Montenegro bishop slams President Djukanovic for his relations with Church

Montenegro-Littoral Bishop Joanikije accused Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic of continuing the treatment that “communist authorities had towards the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) after the WWII, especially in Montenegro.”

Joanikije was enthroned early September amid protests of Montenegrin nationalists who strongly objected to the ceremony.

“In that relationship, the Montenegro-Littoral Metropolitanate, its bishops, clergy, and the faithful have gone through a real golgotha, sacrifice and suffering. We thought those times are behind us,” said the bishop.

In the heart of Europe, in the 21st century, it happens that a secular, democratic country – which Montenegro should be, the Church is again exposed to open issues and “readiness of certain people to treat its shrines in a Bolshevik way,” he was carried as saying.

“President Djukanovic and his comrades are doing so solely for political reasons,” Joanikije underlined.