Podgorica's attacks on the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) are part of a bigger problem of Montenegro attempting to create a new national identity based on Serbophobia, Serbian Ambassador to Russia Miroslav Lazanski told Sputnik in an interview
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd June, 2020) Podgorica's attacks on the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) are part of a bigger problem of Montenegro attempting to create a new national identity based on Serbophobia, Serbian Ambassador to Russia Miroslav Lazanski told Sputnik in an interview.
A long-standing strife between Podgorica and the Montenegrin branch of the SPC took a new turn in mid-May as police in the city of Niksic arrested a Serbian bishop and eight priests who led a religious procession despite a ban on public gatherings in light of the coronavirus pandemic.
"The problem is Montenegro attempting to create a new national identity based on Serbophobia, which is very sad ... Serbia categorically stresses that it is ready to provide material assistance, as well as to engage certain judicial bodies in assisting the Serbian Orthodox Church, but now the question arises as to what can be done and what Russia can do," the ambassador said.
On its end, Russia can "make statements on this issue," the diplomat opined, adding that the Russian Orthodox Church has "repeatedly commented on developments in Montenegro."
Lazanski expressed hope that the situation would calm down and common sense prevailed in this case.
Last December, the Montenegrin parliament adopted a law on nationalizing property of religious entities should they fail to prove the right to ownership before 1918, the year when Montenegro ceased being independent. The SPC, which is followed by the overwhelming majority of Montenegro's predominantly Orthodox Christian population, claimed that Podgorica pursued to seize its assets, such as ancient monasteries and temples, and give them to the noncanonical Montenegrin Orthodox Church all to weaken the SPC's influence in the country.
