Montenegro and Serbia reach an agreement

(Pravmir) - His Holiness Patriarch Porfirije and Montenegrin Prime Minister Dritan Abazović signed the Basic Agreement between the Serbian Orthodox Church and Montenegro today, August 3, 2022, in Podgorica, reports the website of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

This agreement will protect the property of Montenegrin dioceses of the SOC. According to it, Montenegro guarantees the Serbian Church and her legal entities public and legal powers in accordance with the Orthodox canons and the Charter of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

According to Balkanist, the agreed working version consists of 20 chapters and, among other things, assumes that a commission of representatives of the two parties will determine the real and movable property that should be returned to the ownership of the Church or for which the state will provide her with fair compensation.

In addition, “the parties confirm that the Serbian Orthodox Church and [the state] of Montenegro – each in its own field of activity – are independent and autonomous and undertake to fully observe this principle in their mutual relations.”