Good morning! Today, St. Vasilije of Ostrog is celebrated, the most revered saint in Montenegro, and a centuries-old cult has been formed in the country and the neighbourhood. In recent years, this cult has been put at the service of Serbian nationalism and, like everything related to the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro, has less and less to do with religion, and more and more resembles a primitive nationalist, coordinated project — with a clear goal: the complete reprogramming of the social code in Montenegro.
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Abuse of St. Vasilije for political purposes
Today, under Ostrog, columns of people are flowing – from Podgorica, Bileca, Niksic, from the north, from Herzegovina – the entire “Serbian World”. They come under Ostrog, the tribal monastery of my tribe, which, according to tradition, was founded by St. Vasilije of Ostrog. A saint whose name Montenegrins do not pronounce with the obligatory mantra: “May he be granted glory and mercy.” Neither the Montenegrin St. Peter of Cetinje, nor the Serbian St. Sava, nor the Lord Jesus Christ himself has such a status. But Herzegovina’s St Vasilije has it.
This text is not a criticism of the cult itself. Cults exist everywhere. It is not disputed that many people find meaning, answers, peace and comfort under Ostrog. It is debatable that this same cult is instrumentalised. Today, people don’t just come to Ostrog to pray. They come to show the flag, identity, and belonging. But not Montenegrin. They demonstrate political loyalty under the cloak of spirituality. Nationalist kitsch is presented to the saint — a monk, hermit, and peaceful ascetic — cloaked in the iconography of blood and malevolence. It is as if a new movement must be unified near Ostrog, a new torch ignited, a new hatred rekindled.
After 2020, Montenegro became a playground again. Freed — not for democracy, but for new culture wars. Religious enthusiasm today serves as a prelude to the next stages of Serbization of Montenegro: the chapel on Lovcen, the institutional primacy of the Serbian language, the rehabilitation of the Chetniks. All of this is part of a broader project of symbolic and cultural domination that leads to very specific political goals.
What further insults intelligence is the systematic obfuscation of historical facts. St. Vasilije lived in a complex time. And while today he is portrayed exclusively as a defender of Orthodoxy, it is forgotten that the church he belonged to at the time was in union with Rome. Yes, you heard right. At that time, the Montenegrin Metropolitanate was in union with the Pope!
After Metropolitan Ruvim Njegus and the beginning of the unification of spiritual and secular power, his successor, Mardarije Kornecanin Uskokovic signed the union with Rome in 1640, at the initiative of of the Pastrovici people. His successor Visarion Kolinovic continued that direction. Only at the end of the 17th century, under pressure from the Turks and Russia, Montenegro formally returned to Orthodoxy — the then state religion of the Ottoman Empire.
If St. Vasilije was running away from the Turks and their control, then probably he, like Mardarije, was under attack because he did not want to be under their control. And that overcoat was not only caliphate, but also Orthodox — under the control of the Phanar. Vukota Vukotic and Slobodan Cupic write about Mardarije in detail, and their research is publicly available. But who wants to read when it’s easier to talk about the Serbian empire and Dusan with Danica Crnogorcevic and Baja Mali Knindza?
That’s why today, when the whole of Montenegro kneels symbolically, it should be remembered: faith without thought is obedience, not to God but to some human ruler, and obedience without awareness leads to slavery. Anyone who truly believes in Christ knows that Christ could not have been a nationalist. And whoever goes to Ostrog should approach with fear, with the thought of what they bring to the shrine.
That’s it for today. Enjoy the rest of the day.
Kind regards,
Ljubomir Filipovic, CdM analyst and columnist
(Columnists’ opinions and views are not necessarily those of the CdM editorial staff)
