Patriarch Porfirije of Serbia and the Prime Minister of Montenegro Dritan Abazović signed the Fundamental Agreement between the Orthodox Church of Serbia and Montenegro on August 3, 2022, in Podgorica.
The signing of the Fundamental Agreement was attended by the members of the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church of Serbia: Metropolitan Joanikije of Montenegro, and the Bishops Vasilije of Srem and Photije of Zvornik-Tuzla.
The Bishops who have canonical jurisdiction on the territory of Montenegro were also present:
Atanasije of Milesev, Metodije of Budimlja-Nikšić, and Dimitrije of Zahum-Herzegovina, as well as the Archimandrite of the Holy Synod of Bishops, the Vice-President of the Government, Vladimir Joković, and the Ministers of Human and Minority Rights, Fatmir Đeka, the Minister of Health, Dragoslav Šćekić, and the Minister of Finance, Aleksandar Damjanović.
“I am grateful to God today, grateful to you, Prime Minister, for all the efforts you and your colleagues have made to solemnly conclude and sign the Fundamental Agreement between the State of Montenegro and the Orthodox Church of the Republic of Serbia”, said Patriarch Porfirije.
Then the Patriarch stated: “I can also say that I am grateful to those who did not agree that we should come to this moment, but who, in their own way, perhaps unconsciously, helped us to realize how important it is to understand each other.”
“What is true for our Church and for all the faithful is also true for all religious communities here in Montenegro. We struggle as a Church wherever we are, if there are problems when it comes to other religious communities”, underlined the Patriarch.
“We always fight together for the rights of this religious community, so that these rights are respected and enjoyed to the same extent as those we expect for ourselves”, stressed the Patriarch of Serbia.
