THE Serbian Orthodox Church has initiated an ecclesiastical court case against two prominent Serbian theologians, owing to their endorsement of student-led anti-corruption protests against the government. Both now face the possibility of excommunication.
Blagoje Pantelic and Vukašin Milicevic were summoned by the archbishopric of Belgrade & Karlovci, which is under the direct authority of Serbian Patriarch Porfirije. They were asked to give statements before any formal charges were made.
In an interview with the Church Times, Mr Pantelic, who works as an editor at a Serbian theology portal (teologija.net), said that the main reason for the case against him was his criticism of the “inappropriate political actions” of Patriarch Porfirije and other high-ranking clerics of the Serbian Orthodox Church, who “sided with the [Serbia’s President] Vucic regime” and disapproved of the student-led protests.
The months-long protests began after 16 people died when parts of a railway-station canopy collapsed in the northern city of Novi Sad last November. The protesters called for political accountability and fresh elections. Blockades of universities have also been held.
A fresh wave of protests took place last week across several cities, leading to violence and its escalation, as protesters clashed with the police and counter-protesters loyal to the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS). Arrests were made and several offices used by the SNS Party were damaged. Serbian media reported police use of tear gas to disperse the protests. Some reports suggested excessive use of force.
The Serbian Patriarch referred to the protests as “coloured revolution” — a term used to describe Western-backed support for regime change — when he met President Putin of Russia and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow in April.
Both Fr Milicevic and Mr Pantelic were greeted by a group of believers and students from the faculty of theology the day they gave their statements. Althought there has been no final ruling against either theologian, the Serbian Orthodox Church has already prohibited them from receiving communion.
Fr Milicevic, who, until recently, was an assistant professor at the Faculty of Theology in Belgrade, has been banned from carrying out priestly duties for several years because of his public appearances and open criticism of the Serbian Church. After making his statement, he dismissed the process as mere “theatrics”.
“There will be no real trial: it’s all a show. They will probably aim to strip me formally of my priesthood owing to my canonical status, and then probably move towards the most drastic canonical punishment, exclusion from the church community, because of my public statements,” the news channel N1 reported him saying.
Mr Pantelic complained that the court case against was already marred by “irregularities and violation of both the canons and the Serbian Orthodox Church Constitution”. The pressure was a way “to intimidate everyone in the Church who acts in accordance with the principles of the gospel and listens to their conscience”, he said.
“Those within the Serbian Orthodox Church know that if Patriarch Porfirije, by brutally dismantling the [Church’s] judicial institutions, eventually expels me from the church community, he will then be able to throw anyone out of the Church whenever he wishes.”
