Metropolitan dual power without real authority: Who is the current ecclesiastical ruler of Montenegro - Joanikije or Methodij?

After the death of the head of the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral (MCP) Amphilochia five years ago, Montenegro lacked a spiritual authority of his rank, so the precedence between his successors to the throne Joanikia and Metropolitan of Budimlje-Nikšić The method depends on the media influence in which the latter is emphasized, mostly negatively.

This was assessed by the interlocutors of "Vijesti" when answering the question of who is the current ecclesiastical ruler of Montenegro - Joannikije or Methodije.

This dilemma was opened in the context of several months of revisionist moves and messages by the Metropolitan of Budimlje-Niksic, during which the head of Montenegro and the Littoral was mostly in the background, although he made statements similar to Metodij's on some topics.

"After Metropolitan Amfilohije Radović, there is no authority of that kind in Montenegro," said to "Vijesti" an assistant professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of "Donja Gorica" ​​and a correspondent for the EUREL project (Legal and Sociological Data on Religion in Europe) from Montenegro, Nikola Šaranović.

A religious analyst from Belgrade agrees with his position. Vladimir Veljkovic, who claims that Montenegro does not have an ecclesiastical "ruler" in the way that Amphilochius did.

"So the primacy now depends on media influence and media presence, and in this, with his statements, in a negative sense, Metropolitan Metodije is leading the way," Veljković told the editorial staff.

Offensive after the new title

Since the Bishop of Budimlje-Niksic became Metropolitan in mid-May, by decision of the Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC), his statements have become increasingly harsh and his actions increasingly controversial. This culminated during and after the events surrounding the illegal erection of a monument to the notorious Chetnik commander. Pavlo Đurišić in the Berane village of Gornje Zaostro.

The controversial statue was unveiled by Metodije in early August, saying that "there are few who were as inspired as Đurišić", and that a monument to this Chetnik commander should also be erected in the center of Berane.

During that time, Joanikije, at least publicly, kept to the sidelines, although his recent statements show that the ideological position of the Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral on some topics, such as the role of the Chetnik movement, does not differ from that of Methodius.

Explaining the statement that after Amfilohije there is no authority of that type in the state, Nikola Šaranović said that the former head of the MCP, in addition to being a metropolitan and archbishop (honorary), was also the chairman of the Episcopal Council of the Orthodox Church in Montenegro, in accordance with the decision of the SPC Assembly after the restoration of the country's independence in 2006.

Šaranović recalls the decision made at that time regarding the Orthodox Church in Montenegro, its episcopal council, and the return of the title of archbishop to the Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral.

"Instead of answering the question of what happened to the legacy of the late metropolitan, we got another metropolitan. We got a metropolitan dual power, in which the 'current ecclesiastical ruler' of Montenegro is neither one nor the other metropolitan, but the signatory of the Fundamental Agreement (between the Government and the Serbian Orthodox Church) in which there is no mention of the decision from 2006 - the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church," said Šaranović.

The basic agreement was initialed in August 2022 by the Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church Porphyry and the then prime minister Dritan Abazovic (Civil Movement URA). This document regulates, among other things, the property rights of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Part of the Montenegrin public calls it unconstitutional, accusing Abazović of “betraying” the interests of Montenegro.

Vladimir Veljković also assesses that, after the death of Amfilohije, the Church "reformed" the Metropolis by taking away a certain type of autonomy.

"This was done in two ways. First, the Metropolitanate was left without its council, which was made up of bishops whose dioceses are on the territory of Montenegro. Second, the title of metropolitan was awarded to almost all dioceses, so that the title lost the significance it had previously as representing a church unit of a higher level than the diocese," Veljković said.

The Episcopal Council was abolished at the SPC Assembly at the end of May 2021. The SPC explained at the time that the decision was invalidated given that these councils were established as "temporary advisory church bodies while the extraordinary circumstances and the impossibility of bishops meeting each other in the then wartime conditions persisted."

When the Episcopal Council was founded in 2006, there was no war or other emergency.

