Izvor: N1 televizija, 24.Jul.2018, 16:18   (ažurirano 02.Apr.2020.)

Montenegro’s PM: Serb Patriarch abuses hospitality

The Prime Minister of Montenegro said on Tuesday that the comments by the Serb Patriarch regarding the position of Serb Orthodox Church (SPC) and the Serbs in the coastal republic were “an abuse of the hospitality of democratic Montenegro,” the Belgrade-based Beta news agency reported.

Dusko Marovic added he expected “a brief correction” of Patriarch Irinej’s description of the SPC position in Montenegro as “worse than under the Turkish rule,” and his claim that “the >> Pročitaj celu vest na sajtu N1 televizija << Serbs are treated as they used to be in the Independent State of Croatia,” (a Nazi puppet country during the WW II).

The dispute between the SPC and the Montenegrin Orthodox Church (CPC) lasts for 20 odd years and includes different issues because the SPC denies the CPC the autonomy.

But it has got worse recently due to the conflict over the owners of the church’s property in Montenegro.

Podgorica says all properties belong to the state, while the SPC, considering the CPC as its part, believes it has the right on all monasteries and churches in Montenegro.

The SPC got its autonomy in 1219 when the then Constantinople Patriarch granted the title of “the archbishop of Serb’s and all coastal countries” to Rastko Nemanjic, later St. Sava.

Markovic said on Tuesday that “the statement is a resistance to a modern Montenegro. We understand everyone who is against it, but I believe that time will come when no one will ever abuse our hospitality and will respect our country and a multi-ethnic and multi-religion harmony as its main value.”

Montenegro’s president Milo Djukanovic also commented Patriarch’s words, saying he expected the SPC head to deny the statement.

“My only comment is that no one normal could even think something like that, let alone say it. I expect the Patriarch to deny that he has said something like that,” Djukanovic said.

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