Just three months ago I was completely satisfied - this young man deserves my trust. Born in 1988 in Montenegro, studied at universities in Japan, got a master's degree in France, speaks five languages. Worked in New York, Paris and Tokyo, was a partner of a prestigious fund in Singapore, last business address - Goldman Sachs.
I wasn't the only one, my Facebook inbox was overflowing that night with enthusiastic messages. A friend offered a reward to whoever manages to repeat where Milojko Spajić studied and worked.
I was not swayed even by expert criticism of the way he provided money to avoid state bankruptcy. I believed him even after the clumsy run out on the occasion of the shutdown of Montenegro Airlines, although it was not the only one.
He was out of Montenegro for a long time, he doesn't know the local mentality and he's not good at public appearances, I started arguing with my opponents with polite words. When my film broke, I didn't choose them...
* * *
Three months later he doesn't choose either. Neither in truth, nor in decency.
- The delegation behaved in accordance with the epidemiological measures - Minister Spajić tweeted in response to the criticism directed at the government four who attended the funeral of the retired bishop Atanasi.
It's not true and that's why I won't believe you anymore, I would tweet but I can't. I have to do this, first of all because the state delegation of Montenegro violated at least two measures of the host - the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
If the gathering of more than fifty people is forbidden, and it was known that it was, then not even the first fifty, let alone the first two hundred, can join the gathering, no matter how sad they are.
The recordings also testify to the fact that the two-meter distance requirement was not respected either.
And all this goes on the face of the guests, of course the hosts did not react. They don't have an eyeless government like our former one, to disperse penitents and arrest them after drunkenness...
- We could not control the number of attendees - Minister Spajić tried to justify the violation of the measures.
They didn't, but they could have done something else. Before they leave Podgorica, they should at least think that at least fifty priests and members of his relatives will gather next to the coffin of the deceased bishop before they arrive in Trebinje. Or that, upon arrival, they just look around and see live what we all saw on the screen - not fifty, but several hundred domiciled Herzegovinians...
Whose subjective right to see off the Herzegovinian bishop comes before the objective right of a foreign country to express condolences...
* * *
- I would like it if the concern of individuals about our going to the funeral of one of the greatest theologians was due to epidemiological reasons - Minister Spajić was humanly inconsiderate and politically incorrect, especially towards those whose votes brought him to that position.
There are at least ten to twenty thousand believers among them whose loyalty to Bishop Athanasius is older than the minister. Justin's quartet gained admirers in Montenegro, to the great joy of one half and the even greater sorrow of the other, long before 1988.
The Government, which includes Milojko Spajić, forbade them to escort one of them. And referring to - epidemiological reasons...
If the Government's four really only cared about respecting "one of the greatest theologians", they would have gone to the funeral of another "one of the greatest theologians" from Justin's four, Bishop Artemios. As far as theological reach is concerned, he was worth more than the one they sent away...
The government was elected only after his death? Yes, and that's why they couldn't officially. But they did so informally, as candidates for ministers, to respect the respected theologian.
It's broken? Yes, but that has nothing to do with the theological reputation that the minister is now referring to. Nor is the secular government bound by the internal decisions of the Holy Synod in assessing said reputation.
* * *
- I'm afraid that the nature of the attack is different: individuals are bothered by the religiosity of the Montenegrin Prime Minister or members of the Government, but not by the religiosity of, for example, practically all American presidents, which is a policy of hypocrisy - the minister questioned my faith in him.
Of course, no one's religiosity is a problem, it's an intimate matter that you don't interfere with. Therefore, its public imposition must bother everyone. Both in Montenegro and in the United States of America.
I don't zealously follow the speeches of their presidents, but since Reagan in '81. until the recent Biden, I have never heard anyone in a public address go further than the saying God Bless America. I don't even remember any US president ever specifying through which local church he addresses his god.
In contrast to our prime minister, who has at least three hundred times more pictures from SPC temples than from press conferences. And in every address to the public, at least ten times he emphasizes the name of only one religious community, out of a total of thirty-one registered so far, in the multi-religious state of which he is the prime minister.
