Montenegrin Orthodox Church - Claim To Serbian Orthodox Churches

Claim To Serbian Orthodox Churches

The Montenegrin Orthodox Church, which was restored in 1993, lays a claim to all Orthodox churches, monasteries and chapels in Montenegro built before 1918, and all Serbian Orthodox churches built after that date with financial assistance from the state. However, the Church of Montenegro was not included into the SOC before 1920. They base their claims on their belief that they are the rightful successors of the autocephalous Montenegrin Metropolitanate, which participated in the formation of a imposed Serbian Orthodox Church in 1920. In April 2007 the "President of the Council for the promotion" of the MOC, Stevo Vučinić, was quoted as saying the "we will retake of all the churches and chapels in the towns, and of course the village churches, and the monasteries...we expect resistance, but in no case will we give up". This decision was mass-approved by the Montenegrin public. President of the Republic of Montenegro Filip Vujanović said that he will protect the property of the Serbian Orthodox Church, along with other administrative officials, saying that the MOC should not give up and that they should go to legal suits on specific cases. Despite this, the MOC has claimed that it does not care about anyone's opinion outside its Council calling it irrelevant and is determined to forcibly reclaim their property in Montenegro, currently occupied by SOC.

According to data of Centre of Democracy in Montenegro from February 2007, the Serbian Orthodox Church was the most trusted institution in Montenegro by public opinion (coefficient 3.29), while the Montenegrin Orthodox Church was ranked sixth (coefficient 2.35).

On Wednesday, April 18, 2007, the representatives of the Montenegrin Orthodox Church - which has announced that it did not wish to cause an "excessive situation", but that it would enter the Serbian Orthodox Cetinje monastery without regard to the reaction of the Serbian Orthodox Church to their caims and requests - attempted to do so. Special police units prevented their forceful entry and that of several hundred supporters of the MOC. There was some pushing and shoving between the police, and the crowd which had intended to force its way into the monastery. Following this, members of the crowd shouted slogans such as "this isn't Serbia", "whose police are you?" and "Risto, Satan" (a reference to Metropolitan Amfilohije of the SOC).