Why Does the Election in Montenegro Affect Us All?
28. Jun NGO – 25/8/20
The Serbian Orthodox Church has protected the culture, language, alphabet, independence and freedom of the Serbian people for 1,000 years. Borders changed, enemies came and went, empires rose and fell, but She remained immovable. Our Church made us autonomous, our Church made us spiritually unconquerable. 500 years of impalings by the Ottomans, five years of Nazi extermination camps and a 78-day depleted uranium shower by NATO brought not submission, but countless halos of martyrdom which now adorn the walls of our churches.
Brothers & Sisters, Montenegro is under occupation. A serpentine government seeks to dismantle our Holy Places and eradicate all traces of our culture. A continuous, 1,000-year river of our blood, is the spiritual foundation of our churches and monasteries. To sit idle at this pivotal moment and not defend our hallowed and blessed Holy Sites, is to dishonour the sacrifice of our people, it is to disgrace our history of freedom and it will be a permanent and unwashable stain on our generation.
As physical testaments to both our history and continued existence, from Prijedor to Pakrac, from Paracin to Podujevo, from Pittsburgh to Podgorica, our Churches must be protected. Our clergy is only human and vulnerable to mishaps, but the Serbian Orthodox Church is the unflawed soul of our Nation. An attack on her, anywhere in the world, is an attack on each and every one of us, everywhere in the world. Our spiritual freedom is non-negotiable, it is our sacred duty to protect it by any means.
As an international humanitarian organization in Consultative Status with the UN, 28. Jun can’t officially endorse the statement by our founder Filip Filipi, but many of our members feel it is important to protect the religious and cultural freedoms of all minorities in the Western Balkans.
