Who was Amfilohije Radović
Amfilohije Radović
Metropolitan of Montenegro (1938 - 2020)
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Amfilohije (secular Risto) Radović was the Metropolitan of Montenegro, whose honorary and
liturgical title was Archbishop of Cetinje, Metropolitan of Montenegro-Primorje, Zeta-Brdo and Skenderija and Exarch of the Holy Throne of Peja.
He was born on January 7, 1938 in Donja Morača near Kolašin. He passed away on October 30, 2020 in Podgorica.
Radović graduated from the Faculty of Theology in Belgrade in 1962, and five years later he became a monk and took the name Amfilohije.
He attended postgraduate studies in Bern and Rome, and defended his doctoral dissertation in Athens.
He became a hieromonk in 1968, while in 1985 he was ordained bishop of Banat. Since 1991.
From 1991, he was the Metropolitan of Montenegro-Primorje-Skenderija-Brdo-Zeta and the Exarch of the Peja Throne.
He was a professor at the Institut Saint Sergius in Paris, and a full professor at the Faculty of Theology Saint John the Theologian in Belgrade.
In 2012, the Institute of St. Sergius awarded him an honorary doctorate.
From 1973 to 2007, he published numerous books, studies and sermons, and he also translated works from Greek into Serbian and vice versa.
Childhood and education
Risto Radović was born on Orthodox Christmas in 1938 in Bare Radović, a hamlet near Donja Morača,
not far from Kolašin, as the fifth of fourteen children of Ćira and Mileva Radović (nee Bakić).
He is a descendant of Duke Mina Radović, one of the first Montenegrin tribal captains who annexed Morača to Montenegro in 1820.
After primary school, he finished the Theological Seminary of St. Sava in Rakovica, and then in 1962 he graduated from the Faculty of Theology at the University of Belgrade.
He studied classical philology at the Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy, while he continued his postgraduate studies in Bern and Rome.
He defended his doctoral dissertation on "The Secret of the Holy Trinity according to the teachings of Gregory Palamas" in Athens. He spent seven years in the Greek Orthodox Church.
He spoke Russian, Greek, Italian, German and French.
Academic career, literary and translation work
He spent a year on the Holy Mountain, and then from 1974 to 1976 he was a professor at the Institut Saint Sergius in Paris.
In 1976, he became an assistant professor, and then a full professor at the Department of Orthodox Pedagogy (Catechetics) with teaching methods at the Faculty of Theology, St. John the Theologian in Belgrade.
From 1973 until today (2020), Radović has published numerous books, studies and sermons in Serbian and Greek.
Among the most significant studies are "The Meaning of the Liturgy" from 1974, "Sinaiti and their significance in Serbia in the 14th century" from 1981,
"Philocal Movement of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century" from 1982, and "Fundamentals of Orthodox Education".
In addition to journalism, Metropolitan Amfilohije was also involved in translation work.
He has translated many studies, biographies and books from Serbian into Greek and vice versa,
among which are "Justin Popovic:" Lives of Saint Simeon and Sava "," Wisdom of Solomon "," Book of Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach "and others.
Due to numerous other obligations, he ended his academic career in 2005.
The Saint Sergius Institute in Paris awarded him an honorary doctorate in February 2012.
The road from the hieromonk to the metropolitan
Radović became a monk in 1967 in Greece and took the name Amfilohije, which means "two platoons of the army" in Greek.
On July 21, 1968, he became a hieromonk. At the end of 1985, he was ordained bishop of Banat with his seat in Vršac.
At the beginning of 1991, Radović was enthroned as Metropolitan of Montenegro-Primorje-Skenderija-Brdo-Zeta and Exarch of the Peja Throne,
succeeding Bishop Vasilije in that position. After taking over the metropolitanate,
Amfilohije encouraged the renovation of churches and monasteries, and increased the number of priests.
The following year, he started the newspaper of the Montenegrin-Primorska Metropolitanate "Svetigora", and in 1998, Radio Svetigora started working.
In the meantime, he edited the collection "The Lamb of God and the Beast of the Abyss", in which the Orthodox philosophy of war is presented.
He hosted the Patriarchs of Constantinople and Russia in Cetinje, and made it possible for the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church to be held in the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral for the first time in history in 1993.
