The decision by which the Bishop of Budimljan-Nikšić Methods receives the title of archbishop and metropolitan, is completely natural and logical, considering the decisions on the titling of bishops that were made at last year's session of the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC).
"Vijesti" was told this yesterday by the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral (MCP), answering questions about their view of the fact that Bishop Metodije of Budimlje-Niksic was proclaimed Metropolitan of Budimlje-Niksic, and what this decision represents.
In a statement published on the SPC website on the occasion of the session of the Holy Synod of Bishops, it is stated that Methodius has become a member of the Holy Synod of Bishops, but he (Methodije) is still titled as a bishop, not as a metropolitan.
The Serbian Orthodox Church announced that this year's Assembly also paid attention to the issue of amendments to Articles 14 and 15 of the Serbian Orthodox Church Constitution, which concern the names of dioceses and the titulary of bishops.
Sources close to the Patriarchate in Belgrade told "Vijesti" on Saturday that Metodije was granted the title of metropolitan by a decision of the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church. According to the same information, the Budimljan-Niksic eparchy did not receive the status of a metropolitanate.
From the MCP, headed by the Metropolitan Joannikius, told the newspaper that the Budimlje diocese, with its seat in the Đurđevi Stupovi monastery near Berane, was one of the first dioceses founded by Saint Sava, “the first Serbian archbishop, when establishing the church organization in our region”. This diocese, they say, has had a metropolitan at its head since the 15th century, “since it was then elevated to the level of a metropolitanate and lasted as such until the mid-17th century”.
They remind us that this is an eparchy that covers a large part of the former Eastern Herzegovina Metropolitanate of the Patriarchate of Peć, whose metropolitan was Saint Basil of Ostrog.
"All of this is reason enough that its current bishops, in modern circumstances, can and should have the title of metropolitan," the MCP said.
The Serbian Orthodox Church Assembly elected Metodije as Bishop of Budimlje-Niksic in May 2021, and he was enthroned in September of that year. He was born in 1976 in Sarajevo, ordained a monk in 2004 at the Cetinje Monastery, and ordained a bishop in 2018.
At last year's session of the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church (held from 14 to 20 May 2024), decisions were made regarding the so-called titulation of diocesan bishops. At that time, the Synod decided to grant certain bishops the titles of archbishop and metropolitan, and over ten bishops were then given these titles.
As an interlocutor familiar with the procedure explained to "Vijesti", other diocesan hierarchs, who hold the rank of bishop, regardless of whether they belong to the diocese, receive the title of archbishop after 20 years of episcopal service, and the title of metropolitan after 25 years.
Recalling that “the whole thing with bishops being appointed metropolitans started last year,” a theologian from Serbia Vukašin Milićević He told "Vijesti" that these titles were changed without a clear and unified criterion.
"Some bishops received (the title of metropolitan) because they are historical dioceses, which is then an argument for the Budimljan-Niksic diocese, because it is a medieval diocese - for its bishop to be a metropolitan," he explains.
He states, however, that in some other cases, titles were awarded according to criteria of some personal, "so-called reputation of the bishop - in some cases so-called, and in some cases real".
"My impression is - who is close Irenaeus i Porphyry "And who they shouldn't give it to, because it would be too obvious," said Milićević.
The interlocutor said that everything was done without any order and that his impression was that, among other things, what they wanted to achieve was to relativize the fact that those metropolitanates that existed, primarily in Montenegro, but also in Bosnia and Croatia, "had some meaning and were the basis for some kind of real metropolitan system, which would imply that the church in those countries had some autonomy."
He said that what is being done now resembles centralization, which is destructive, "for the same reasons it was in the 1980s and 1990s."
"This is the agenda of Serbian nationalists, than whom there are no greater enemies of Serbian national interests," concluded Milicevic.
He claims that this disavows the role of Metropolitan Joanikije not because Methodius became metropolitan, but because the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral "has been lost in the sea of these new metropolitanates and its uniqueness, historical and current, is not visible at all."
Religious analyst from Belgrade Vladimir Veljkovic, told "Vijesti" that the Serbian Orthodox Church has recently granted the status of metropolitan to almost all dioceses/bishoprics on the territory of Serbia.
"In this regard, Bishop Metodije was also given the same status. I do not believe that this has anything special to do with Metropolitan Joanikije. It would rather be said that it has to do with church politics at the level of the entire Serbian Orthodox Church," he said.
Veljković stated that another question is why the church led by Porfirio decided to proclaim so many metropolitanates, stating that it is possible that "they feel safer that way when it comes to cold relations with the Ecumenical Patriarchate."
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