Miraš Dedeic
Encyclopedia
Miraš Dedeić also known as Metropolitan Mihailo, (b. 8 November 1938 in Ramovo Ždrijelo, Zeta
, Yugoslavia
) is the head of the uncanonical Montenegrin Orthodox Church
since 1997. He has the self-styled title of Archbishop of Cetinje
and the Montenegrin
Metropolinate.
Besides his native language, Miraš Dedeić is fluent in Italian
, Russian
and Greek
, while he can also understand French
and translate Latin. He is a personal friend of the successor to the Italian throne Umberto II; he worked in Umberto's Archive in his villa in the tiny Portuguese
city of Cascais, searching for documents regarding Umberto's mother Helen (Jelena), Princess of Montenegro. Metropolitan Mihailo resides at Cetinje
.
, to Mlađen Dedeić and Saveta Delibašić. Dedeić's family is from Njegovuđe, but their ancestors, originally of the Drobnjak clan, moved to Dobrilovina in the early 16th century. On 20 November 1938 he was baptized by a Serbian Orthodox priest by the name of Niko Pavičić in the Church of Saint Transfiguration of Lord in the not far away village of Krš
. His godfather was Krsto Bajčeta. Miraš finished the elementary school in Tomaševo - Šahovići. At the age of 21, after World War II
, he joined the Seminary in Prizren
. He finished only two grades studying separately from normal class, today he claims he was forced to abandon education allegedly because he identified as a Montenegrin, and not a Serb. Instead, he finished the Real Classical High School of Prizren. He afterwards enrolled in the study of pedagogy
at the University of Priština, but always remained wishful for a theological life and asked the Episcop of Rashka-Prizren Pavle
of the Serbian Orthodox Church
for assistance, who gave him a blessing and he joined the Theological Faculty of the University of Belgrade
on 16 September 1965. He studied as an irregular student and finished exams under professor Čedomir Drašković. Dedeić graduated in 1969.
. Then's Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral Danilo Dajković was his opponent and was against this, managing to get him fired on 6 October 1970. Professor Čedo Drašković, whom he managed to befriend, sent him attend the Papal Oriental Institute in Rome
, which he finished on 23 June 1973. Metropolitan Danilo was against this, but prof Dr Ivan Žužek
, a known Catholic canonist, managed to defend him. The Metropolitan of the Montenegrin-Littoral Church was a critic of the Communist
regime and Cedomir Draskovic, who had remained close to the Communist Party. He also criticized Dedeic's poor school ratings. Dedeić submitted a doctorate request to a Slovenian professor at the college, Dr Leskovac, but he rejected Miraš's PhD application. After attempting the post-graduate studies at the Russian Spiritual Academy of Saint Serge in Zagorsky, he dropped them and then turned to Montenegro
.
Drašković managed to recommend him to work at the State Archive of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on 31 January 1975, and he is subsequently sent by an academician of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Vaso Čubrilović
and he set off to work for Director Mazayef. On 18 June 1975 he is given access to the Scedrin Library at Leningrad. Then he worked for the SANU Catheder for History as Cubrilovic employed him to collect data from the period between 16th and 18th centuries from the Archive of Trieste
. On 19 April 1982 Serbian academician Radovan Samardžić recommended him to the State Archive of Italy
and is employed by the Italian Foreign Ministry and works on the collection of sources in the Vatican Secret Archives
, the Archive of the Propaganda Fide and the Venetian Archive. In Italy he married Rosana, a medical nurse in an Elder Home, and moved in with her.
. On 30 June 1988 he was ordained a priest
in the Church of Holy Trinity in Vienna
by the hand of the Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Austria and Exarch of Italy and Hungary Hrizystom and spent almost the entire following decade as a Greek-Orthodox priest in Rome
. He managed to gather the Orthodox Serb community in Rome and found the Serbian-Orthodox Municipality in Rome. He secured the permission from the Ecumenical Patriarch Spiridon to hold liturgic service in the local Greek Church of Saint Andrew in Serbian
.