On November 13, 2007, after the hospitalization of the then Patriarch Pavle, the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church (Serbian Orthodox Church)
decided to temporarily transfer the duty of patriarch to Metropolitan Amfilohije as deputy patriarch.
After the death of Patriarch Pavle, on November 15, 2009, the Holy Synod of Bishops elected him as the guardian of the patriarchal throne.
On May 21, 2010, the Synod appointed him administrator of the Diocese of Raska and Prizren.
After the introduction of the Bishop of Lipljan, Teodosije, to the throne of the Bishop of Raska and Prizren, on December 26, 2010, Amfilohije took over the function of administrator.
In May 2010, the Holy Synod of Bishops appointed him administrator of the newly established Diocese of Buenos Aires.
Lithium, elections and the battle with the coronavirus
After the Parliament of Montenegro adopted the Law on Freedom of Religion at the end of December 2019,
Amfilohije called on the believers of the Serbian Orthodox Church to protest against the law which,
according to one part of the public, it threatens the existence of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro, ie. allows centuries-old monasteries and churches to fall under the jurisdiction of the state of Montenegro.
Believers in many Montenegrin cities took to the streets to express their dissatisfaction,
and their example was followed by Serbian believers in numerous cities in Serbia and Republika Srpska.
In April 2020, Amfilohije and a group of Orthodox priests were arrested after a liturgy in the Zlatica monastery in Podgorica, on the Feast of Flowers.
Namely, the statement issued by the Police Administration of Montenegro, among other things,
It is stated that the police "brought the citizens and clergymen who were in front of the monastery and another church in Podgorica to the premises of the Security Center in Podgorica in order to collect information from them about the mentioned circumstances.".
Given that Montenegro, like most countries in the world, has introduced measures against the spread of coronavirus infection,
the police said that these were "regular police activities to monitor compliance with these measures".
Many condemned this act by the Montenegrin authorities, while priests close to Metropolitan Amfilohije said that this was the first step in the implementation of the Law on Freedom of Religion, and compared this event to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
In the Parliamentary elections held in Montenegro at the end of August 2020, the Metropolitan supported Professor Zdravko Krivokapić and his coalition "For the Future of Montenegro", which won 32% of the votes.
At the beginning of October 2020, the domestic media announced that Amfilohije was infected with the coronavirus.
He was admitted to the Clinical Center in Podgorica on October 6, and then it was announced that his health condition had deteriorated due to severe pneumonia.
The Clinical Center announced that the Metropolitan was intubated and placed in the mode of invasive ventilation.
The metropolitanate announced that he passed away on October 30, 2020 at 8:20 AM.
Bibliography
- 1973 The Secret of the Holy Trinity according to the teachings of Gregory Palamas (Doctoral dissertation in Greek)
- 1974 The Meaning of the Liturgy (study in Greek)
- 1979. Interpretation of the Old Testament through the centuries
- 1981 Sinaites and their significance in Serbia in the 14th century (study in Serbian)
- 1982 Philocal movement of the 18th and early 19th centuries (study in Greek)
- 1983. Fundamentals of Orthodox Education (study in Serbian)
- 1987. Spiritual meaning of the temple of Saint Sava
- 1988. Venerable Raphael of Banat
- 1992. Return of the soul to purity (sermons, conversations, views)
- 1994. Saint Sava' educational tradition and enlightenment of Dositej Obradović
- 1995. Historical cross-section of the interpretation of the Old Testament
- 1996 Collection of poems "In the Lamb is salvation"
Translations
- 1973 Bishop Nikolaj: "Cassiana"
- 1974 Justin Popović: "Lives of Saint Simeon and Sava",
- Elder Arsenije of Cappadocia
- 1993. Metropolitan Jovan Zizjulas, From Mask to Personality
- 1995. The Wisdom of Solomon
- "Alphabetical Fatherland" (published in parts in the magazines "Jevanđeljski Neimar" and "Svetigora")
- „St. Gregory of Palamas "(sermons published in the magazine" Banatski vesnik ", numerous studies, sermons and essays in" Svetigora "and other newspapers)
- 2007. The Book of the Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach
