Djukanovic: The Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro is preserving the Greater Serbia's infrastructure

Milo Djukanovic

 Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic has accused the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC) of trying to maintain Greater Serbia's infrastructure in Montenegro and stressed that he will renew the Montenegrin Orthodox Church without considering whether or not anyone likes this or no, the Montenegrin media say.

"The Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro is trying to maintain the infrastructure of the Greater Serbia in which it believes," and stressed that "its position for cross-border archiepiscrimination is at odds with the basic principles of the Orthodox organization around the world."

"The Serbian Orthodox Church thinks that Montenegro has erroneously become independent and that it will over time correct the mistake and understand the need to start building the Greater Serbia. We must, of course, with our existence, determination and vision to say that there is nothing in it," the President Djukanovic added.

Djukanovic has announced that Montenegro is ungrateful for the construction of a multiethnic society, but has stressed that there has remained an important step that will remedy the great injustices that have been done to Montenegro at the beginning of the 20th century, and it is the renewal of the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Montenegro.

Djukanovic concluded that the "contemporary Montenegro will not allow to live under the dictates of a religious organization that represents the relic of the past."

The Montenegrin government has forbidden the stay in this country for 30 priests of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Still unresolved is the issue of the properties of the Serbian church when King Alexandar in 1919 dismissed the Montenegrin Church and all its wealth passed to the Serbian Orthodox Church.