Serbian Orthodox Church

Information Service of
the Serbian Orthodox Church
September 22, 2004

COMMUNIQUE OF THE METROPOLITANATE OF MONTENEGRO AND THE LITTORAL
BISHOP ARTEMIJE OF RASKA AND PRIZREN DENIED TRANSIT THROUGH FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA

COMMUNIQUE OF THE METROPOLITANATE
OF MONTENEGRO AND THE LITTORAL

The Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral celebrated the feast of the Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God, as every year, with formal religious services in its churches and monasteries. The clergy celebrated with its faithful everywhere, with the exception of the church of the Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God in the village of Djinovici near Cetinje, where they were prevented from doing so by a group of ignorant local residents, followers of the sect of the defrocked priest Miras, long excommunicated from the Orthodox Church, who is obviously acting with the support of certain offices of government. The local parish priest and elder of the church in Djinovici, Father Milan Radulovic, is a Canadian citizen who came to serve in the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral from the U.S. city of Hibbing a month ago driven by the desire, as a descendent of the emigrant family of Radulovic from Komane, to return to the country of his origin. Fr. Milan and the people accompanying him to Holy Liturgy were prevented from entering the church and performing service by people armed with hoes, scythes and pistols lined up in front of the church in the presence of police. The police chose this moment to withdraw and direct contact ensued, as well as the possibility of clashes between representatives of the Metropolitanate and the followers of the defrocked priest. However, thanks to the presence of mind of the clergy and the faithful, a conflict was avoided.

This unfortunate incident was preceded by a dispute and attempted assault within the local fraternity of Adzici between members who rose to defend the church of the Mother of God, as they have always done in the past, from attempts by the excommunicated to desecrate it, and members who for some time have sought to bring the defrocked priest in to shame the church by force. When the defenders of the church from the honorable family of Petar Adzic, Petar’s sons, Aleksandar, one of the guards of Cetinje Monastery, and Zoran Adzic, entered the church to light the icon lamps, a dispute ensued regarding parking rights in front of the church during the course of which one of the followers of Miras lunged at Aleksandar Adzic with a knife in his hand to which the latter fired shots into the air in self-defense and called the Police.

Miras’ followers in Djinovici have usurped the rights of the church parish board and declared themselves a “church council”, which from now on is to arbitrate to the canonical Church and its clergy according to its laic standards, following outside instructions.

Following this latest striking example of basic human rights violations in Mont

The Metropolitanate will be informing the Office of the Organisation for European Security and Co-operation regarding this latest striking example of violation of basic human rights in Montenegro, and the rights of the clergy and faithful of the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral. Fr. Milan Radulovic has already contacted the Canadian Embassy in Belgrade to request protection as a Canadian citizen in his place of work in Montenegro.

The Metropolitanate once again calls to the attention of the state officials of Montenegro and the public that despite this attempt and others like it, who will serve in the churches and monasteries of the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral, on the territory of this age-old canonical Diocese of the Orthodox Church in Montenegro will be decided, as in the past, solely by its only canonical Archpastor and Metropolitan, and never under any circumstances any usurper, regardless of whether he calls himself a statesman or a state official or a false church council of misled local residents.

BISHOP ARTEMIJE OF RASKA AND PRIZREN DENIED TRANSIT THROUGH FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA

FYR Macedonia police have turned back Bishop Artemije (Radosavljevic) of Raska-Prizren and Kosovo-Metohija and Protosingel Fr. Simeon (Vilovski), the Abbot of Banjska Monastery, from the border crossing at Djeneral Jankovic after advising them that "Bishop Artemije is not permitted to enter or transit through FYR Macedonia". The Bishop and Abbot intended to pass through FYR Macedonia this morning around 9:00 a.m. on their way to Salonika, Greece.

When asked by the Bishop whether the ban was the result of an official decision or the personal position of the on-duty chief of the border patrol, FYR Macedonia policemen presented a written decision issued by the Ministry of Internal Affairs FYR Macedonia dated June 2, 2004, which explicitly states that "at the request of the Macedonian Orthodox Church, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Macedonia has decided to prohibit entry and transit through Macedonia to the persons named on the attached list". According to Bishop Artemije, the list includes at least some 20 names of Serbian Orthodox Church bishops, who are prohibited from entering FYR Macedonia or even transiting through it on their way to Greece.

This unprecedented decision by state officials of FYR Macedonia made on the basis of an explicit request by the so-called Macedonian Orthodox Church represents direct evidence that state officials in Skoplje are rendering discriminatory decisions without any legal basis, and doing so at the request of the schismatic bishops of the so-called Macedonian Orthodox Church. Such a decision and the existence of a blacklist of bishops who are prohibited to transit through FYR Macedonia solely because of their religious and ethnic affiliation is not only contrary to the laws of FYR Macedonia but represents a gross violation of international human and religious rights conventions.

Unfortunately, this illegal decision on the part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of FYR Macedonia continues the systematic persecution of Serbian Orthodox bishops despite the insistence of the Skoplje government that no official decision exists discriminating against Serbian Orthodox clerics in FYR Macedonia.

[Serbian Translation Services]