A Liturgy for a Crime: The Serbian Orthodox Church and Institutions in the Service of Ideological Revisionism

Non-governmental organizations and civic activists warn that today’s “consecration” of a monument to Pavle Đurišić, erected on private property in the village of Gornje Zaostro near Berane, constitutes a trampling of the institutional order of Montenegro. The blessing of this moral downfall was given by the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC), through a liturgy led by Metropolitan Metodije of Budimlje-Nikšić, thereby demonstrating the Church’s dominance over institutions and formal decision-makers. 

This act is not only an attempt to rewrite historical facts, but a direct attack on the anti-fascist foundations of modern Montenegro and an effort to normalize ideologies that left a bloody trail throughout the region’s history. Pavle Đurišić was not a “hero,” but a notorious commander responsible for mass atrocities against civilians, particularly Muslims in the areas of Bijelo Polje, Pljevlja, Foča, and Čajniče.

What is particularly concerning is that the SOC continues to act as an open promoter of the extreme right. Metropolitan Metodije’s statement that the monument will be “placed in the church” if it is removed is not merely a provocation, but a blatant abuse of religious platforms for narrow political and ideological goals. With this, the Church once again aligns itself not with morality and basic human dignity, but with the dark forces of history.

The symbolism of this event is chilling – a monument erected without permission, the iconography of the Chetnik movement, individuals in uniforms and shirts glorifying collaboration with fascism. All of it, under clerical blessing and in the silence of institutions and public officials.

Placing a monument to a war criminal on private property does not erase its public message. On the contrary, it amplifies it. When institutions remain silent and when local authorities negotiate with fascist sympathizers instead of enforcing the law, the message is clear: extremism and Chetnik ideology are welcome today, while anti-fascism is not. Once again, we see that not everyone in Montenegro is equal before the law, and that institutions retreat in the face of threats from the powerful.

We strongly protest the fact that institutions allowed an all-day Chetnik spectacle, songs, celebrations, and tributes to a criminal. This is a defeat of the rule of law in the face of extremism. We once again call on the competent institutions to respond urgently – to permanently remove this monument to hatred and violence, to investigate and sanction the abuse of religious space, and to put an end to any attempt to normalize extremism through quasi-religion, myth-making, and pseudo-patriotism. This call is especially directed at the local authorities in Berane, the Ministry of Culture and Media, the Police Administration, the Supreme State Prosecutor’s Office, as well as all other responsible institutions and actors.

We are fully convinced that the majority in Montenegro do not support the rehabilitation of war criminals known for mass killings, and we will never accept the normalization of narratives that promote crimes and hatred.