The visiting Serbian Orthodox Bishop of South and Central America, the Rt. Rev. Kirilo, was called to the police headquarters in the Montenegro capital of Podgorica on Wednesday evening, in order to answer questions over a Divine Liturgy he officiated last Sunday at the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Annunciation.
A local prosecutor reportedly opened a probe into whether the holding of the service violated current restrictions in the small Adriatic country to prevent exposure to the coronavirus.
Previously, the Bishop of Niksic, His Grace Ioannicus, and another eight Orthodox priests had been arrested and held for three days last spring by authorities on flimsy charges of violating coronavirus-related restrictions against public assembly.
The Orthodox Church in Montenegro, representing the predominant faith in the small Adriatic country, had faced unprecedented state persecution by the previous government, after hierarchs, clergymen and the laity stepped up protests against a controversial 2019 law that threatens to confiscate the Church’s assets and relics.