In 1991 he held a discussion with Croatian expert Dr Marin Kinel on Serbo-Croatian relations, in the outcome of the war. Miraš Dedeić became a proponent of Serbian nationalism, he magnified Slobodan Milošević
as the savior of the Serb people, reintegrating Kosovo
and Vojvodina
. He justified the assault of the Yugoslav People's Army
on Dubrovnik
and a historical Montenegrin right to it, as well as Italy's right to Istria
and Dalmatia
. He blamed the Croatian President Franjo Tuđman for outcome of conflict, calling him "The Balkan Hitler".
His wife caught him in an act of adultery with a younger woman than him, which led to their divorce, in which she attacked him by saying that he was the cavalier and women's charmer of Rome. After she kicked him out her apartment. Following various rumors about him, the Ecclesiastical Court suspended him of all priestly ordains for an undetermined period in 1994 on the proposition of Metropolitan Spiridon (approved, November 1995), the final point being creation of a Serb-Orthodox Municipality out of the Greek Orthodox Church as his personal domain.
On 16 May 1995 wrote to the Serbian Orthodox Metropolitan of Zagreb-Ljubljana and All of Italy Jovan to accept his service in the SOC, but his pleas were ignored.
in 1996, Sreten Perović introduced Miraš Dedeić to the Montenegrin Orthodox public and Dedeić expressed joy for the recreation of a MOC, explaining how he is angry at the horrible way the SOC treated him so far and particularly at his future prime opponent, Metropolitan Amfilohije of Montenegro and the Littoral. He was thus elected on a Montenegrin National Gathering on 6 January 1997 as the new head of the self-styled Montenegrin Orthodox Church by a crown of followers in Cetinje
and on 27 January 1997 he resigned from the GOC. The gathering featured far fewer people then from back the last time under his predecessor Antonije Abramovic, as back then it was a sign of a liberal struggle against the authoritarian regime of Momir Bulatović
, Milo Đukanović and Svetozar Marović
heavily influenced by the Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic. This was swiftly followed by his full-scale excommunication
and an anathema
from the community of the Eastern Orthodox Church
by decree of the Ecumenical Holy Synod on 9 April 1997.
In 1997 Djukanovic defeated pro-Serbian protege Bulatovic in presidential elections, leading to a change in treatment of the MOC. Dedeic managed to register his Church as a Non-governmental organization
in the Cetinje local police station. Soon afterwards in 1998 he was made a monk and archymandrite by the likewise unrecognized Macedonian Orthodox Church
, but it refused to give him the title of Bishop, in order to maintain good relations with the Serbian Orthodox Church, which its official part it is. Miras found it in the likewise uncanonical Bulgarian Alternative Orthodox Church
. The same year was made Bishop of Cetinje by the excommunicated Patriarch Pimen and seven Metropolitans and Episcops of his Church. On 23 November 1999 Mihailo attempted to do what his predecessor failed and submitted himself a request for official recognition as one of the religious communities in the Republic of Montenegro. After the request was again ignored, Dedeic brought the matter to the Courts, eventually winning the dispute and having the MOC officially registered on 17 January 2000. Leading his Church in communion with the uncannonical Orthodox Christian world, the Kiev
-based Ukrainian Orthodox Church; it was in communion with the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia
, however since 2006 it is within the process of restoration into the cannon Russian Orthodox Church
.
Miras Dedeic's appointment for head of the MOC was not without controversy. The Board for the Restoration of Autocephalousness of the Montenegrin Orthodox Church, a sovereignist NGO dedicated to returning a separate Montenegrin Church, did not approve it. Its president Dr Danilo Radojević was strictly against it, specifically because of Dedeic's controversies in Italy and Serb nationalist past. In 1999 the Montenegrin Orthodox Church received a Constitution under Michael, who subsequently proclaimed himself Archbishop of Cetinje. Support from the new directive Montenegrin authorities waned, and official Montenegro strictly separated itself from any support of the MOC, the country's President Filip Vujanović
explicitly defends the SOC's stand. Supported once only by the now disbanded Liberal Alliance of Montenegro
, MOC found political support in the reigning side within the Social Democratic Party of Montenegro
and the Croatian Civic Initiative
and the Liberal Party of Montenegro
in the opposition.
