Cetinje, Montenegro, April 16, 2018
RIA-Novosti His Eminence Metropolitan Amfilohije (Radović) of Montenegro and Littoral called on his flock to vote “for candidates who opposed NATO” in yesterday’s presidential elections in the Balkan country.
“NATO kills children and women in Syria, as it earlier killed them in Yugoslavia. NATO sows destruction and terrorism. Therefore, it is necessary to vote for those politicians who are against NATO,” the metropolitan said at a Sunday service in the village of Duklja, in the suburbs of the capital city of Podgorica, reports RIA-Novosti.
The Liturgy was held on the ruins of a third century Byzantine church.
The hierarch of the largest Montenegrin diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church also called on his flock “to be with Russia, because it is fighting terrorism, and not with those who support terrorism.”
He also announced the payment of a 100 Euros ($124) to every child of Podgorica who had become an orphan due to NATO bombardments. Despite, the metropolitan’s stance, Montenegro became the 29th member of NATO last year.
“The Church of God opposes this NATO. The Serbian Orthodox Church first of all condemns this satanic violence against human beings. The Church is against everything that enslaves and undermines human dignity, both physical and spiritual,” the metropolitan emphasized in a 2016 talk, warning against joining NATO.
“What is NATO? It is nothing but the continuation of the national fascist ideology which has flooded Europe and the whole world with blood,” Met. Amfilohije said, adding that the Lord came into the world in order to free us from the tyranny which idolizes race, class or state.
In the end, the pro-EU and pro-NATO Milo Đukanović won with 53.9% of the vote. He previously served as president from 1998 to 2002, then serving several terms as Prime Minister. Đukanović has long been trying to replace the canonical bishop with a hierarch of the schismatic “Montenegrin Orthodox Church.”
