Theologian: Met. Onuphry’s visit is a support for the Church in Montenegro

His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry during the cross procession in the capital of Montenegro, Podgorica. Photo: UOJ

Rector of the Cetinje Seminary of the Montenegro-Littoral Metropolis of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Archpriest Gojko Perović stated in his author's blog on the pages of the online publication Vijesti that the visit represents the support of the sister Church of Ukraine for the Church in Montenegro.

According to the priest, the visit of Metropolitan Onuphry to Montenegro also confirms the unity of the canonical and Ecumenical Church in "the state where this unity is persecuted by local political authorities".

He believes that “the recently passed Montenegrin Law on Freedom of Religion was adopted with the aim of seeking reorganization of the Church system.” In this sense, the visit of church dignitaries from Ukraine testifies to the support of the Church in Montenegro.

The priest emphasized that the visit of Metropolitan Onuphry to Montenegro is important because it “testifies to the invincibility of God's blessed order against all earthly political intrigues”.

He recalled that the autonomy possessed by the UOC in relation to Moscow “is one of the examples of the broadest possible autonomy in the entire Orthodoxy. The UOC has its own Synod and its own Primate.”

In his opinion, the UOC enjoys the loyalty of “the majority of the Orthodox population in Ukraine”, because the so-called OCU “is schismatics”.

The rector of the Cetinje Seminary believes that Poroshenko’s church experiment on the creation of the OCU “didn’t go any further than the laboratory”, and “the canonical and universally recognized Ukrainian Orthodox Church has preserved its internal unity to this day with more than 50 dioceses, more than 10,000 parishes and more than 200 monasteries”.

Father Gojko Perović noted that the UOC "has greater independence in relation to Moscow (and, therefore, to the rest of the Orthodox world) than the "Poroshenko Church" in relation to Constantinople".

The priest is convinced that "the arrival of Metropolitan Onuphry in Montenegro is a good reminder to the local authorities of the cessation of work on the "construction and restoration of state churches" in the 21st century".

He emphasized that "the Spirit of God breathes wherever it wants and when it wants to" and "Montenegro has been blessed with the Holy Spirit for centuries from all over the world, including from holy Kiev".

The rector of the Cetinj Seminary recalled that "in this Church (of Kiev - Ed.) and its schools, bishops and priests of the Orthodox Church in Montenegro were educated in the 19th century".

According to Fr. Gojko, “it’s not too late to reconsider the leadership course of the Montenegrin state and, in accordance with the Constitution, look for ways to learn from someone else’s mistakes. Because we have no other country, and we do not have time to wait for a better opportunity to put things in their places and turn to each other."

As reported earlier, His Beatitude Onuphry arrived in Montenegro.

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