Vucinic: Conflict with the West will not end well for Russia and Serbia

The decision of the Ecumenical Patriarchate for the recognition of the Macedonian Orthodox Church should restore peace and love between the Orthodox countries and peoples. The circumstances, thus Russia’s aggression against Ukraine have certainly influenced this, but they are not decisive, thinks the Vice-president of the Metropolitan Council of the Montenegrin Orthodox Church (KMK) Stevo Vucinic.

He emphasizes that the influence of the Russian Orthodox Church, as well as the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC), depends on Russia’s political, economic and military position in the world, but that both countries have clashed with the entire West, which he says will not end well. He also expects all Orthodox churches to soon establish liturgical unity with the Montenegrin Orthodox Church. Recall that as reported by the Macedonian media, the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate chaired by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, in its session held on May 9 recognized the Church of Northern Macedonia.

A statement from the Patriarchate said, “As the name of this church, it recognizes Ohrid,” given that the area of ​​its jurisdiction is within the borders of the state of Northern Macedonia. ” The Macedonian Orthodox Church (MOC) said that the patriarchate’s decision after decades of disagreements with the Serbian Orthodox Church (since 1967) and international isolation, “removes the decades-long disruption imposed on the ancient Archdiocese of Ohrid, restored to the Macedonian Orthodox Church.” In an interview with The Geopost, Stevo Vucinic says the Macedonian Church has returned canonically under the care of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

He also talks about the position and the stand of the Montenegrin Orthodox Church after the recognition of the Macedonian Church by the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and whether this act implies the weakening of Russia in the political sense.

Geopost: Did the Ecumenical Patriarch enter the canonical territory of the Serbian Orthodox Church “as robbers” (as some media in Serbia write), which, as the SPS claims, is the only one that can grant independence to the Macedonian Church?

Vucinic: In the Tomos of 1922 it is written: it was approved with good regulation and canonical development in order to benefit the people in the name of Christ … “So, the new situation of the state created in 1918 was recognized. Thus, the dioceses of the Ecumenical Church: Skopje, Veles-Diber, Pelagonija, Prespa-Ohrid and parts of Vodenska and Polianska, all in present-day Northern Macedonia, were found within the new ecclesiastical organization – the Serbian Orthodox Church. However, the political map of Europe, created at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 has changed. In the new circumstances, Macedonia has gained sovereign status. Thus, the mentioned dioceses which have been in Yugoslavia since 1918, have been canonically restored to their former status – under the authority of the ecumenical patriarchate.

Geopost: Is the decision of the Ecumenical Patriarchate a kind of political decision caused by Russian aggression against Ukraine, aimed at weakening Russia’s political influence in the world?

Vucinic: Circumstances certainly played a role. However, the decision is not the product of military aggression against Ukraine, but of the decades-long challenge to the autocephaly of the Montenegrin, Ukrainian and Macedonian churches by official Belgrade and Moscow. Such a situation caused irregular circumstances in the Orthodox world, which had to be turned into a state of peace and love between Orthodox countries and peoples. This decision of the Ecumenical Patriarch is aimed precisely at this goal, so it is welcomed by all sincere Christians. Unlike the Ukrainian and Macedonian churches, Montenegro was autocephalous until 1918 and all Orthodox churches, including the Ecumenical Church, communicated with it. We therefore expect all Orthodox Churches to restore liturgical unity with the Montenegrin church and thus from the beginning to confirm the connection with it as autocephalous.

Geopost: Does this mean that this is a good signal for the Montenegrin Orthodox Church as well, given that there is already such data even after the recognition of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church by the Ecumenical Patriarchate?

Vucinic: The act of the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate with which it was recognized as canonical and valid the ecclesiastical hierarchy headed by Archbishop Stefan is of universal importance. By derogating Tomos from 1922, in the part in which he allowed the unification of the former dioceses of the Ecumenical Church: Skopje, Veles-Debar, Pelagonija, Prespa- Ohrid and parts of Vodenska and Poljanska, the United Serbian Orthodox Autocephalous Church and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, the Synod derogated it entirely. It is also implied in the part where he agreed on the unification of Montenegro with the Serbian Church. This act formally establishes a new state of understanding, peace and love between the Orthodox Churches, which has been violated by the Serbian Church with its attitude towards the Macedonian and Montenegrin churches. The fear from Tomo’s derogation from 1922 encouraged the former government and the Belgrade Patriarchate empowered by a select group of Montenegrins decorated with cinecurs and honored by the highest state units, to take a long war against the malazeze Church. They aimed to integrate it into Serbia and rename it Orthodox, and thus remove it in favor of the Serbian Orthodox Church. The Almighty God saved us, and let them have such a criminal attitude towards their country and people.

Geopost: Is the influence of the Russian Orthodox Church weak in the Orthodox world, including the Serbian Orthodox Church, and can it weaken their position and influence in Montenegro?

Vucinic: That influence depends directly on Russia’s political and economic position, and unfortunately it’s military position in the world, in which Serbia and the Serbian Church rely directly and draw strength from it. This time Russia and Serbia clashed directly with the whole West and it will not end well for them. It is indisputable that this will affect the status of the Serbian Church in Montenegro, which has been exclusive since 1918, both materially and politically. As an invading church, it has always relied on the invading apparatus and force. In some new circumstances, in which it will not rely on the power of Belgrade and Moscow, which it will certainly not like, it will have to adapt to the status of the Montenegrin church as a settlement, with all the theological, material and legal consequences that this status produces.

Geopost: A number of ministers in the new Government of Montenegro from the ranks of the Socialist People’s Party insist on signing the Basic Agreement with the Serbian Orthodox Church. The Prime Minister said that only what is in accordance with the Constitution of Montenegro will be signed. What result do you expect? Will anyone sign that contract?

Vucinic: What the prime minister means by the Basic Agreement, which is in line with the Constitution, remains to be seen. But in the Basic Agreement which has been discussed so far, and which was initiated and written by Belgrade, in the preamble, the Serbian Church in Montenegro is described as “a traditional religious community with an 800-year historical continuity”. Of course, this is not true, because the Serbian Orthodox Church was officially founded only in 1921. A member is prohibited from building Orthodox religious sites in Montenegro without the consent of the competent archbishop of the Serbian Orthodox Church. The agreement also prohibits the establishment and existence of ecclesiastical organizations bearing the Orthodox surname in the territory of Montenegro. As far as I know from this text, official Belgrade and the Belgrade Patriarchate have not surrendered. All of these members are directly opposed to the very existence of the Montenegrin Orthodox Church. Through them, flows literally the anger of the unhappy people of Belgrade and the Patriarchate of Belgrade, who are obviously dissatisfied with the existence of the Montenegrin church, thus the Montenegrins as a people and the Montenegrins as a state. I think and believe that they will continue to insist that the Agreement says – which they can not prove – that the Serbian church was the spiritual backbone of Montenegro, and will prove what can not be proven by military-police force. Because the saints look at the world from the position of the bat – upside down. They deny the material fact that the Montenegrin church was the autocephalous and spiritual pillar of classical Montenegro. We respond to them with a Latin saying: Contra factum non argumentum – There are no arguments against the facts. We refer to all available documents: the Constitution of the Kingdom of Montenegro from 1905, in which it is marked as such, the Constitution of the Holy Synod of the Montenegrin Orthodox Church of 1904, the Act of King Alexander on the unification of churches which explicitly mentions the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 1922 in which the Montenegrin Church was registered as one of the components of the so-called Orthodox Church of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.