Respected and much criticized gentlemen from the authorities,
Here, repeal the current Law on Freedom of Religion (there are more dignified, legal and civilized ways to do it) and tomorrow there won't be a single Orthodox priest or believers at prayer and protest rallies! So much for the fact that our gatherings are organized for some other reason, and that the topic of the law is only used to achieve different political and even anti-state goals. Clear enough?
Unfortunately, we were literally forced into a protest related to a political topic by your bad political decisions. Topics of the law voted in the Assembly, the law that will only be changed in that same Assembly. So don't admonish us for "doing politics" and "dressing up in church clothes" - because that's not the whole truth. Namely, we didn't decide to found a party or form a government at the church councils, but you, at the party congresses, declared "the restoration of the church", and in order to achieve that anachronistic and unconstitutional goal, you passed such a law. A law that, as it is, we do not need. A better one must come.
And since we are not taxi drivers to block traffic with cars and make noise with sirens; nor are we bakers to stop the delivery of bread and rolls; nor are we a political party to hold rallies - we, as Christians, go on walks that are both prayer and protest. They are a sociological novelty just as much as the insistence of a civil and secular party to form a "state church". We are not children, so let's chase each other who started first. It is known.
If all this sounds like "blackmailing the state" to you, then you forget that citizens make up that state and give it sovereignty. The advantages of politicians in power compared to the rest of us are, possibly, higher financial income and numerous institutional privileges (which follow from their greater obligations), but by no means their greater rights to identify with Montenegro, compared to any of us. You don't have such a right. Therefore, if we make it known to you that some law does not suit us - take it as a call for joint work (mobu) to fix the leaky roof of the common house - and not a call to demolish the house. Picturesque?
The law should be repealed, not because we don't need any law - (on the contrary!), but because the text of the just-passed law is anti-constitutional and discriminatory. This is how the citizens of Montenegro who are protesting these days, and whose number of 150.000 make up a quarter of 600.000, see him as such. It can be assumed that these peaceful and persistent walkers have at home and in their surroundings a large number of like-minded people who are participants in Montenegrin civic mathematics, but are prevented (either by old age or childhood) from joining them. Therefore, the number of those citizens is equal to a quarter or even greater than it, and the number of adult voters who decide on the profile of our Assembly or Government makes these fractions even larger. By removing such a legal text from the political life of Montenegro, all the conditions are met to obtain a good, generally accepted regulation - which can be passed in a short time, and with the cooperation of all interested parties, and again with the leadership of our Montenegrin Government and the parliamentary majority. Patriotic enough?
Nobody needs the "Orthodox Jamahiriya" (as one member of your ruling coalition said criticizing our protests) nor do we want the privileged position of the SPC in this country. We, Orthodox Christians, are only looking for a legal text that would not deprive the Church of the full legal procedure (guaranteed by the local legislation to every citizen and legal entity in Montenegro - before December 28, 2019) in proving ownership and validity of registration - and that is not the case now case, and right now, that's all it's about!
Look at the miracles - the Orthodox monarchy (it sounds more appropriate than the Jamahiriya when it comes to the aforementioned religion, and it has a greater historical foundation) would lead us precisely to return to the state before 1918, but your, increasingly numerous, "sociologists of religion" do not have the guts to take the matter to of the end, so from the depth of the historical sea they only pull out the outer shell of an administrative name of the Church (choče - "autocephaly") and want to push it into the modern multi-confessional and secular space of the civil state! A long time ago, more than 20 years ago, Metropolitan Amfilohije said "if you want autocephaly before 1918, bring back Orthodoxy for the state religion, Savindan for the school glory and give the king to anoint and crown him"! It's not working somehow, is it?!
The "Orthodox Jamahiriya" - after all, this is an appropriate expression for the thoughts that follow - is invoked by the president of our and your country when he violates the Constitution of Montenegro and at the congresses of your party and in the Assembly of our Montenegro, he announces his personal and party commitment to the restoration of the "autocephalous Montenegrin church". ?!? Although neither church canons, nor the greatest addresses of today's Orthodoxy, nor the secular nature of the country of which he is the president give him a foothold for such activity, he is persistent and does not give up. Under the pretext of wanting the integrity of the "Orthodox being of Montenegro", he confuses and divides it with this very thing, because it was said a long time ago from wiser and more blessed mouths than human: "To the emperor, to the emperor, and to the God of God"! By openly violating the Constitution - the president hits the foundations of the state! And in front of the Constitution, it should stand up.
Those of us who are legitimately and peacefully raising our voices against this law these days (and by no means against our own country!) hurriedly and almost panickedly call on us to submit the initiative to the Constitutional Court as soon as possible, in order to prove our own legalism and loyalty to the procedure. And we will submit that complaint, with faith in God and God's justice, without invoking earthly injustice in advance. Only - that initiative is a possibility that we have at our disposal as citizens and we do not have any formal legal obligation to do so.
But something else worries me. What about your obligation to respect the separation of the three branches of government (the textbook foundation of modern democracy)? The government (executive power) proposed a freak law without respecting the European recommendations that the law be prepared "inclusively, institutionally and transparently"; The Assembly (legislative authority) adopted it at that time of the night when Gopod was arrested and taken to trial (it didn't go without an arrest here either!) - and now initiatives for the evaluation of constitutionality have already arrived before our Constitutional Court (judicial authority), and The Constitutional Court has the possibility (in this situation, it may even have the obligation) to start the examination procedure even without, or if you want, even before, launched and announced initiatives.
And what does our president do during that time? Is he waiting for the court to make a statement, so he remains impartial and reservedly silent? He is trying to be the president of all citizens, so out of respect for at least a quarter of those mentioned, he is in no hurry to declare himself until the courts have their say? In the manner of an experienced statesman, he emphasizes the authority of the judiciary, which will simultaneously demonstrate the strength of the state with its autonomous and competent attitude?
No! Whatever! He, the president of the state, who neither proposed the law nor voted for it - once again attacks the state order and before the court's speech claims, guarantees, promises, even threatens - that the law will not be suspended! This time he did not (as in the case of openly dealing with the church organization) formally violate the Constitution, but he did demonstrate, in such a brutal way, his own anti-Montenegro. Preempting the word of the court from that address, and on a topic that is at least legally debatable and politically complicated, it tells us that the respected gentleman, at least until today, does not see Montenegro outside of his own shadow. It is a legitimate political option, it just needs to be called by its proper name, and that name is certainly not democracy. I know many neighbors, relatives and godfathers who will applaud him for that and say: "Just look at how much he has enough", but I, unfortunately, see this as an attack on a great sanctuary. To my Montenegro, whose blood cell I am, even if unworthy, of six thousand.
And now, the Church should hand over the initiative to the state court that works under such (re)pressure? And now - respected gentlemen, members of the Constitutional Court, should they make independent (read - independent of anyone) and professional decisions in such an atmosphere? Does anyone believe that this is possible? (I know, there will be those among you who will say that we also put pressure on the court with our protests. But, dear gentlemen, we are just citizens who walk around and carry candles, and our only sin is our numbers. We have no authority and power. We have no obligation to remain silent. We, on the contrary, have an obligation to speak. And he - respected Mr. President - has an obligation to remain silent before the judge's statement. But he speaks before the patriarch about the Church, so why not before the judge about the law !) Very respected and much criticized Mr. president,
We will not joke with our country. We walk freely, with a prayer in our souls and with Montenegro in our hearts. And - don't read regime media. My statement to RTS was literally torn in half. I said: "We are not used to protests and it is difficult to organize them, but with God's help and the strength and composure of the people - everything is possible."
Bonus video:
