Podgorica, Serbia - Head of the Montenegrin Orthodox Church (CPC) says that church has the right to build its temple in Serbia.
Cetinje Archbishop and Montenegrin Metropolitan Mihailo said that the CPC has the right to build its temples in Serbia and that he will personally place the foundation stone of the Lovćenac church.
The CPC head commented on yesterday’s statement made by the Serbian Minister of religion Milan Radulović, telling Građanski list daily that the Serbian minister appeared to have little knowledge on the organization and the rights churches enjoy in Europe and worldwide, and in the Orthodox East. “It is astonishing that a minister can make statements of this kind, but I believe these are his personal opinions, not those of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC). Save some extreme repression on the part of the minister, CPC will certainly build its temple in Lovćenac”, Archbishop Mihailo concluded.
Religion sociologist Mirko Đorđević believes the Montenegrin state will not be able to do much, because as a result of tense relations between the two churches, political relations between the two countries will suffer too. He added that Orthodox Christianity does not envisage official recognition or rejection to recognize as is the case between states, therefore the Serbian Orthodox Church has no right to decree any church recognized or otherwise. “The state must not allocate any importance to the issue of whether the churches have regulated their mutual relations. What is important for the state is that its citizens are guaranteed the right to exercise their religion”, Đorđević said.