Serbian Patriarch Irinej: Religious Leader or Political Cheerleader? - Balkan Insight

April 07, 2019 at 11:23PM

The church has history.

During opposition protests against Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic in March 1991, Irinej's predecessor, Patriarch Pavle, at one point called on the demonstrators to go home. There was an immediate backlash, and on the very next day Pavle apologised and said he had been manipulated by the ministry of religions and that he had wanted to avert violence.

Patriarch Pavle was much more careful in the public statements from that moment on.

During the 1996/97 student protests against Milosevic, Pavle sent a public message blessing the participants for their "dignified" methods and led a religious walk tat resulted in the removal of a police cordon, an event many consider marked a new era in relations between Milosevic and the Serbian Orthodox Church.

Patriarch Pavle was a humble man beloved by the people. No one could blackmail him. Irinej is different. Vucic knows this, but does not want to create tension with the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

The Serbian authorities and the country's Orthodox Church are poles apart on the major issues facing the government. The Church opposes Serbia's accession to the European Union, which is Vucic's stated policy, and is against the partition of Kosovo, let alone its recognition by Serbia.

Vucic has mooted the possibility of splitting Kosovo in two, with Serbia taking a small northern slice populated mainly by Serbs. On November 7, 2018, the Holy Assembly of Bishops – the highest authority of the Serbian Orthodox Church – said that the integrity and sovereignty of Serbia within Kosovo must not be compromised at any cost.

Vucic responded with a question: "Where is our military, our people, and what territory do we control? How can we protect that?"

Four months and millions of euros in donations later, the tensions had dissipated.

Vucic 'fighting like a lion'

It is worth noting that statements released by the Serbian Orthodox Church are far stronger than what Irinej himself says publicly. Such official statements directly contradict government policy, while Irinej has nothing but praise for Vucic.

In early 2018, Irinej made a remark unprecedented in its praise of a political leader in Serbia.

"People can say this and that, but we see how much the president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, is fighting to save Kosovo and Metohija," he said. "We thank the Lord for bestowing upon us such a man to fight like a lion for the Serbian people."

This 'marriage of convenience' between Irinej and Vucic cannot be looked upon with approval by everyone within the Serbian Orthodox Church.

I refer, primarily, to Metropolitan Amfilohije, the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church in neighbouring Montenegro, who, after the signing of the 2013 Brussels Agreement on normalising relations between Serbia and Kosovo, performed a funeral service for the Serbian government. It was attended by a number of bishops and lower-ranking clergy.

Reporters from the internet portal 'Juzne vesti' noted that priests Miomir Jevtic and Bogosav Stankovic were among those who attended protests against Vucic's government in Nis.

The priests said the Serbian people had been wronged and were living in poverty. "The Church has always stood by the people," they said.

Milenko Vasovic is a well-known Serbian journalist and an editor.

The opinions expressed in the Comment section are those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect the views of BIRN.