Since 2005 Michael headed the construction of the first MOC shrines in Montenegro, but also in Serbia
, where its supporter the "Crusader" Association of Ethnic Montenegrins is very active in Vojvodina
. At the 2006 referendum
Montenegro chose independence from its state union with Serbia
, Michael officially supporting the "Yes" option. After it the Church announced a new directive, laying claim to all Serbian Orthodox monasteries and churches in Montenegro built before 1918 and those built afterwards with funds achieved in Montenegro, leading to a greater conflict with the legal Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral. On 11 January 2007 the Church's organization came closer to completion, as a Holy Synod
was formed under Mihailo, and the territory of Montenegro was hierarchically split onto 5 Episcopates.
In 2007 Mihailo attempted to seize Beški from the SOC with a group of followers, after which he was sued by the Montenegrin Metropolitanate. Facing a trial at the local court of Bar
, he was found guilty of disturbance of peace, the appeal was rejected and he received a restraint order banning him approach to the Serbian Orthodox Church. The same year he attempted to seize the Metropolitanate's seat, the Cetinje Monastery
, with several hundred supporters. At the incident they clashed with the Montenegrin Police Forces which secured the monastery entry points on special order of the Government. Some of chants including those of Mihailo was interpreted as aggressive threats, while they were trying to brake in, and the event was sharply criticized by the public.
In 2008 the MOC wanted to register in Serbia, but was rejected, however the Serbian Supreme Court overruled the act deeming it unconstitutional. The conflict between the two religious groups in Montenegro again reached climate point when the local authorities of the Cetinje Municipality confiscated SOC property in Cetinje and granted it to the MOC.
Zeta Banovina
The Zeta Banovina or Zeta Banate was a province of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia between 1929 and 1941. This province consisted of all of the present-day Montenegro as well as adjacent parts of Central Serbia, Kosovo, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina...
, Yugoslavia
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a state stretching from the Western Balkans to Central Europe which existed during the often-tumultuous interwar era of 1918–1941...
) is the head of the uncanonical Montenegrin Orthodox Church
Montenegrin Orthodox Church
The Montenegrin Orthodox Church is an Orthodox Christian organization acting in Montenegro and Montenegrin emigration circles - e.g. the village of Lovćenac and the Montenegrin emigration colony in Argentina...
since 1997. He has the self-styled title of Archbishop of Cetinje
Cetinje
Cetinje , Цетиње / Cetinje , Italian: Cettigne, Greek: Κετίγνη, Ketígni) is a town and Old Royal Capital of Montenegro. It is also a historical and the secondary capital of Montenegro , with the official residence of the President of Montenegro...
and the Montenegrin
Montenegro
Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...
Metropolinate.
Besides his native language, Miraš Dedeić is fluent in Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
and Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
, while he can also understand French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and translate Latin. He is a personal friend of the successor to the Italian throne Umberto II; he worked in Umberto's Archive in his villa in the tiny Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
city of Cascais, searching for documents regarding Umberto's mother Helen (Jelena), Princess of Montenegro. Metropolitan Mihailo resides at Cetinje
Cetinje
Cetinje , Цетиње / Cetinje , Italian: Cettigne, Greek: Κετίγνη, Ketígni) is a town and Old Royal Capital of Montenegro. It is also a historical and the secondary capital of Montenegro , with the official residence of the President of Montenegro...
.
Early life
Miraš Dedeić was born on 8 November 1938 in the village Ramovo Ždrijelo in the Kingdom of YugoslaviaKingdom of Yugoslavia
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a state stretching from the Western Balkans to Central Europe which existed during the often-tumultuous interwar era of 1918–1941...
, to Mlađen Dedeić and Saveta Delibašić. Dedeić's family is from Njegovuđe, but their ancestors, originally of the Drobnjak clan, moved to Dobrilovina in the early 16th century. On 20 November 1938 he was baptized by a Serbian Orthodox priest by the name of Niko Pavičić in the Church of Saint Transfiguration of Lord in the not far away village of Krš
KRS
KRS is an abbreviation that can mean:*KRS-One , one of several pseudonyms for Lawrence Krisna Parker, an American hip-hop musician*Kill Rock Stars, an American record label...
