The current Russian government and the top of the Russian Church are trying to destabilize Montenegro and divert it from the path of European integration, the Cabinet of the President Milo Đukanović announced.
The President's Office said that Metropolitan Ilarion Alfeyev, head of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, in an interview for "Russia 24" TV, once again interfered in the internal affairs of Montenegro.
As they stated, Hilarion did this for the umpteenth time in recent times, following worldly goals incompatible with the mission of the Church of Christ,
"Just a few days after the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Sergey Lavrov, he rudely changed theses in approximately the same way and cynically commented on the recent events of the violent enthronement of the Metropolitan of the Montenegrin Littoral Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) in Cetinje," the statement said.
It is stated that Hilarion thereby, among other things, additionally confirmed Lavrov's open recognition that the Russian Church serves Russia's state interests abroad.
"It is confirmed that they are both anti-Montenegrin and anti-Orthodox in relation to our country," said the President's Cabinet.
As they stated, Hilarion is aggressively trying to portray himself as the protector of the interests of the SPC branch in Montenegro.
The President's Office reminded that Hilarion visited Podgorica in July 2011, when, as they said, he had meetings behind closed doors with the highest Montenegrin officials, where he spoke quite differently about the possible model of the organization of the SOC in Montenegro.
"Then, behind the back of the Patriarchate in Belgrade, he advocated the autonomy of the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral, which Metropolitan Amfilohije Radović achieved to some extent, and the Patriarchate of Serbia, after his death this spring, simply abolished it without any respect for its archbishop," says the announcement.
It is stated that the identity of Alfeyev's testimony from September 5 last year, also for TV "Russia 24", and Lavrov's from a few days ago is also evident.
According to the President's Cabinet, Alfejev then said that "the canonical Montenegrin Orthodox Church (CPC) is part of the SPC", and Minister Lavrov repeated the same on September 10 in Sochi.
The Cabinet stated that the top of the Russian Church "despite so many verifiable historical facts that in the past it was the liturgical and canonical sister-church of the Autocephalous Metropolis of Montenegro - CPC, forcibly abolished by the Kingdom of Serbia in 1918-1920." year, reaches for revisionism, trying to satisfy the imperial ambitions of the current government in his country, as well as the Greater Serbian ambitions of Belgrade.
"And that, despite the shining tradition of friendly relations, the current Russian government and the top of the Russian Church are trying to destabilize Montenegro and divert it from the path of European integration," the statement says.
The President's Cabinet, in relation to the parallels that Alfejev makes between church issues in Montenegro and Ukraine, noted that the church issue in Montenegro did not arise now, a few years ago, or decades ago
"Indeed, it was opened a century ago precisely by the non-canonical abolition of the domiciled autocephalous Montenegrin Orthodox Church, which is very well known in Moscow," the statement added.
It is stated that, even after 100 years since the establishment of the SOC and the presence of the branch in Montenegro, the majority of Orthodox in Montenegro - according to the latest research, 57 percent, do not identify with the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate from Serbia.
"Not for dogmatic reasons, as was not the case in Ukraine according to the Moscow Patriarchate, but because the majority of Montenegrin Orthodox do not want to follow the ethnophiletistic heresy and imperial goals of Belgrade or Moscow, goals that are contrary to both the evangelical and soteriological mission of the Holy Orthodox Church" , emphasized the President's Office.
As they stated, the latest statements by Hilarion and Lavrov only confirm Russia's open interference in the internal affairs of Montenegro.
"And that in a very rude and inappropriate way by such a high church dignitary in relation to the head of a state that is traditionally friendly towards Russia, to whom, like last year, on the occasion of the Easter holidays, he wished good health, help from the Lord and blessed his success in the mission he is carrying out", says the statement.
It is added that Lavrov's comment about the recent events in Cetinje is "below the level of the head of diplomacy of one Russia and his personal reputation".
The President's Cabinet said that the continuation of Moscow's open aggression towards Montenegro is reflected in the most brazen placement of fabrications, even on the channel of the Department for External Church Relations of the Russian Orthodox Church.
They cited as an example the transmission of the statement of "a bishop of the Church of Serbia that there were not even 500 people at the recent events in Cetinje, that they spoke Serbian poorly and that they were from Albania or other countries, and that it was bad that the president was with them Djukanovic".
"The truth is, however, that this is the most common hoax, that on September 4 and 5, there were several thousand citizens of Cetinje and other citizens of Montenegro at the protests, and that they mostly spoke Montenegrin, but there were also those who spoke Serbian, and that were all united in defending the dignity of the capital and their state of Montenegro", the announcement concludes.
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