The Government of Montenegro announced yesterday that the majority of citizens are turning their backs on retrograde times, which Metropolitan Amfilohije of the Montenegrin coast is trying to revive with his statements.
"We believe that the vast majority of our citizens are turning their backs on retrograde times, which they are trying to revive with statements like this, as well as all those who still live in them," the government said.
After harsh criticism of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, Amfilohije Radović updated his homophobic statements at the very end of the Christmas holidays.
Reacting to the assessment of the Secretary of the Presidency of Serbia and former Minister of Justice Nikola Selaković that the Metropolitan deals with witchcraft which is not the spirit of Orthodoxy, Amfilohije announced that he does not deal with witchcraft, but Aleksandar Vučić, when he appointed Ana Brnabić as Prime Minister of Serbia.
"If, for the first time in the history of the Serbian people, Vučić appointed such a person as prime minister, who is supposed to be the reputation of Serbian mothers and sisters, that is witchcraft, and not what the metropolitan is saying and what he has been saying since 1981, when the first appeal was sent , when the Patriarchate of Peć was burned," Amfilohije told the newspaper Dan.
The metropolitan of the Montenegrin littoral has previously been known to the public for homophobic statements, because he said that "gayism is an unnatural fornication and a sin, like any other." He called the pride parade held in Podgorica in 2013 a "parade of shamelessness", only to later repeat such epithets with similar statements.
That is why one of the recommendations of the European Committee against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) to the Government of Montenegro was to find a way and ensure that the high clergy of the Serbian Orthodox Church does not speak the language of hatred about the LGBT population in the future.
Director of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija in the Government of Serbia, Marko Đurić, assessed yesterday that Amfilohi's qualifications against Brnabić are unworthy of an Orthodox bishop and expressed the hope that his "indecent allusions" do not reflect the position of the Serbian Orthodox Church.
"Prime Minister Ana Brnabić, as a hard-working and competent person, enjoys the support of all members of the Government, who today, I am convinced, share my disappointment because of the way in which a church dignitary spoke about her unprovoked", Đurić stated in a statement. The SPC Synod did not advertised on this occasion.
The verbal conflict between representatives of the authorities in Serbia and Amfilohi began on Monday, the second day of Christmas, when the metropolitan accused the Serbian president of "leading a policy of betrayal of Serbia and Kosovo." After that, Amfilohi was told by representatives of the authorities in Belgrade that he, as the head of the church, "will not lead the state policy of Serbia".
The Government of Montenegro yesterday condemned Amfilohi's call to the Serbian Prime Minister, stating that "he has excellent cooperation with the Government of Serbia and the Prime Minister personally, on all concrete and important issues of interest to the citizens of the two countries, as well as to the entire region".
Shortly after that, Amfilohije ordered that the Montenegrin government renounce its history and the liberator of Kosovo and Metohija - King Nikola I Petrović.
"Today's government in Montenegro sells, renounces Kosovo and Metohija. It recognizes as masters in Kosovo those who have never been masters, who are as they are, as terrorists, to the shame of the honorable and virtuous Šiptar-Albanian people, not to mention shame Kosovo and Metohija. Those who support them, either from the world or from here in Montenegro, renounce Nikola I Petrović, the liberator of Kosovo and Metohija," Amfilohije said yesterday during the liturgy in Bar.
Aleksandar Vučić, who does not spare critics of his politics, has not yet advertised. He announced that he would speak on January 14 regarding Amfilochius' attacks.
The Metropolitan claims that he has nothing personal against Vučić
Metropolitan Amfilohije of the Montenegrin coast announced yesterday that he hopes that Vučić does not belong to those "who are ready to renounce the history, tradition and greatest values of their people".
He said that neither he nor the church is attacking anyone, but expresses concern for the fate of the most important and most sacred part of the Serbian state, while "there is nothing personal" against Vučić. Amfilohije said that "it is unacceptable to reach any binding agreements with the terrorists who govern the occupied Kosovo and Metohija" and assessed that the issue of Kosovo and Metohija is a matter of "the fate of the people".
"Mr. Vučić is the president of Serbia and a great responsibility rests on his shoulders. However, he has no right to take that responsibility off himself, as is the tendency now. Kosovo is an issue for all of us, and if it were not for the language of the church, we would not have the liberation of Kosovo and Metohija in 1912, nor would we have preserved the Patriarchate of Peć and Visoke Dečani," said Amfilohija.
What he said is also considered by the SPC
One of the few Serbian politicians who supported Amfilohi is the president of the Serbian movement Dveri Boško Obradović, saying that the metropolitan of Montenegrin littoral Vučić "removed the mask of a false patriot".
Reacting to the criticism that the representatives of the authorities in Serbia sent to Amfilohi on that occasion, Obradović asked "why the representatives of the regime were so upset if what the metropolitan is warning about is not true".
"Everything that was intended to be done secretly became public. Why didn't the representatives of the ruling regime simply say that the metropolitan had no reason to worry and that they remain loyal to the fight for the preservation of Kosovo and Metohija as part of Serbia, but Nikola Selaković had to teaches a metropolitan of the SPC what the spirit of Orthodoxy is," said Obradović.
Journalist of the Vojvodina Research and Analytical Center (VOICE) and Autonomija cartoonist Dalibor Stupar, however, believes that Amfilohi's position is also "the position of the SPC".
He assessed that the SPC constantly behaves as a political organization that does not participate in elections, while the favor of the church is important to politicians, because it can mobilize a large number of voters. "It's all one and the same company, or party, or the largest non-governmental organization. Amfilohije said something that the church thinks and must not say," Stupar believes.
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