"The Church would be a state within a state"

Responding to the question of whether Methodius, after receiving the title of metropolitan in May, has taken on a "leading role" in Montenegro, Nikola Šaranović replies that "the second metropolitan is the personification of the strategy for the state of Serbia to have its own church, which in Montenegro has its own state."

The Bijelo Polje Higher Prosecutor's Office has filed a case against Metodije and the head of the Citizens' Service of the Capital City and the leader of Free Montenegro due to the events in Gornji Zaostr. Vladislav Dajković, who tried to prevent state authorities from removing the pedestal of the monument to Đurišić. The prosecutor's office had previously filed a case regarding statements made by participants in a rally in a village near Berane, at which Metodije, among others, spoke.

"The most important thing is that we be like him (Đurišić), that we be faithful to our race, that we know who we are - that we are Serbs, that we are Orthodox. Because many today, who slaughtered us the most in those years, come from our roots. They are ready to wait, like sycophants, for any empire to pass through these regions, in order to put themselves at its service," he stated at the time, among other things.

The same prosecutor's office also opened a case after Metodije's speech at the Podmalinsko monastery near Šavnik in early June. Metodije then stated, among other things, that "since the end of World War II, a Tito-Ustasha coalition has reigned, committing genocide against the Serbian people."

Due to his affirmative statements about the Chetnik movement, Joanikije was also under the scrutiny of the prosecution, but some criminal charges against him (for the criminal offense of inciting racial, national and religious hatred) were dropped.

Veljković notes that the two metropolitans differ in that they have a different view of the situation in Serbia, where protests against the local government have been ongoing for several months.

"Metodius is portrayed as a man who is closer to the regime in Serbia, while Metropolitan Joanikije has a critical view of developments in Serbian society and politics," the interlocutor said.

In early March, Joanikije signed a letter condemning the Serbian Orthodox Church's claims that students protesting in Serbia were "Serbian Ustashas." He was therefore targeted by Belgrade tabloids close to the regime there. Other signatories to the letter were Metropolitan njemački Gregory, wires Justin both Zahumlje-Herzegovina and Littoral Dimitriye, and Archbishop Maximus of Western America and Bishop of Eastern America Irenaeus.

"They lowered the dignity of the Cetinje cathedral"

Veljković assesses that the top leadership of the Serbian Orthodox Church is trying to silence everyone in the church who is not on the side of Porphyry, or the Belgrade regime, and that, in this sense, Joanikije has shown that he does not share the views of the top leadership of the Church.

"So far, the SPC leadership has not entered into a confrontation with bishops who think differently, but in the coming period I could not rule out that possibility. The position of Metropolitan Joanikije will also depend on how much he is willing to go further and express views that contradict those of the SPC leadership...", the source said.

Asked what Joanikije's position was after he signed the letter in early March, Nikola Šaranović responded by saying that the "titular equalization" through the appointment of a second metropolitan did not "raise" the dignity of the Nikšić-Berana episcopal see, but that the dignity of the Cetinje metropolitan see was indirectly "lowered".

"This is not a matter of ad personam tactics, reactive to the personality of the metropolitan, but of ad institutionem strategy, proactive to what the metropolitan personifies, which is the chair on which he sits. All in the spirit of the Fundamental Agreement, which not only 'keeps silent' about the 2006 decision, but also represents the only agreement of this kind in Montenegro that 'keeps silent' about the Principality, or rather the Kingdom of Montenegro," said Šaranović.

He stated that, otherwise, the "Autocephalous Orthodox Metropolitanate" from Article 1 of the Constitution of the Holy Synod, or the Montenegrin Church from Article 40 of the Constitution of the Principality/Kingdom of Montenegro, would have to be mentioned. Then, as he underlined, it would have to be acknowledged that the Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral sits on the chair of the Archbishop of Cetinje and the Metropolitan of Montenegro, and the Bishop of Budimlje-Niksic actually sits on the chair of the Bishop of Zahumlje-Raška - the Montenegrin Church.

"And that would mean that the state of Serbia has its own church, which in Montenegro does not have its own state, because our state has its own church," Šaranović stated.