Here, in our country, no one has ever divided the Church, nor, God forbid, "created" another one, besides the One and Only - regardless of different political and even identity beliefs.
When, a hundred years ago, the unification of the South Slavic peoples was carried out and at the same time the state integration of the Serbian national territories, the Montenegrins realized their own ideal and the goal of all their modern rulers. The way in which this unification was carried out - brought us internal disagreements on a political basis, and the unfortunate spilling of fraternal blood in the riots that followed after 1918. We could not agree whether the state itself - which our ancestors created, or the realization of our ancestral ideals - was more important to us. what did that same country aspire to? The bare historical facts say that on that occasion, a truly patriotic visionary and ruler (dictator) was replaced by another - the same one. And how could he not be the same, when he was his own grandson?!
In such historical circumstances, the unity of the Patriarchate of Peć was established - under the name of the Serbian Orthodox Church. There were no disagreements on that issue. The Orthodox Church from the area of the former Kingdom of Montenegro with all its clergy joined the SPC. Even the Montenegrin government in exile, which did not agree with the form of political unification, only objected to the church unification - that the new church seat was moving from Peć to Belgrade. Not even a letter against the accession of the Cetinje Metropolis and neighboring dioceses to the restored Patriarchate!
And did all Montenegrin priests support church unification? These days, the personal fates of several priests who were supporters of King Nikola are being manipulated in our media - but now I will explain everything. We are talking about a dozen virtuous people (some priests, some theologians), who immediately took the side of the political uprising that supported the return of King Nikola to the country, and none of them stepped down from the priestly position in the restored Serbian Orthodox Church, nor questioned church unification. For the sake of comparison, in their time we have four Montenegrin archbishops and one deacon who signed the act of church association, and we have about 20 resident priests who actively participated in the work of the Podgorica Assembly. The majority of the remaining clergy, who were not politically active, supported the integrative processes. But back to our federalists/greens in the mantle. They equally and simultaneously testified their loyalty to God's church and to the king with whom they spent their lifetime:
Archimandrite Nikodim Janjušević could really be said that in the period from 1919 to 1926 he was not only in political exile, but also in some kind of ecclesiastical isolation. No one can, with certainty, explain what he did in America for several years, in the church of Saint Vasilij Ostroski near Detroit, but we know that for his activities and loyalty to the old king, he was awarded the "Obilić Medal" by the Montenegrin government. However, this is not of decisive importance, since he soon returned to Montenegro and continued his service as a cleric of the Serbian Orthodox Church, pardoned by King Alexander. Nikodim built a memorial fountain for this king, as abbot of the Župa monastery near Nikšić, so, taking everything together, it is difficult to find a consistent opponent of unification in this person. He was killed in 1941, when the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was also killed.
The court priest Antonije Jakšić left Montenegro in January 1916, together with King Nikola, but he was returned to the country in 1921 and pardoned. He served as parish priest of the Serbian Orthodox Church until the local communists sentenced him to prison in 1945.
As a civilian, priest Miloš Turčinović was in political exile in Gaeta. Upon his return to the country, he was ordained as a parish priest of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Čevo, where he was killed by the communists in 1945. The fate of Pope Pavić Keković, who was ordained after his return from Gaeta, and was appointed to serve as a parish priest in Banjani, where he was liquidated by the communists in 1942, was similar. That's our history. Alleged fighters for the "national identity of Montenegrins", killed "without trial and verdict" the most loyal associates of King Nikola - only because they were priests of the Church of God.
Archpriest Simo Martinović is known as a federalist by political affiliation, sympathetic to the participants of the Christmas Uprising. However, he never questioned his service in the Serbian Orthodox Church, in which he obtained high church titles, including the title of "bishop's deputy". Also, Pope Ilija Jovićević, once interned in Sarajevo, as an opponent of political unification, was soon returned to Montenegro, where he served until the end of his life as the parish priest of Ceklin, the Metropolis of the Montenegrin littoral SPC.
Priest Ilija Kappa and theologian Milo Kappa lived in Gaeta from the Konadžija region. Both returned to their homeland in 1921. The first died as a parish priest of the SPC in Konadžija, and the second was a long-time professor of the interwar Cetinje seminary and religious education teacher in the secular schools of Zeta Banovina.
Archpriest Jovan Jovetić, who died before the Second World War as a retired parish priest of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Čeklić, was very devoted to King Nikola and the actors of the Christmas Uprising.
I end this list of honorable Montenegrin priests with the name of the distinguished archpriest-stavrophore Mihailo Borozan, who, even as a boy, was a participant in the Christmas Uprising, an undoubted supporter of King Nikola, against the rule of the Karađorđević dynasty. After the uprising ended, he graduated from the Cetinje seminary and spent his life as a respected priest, first the parish priest of Kosierevo-Bokovski, and then of Cetinje. He died as archbishop of Cetinje Metropolitan Danilo Dajković.
I would not like to choose between the political options that divided Montenegrins a hundred years ago. Now we need unity, not mutual divisions. In this sense, I remind the public that there have never been Montenegrin priests in history who worked against the canons and unity of the Patriarchate of Peć, no matter what their personal political views were. Because, as St. Peter of Cetinje writes, the Patriarchate of Peć is his glory and mercy - "the mother of all Serbian churches, in which our patriarchs stood and which our emperors fenced". (Epistle to Montenegrins and Mountaineers, 1822)
The author is the rector of the Cetinje seminary
Bonus video:
