadcaster.

Montenegro's President, Milo Djukanovic, and MPs from his opposition Democratic Party of Socialists, DPS, have announced they will attend protests on Sunday by self-proclaimed patriotic organisations in Cetinje, accusing the Serbian Church of working to undermine...