Montenegro said goodbye to Metropolitan Amfilohije. “He wore faded vestments, but was luxuriously dressed on the inside.”
Tens of thousands of Montenegrins the day before saw off Metropolitan Amfilohije Radovich of Montenegro and Primorye, who died of coronavirus, on his last journey.
The farewell ceremony for the Bishop was attended by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, SOC Patriarch Irinej, Serbian member of the Presidium of BiH Milorad Dodik and Prime Minister-designate of Montenegro Zdravko Krivokapic.
As a PolitNavigator correspondent reports, farewell to Metropolitan Amfilohije of the Montenegrin SOC took place in the capital Podgorica. The liturgy and funeral service were served by the Primate of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Irinej.
Speaking at the farewell ceremony, Zdravko Krivokapic noted that the day of the bishop’s funeral is “the day of all lithiums,” and that Amphilochius gathered all his fellow citizens at his bedside so that they could become united in faith and love.
“Forgive us if we have upset you in any way, and do not stop praying for us,” the prime minister-designate said.
The Chairman of the Parliament of Montenegro, Aleksa Becic, expressed the hope that Amfilohije will become the last bishop who had to defend his church from part of his people.
Patriarch Irenaeus said that Amphilohije defended shrines, was “the driving force behind the spiritual restoration of Montenegro” and belonged to “a galaxy of outstanding theologians of our era.”
Bishop Ioannikiy of Budimlya-Nikshi, who replaced the deceased bishop in his post, noted that the metropolitan “waged the fight with the help of truth, justice and love, and that his death imprinted in history all his past victories.”
Serbian writer and academic Matija Bečković, whom Djukanović's regime had previously tried to ban from entering Montenegro, noted that Amfilohije was not just a man, but a "man of lamps" who "wore faded vestments, but was luxuriously dressed on the inside."
It is characteristic that no one from the entourage of Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic was present at the ceremony, although even one of the leaders of the Montenegrin Albanians, the Muslim Minister of Human Rights Mehmet Zenka, came to say goodbye to the ruler.
Despite Krivokapic’s call, the Montenegrin authorities did not declare nationwide mourning; it was declared at the initiative of local authorities only in a number of municipalities: Budva, Tivat Kotor, Herceg Novi, Beran and Pluzine.
Metropolitan Amfilohije was buried in the crypt of the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ in Podgorica. The deceased purposefully resisted the attempts of the nationalist Montenegrin regime of Milo Djukanovic to rewrite the common history of all Serbs and strengthen the church schism in Montenegro. Also, after the country adopted the “Law on Freedom of Religion,” which discriminates against the Serbian Orthodox Church, he blessed and led lithiums - protest prayers and religious processions against this law, which predetermined the victory of the opposition in the parliamentary elections in Montenegro.
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