The Montenegrin-Littoral Metropolitanate of the Serbian Orthodox Church made an official statement on October 9 in Cetinje regarding the attitude of the President of Montenegro, Milo Djukanovic, to the Church. The attempts of the politician to devalue the sacred rituals are called disrespect for the centuries-old history of Orthodox Montenegro and an insult to believers of all confessions in the country, reports the Orthodox Life portal.
“What citizen Milo Djukanovic thinks about church religious rituals should be his personal affair and a topic that does not concern the public and the Church itself. However, since this citizen is the president of our state, we are obliged to speak out when he publicly insults and humiliates the sacred acts performed in our meetings of the faithful, ”the metropolitan said.
The report says that political litigation between the President and the Prime Minister and members of the Montenegrin government is not in the area of interest of the Church, but Djukanovic’s abuse of church topics in his political struggle “deeply offends the feelings of many citizens of Montenegro” and “does not contribute to the stability and progress of the state. “.
“Last year, Djukanovic failed the exam on the knowledge of the Constitution of Montenegro, intending to regulate the internal structure of the Serbian Orthodox Church and its dioceses in Montenegro. Doesn’t he see that whenever he turns to church topics and dilemmas, he personally and the policies he represents fail and lose the trust of the people? ” – note in the metropolis and emphasize: the fact that Djukanovic is trying to discredit his political opponents, pointing out their participation in religious rituals, “is not an indicator of good manners and good manners.”
“I wonder from whom he borrowed the vocabulary that devalues church rites when he calls them“ licking a spoon ”and“ crawling on the floor ”? Such a vocabulary is not befitting for a serious person. If he does not have personal respect for what he does not know, then is there really not even a drop of reverence for the Montenegrin history, where the rituals about which he speaks so obscenely inspired entire generations of our ancestors? Such inappropriate expressions offend not only us, Christians, but also members of other confessions in Montenegro, for whom the bowing of a person before the Lord God, sometimes to the floor, and if necessary, to the black earth, is the most sacred rite, ”the statement said.
