Balkan Curia: Gregory, the bishop who defies the Vučić regime – the Society

The bishop of Düsseldorf and all of Germany, Bishop Grigorije, is a staunch opponent of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, a supporter of ecumenical dialogue and as a free-spirited and self-aware person, he represents the embodiment of hope for many, but also of the fears of the Balkan regime).

In a lengthy text on Grigorije, the portal claims that the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC) elects a new patriarch on February 18 and asks if the bishop will be among the favorites for that position.

Grigorije, born in 1967, who his relatives consider a “figure of rebirth”, became a representative of the progressive current of the Serbian Orthodox Church and elicits respect outside the circles of believers.

The bishop, with short gray hair and a neatly trimmed beard, was nicknamed “Orthodox George Clooney,” but caused discontent with the Vučić regime because he openly criticized the authorities, condemning their authoritarianism and everything he did to gain the obedience of the Church. .

Balkan Curia refers to Grigorije’s biography, mentioning that he became a board member of the protest organization during the launch of “Slobodan Milosevic’s war machine” in the early 1990s. At the time, Grigorije was with Dragan Djilas, the former mayor of Belgrade, who today heads the small opposition party Sloboba i pravde.

Describing Grigorije’s priestly path in the Serbian Orthodox Church, the French portal reported, among other things, that he became a monk at the Ostrog monastery in 1992, from where he went with his mentor, Bishop Atanasije (Jevtić) of Zahumlje -Herzegovina, to the renovated monastery of Tvrdoš near Trebinje.

To those who accuse him of being a businessman close to Milorad Dodik, of benefiting from donations from the Republika Srpska and a loan from the bank of that entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Grigorije replied in an interview with Croatian television HRT in 2018 that he had no No choice but to start a business, because it was a matter of survival.

Gregory is close to Bishop Ioannicius, especially on the Kosovo issue. Together with him, the late Metropolitan Amfilohije of Montenegro and Bishop Teodosije of Prizren and Raska, criticized all the ideas of territorial division on ethnic grounds that Vučić tried to push forward in 2019.

His conflict with the Serbian president has only worsened since then, especially after an interview with the weekly Vreme in May 2019, in which he explained how Vučić threatened, insulted and humiliated the bishops, especially Theodosius, during a meeting of leaders. of the church, according to the newspaper. Balkan Curia.

In 2020, Grigorije criticized the lack of freedom of the media, stating that “absolute power is in the hands of one man.” The disagreement with the authorities continues, according to the French portal.

The bishop, as the portal also writes, became the target of taboos at the service of the regime. The tabloids claim that he was a “drug addict linked to criminal circles.” The media machine even put into circulation a video in which it was reported that they even wanted to “bury the then patriarch Pavle alive.”

Representatives of the regime, for their part, are in charge of discrediting him, accusing him of wanting to meddle in politics. Some politicians claim that Dragan Djilas is behind Grigorije and that the bishop should decide whether he wants to be patriarch or president of the state, according to the portal.

Either way, Gregory’s popularity is growing. Political scientist Cvijetin Milivojevic said he was one of the few free spirits in the highest circles of the Serbian Orthodox Church, and that Grigorije’s friend from Mostar, Franciscan priest Iko Skoko, had a similar attitude.

“If Grigorije becomes patriarch, it will bring a breath of change in all relations in the Balkans,” Skoko said, as reported by the Balkan Curia.

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