The rector of the Cetinje seminary, Gojko Perović, said, speaking about the relationship of the church to the phenomenon of the nation, that a church that knows neither Greek nor Jew, neither slave nor free, should not draw its strength and vitality from any earthly identity.
However, this does not mean that it should not now be stated that the only canonically recognized Orthodox Church in Montenegro is the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC), as is Montenegro as a country recognized by the United Nations (UN), Perović said.
"Just as the state of Montenegro, which has its own borders, is not called a collection of citizens from Ulcinj to Pljevlja — it is called Montenegro and its name, which over time became a national name, does not assume that all its citizens are nationally Montenegrins. Thus, even the name of the SPC does not oblige any believer to be according to the nation what he does not want to be. In other words, the Serbian Orthodox Church as the Church of Christ and the only holy conciliar and apostolic church gathers all believers under its auspices, regardless of their nationality," said Perović while participating in a round table in Podgorica on the topic of "Orthodoxy and the Nation".
"Under the roof of the name of the SPC, I think that everyone is comfortable, and it is a question of the style of church life and the way that none of our ceremonies, public addresses and services are conducted in such a way that offends someone's feelings of identity", said Perović and said that the Church, regardless of the fact that it is under the barrage of ideological propaganda of the current government, it has more fitness than any government, reports the Mitropolije website.
"The church is older, it remembers more, it knows better, it is founded on deeper foundations than any earthly transitory identity, and it will eventually unite the people because it cannot allow the people to be divided on this issue," concluded Perović.
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