Eastern Orthodoxy in Montenegro

Montenegrin Orthodox Church liturgy in Podgorica. Photo: Montenegrin Orthodox Church

After Montenegrin Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic on Tuesday called for negotiations about the agreement with the Montenegrin Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Mihailo said that it must be treated the same as the Serbian Orthodox Church, the largest Orthodox community in the country.

The Cetinje Monastery in the old royal capital of Montenegro. Photo: Shutterstock

The main opposition Democratic Party of Socialists, DPS, accused the government of allowing "theft" and of serving the interests of the Serbian Church - with which it has often conflcted - and said it will file a criminal complaint.

Krivokapic said that the state, which should be serious, respecting law and order, must correct all those mistakes. The attack on the property, as he said, began with the formation of the Montenegrin Orthodox Church.

The Cetinje Monastery in the old royal capital of Montenegro. Photo: Shutterstock

Abazovic, whose MPs voted today in the Assembly of Cetinje for a ban on the enthronement of Metropolitan Joanikije or relocation from the Cetinje monastery to another city, claims that he is not in conflict with them.

Representatives of the Metropolitanate laid a yule log in front of the Cetinje Monastery in the presence of a large number of citizens and believers, including Serbia's Ambassador to Montenegro Vladimir Bozovic and businessman Miodrag Daka Davidovic.
Strong police forces were set up between the two groups of the faithful.

"Bishop and some of worshipers were knocked to the ground and beaten with batons and feet. Two believers were also injured trying to protect him. One had a broken hip and another a collarbone and they were hospitalized at the Pljevlja hospital", it is said in the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral.

Under the new law, religious communities can only retain ownership of their property is if they can produce clear evidence that it belongs to them. This point has triggered accusations from the Serbian Orthodox Church that the government plans to dispute many of its holdings.

The government denies having any plan to strip any faith denomination of its property.

Thousands of Christian believers from Montenegro and the region started the traditional pilgrimage to Ostrog monastery near the town of Niksic to celebrate the St Vasilije's [St Basil's] Day on May 12.