Amfilohije: I will not die before I return the Church of St. Peter of Cetinje to the top of Lovćen

Metropolitan Amfilohije of the Montenegrin coast said that he will not die before returning the Church of St. Peter of Cetinje to the top of Lovćen.

"Don't think I'm too old for that. No, the Lord will, in my lifetime, return her to where she was," Amfilohije told the Belgrade-based "Politika".

He said that in the votive chapel built by the Petrović family, it was Njegoš who "had the /church/" whitewashed and that every year, according to his command, the liturgy was served in it for the souls of undead Montenegrin heroes.

"The Church of St. Peter was his endowment, built on his instructions and during his lifetime (in 1846), in a place that he himself marked and expressly bequeathed to be buried there," said Amfilohije.

According to his words, everyone knows Njegoš's authentic legacy, which reads: "I want you to bury me in that church on Lovcen... This is my last wish, which I ask you to fulfill, and if you do not give me God's faith that you will so do as I want, then I will leave you under a curse, and my last hour will be the saddest for me, and I put my grief on your soul".

"Should we leave a curse on the descendants and the people. No, his will will be respected and with that act he will lighten up over Montenegro," said Amfilohije.

When it comes to the construction of the Church of the Holy Trinity in Cetinje, Amfilohije said that there is a "bequest from King Nikola" for it.

Since 1974, the remains of Petar Petrović Njegoš have been in a mausoleum built according to the project of the Croatian sculptor Ivan Meštrović, which was built on the site of the Orthodox chapel where Njegoš was buried on top of Lovcen.