The church did not get involved in the pre-election campaign, but they got involved, said the rector of the Cetinje seminary, Archpriest Stavrofor Gojko Perović.
"The SPC and its dioceses in Montenegro have never been involved in any election campaign ever," said Perović, asking why the Church would do it now on its own.
"The Church's first concern with these elections is the passing of the Law on Freedom of Religion, where the Church is not involved in the process," said Perović and added that there was no dialogue, but that the Government faked talks in order to justify itself before the international community. "Even if government representatives came to the Metropolis to hold talks, they would not have a single piece of paper in front of them", he added, saying that he never gave the right that the stay of ministers and government representatives in the Metropolis was anything more than "arriving for coffee ".
Perović said that the recent decree of the Metropolitan Amfilohi was the result of discussions with the citizens. "People come to the Church, the Metropolitan and the priests, and ask what and how to do - until now they voted for the government, but now they won't anymore," said Perović, stressing that the faithful feel that the vote on August 30 and how it is connected with the Church. "That's why the church wrote an epistle in which it decisively said - don't vote for the government that passed this kind of law," he pointed out during his participation in "E-lithia".
Perović, as reported by the website of the Metropolis of Montenegro and the Littoral, emphasized that the involvement of the Church is political, but not party. "We don't have a party, we don't have a campaign and we don't buy votes, but we have the full right to call on the faithful not to vote for a party whose leader has announced at the party bodies that he will work on establishing a church of his own", stressed Perović, assessing that this is not the case. they violate not only church canons but also the Constitution of Montenegro.
"We pray that God will enlighten more of Montenegro on election day. We pray that peace will be preserved and that we will continue to live as brothers even after these elections," concluded Perović.
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