On February 29, Metropolitan of the UOC of Moscow Patriarchate, Onufri Berezovsky, took part in a rally of the Serbian Orthodox Church against the Montenegrin authorities, which uphold the new law on freedom of religion.
On February 29, Metropolitan of the UOC of Moscow Patriarchate, Onufri Berezovsky, took part in a rally of the Serbian Orthodox Church against the Montenegrin authorities, which uphold the new law on freedom of religion.
Radio Liberty reports about it.
After the worship service of God, together with Metropolitan of the Serbian Orthodox Church Amfilohij, Metropolitan Onufriy and several other representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church branch in Ukraine addressed the protesters present, then all those present walked in the procession to President Djukanovic's office.
On the previous day, on February 28, in an interview with Reuters Djukanovic accused Serbia and Russia of using the Orthodox Church to undermine his country's independence, NATO membership, and aspirations to join the European Union; the agency notes that Belgrade and Moscow have denied the allegations.
Metropolitan Onufriy already participated in a similar anti-government rally in Podgorica on February 27. In January, a delegation of the UOC-MP led by Bishop Victor (Kotsaba) of Baryshiv and the Deputy Head of the Department for External Church Relations of the UOC-MP, Archpriest Mykolai Danylevych, also rallied against the government of Montenegro, along with the Serbian Church.
Thus, the hierarchs of the UOC-MP became the first foreign clergyman to join the protests of the Montenegrin opposition for two months. Opponents of the country's authorities, with the support of Belgrade and Moscow, claim that a new law on freedom of religion, adopted by the Parliament of Montenegro last December, is directed against the Serbian Orthodox Church and that the purpose of this law is to seize the assets of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro.
On the eve of Onufriy's visit to Montenegro, the canonical Local Orthodox Church of Ukraine pointed out that “the autocephalous Ukrainian Orthodox Church respects the canonical order and does not interfere with matters concerning Montenegro, and equally expects respect for the canonical issues that relate to Ukraine, while Metropolitan Onufriy of the Russian Orthodox Church in Kyiv Onufrii and other bishops of the Moscow Patriarchate invited to Montenegro do not represent the Ukrainian Church.
The Embassy of Ukraine in Montenegro also stressed that Metropolitan Onufriy, as hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, is not authorized to express an opinion on behalf of the majority of Orthodox Ukraine and the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, but, "commenting on the domestic affairs of Montenegro, he endangers the friendly relations of the Ukrainian people."
The new Montenegrin law, against which the Serbian Church is protesting, among other things, stipulates that religious organizations will have to prove their right to the property they owned until 1918, otherwise it becomes state property. It was between 1918 and 1920 that the autocephalous Montenegrin Orthodox Church, which had existed before but was absorbed by the Serbian Orthodox Church, was liquidated; thus, the SOC would not be able to prove its right to the property that belonged to the MOC that year.
The Montenegrin Orthodox Church has recently been restored, but it currently has no canonical status and has not been recognized by universal Orthodoxy. About a third of Orthodox Montenegrins consider themselves its faithful; about two-thirds further consider themselves the faithful of the Serbian Orthodox Church.