The Serbian Patriarchate’s Episcopal council in Montenegro, over the weekend, issued a stern announcement citing the reasons for an urgent resolution of problems and an end to what it condemned as “administrative violence” on the part of institutions of Montenegrin state. The announcement comes after last week’s ratification of a controversial law in the Adriatic country , which opponents charge will deprive the Serbian Orthodox Church of its properties and relics in Montenegro.
The announcement reads, in part, “… promulgation of such a law without prior dialogue, with numerous procedural violations and incompatibilities with international standards, is undoubtedly directed against the Orthodox Church, specifically against the Patriarchate of Serbia, since the other Churches and traditional religious denominations have already settled the contentious issues by agreement with the Montenegrin State, which has not been granted to the Serbian Orthodox Church.”
In a related development, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church called on all of the world’s Orthodox Churches to back the Serbian Patriarchate in Montenegro, with a relevant announcement posted by the Patriarchate of Moscow’s website.
