The MnOC describes itself as the successor to the historic Montenegrin Orthodox Church, which was abolished in 1920, and which its supporters claim, existed as a separate, autocephalous body before Montenegro was forcibly incorporated into union with the Kingdom of Serbia at the end of World War I.
Supporters of this claim also cite historical documents, including the Montenegrin Orthodox Church’s founding documents such as its 1903 constitution, which states that the Church is autocephalous.
A body using the same name was founded in October 1993, as Yugoslavia started to dissolve. But it is still not recognised by any of the other Orthodox churches. And it has struggled, especially since the 2020 elections and change of government and the subsequent signing of the “Fundamental Agreement” between the Montenegrin government and the Serbian Orthodox Church, which has cemented the Serbian Church’s dominance over Montenegrin religious life.
The breakaway Montenegrin Church relied heavily on the former ruling Democratic Party of Socialists, DPS, and on state support before 2020, Marko Vekovic, Associate Professor of Religion and Politics at the University of Belgrade, commented.
“The DPS backed and instrumentalised the MnOC to counter what it saw as Serbian influence through the Serbian Orthodox Church, especially in culture, tradition, and even politics, thus making the SOC a focal point of identity in Montenegro,” he told BIRN.
He added: “The Montenegrin state and DPS support allowed the MnOC to mask its two biggest and important weaknesses – a lack of clergy and very low membership numbers.”
A precise estimate of the number of MnOC adherents is unobtainable, as no official records exist and it is subject to various interpretations.
The Church has also suffered from a damaging internal dispute about its leader, making any such assessment even harder. The 2024 Christmas Yule Log, or badnjak celebration descended into scuffles between supporters of Metropolitan Mihailo (Dedeic), who has headed the Church since 1997, and Metropolitan Boris (Bojovic), who has claimed the same title since September 2023, further splitting the already small community of believers into two rival factions, each recognising a different claimant to the church’s top leadership.
Metropolitan Boris told BIRN that gaining autocephaly is a process, and that his Church will “follow the Mother Church, the Ecumenical Patriarchate, in everything”.
Asked whether autocephaly was a current goal for the Church, he answered that it was not just a goal but a “necessity”, because “through the actions of the Church of Serbia, and from the altars that our ancestors erected, assimilationist and openly hostile actions are being taken against the Montenegrin nation, Church and language.
“We are obliged to strongly strengthen the conditions for the promotion of our [Montenegrin] spiritual and ecclesiastical identity and uniqueness,” he added.
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