The Montenegrin Orthodox Church has filed with the Basic State Prosecutor’s Office in Cetinje a supplement to the criminal complaint against Bojan Bojović, on the grounds of reasonable suspicion that he is committing the criminal offence of fraud as a continuing offence (Article 244 of the Criminal Code of Montenegro). The occasion is the statement of 6 June 2026, in which the group led by Bojan Bojović claims to have purchased a building across from the Church of St. Ivan Crnojević in Cetinje, as well as the earlier statement of 25 March 2026, announcing the construction of a “monastery” in Podgorica — both of which, as the official documents of Montenegrin state authorities show, served to collect money from the faithful and from donors under false pretenses. On this occasion the Montenegrin Orthodox Church is duty-bound once again to inform the public, the faithful and, above all, the well-intentioned donors in the country and the diaspora of the facts confirmed by official documents. This group, with the support of certain political centres of power that care nothing for the unity of the Montenegrin Orthodox Church but only for advancing their own agenda, continuously misleads the public, while the lust for power and the material ambitions of its leader have long been the subject of proceedings before state authorities.

Bojan Bojović is neither a metropolitan nor a priest of the Montenegrin Orthodox Church. He was defrocked and returned to the rank of layman by Act No. 50 of the Holy Synod of Bishops of the MOC of 13 September 2023. Soon afterwards, outside any canonical procedure and without the consent of the Synod, he proclaimed himself a “metropolitan” on the street, and on the same day “proclaimed a saint” the late Metropolitan Antonije (Abramović) — an act unknown to any canon of the Orthodox Church, which has ever since served as a cover for collecting money. It is telling that everything this group does, it does in the name of the late Metropolitan Antonije, whose name and grave that same group has desecrated.

The Ministry of Justice of Montenegro — Directorate for Cooperation with Religious Communities, by Decision No. UPUV-10-081/23-85/11, rejected Bojović’s attempt to register himself as the representative of the MOC, and by Certificate No. UPUV-10-081/24-46/2 of 19 June 2024 confirmed that the Montenegrin Orthodox Church, with its seat in Cetinje (Gruda b.b.), is entered in the Unified Register of Religious Communities and is represented solely by the Archbishop of Cetinje and Metropolitan of Montenegro Mihailo. Anyone who presents himself to the public otherwise is knowingly deceiving it.

Against Bojan Bojović, the Montenegrin Orthodox Church filed a criminal complaint with the Basic State Prosecutor’s Office in Cetinje on 25 July 2024, on the grounds of reasonable suspicion that he had committed the criminal offences of forgery of a document (Articles 412 and 413 of the Criminal Code), inducement to certify false content (Article 415 of the Criminal Code) and fraud (Article 244 of the Criminal Code). The complaint also covered the collection of donations which, under the name and coat of arms of the Montenegrin Orthodox Church, are channelled to the giro account of the non-governmental foundation “Lučindan” of Cetinje (account number 510-0000000179604-63, tax ID 11078672) — that is, to the account of a third legal entity, and not to the account of the Church. A second criminal complaint, of 24 November 2024, covered the desecration of the grave and the arbitrary removal of the mortal remains of Metropolitan Antonije, carried out without the consent of the family, the state authorities and the Church (Articles 410, 411 and 411a of the Criminal Code). Since the accused, even after the complaint was filed, continues with identical acts, through which the criminal offence of fraud takes on new forms and produces new injured parties, the Church has now submitted to the prosecution a supplement to the criminal complaint with new facts and evidence — an extract from the real estate register, documentation on the statements and public calls for donations — together with a proposal that a financial investigation into the flows of the collected money be ordered and that interim measures for securing and seizing the proceeds be considered as urgent. The investigation is ongoing.

The group claims to have purchased the building. What does the cadastre say about it? According to the extract from real estate folio No. 1571, Cadastral Municipality Cetinje I, issued on 6 June 2026, the building presented to the public as the future “Spiritual Centre and Home of St. Metropolitan Antonije Abramović” is registered in the names of: Radunović (Dragutin) Luka, Radunović (Gojko) Ranko, Radunović (Gojko) Ratko and Radunović-Đurić (Gojko) Snežana, on the basis of inheritance. The Montenegrin Orthodox Church, like any person from Bojović’s group, is not mentioned in that real estate folio by a single word. No contract of sale has been presented to the public, and for the announced “expansion and development” of the building in Lovćenska Street in Cetinje there is no building permit, nor any consent of the Montenegrin Orthodox Church. The situation is identical in Podgorica: they claim to be securing a plot for a “monastery” and on that basis call for donations, yet to this day they have not disclosed which plot is in question, where that location is, or whether any building permit exists for any construction.

To the donors and benefactors we say: the only official giro account of the Montenegrin Orthodox Church is held with NLB Bank, number 530-467-67. Funds paid into any other account do not reach the Montenegrin Orthodox Church. Donors have every right to ask where the buildings and “spiritual centres” they financed are — believing that their money was going to the Montenegrin Orthodox Church and not into private pockets — and we call on them to put that question today, before that which never even existed collapses.

From all of the above, the strategy by which money is obtained through fraud and through the misuse of the name of the Montenegrin Orthodox Church is more than evident. Moreover, neither the funds collected nor the buildings presented to the public are, nor can they legally become, the property of the Montenegrin Orthodox Church — for that, both the signature of the person authorised to represent it, entered in the Unified Register of Religious Communities with the competent state authority, and a decision of the competent bodies of the Church are required. None of that exists here, nor can it.

Bojović, contrary to the Law on Freedom of Religion or Belief and the Legal Status of Religious Communities and contrary to the decisions of the Ministry of Justice, misleads the public, making use of media that favour him, such as Antena M and the portal Aktuelno.me — all to the detriment of the Montenegrin Orthodox Church and for the benefit of third parties. Thereby the faithful of the Montenegrin Orthodox Church suffer enormous material as well as irreparable spiritual harm. The Church, for its part, seeks only to protect itself from arbitrariness and lawlessness, holding that precisely therein lies the foundation of the religious freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution and the law.

Bojović evidently counts on the slowness and inefficiency of the state authorities being endless. They are not. The day of reckoning will come, and all funds collected in the name of the Montenegrin Orthodox Church will, by law, have to be paid into its giro account, for no one may retain a gain acquired through the commission of a criminal offence. Justice is slow, but it is attainable.

In Cetinje, 8 June 2026

Archbishop of Cetinje and

Metropolitan of Montenegro

† M I H A I L O