Montenegrin schismatics want to serve in the ancient residence of the SOC metropolitans

The canonically unrecognized Montenegrin Orthodox Church (MCOC) turned to the municipal authorities, on whose balance the Cetinje Monastery is located, with a request to allow them to serve in the monastery.

At the moment, the Monastery of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, built in the 15th century, is the seat of the Montenegrin-Littoral Metropolis of the canonical Serbian Orthodox Church.

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As a PolitNavigator correspondent reports, the non-canonical “Montenegrin Orthodox Church”, operating in the country in the status of a public organization, in the person of its leader, expelled from the SOC and anathematized by the defrocked Patriarch of Constantinople, Mirasha “Metropolitan Michael” Dedeić, appealed to the municipal authorities of the city of Cetinje.

“We submitted a request to the municipal authorities of Cetinje asking them to allow us to serve in the Cetinje monastery because it is their property,” Dedeić said. “We expect that they will allow us, and that the throne of St. Peter of Cetinje will finally return to the Montenegrin Orthodox Church, because this is the spiritual support of the Montenegrin state.”

Church property, according to the main schismatic, is illegally registered with the Serbian Orthodox Church, was acquired from a position of force, abuse of political power, illegally and is not the legal property of the canonical church.

“This is Montenegrin cultural heritage. The property consists of more than 12 square kilometers of land and almost 650 churches and monasteries. The authorities must return it to state ownership and allow the clergy of the Montenegrin church to serve on the altars of our churches until the Montenegrin church issue is resolved in a fair manner and the Montenegrin church receives state status,” Dedeić said.

Previously, a group of residents of Cetinje - parishioners of the schismatic ChOC, sent a petition to the city mayor's office with a request to transfer the famous monastery of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary to the non-canonical Montenegrin Orthodox Church.

Mirash Dedeich was originally a priest of the SOC, but because of his moral qualities he was defrocked, and in addition his wife left him. The sufferer was sheltered by the Patriarchate of Constantinople, which sent him to serve in Rome, but even there he did not find anything better than to lead a riotous lifestyle and get close to Catholics, after which he was recalled and sent to the state.

In the early 90s, a forgotten ordinary priest was invited to the schismatic structure of the Montenegrin Orthodox Church, and after the death of its head he was called to a leadership position. For this purpose, schismatics from the “Macedonian Orthodox Church” tonsured him as a monk, and other schismatics - representatives of the parallel BOC - the “Bulgarian Synod”, elevated him to the dignity of metropolitan. Such movements outraged the Ecumenical Patriarchate. As a result, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople anathematized Dedeich, who began to be called “Metropolitan Michael.” In response, the scandalous and quarrelsome “Primate of the Czech Orthodox Church” called him a “Turkish patriarch”, which is not a decree for a real Montenegrin.

Lately, however, Mirash Dedejic speaks of Bartholomew with respect, expecting that the President of Montenegro Milo Djukanovic, who has repeatedly stated that his country and people need “its own Church,” will be able to persuade the Ecumenical Patriarch to give the Montenegrin schismatics a tomos on the Ukrainian model.