. His godfather was Krsto Bajčeta. Miraš finished the elementary school in Tomaševo - Šahovići. At the age of 21, after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he joined the Seminary in Prizren
Prizren
Prizren is a historical city located in southern Kosovo. It is the administrative center of the eponymous municipality and district.The city has a population of around 131,247 , mostly Albanians...
. He finished only two grades studying separately from normal class, today he claims he was forced to abandon education allegedly because he identified as a Montenegrin, and not a Serb. Instead, he finished the Real Classical High School of Prizren. He afterwards enrolled in the study of pedagogy
Pedagogy
Pedagogy is the study of being a teacher or the process of teaching. The term generally refers to strategies of instruction, or a style of instruction....
at the University of Priština, but always remained wishful for a theological life and asked the Episcop of Rashka-Prizren Pavle
Pavle
Pavle is a Serbian and Macedonian male given name corresponding to English "Paul"; the name is of biblical origin . The Croatian form is Pavao, and in other Slavic languages it is usually Pavel.People with this name include:...
of the Serbian Orthodox Church
Serbian Orthodox Church
The Serbian Orthodox Church is one of the autocephalous Orthodox Christian churches, ranking sixth in order of seniority after Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Russia...
for assistance, who gave him a blessing and he joined the Theological Faculty of the University of Belgrade
University of Belgrade
The University of Belgrade is the oldest and largest university of Serbia.Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it merged with the Kragujevac-based departments into a single university...
on 16 September 1965. He studied as an irregular student and finished exams under professor Čedomir Drašković. Dedeić graduated in 1969.
Various jobs
On 11 November 1969 the Holy Synod of the SOC appointed him assistant teacher for the monastic school at Ostrog MonasteryOstrog monastery
The Monastery of Ostrog is a monastery of the Serbian Orthodox Church placed against an almost vertical background, high up in the large rock of Ostroška Greda, in Montenegro. It is dedicated to Saint Basil of Ostrog . From the monastery, a superb view of the Bjelopavlići plain can be seen...
. Then's Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral Danilo Dajković was his opponent and was against this, managing to get him fired on 6 October 1970. Professor Čedo Drašković, whom he managed to befriend, sent him attend the Papal Oriental Institute in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, which he finished on 23 June 1973. Metropolitan Danilo was against this, but prof Dr Ivan Žužek
Ivan Žužek
Ivan Žužek , was a Slovenian Jesuit priest and Canonist. He was the General Secretary of Pontifical Commission for the Revision of Eastern Code .- Early life :...
, a known Catholic canonist, managed to defend him. The Metropolitan of the Montenegrin-Littoral Church was a critic of the Communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
regime and Cedomir Draskovic, who had remained close to the Communist Party. He also criticized Dedeic's poor school ratings. Dedeić submitted a doctorate request to a Slovenian professor at the college, Dr Leskovac, but he rejected Miraš's PhD application. After attempting the post-graduate studies at the Russian Spiritual Academy of Saint Serge in Zagorsky, he dropped them and then turned to Montenegro
Montenegro
Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...
.
Drašković managed to recommend him to work at the State Archive of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on 31 January 1975, and he is subsequently sent by an academician of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
The Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts is the most prominent academic institution in Serbia today...
Vaso Čubrilović
Vaso Cubrilovic
Vaso Čubrilović was a student in Sarajevo, when Danilo Ilić recruited him and his friend, Cvjetko Popović, to help assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria...
and he set off to work for Director Mazayef. On 18 June 1975 he is given access to the Scedrin Library at Leningrad. Then he worked for the SANU Catheder for History as Cubrilovic employed him to collect data from the period between 16th and 18th centuries from the Archive of Trieste
Trieste
Trieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city...
