Montenegrin Orthodox Church

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

The protest is both a struggle for political dominance in the country, and a battle for political influence inside the Church. Finally, the protests reveal the deep discontent of many citizens with the broader situation in the country.

Metropolitan Amfilohije, the Serbian Orthodox Church's most senior bishop in Montenegro, has called on citizens not to vote for those who supported the contested Freedom of Religion law in coming elections. 

During a Church-led protest against the law on Sunday, Bishop Amfilohije also again urged the government to withdraw the law which parliament passed late last year.

In the first such meeting since the country's parliament adopted a new law on religion in December, Metropolitan Amfilohije, the Serbian Orthodox Church's top bishop in Montenegro, has met the Prime Minister, Dusko Markovic, and submitted a list of proposed changes.

"This law de facto and de jure forms the legal framework for the nationalization of the property of the Serbian Orthodox Church on the territory of Montenegro", Pilsel said in Ljubljana at a lecture entitled "Relations between the state and churches/religious communities in the Western Balkans", he held in the International Institute for Middle-East and Balkan Studies - IFIMES.

Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic has told members of his ruling Democratic Party of Socialists, DPS, not to participate in the popular protests over the new religion law, led by the Serbian Orthodox Church, saying they are against Montenegro.

Montenegro's General Prosecutors Office has launched an investigation into the leak of a telephone conversation between what appeared to be two senior police officers on January 6, in which one said Serbian Orthodox Church believers rallying over Christmas would "get their asses kicked if they make trouble during the church gathering".