THE ARMY IS A PLACE AT THE FUNERAL OF THE WORTHY OF THE CHURCH: Controversy in public over the participation of the Armed Forces Guard in the farewell of Patriarch Irinej

However, despite the objections of some, Serbia is no exception, and ceremonial units participate in similar ceremonies in many other countries.

LSV leader Nenad Canak asked on Twitter “what exactly is the secular state army doing at the religious leader’s funeral”:

– According to the current Constitution of Serbia, the state and the Church are separate and no denomination as state can be imposed. Thus, if the army carries the coffin today, the priests will send it tomorrow and what and when.

However, photos were quickly received in their responses, showing that such a practice is unusual or contrary to the principles of a secular state. Among other things, a photo of the funeral of the Archbishop of New York in 2015 was published, next to whose scaffold is the honorary police guard. It was similar in Greece at the funeral of the Archbishop of Athens and all of Greece Christodoulos in 2008, when his remains were carried by an honorary platoon of the Greek army. The participation of the army in religious ceremonies in similar situations is, by the way, quite common in Greece, as well as in Russia and other Orthodox countries.

In the Serbian Orthodox Church, they explain the participation of the army as a symbolic connection between the patriarch and the Church with all sectors of society, but they also remember that during their administration, the religious service was returned to the Serbian Army.