The MThA student took part in a round table on the TV channel “SPAS”

Since the end of December 2019 mass prayer processions have been held in the cities of Montenegro encouraged by the Montenegro-Coastal Metropolis of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Being used to celebrate big religious holidays with such processions, in this particular case the Christians take part in them to express their strong disagreement with the Act which has already come into effect. This legal document discriminates against the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro and threatens to nationalize its canonical property.

On March 11 a round table discussion was hosted by the program "Re: action" on the TV channel “Spas”. It was aimed as a response to the enactment of the law and the current state of affairs in Montenegro. The discussion was attended by a second-year student of the Moscow Theological Academy Nikolay Sapsai who spoke with the blessing of the bishop of Moravia Anthony (Pantelich), Representative of the Serbian Patriarch at the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.

Acting as a representative of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Nikolai Sapsai told about a current situation in Montenegro after the enactment of the Freedom and religion Act. He emphasized that those processions are aimed to preserve shrines, churches and monasteries which make the origins of Serbian identity on the canonical territory of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

During the discussion, participants heard the statements of the Metropolitan of Montenegro-Costal Amphilochius (Radovic) about the prayer processions, as well as words of support from His Beatitude Metropolitan Onufriy said after his recent visit to Montenegro.

At the end of the discussion, guests expressed their hope that this program would make a small contribution, which would draw public attention to the prayer processions and remind of the importance of our spiritual support to the Orthodox Christians in Montenegro.

Background information: 

The round table discussion was also attended by hieromonk Ignatius (Shestakov), Resident of the Moscow Sretensky Monastery and the editor of the website Orthodoxy.ru; Boro Dzhukich, Honorary Consul of Russia in Montenegro; E.Yu. Guskova, PhD. in History, Head of the Modern Balkan Crisis Study Center and the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences.