Tension continues to simmer in Montenegro over what the Orthodox Church in the small Adriatic country charges is systemic persecution against it and its clergy by the Montenegro state, just days before the trial of the Bishop of Niksic, His Eminence Ioannicus, and another eight Orthodox clergymen.
After nearly three months, peaceful prayer rallies, litanies and protests resumed over the weekend in Montenegro against a controversial law regarding religious institutions, with thousands of people taking to the streets on Sunday. As a result another two clerics were detained and later freed by Montenegrin authorities.
In a statement before a gathering of faithful and reporters in front of the Cathedral of the Ascension in Podgorica, the Metropolitan-Bishop of Montenegro and the Littoral, His Eminence Amphilochios, underlined that “… we are surprised by what happened to our clergymen … let them revoke this illegal law, and then the issue will be resolved.”
The protests are part of standing opposition by the Orthodox Church in Montenegro to the contentious law, which obliges religious institutions to present deeds and titles for assets and relics held before roughly WWI. Otherwise, the Montenegro state has the right to confiscate the latter.