Podgorica, Montenegro, January 13, 2020
Photo: Facebook
The Orthodox faithful of Montenegro continue to raise their voices against the scandalous new law that gives the state the authority to seize Church properties, coming out in prayerful defense of their holy churches and monasteries.
Yesterday, January 12, more than 10,000 faithful took part in a prayerful procession in the capital city of Podgorica to this end, reports the official Facebook page of the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ of the Montenegrin Metropolis of the Serbian Orthodox Church.
Photo: Facebook
The procession and litiya were led by His Grace Bishop Metodije of Diokleia, the vicar of the Montenegro Metropolis. The bishop was attacked and hospitalized at a previous protest just after the law was passed by the Parliament late last month.
Bp. Metodije addressed all those gathered, calling “all our brothers to a feast of love and the path of freedom.”
Photo: Facebook
He also wished all those present to “awaken and be as children, like the Divine Child, and to fill our souls, our lives, our hearts with the living God,” and called upon the faithful to “not to leave the nests and hearths of faith of the living and of our holy ancestors.”
Photo: Facebook
According to the Serbian hierarch, “anyone who has an eye to see all these eagles gathered around Christ—the Divine Child, and he who has an ear to hear the song of freedom will know, as the wise men, where the holy Infant was born, where they sang the song of freedom, where the cave is located, where is the greatest glory of this world and of the next.”
After the service, many thousands of faithful took part in a procession from the Cathedral of the Resurrection to the Church of St. George and back.
Prayer services and processions have been held throughout Montenegro since the law was passed on December 27.
