Written by Đorđe Šćepović
As each religious holiday approaches, Jovan makes an appearance. Like clockwork. Predictably. And true to form, his Easter message didn’t disappoint – or surprise. As always, Jovan Mićović doesn’t serve Christ. He serves the cause of Greater Serbian nationalism.
His political sermons to the faithful have never really carried much weight, not even among the most devoted followers of the so-called “Svetosavlje” doctrine. Simply put, Jovan is no Amfilohije. At least Amfilohije had a knack for turning his political and pseudo-religious performances into something… memorable. With Jovan, everything feels forced.
Even the hatred he spews in every public statement is as flimsy as a dandelion—easily blown away by the next piece of news. Whether it’s the weather, traffic, or Milojko Spajić’s outfit, which, according to Pobjeda’s ever-diligent coverage of life’s burning issues, earned top marks!
If it weren’t for dapper Milojko, maybe Jovan Mićović and his brand of hate would last about as long as one of Ana Brnabić’s blunders. And yet, the fact that Mićović has never been a true authority—not even to the clergy under his hierarchy—doesn’t mean he gets to invent Njegoš’s “final wishes” or excuse and downplay crimes.
What he presents as an Easter greeting is, in reality, a thinly veiled political rant. Mićović calls for the restoration of the so-called Njegoš Chapel, a chapel that wasn’t Njegoš’s at all, but one built by the Karađorđević dynasty. And, of course, he rolls out the usual anti-communist tirade – never mind that high-ranking clergy once worked as informants for communist secret services.
I can’t say for certain whether Mićović was one of them, but the leading promoter of hate and champion of the “Svetosavlje” ideology, Jovan Markuš, certainly was – a former senior official in the League of Communists of Yugoslavia. As were many now-disgraced Serbian politicians in Montenegro, all former Party members.
Beyond the recycled talking points about the Karađorđević chapel, Mićović ends his speech with a beauty pageant-style wish for world peace. He even offers his blessing to “those who have begun dialogue toward a just peace in Ukraine and Palestine”.
According to Mićović, the aggression against Ukraine and the genocide of Ukrainians are the result of “violence against clergy, seizure of churches, desecration of holy sites,” and other alleged forms of suffering endured by the “canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church.” Once all of that stops, he claims, a “just peace” will follow.
We’ve all heard this narrative before – persecuted clergy, stolen churches, and so-called “canonical” religious institutions.
These same shameless fabrications were employed by Serbian Orthodox priests to justify the Srebrenica genocide in 1995. Now, in 2025, the genocide of Ukrainians is being framed as a consequence of violence against clergy. And the ongoing genocide Israel is committing against Palestinians? That’s dismissed as a tragic misunderstanding – something out of a Greek tragedy.
And what exactly is Jovan Mićović talking about when he speaks of “canons” and “schismatics”? This is the same Jovan Mićović who, as Antena M has already reported, was baptized as an adult in the Macedonian Orthodox Church – a church whose autocephaly the Serbian Orthodox Church doesn’t even recognize.
While Mićović lectures us on canon law and Christ, the URA party lectures us on the Constitution and patriotism. Yes, the same URA that, in violation of the Constitution, handed over Montenegrin churches to Mićović and his patrons in Belgrade through the so-called Fundamental Agreement. Velika Plaža (the Great Beach) is worth more than Montenegro’s sacred heritage – so much so that former Minister Novaković now mourns the “laws trampled underfoot”.
But who was it that trampled Montenegro underfoot in 2020? Who brought the country to its knees?
All this while Prime Minister Spajić, looking sharp and well-groomed, cracks jokes with MPs in the Montenegrin Parliament, and his party loyalists grin and chuckle during presentations by civic activists. Meanwhile, President Jakov Milatović personally meets with a Vijesti journalist who has received a threat.
But what about journalists who don’t work for regime-aligned media? What about those targeted by prosecutors and the Special State Prosecutor’s Office? What about Danica Nikolić, for example, who has been receiving death threats from criminals for years? Actual notes left for her, warning that she’ll suffer if she keeps writing?
Are some journalists more “equal” than others in this supposedly free and democratic Montenegro? Is the life of an independent journalist worth less than that of one aligned with the regime? Are Vijesti above everyone else?
Vijesti, who write in such touching, tender tones about “religious studies students from the Church of St. George, quietly decorating Easter eggs on Good Friday under the watchful eye of their catechist”.
Truly a lovely literary passage. Truly, Montenegro has risen from the darkness of DPS tyranny.
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