He stated that the proposal for taking all monasteries built before 1918 from the Metropolitanate and other SPC dioceses in Montenegro and the planned transfer of their ownership rights to the “usurper gang of Miraš Dedeic, the so-called false Orthodox Church of Montenegro, through the perverse solutions of this draft, aims at finally exterminating the Orthodoxy of St. Sava and St. Petrovic in Montenegro, as well as destroying the Orthodox church organization and life of the people, and the destroying of the historical spiritual being of Montenegro”.
“Our faithful people, monks, priests and legal experts, through their massive turnout at the first two debates on the draft law on freedom of religion in Bijelo Polje and Kotor, showed not only that as a church, they unanimously saw through the evil intentions of the law’s promoters, directed against the Diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church, and that they soundly reject proposed legal solutions, but also that this and other similar audacious attempts to eradicate the Serbian Orthodox Church on its native soil in Montenegro will encounter the most determined and uncompromising opposition and active resistance of its people. If the government of Montenegro remains persistent in its lawlessness, they should be careful not to “bite off more than they can chew “, because the Orthodox population of Montenegro certainly will not shy away from the organization of numerous and way more massive gatherings, as a legitimate way of fighting for their compromised rights”, said Nikcevic.
Svetigora also demands the draft law be withdrawn from procedure, and a new text to be made with participation of representatives of churches and religious communities, as well as legal experts, and to fully respect the procedures for the preparation and adoption of regulations at all stages, with public debates organized in all municipalities.
Nikcevic said the Government and its Ministry for Human and Minority Rights are in fact questioning the already signed separate agreements on mutual relations, which have been signed with major “religious communities” with the exception of the Serbian Orthodox Church, primarily with the Roman Catholic Church and the Islamic Community, confirming their historically earned status of legal entities.
“To make such an agreement with the SPC, whose four eparchies extend throughout the territory of today’s Montenegrin state, the government has never shown the slightest interest, and instead, shows with the offered draft law that it does not harbour even the basic benevolence towards our church”, concluded Nikcevic.
