change font size

print version

copyright

Other languages:

Rival Churches Battle for Front-row Place in New Constitution

15 05 2007  Ill-feeling between two branches of Orthodoxy worsened by suspicion that constitution may disadvantage one over another.

By Nikola Doncic in Kotor

Senior hierarchs and avid followers of two rival Orthodox churches in Montenegro are at loggerheads over their efforts to gain the sympathy of the coastal republic’s population – and over whether either should be mentioned in the new constitution.

The Montenegrin Orthodox Church and its Serbian rival, each representing its own ethnic group, have been in fierce dispute for years over ownership rights to the Orthodox community’s heritage including buildings and land.

The squabbles have prompted some to wonder whether there is enough room for two Orthodox churches in the small coastal republic.

Rifts between the two churches have been growing over the past 17 years, when the Montenegrin church first reappeared after a decades-long absence. It was suppressed as a separate entity in 1921, after Montenegro became a part of the new state of Yugoslavia.

The Serbian Orthodox Church saw the rebirth of its Montenegrin equivalent as a direct threat to its own interests and as part of the political thrust towards Montenegro’s independence from Serbia.

Many of its priests are reluctant to accept the notion that the Adriatic republic is entitled to be a separate state. The rival camp, on the other hand, says the Montenegrin church was right to rise once again after it was banned in 1921.

As ever in the Balkans, politics is never far from the church door and the Liberal Alliance and Social Democrats - the two parties that originally advocated independence for Montenegro - are champions also of the rebirth of the Montenegrin Orthodox Church.

The Democratic Party of Socialists, DPS, the driving force behind the process of turning Montenegro into an independent state, was at one time closer to Metropolitan Amfilohije, head of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro.

While relations between the two churches were always tense, they worsened in the run-up to last year’s independence referendum, the outcome of which was a blow to Metropolitan Amfilohije.

They have reached a new crisis over Montenegro’s new Constitution, with both sides hoping the document will entrench their own supremacy.

“The state should protect us so that we can claim back the facilities usurped by the Serbian Orthodox Church,” Stevo Vucinic, chairman of a board promoting the Montenegrin church’s interests, said.

“The Montenegrin Orthodox Church’s interests have been deliberately downplayed for the sake of Montenegro’s independence, and the authorities have denied us support after the referendum too, which we find unacceptable,” he complained.

Vucinic said the Serbian Orthodox Church branch in Montenegro was a feudal institution that fanned the flames of hatred of Montenegro and its people while trying to impose traditions alien to Montenegrins onto the country.

Not surprisingly, the Serbian Orthodox Church sees things differently.

Velibor Dzomic, from the church’s parish in Podgorica, described the representatives of the rival Montenegrin church as self-proclaimed leaders and attacked the campaign to strip the Serbian church of some of its property.

“Never before has anyone, not even occupying forces, tried to deny the … only legitimate body officially representing Montenegro’s Orthodox population its property rights,” Dzomic said.

“This public outcry for lynching and for the ransacking of property ought to have drawn the intention of the authorities… particularly of the police and state prosecutor,” he added.

“Property disputes can only be settled in court, not by wooden clubs, iron bars, drilling machines and other such tools suitable only for breaking and entering,” Dzomic concluded.

It is uncertain whether the constitution will, in fact, mention either church and its property, or not mention any religious groups at all.

This is now the option favoured by the ruling coalition of the Democratic Party of Socialists and the Social Democrats.

But many Serbs are still worried that the authorities are in league with plans to take away their church’s lands.

Dobrilo Dedeic, a spokesman for the Serbian Popular Party, says demands to grant property to the Montenegrin Orthodox Church are a threat to peace and stability and could derail the already fraught public debate on the constitution.

He accused the Montenegrin authorities of aiming to remove the Serbs as an ethnic group from all mention in the constitution.

“Staying in power is the only sacred value for the Democratic Party of Socialists,” Dedeic said. “They have failed to abide by a single legal act so far… so we have no faith in their vow to protect the rights of Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro.”

Dragan Kujovic, of the Democratic Party of Socialists, says the Montenegrin Orthodox Church deserves credit as a key institution behind the restoration of Montenegro’s independence and spiritual character.

“Nourishing a Montenegrin identity… is a clear fact which speaks for the need to make the Montenegrin Orthodox Church part of the new constitution,” Kujovic said.

However, as his party is divided on the issue and as both churches are home to its leaders, the party is unlikely to risk worsening tensions by insisting on mention of the Montenegrin Church in the constitution.

“Although some of them support the Montenegrin Church and others the Serb, they are unanimous in backing freedom of religious beliefs,” Kujovic agreed.

Nikola Doncic is a freelance journalist in Kotor. Balkan Insight is BIRN`s online publication.

This article was published with the support of the British embassy in Belgrade and National Endowment for Democracy - NED, as part of BIRN's Minority Media Training and Reporting Project.