Now military personnel are not even allowed to go to church.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Montenegro suddenly found out that many soldiers and even officers support the canonical Serbian Orthodox Church, which the authorities of the country are persistently trying to survive.
This was reported by the Serbian editorial office of News Front.
At the General Staff meeting, the information received from the intelligence services of the Montenegrin Ministry of Defense was discussed. The fact is that the soldiers were seen at protests against the scandalous law on religious freedom, which legitimizes local dissenters from the unrecognized formation “Montenegrin Orthodox Church. According to the available data, the intelligence is now trying to identify the military personnel who went against the will of the authorities.
At the same time, Chief of General Staff Dragutin Dakich made an extremely radical decision to stop such incidents. Now the military will be forbidden not only to participate in protest actions, but also to attend prayers in churches of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Violators of this decision will be dismissed. In addition, soldiers of the Montenegrin army have been ordered to influence their families to dissuade them from supporting the SPCA.
According to Dakic, all those who support the canonical church are in fact attacking the constitutional order and sovereignty of Montenegro. This is how he explained his ban on the military.
The situation in Montenegro
At the end of last year, the Parliament of Montenegro supported a law on religious freedom. However, the democratic name conceals the legitimization of the dissenting formation “Montenegrin Orthodox Church”.
Moreover, the document obliges the canonical Serbian Orthodox Church to “prove” its right to the temples belonging to it. Otherwise, the shrines will be transferred under the control of dissenters.
The scandalous measures taken by the authorities have provoked mass protests in the country, which continue to this day. Citizens are dissatisfied with the pressure on the SPC. On the other hand, this practice is actively supported in the USA. U.S. Ambassador Anthony Gordfrey has previously stated openly that the church schism is not a reason to panic.