Montenegrin Orthodox Church
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The Montenegrin Orthodox Church (MOC) is an officially recognized church in Montenegro which claims to be the sole legitimate Orthodox church of Montenegro. The MOC is still internationally unrecognized and its status is contested by the Serb Orthodox Church (SOC).
It is led by the Archbishop of Cetinje and Montenegrin Metropolitan Mihailo Miraš Dedeić. At the general Montenegrin people's assembly in Cetinje on January 6, 1997, he was chosen by traditional public acclamation the Head of the Montenegrin Orthodox Church. In the Church of St. Paraskeva in Sophia, on March 15, 1998, he was ordained to Episcope by Bulgarian Patriarch Pimen and seven Metropolitans and Episcopes of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. He was enthroned to Metropolitan of Montenegrin Orthodox Church in Cetinje on October 31, 1998, in the presence of several thousands of believers and followers of Montenegrin Orthodox Church.
Mihailo is a defrocked priest of the Orthodox Church of Constantinople. The MOC claims to be the true and sole descendant of the church which was established in Montenegro in the 13th century, when Montenegrins were converted to Eastern Orthodoxy.
The Montenegrin Church currently holds its services in at least two dozen churches in the area of Montenegro's former royal capital Cetinje [1] (http://www.moc-cpc.org/saopstenja/s000804_l.htm) [2] (http://www.montenegro.org.au/cgcrkve.jpg).
![[2]](http://www.montenegro.org.au/cgcrkve.jpg){kind=link}
The Montenegrin Church maintains that the Serbian Orthodox Church - following the annexation of Montenegro by Serbia - in early 20th century usurped the sacral movables and immovables in Montenegro.
MOC claims support from abroad, however it has not managed to build a single shrine in North America, South America, Australia and Western Europe, all home to important Montenegrin émigré communities, many of whom support the SOC. Seven Slavic Muslims in Chicago have also expressed their support for the autocephalists [3] (http://www.montenet.org/mnews/fadil.htm).
According to the MOC, the present Montenegrin Metropolitanate of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC), headed by Metropolitan Amfilohije for quite some time, exists in Montenegro only around eight decades, "or to be more precise, it has been there since 1920 when it was established as a structural and integral part of the Serbian Patriarchy in doctrinal, legal and organizational sense". The MOC maintains that the SOC Metropotanate was installed in Montenegro only after the autocephalous Montenegrin Orthodox Church was dissolved in 1920 "against the constitution and canon law".
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 group without theological purpose and only a political purpose. Antonije Abramović who was the first leader of the church in 1993 was reportedly the protégé of the independist Liberal Alliance of Montenegro. Currently, the MOC and the SOC have received equal status in relations with the independence-minded Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Đukanović and his Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro and from Social-Democratic Party of Montenegro. The Liberals' support faded since the replacement of the late Antonije Abramović by Dedeić.
External links
- Montenegrin Orthodox Church - Crnogorska Pravoslavna Crkva (http://www.moc-cpc.org/)
- One faith, two churches: CNN.com article (http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2000/kosovo/notebook/0127/)fr:Église orthodoxe monténégrine