I didn't keep records, but it seems to me that from August to today, our Prime Minister mentioned the Serbian Church more times than all its priests in Montenegro combined. Including my favorite theologian Gojko Perović.
* * *
Uh, I went far on spiritual paths and almost forgot the violation of secular measures, which is why, despite Minister Spajić's doubts, I am writing this column.
It is true that wearing a mask outdoors was not mandatory on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is even more accurate, however, that taking it off for kissing the bier can have consequences for the health of everyone the members of the delegation meet upon their return to Montenegro.
Should we, after the death of the patriarch and the bishop after the burial of Metropolitan Amfilohi, explain the epidemiological risk of that kissing... And that risk is a trifle compared to what preceded it.
At least three other measures were violated, the first of which was passed three days before the funeral. It is about the ban on entry from Podgorica to Danilovgrad. They didn't stop in town? I know, but the ban does not apply only to the inner city, but to the entire municipality of Danilovgrad. The prime minister and ministers violated it for an extended period from Novi Selo to Pješivac.
The ban on intercity traffic on weekends was also violated. No one, not even members of the Government, is allowed to travel from one city to another from Friday evening to Monday morning. The prime minister and ministers did so on Saturday, although the government did not include the funeral in the tolerated exceptions.
* * *
Government motor vehicles are not "performed activities essential for the circulation of goods, supply and delivery of medicines, emergency medical assistance, communal services, supply of fuel and electricity, transportation of employees...
Those vehicles were not used by "persons who stayed outside their place of residence, i.e. residence, for the purpose of returning to that place"...
They also did not transport "persons who care for persons who, due to illness, condition or consequences of injury, are not capable of independently performing daily life activities"...
Neither "parents and children were in those vehicles in order to maintain personal relations with the parent with whom they do not live, in accordance with the court decision"...
Unfortunately, they included those who should be role models for citizens of Montenegro in respect of regulations: Prime Minister Zdravko Krivokapić, Minister of Finance Milojko Spajić, Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Vesna Bratić and Secretary General of the Government Božo Milonjić.
Even more regrettable, they satisfied their personal need to say goodbye to "one of the greatest theologians" at the expense of the remaining XNUMX believing and unbelieving citizens.
* * *
The four from the Government allowed themselves to violate the third measure, which "forbids official travel abroad to all civil servants and employees employed in state bodies (...) except in cases where the travel is of national interest"...
They are neither officials nor employees? Okay, but I guess they are employees and the state is their employer. Despite the fact that they govern that country on a volunteer basis, they have even a shred of responsibility more than the citizens on whose behalf they govern...
Were they members of the state delegation? It may be fine for them, but the funeral is not in the state's interest except when the highest national and foreign statesmen are being buried.
A serious state adheres to protocol and does not send a delegation based on the personal sympathies of its officials. That is why the Government, in addition to an explanation for its own violation of its own health measures, owes answers to three more questions...
Why did she send a delegation at the highest level to the funeral of the retired bishop Athanasius, and not even an official who deals with religious issues to the funeral of the active bishop Milutin?
At what level will the state delegation be if, God forbid, the prime minister of a neighboring country dies? It is not appropriate for it to be on the same level according to international protocol, and it cannot be on a higher level. If the President of the country does not decide to raise that level and cohabits with the Government at least while the repentance lasts...
Will the state delegation now have to go to the funeral of all the bishops, God bless them, or only those whom the government considers to be "one of the best theologians"...
P.S. Where is the luck that the government understands its obligations to living journalists as much as it does to deceased theologians... In order to avoid questions about its own contribution to the spread of the corona by encouraging citizens not to respect the measures, it organized a conference for the humiliation of journalists, the likes of which I do not remember since Tito's era . This is not the first insolence of the new government towards them, and it will not be the last until the editors finally respond with blank pages and a blacked out screen...
Bonus video:
