Cetinje, Montenegro, August 7, 2026
Photo: voanews.com
The Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral has hit back at Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić over a string of recent remarks about the Serbian Orthodox Church, accusing him of political meddling in Church affairs and confused, damaging rhetoric.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Church says Vučić had, in the space of a few days, repeatedly referenced the Church in Montenegro, the 2020 processions against persecution, and other Church matters in public comments. The Metropolitanate says it feels a “pastoral obligation” to respond, while leaving political and ideological questions to politicians.
The Church objects in particular to Vučić’s claim that “wicked and dangerous ideas” had existed within the Church, and that “some” had tried to create a separate Orthodox Church in Montenegro before being stopped by His Holiness Patriarch Irinej and other bishops. It also rejects his suggestion that the 2020 processions began because certain people wanted an Orthodox Church in Montenegro that dropped the word “Serbian” from its name.
The Metropolitanate says it doesn’t have positive experience with political leaders directing or interpreting the work of the Church, adding that meddling by politicians doesn’t serve either the state or the Church.
The statement says the people who actually worked against Church unity in Montenegro were members of the country’s political leadership at the time, who passed the law at the end of 2019 that aimed to seize Church property.
The Church credits the faithful, clergy, and monastics across its four dioceses in Montenegro with defending Church property and identity during that period, saying this defense preserved the unity of the Serbian Orthodox Church. It said the mass processions led directly to changes in Montenegro’s law on religious freedom and to the signing of the Fundamental Agreement between the Montenegrin state and the Church.
The statement closes by saying it wasn’t written to complicate Vučić’s political work or to justify the Church’s actions to him, adding that doing either would be beneath the dignity of the Serbian Orthodox Church.
Follow OrthoChristian on Facebook, Twitter, Vkontakte, Telegram, WhatsApp, and MeWe!