. On 19 April 1982 Serbian academician Radovan Samardžić recommended him to the State Archive of Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and is employed by the Italian Foreign Ministry and works on the collection of sources in the Vatican Secret Archives
Vatican Secret Archives
The Vatican Secret Archives , located in Vatican City, is the central repository for all of the acts promulgated by the Holy See. The Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, having primal incumbency until death, owns the archives until the next appointed Papal successor...
, the Archive of the Propaganda Fide and the Venetian Archive. In Italy he married Rosana, a medical nurse in an Elder Home, and moved in with her.
Priest
In June 1984 Miraš Dedeić attempted to enroll in ecclesiastic service, specifically at the Monastery of Ostrog. He was prepared to be beatified into monastic service in the Serbian Church, but Metropolitan Danilo was strictly against it and overruled the act. So he found ways elsewhere, in the Greek Orthodox ChurchGreek Orthodox Church
The Greek Orthodox Church is the body of several churches within the larger communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity sharing a common cultural tradition whose liturgy is also traditionally conducted in Koine Greek, the original language of the New Testament...
. On 30 June 1988 he was ordained a priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
in the Church of Holy Trinity in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
by the hand of the Greek Orthodox Metropolitan of Austria and Exarch of Italy and Hungary Hrizystom and spent almost the entire following decade as a Greek-Orthodox priest in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
. He managed to gather the Orthodox Serb community in Rome and found the Serbian-Orthodox Municipality in Rome. He secured the permission from the Ecumenical Patriarch Spiridon to hold liturgic service in the local Greek Church of Saint Andrew in Serbian
Serbian language
Serbian is a form of Serbo-Croatian, a South Slavic language, spoken by Serbs in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and neighbouring countries....
.
In 1991 he held a discussion with Croatian expert Dr Marin Kinel on Serbo-Croatian relations, in the outcome of the war. Miraš Dedeić became a proponent of Serbian nationalism, he magnified Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević was President of Serbia and Yugoslavia. He served as the President of Socialist Republic of Serbia and Republic of Serbia from 1989 until 1997 in three terms and as President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1997 to 2000...
as the savior of the Serb people, reintegrating Kosovo
Kosovo
Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...
and Vojvodina
Vojvodina
Vojvodina, officially called Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is an autonomous province of Serbia. Its capital and largest city is Novi Sad...
. He justified the assault of the Yugoslav People's Army
Yugoslav People's Army
The Yugoslav People's Army , also referred to as the Yugoslav National Army , was the military of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.-Origins:The origins of the JNA can...
on Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik is a Croatian city on the Adriatic Sea coast, positioned at the terminal end of the Isthmus of Dubrovnik. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations on the Adriatic, a seaport and the centre of Dubrovnik-Neretva county. Its total population is 42,641...
and a historical Montenegrin right to it, as well as Italy's right to Istria
Istria
Istria , formerly Histria , is the largest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea. The peninsula is located at the head of the Adriatic between the Gulf of Trieste and the Bay of Kvarner...
and Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
. He blamed the Croatian President Franjo Tuđman for outcome of conflict, calling him "The Balkan Hitler".
His wife caught him in an act of adultery with a younger woman than him, which led to their divorce, in which she attacked him by saying that he was the cavalier and women's charmer of Rome. After she kicked him out her apartment. Following various rumors about him, the Ecclesiastical Court suspended him of all priestly ordains for an undetermined period in 1994 on the proposition of Metropolitan Spiridon (approved, November 1995), the final point being creation of a Serb-Orthodox Municipality out of the Greek Orthodox Church as his personal domain.
On 16 May 1995 wrote to the Serbian Orthodox Metropolitan of Zagreb-Ljubljana and All of Italy Jovan to accept his service in the SOC, but his pleas were ignored.
