A great man is one who collects knowledge the way a bee collects honey and uses it to help people overcome the difficulties they endure - hunger, ignorance and disease!
- Nikola Tesla

Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.
- Franklin Roosevelt

While their territory has been devastated and their homes despoiled, the spirit of the Serbian people has not been broken.
- Woodrow Wilson

December 30, 2019

The Honorable Donald J. Trump
President of the United States of America
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President,

It is a privilege to greet you at Christmastide on behalf of the Bishops in the United States of America, members of the Episcopal Council of the Serbian Orthodox Church in North, Central and South America, praying that this appeal finds you well at the dawn of a New Year and New Decade.

Relative to the enclosed Communiqué, we call to your urgent attention the blatant abuse of Religious Freedom and the right to own property in the Republic of Montenegro. Following the passing of the “Law on Freedom of Religion or Beliefs and Legal Status of Religious Communities” by the Parliament of Montenegro, brutal confrontation has been used against peaceful Orthodox Christian protestors, who are merely attempting to shield their sacred shrines from hostile takeover.

Libertyville-Chicago, December 27, 2019

Concerning the latest developments in Montenegro, regarding the adoption of the draft Law on Freedom of Religion or Belief, and the Legal Status of Religious Communities, the Episcopal Council of the Serbian Orthodox Church in North, Central and South America forwards its support to the Orthodox Church in Montenegro, headed by its hierarchs.

The law by which representatives of the authorities in Montenegro intend to forcibly confiscate churches and monasteries and their properties from the Metropolitanate and Dioceses of the Serbian Orthodox Church violates the historic right of their owners, first and foremost the Orthodox Dioceses in Montenegro, to their centuries-old sanctuaries.

Our Episcopal Council functions in the countries of North, Central and South America, in which such laws, as resorted to by the Montenegrin authorities, are considered violations of human and religious rights given they do not conform to the standards of modern democratic states, and contradict the recommendations of the Venice Commission.

Belgrade, December 25, 2019.

As regards the latest developments in Montenegro relating to the announced adoption of the draft Law on Freedom of Religion or Belief and Legal Status of Religious Communities, the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church hereby expresses its support to the archbishops, clergy, monasticism and faithful people of the dioceses: Montenegro and the Littoral, Budimlje-Niksic, Mileseva and Zahumlje-Herzegovina, to continue defending their religious rights in Montenegro, encouraged by the power of the Holy Spirit and the prayerful representation of the saints of our own kin.

As already stated in the official statement of the Holy Assembly of Bishops, we now reiterate that we are against the draft Law by which representatives of the authorities in Montenegro want to forcibly take away churches and monasteries and the belonging properties from the Metropolitanate and Dioceses of the Serbian Orthodox Church, and whose provisions would abolish the inalienable right of every individual to freedom of religion and conscience.

November 13, 2019

ORTHODOX METROPOLITANATE OF MONTENEGRO AND THE LITTORAL
LEGAL COUNCIL

to the

GOVERNMENT OF MONTENEGRO
PRIME MINISTER DUŠKO MARKOVIĆ
PODGORICA

Remarks to the Proposed Law on Freedom of Religion or Belief and Legal Status of Religious Communities in Montenegro

We submit Remarks with appropriate proposals to the Proposed Law on Freedom of Religion or Belief and Legal Status of Religious Communities in Montenegro, defined by the Government of Montenegro on its 121st session on May 16, 2019.

We point out in particular that competent Ministry of Human and Minority Rights and the Government of Montenegro neither before defining the Draft Law on Freedom of Religion in 2015, nor from 2015 until defining the Proposed Law on Freedom of Religion or Belief and Legal Status of Religious Communities in 2019 initiated a public, permanent and institutional dialogue with the Church and religious communities in Montenegro on this very important social issue.

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