Montenegrin Orthodox Church
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The Montenegrin Orthodox Church (MOC) is an officially recognized church in Montenegro that has been formally registered by the Montenegrin ministry of interior affairs as a religious movement on 17 January 2000, in line with the country's existent Law on the Legal Status of Religious Communities (Official Gazette of the Republic of Montenegro, No. 9/77, No. 26/77, and No. 32/88).
Opponents of the church claim that it is an internationally unrecognized religious group which wants to reclaim the position of Orthodox Church of Montenegro and wishes to create an autocephalous church in Montenegro, both of which is contested by the Serb Orthodox Church (SOC).
MOC believers and followers point out that throughout history, Montenegrin bishops were never appointed from Belgrade - but in St. Petersburg - up until the annexation of Montenegro by Serbia in 1918.
The MOC is led by the controversial Mira Dedeić, who claims the title of Mihailo, the Archbishop of Cetinje. The MOC claims to be rightful descendant of the church which was established in Montenegro in the 13th century, when Montenegrins were converted to Eastern Orthodoxy.
Mihailo has never [1] been a priest of the Serbian Orthodox Church, despite frequent claims to the contrary from anti-MOC circles.
The MOC is frequently forced to hold services in the open [2], until it is allowed to reclaim what it sees as its rightful ownership over the churches currentlz held bz the SOC. The Montenegrin Church maintains that the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC) - following the annexation of Montenegro by Serbia - in early 20th century usurped the sacral movables and immovables in Montenegro.
The Montenegrin Autocephalic Orthodox Church functioned independently until 1920. With the destruction of the Kingdom of Montenegro, the Church of Montenegro suffered the same fate. In 1920 the Montenegrin Orthodox Church was abolished uncanonically by King of Yugoslavia Alexander Karadjordjevic. Even after that, it continued to exist in some places abroad, for instance in Detroit, U. S. A., where in 1923, the Independent Montenegrin Orthdox Church Saint Vasilije Ostroski was still performing baptisms. The MOC claims that following King Alexander's decree all the Montenegrin monasteries, which guard the rich cultural heritage of the Montenegrin nation and state, have been in the possession of the Serbian Orthodox Church, which is accused by proponents of an independent Montenegrin church of being at the forefront of agressive assimilatory projects since the disintegration of Yugoslavia.
Circles close to the SOC point out that despite claims of support from abroad, the MOC has not managed to build a single shrine in North America, South America, Australia or Western Europe, all home to important Montenegrin émigré communities. The SOC takes this fact to be a signal of strong support for its legitimacy.
Nevertheless, these claims of strong support are not strongly founded as the MOC intends to reclaim around 600 shrines from the SOC back into its rightful posession, and has no intention of building a new parallel network of shrines.
Unlike the SOC, which has never distanced itself from the policies of ethnic cleansing against other ethnic groups in the Balkans, the MOC also has the support of Montenegrin citizens professing other religions (Catholicism and Islam), since they regard the preservation of Montenegro's cultural and national identity as vital for protecting their own national and civic interests in the republic and abroad. [3] (http://www.montenet.org/mnews/fadil.htm).
The church is allegedly made up of defrocked former Eastern Orthodox priests from Montenegro, Serbia and Republika Srpska. It claims to 600 Orthodox shrines in Montenegro and to the title of Metropolitan of Montenegro that is also held by Bishop Amfilohije who was appointed by the Serb Orthodox Church in Belgrade.
The Church claims support from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, and a less known Italian Orthodox Church[4] (http://www.ortodossia.it/). In Orthodox theological circles (such as the Russian or the Ecumenical patriarchy), it is instead seen as a purely political fabrication without any religious background.
Opponents accuse it of being a church without theological purpose and only a political purpose. Antonije Abramović was the first leader of the church in 1993 was reportedly the protégé of the independist Liberal Alliance of Montenegro.
On the other hand, followers of the MOC accuse the Serb Orthodox Church and its leaders in Montenegro of being a political puppet in the hands of the Serbian regime. The MOC sees Bishop Amfilohije as the former darling priest of accused war criminal and former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, as well as a key ideological ally of current Serbian nationalist Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica.
Currently, the Church's strongest support comes from its believers among Montenegrin citizens, while political support is mostly derived from all independence-minded parties in Montenegro, including Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Đukanović and his Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro. The Liberals' support faded since the replacement of the late Antonije Abramović by Dedeić.