Head of MOC
With the death of the Head of the self-styled Montenegrin Orthodox Church Antonije AbramovićAntonije Abramovic
Metropolitan Antonije, was the first Metropolitan of the uncanonical Montenegrin Orthodox Church and self-proclaimed Metropolitan of Montenegro....
in 1996, Sreten Perović introduced Miraš Dedeić to the Montenegrin Orthodox public and Dedeić expressed joy for the recreation of a MOC, explaining how he is angry at the horrible way the SOC treated him so far and particularly at his future prime opponent, Metropolitan Amfilohije of Montenegro and the Littoral. He was thus elected on a Montenegrin National Gathering on 6 January 1997 as the new head of the self-styled Montenegrin Orthodox Church by a crown of followers in Cetinje
Cetinje
Cetinje , Цетиње / Cetinje , Italian: Cettigne, Greek: Κετίγνη, Ketígni) is a town and Old Royal Capital of Montenegro. It is also a historical and the secondary capital of Montenegro , with the official residence of the President of Montenegro...
and on 27 January 1997 he resigned from the GOC. The gathering featured far fewer people then from back the last time under his predecessor Antonije Abramovic, as back then it was a sign of a liberal struggle against the authoritarian regime of Momir Bulatović
Momir Bulatovic
Momir Bulatović , formerly served as a Yugoslavian and Montenegrin politician. Bulatović became federal President of Montenegro while Montenegro was part of a Yugoslav federation, and also Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia...
, Milo Đukanović and Svetozar Marović
Svetozar Marovic
Svetozar Marović ; born March 31, 1955) is a lawyer and a Montenegrin politician. He was the only president of Serbia and Montenegro...
heavily influenced by the Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic. This was swiftly followed by his full-scale excommunication
Excommunication
Excommunication is a religious censure used to deprive, suspend or limit membership in a religious community. The word means putting [someone] out of communion. In some religions, excommunication includes spiritual condemnation of the member or group...
and an anathema
Anathema
Anathema originally meant something lifted up as an offering to the gods; it later evolved to mean:...
from the community of the Eastern Orthodox Church
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
by decree of the Ecumenical Holy Synod on 9 April 1997.
In 1997 Djukanovic defeated pro-Serbian protege Bulatovic in presidential elections, leading to a change in treatment of the MOC. Dedeic managed to register his Church as a Non-governmental organization
Non-governmental organization
A non-governmental organization is a legally constituted organization created by natural or legal persons that operates independently from any government. The term originated from the United Nations , and is normally used to refer to organizations that do not form part of the government and are...
in the Cetinje local police station. Soon afterwards in 1998 he was made a monk and archymandrite by the likewise unrecognized Macedonian Orthodox Church
Macedonian Orthodox Church
The Macedonian Orthodox Church – Ohrid Archbishopric or just Macedonian Orthodox Church is the body of Christians who are united under the Archbishop of Ohrid and Macedonia, exercising jurisdiction over Macedonian Orthodox Christians in the Republic of Macedonia and in exarchates in the Macedonian...
, but it refused to give him the title of Bishop, in order to maintain good relations with the Serbian Orthodox Church, which its official part it is. Miras found it in the likewise uncanonical Bulgarian Alternative Orthodox Church
Bulgarian Orthodox Church - Alternative synod
The Bulgarian Orthodox Church - Alternative synod is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church which claims to be the sole legitimate Orthodox Church in Bulgaria....
. The same year was made Bishop of Cetinje by the excommunicated Patriarch Pimen and seven Metropolitans and Episcops of his Church. On 23 November 1999 Mihailo attempted to do what his predecessor failed and submitted himself a request for official recognition as one of the religious communities in the Republic of Montenegro. After the request was again ignored, Dedeic brought the matter to the Courts, eventually winning the dispute and having the MOC officially registered on 17 January 2000. Leading his Church in communion with the uncannonical Orthodox Christian world, the Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
-based Ukrainian Orthodox Church; it was in communion with the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia
Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia
The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia , also called the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, ROCA, or ROCOR) is a semi-autonomous part of the Russian Orthodox Church....
, however since 2006 it is within the process of restoration into the cannon Russian Orthodox Church
Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...
.
