Difficult Hours for Orthodoxy in Serbia-Montenegro-Kosovo

Orthodox Times ^ | 5/27/20

[marshmallow]

There is no end to the tragedy of Serbian believers in Montenegro and Kosovo. Persecutions, extortion and contempt come to complement bad relations with Serbia, and thus Orthodoxy in the Balkans is once again being tested.

Interestingly, after the breakup of Yugoslavia, Serbia and Montenegro maintained a federal relationship, but lately it has been tested again on an ecclesiastical level.

Montenegrin President Milo Đukanović has been trying to cut off his country’s Church from the Serbian Patriarchate since his election, as well as to seize Serbian monasteries and properties and to gain autocephaly with rulings.

During the pandemic, Montenegrin hierarchs were dragged and arrested by the Police on charges of not observing the measures.

After the measures were lifted, Prime Minister Duško Marković stressed that the country was opening its borders to some countries. These countries initially are Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Albania, Greece. Serbia, which had only few cases of COVID-19 and observed all hygiene rules, is not among these countries.

[2banana]

Thanks Bill Clinton.