Miras Dedeic's appointment for head of the MOC was not without controversy. The Board for the Restoration of Autocephalousness of the Montenegrin Orthodox Church, a sovereignist NGO dedicated to returning a separate Montenegrin Church, did not approve it. Its president Dr Danilo Radojević was strictly against it, specifically because of Dedeic's controversies in Italy and Serb nationalist past. In 1999 the Montenegrin Orthodox Church received a Constitution under Michael, who subsequently proclaimed himself Archbishop of Cetinje. Support from the new directive Montenegrin authorities waned, and official Montenegro strictly separated itself from any support of the MOC, the country's President Filip Vujanović
Filip Vujanovic
Filip Vujanović is a Montenegrin politician who, since 2003, has served as the President of Montenegro. He is the first President of Montenegro since it split ties with Serbia and became an independent nation in June 2006...
explicitly defends the SOC's stand. Supported once only by the now disbanded Liberal Alliance of Montenegro
Liberal Alliance of Montenegro
The Liberal Alliance of Montenegro was a liberal political party in Montenegro. The party used to be a member of Liberal International....
, MOC found political support in the reigning side within the Social Democratic Party of Montenegro
Social Democratic Party of Montenegro
The Social Democratic Party of Montenegro is a political party in Montenegro....
and the Croatian Civic Initiative
Croatian Civic Initiative
The Croatian Civic Initiative is a Croat minority political party in Montenegro. The party was formed in 2002. It first participated in elections in the Tivat municipality that year, and is still based in the town...
and the Liberal Party of Montenegro
Liberal Party of Montenegro
The Liberal Party of Montenegro is a centre-left liberal political party in Montenegro. The party advocated liberalism and the bringing down of Milo Đukanović's rule, seeing it as authoritarian and undemocratic...
in the opposition.
Since 2005 Michael headed the construction of the first MOC shrines in Montenegro, but also in Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
, where its supporter the "Crusader" Association of Ethnic Montenegrins is very active in Vojvodina
Vojvodina
Vojvodina, officially called Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is an autonomous province of Serbia. Its capital and largest city is Novi Sad...
. At the 2006 referendum
Montenegrin independence referendum, 2006
The Montenegrin independence referendum was a referendum on the independence of the Republic of Montenegro from the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro that was held on 21 May 2006.The total turnout of the referendum was 86.5%...
Montenegro chose independence from its state union with Serbia
Serbia and Montenegro
Serbia and Montenegro was a country in southeastern Europe, formed from two former republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia : Serbia and Montenegro. Following the breakup of Yugoslavia, it was established in 1992 as a federation called the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia...
, Michael officially supporting the "Yes" option. After it the Church announced a new directive, laying claim to all Serbian Orthodox monasteries and churches in Montenegro built before 1918 and those built afterwards with funds achieved in Montenegro, leading to a greater conflict with the legal Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral. On 11 January 2007 the Church's organization came closer to completion, as a Holy Synod
Holy Synod
In several of the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox churches and Eastern Catholic Churches, the patriarch or head bishop is elected by a group of bishops called the Holy Synod...
was formed under Mihailo, and the territory of Montenegro was hierarchically split onto 5 Episcopates.
In 2007 Mihailo attempted to seize Beški from the SOC with a group of followers, after which he was sued by the Montenegrin Metropolitanate. Facing a trial at the local court of Bar
Bar, Montenegro
Bar is a coastal town in Montenegro. It has a population of 17,727...
, he was found guilty of disturbance of peace, the appeal was rejected and he received a restraint order banning him approach to the Serbian Orthodox Church. The same year he attempted to seize the Metropolitanate's seat, the Cetinje Monastery
Cetinje Monastery
The Cetinje Monastery is the most famous Serb Orthodox monastery in Montenegro. It is located in Cetinje and is the seat of the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral and its name derives from Saint Peter of Cetinje...
, with several hundred supporters. At the incident they clashed with the Montenegrin Police Forces which secured the monastery entry points on special order of the Government. Some of chants including those of Mihailo was interpreted as aggressive threats, while they were trying to brake in, and the event was sharply criticized by the public.
In 2008 the MOC wanted to register in Serbia, but was rejected, however the Serbian Supreme Court overruled the act deeming it unconstitutional. The conflict between the two religious groups in Montenegro again reached climate point when the local authorities of the Cetinje Municipality confiscated SOC property in Cetinje and granted it to the MOC.