Orthodox Christians in Montenegro celebrated Christmas on Tuesday with the country’s President Milo Djukanovic saying that the holiday was marked by peace and well-being, “thanks to the multi-ethnic and multi-confessional harmony preserved for centuries”.

Large crowds of Orthodox faithful have been protesting for days over the adopting a law which critics say would allow the Montenegrin authorities to seize Serbian Orthodox Church properties across the country.

The Serbian Orthodox Church has been present in Montenegro, where the majority of the population are Orthodox Christians, before it was joined to Serbia in what was to become the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

The Montenegrin Orthodox Church, which is not canonically recognized by other Orthodox Churches and their nominal leader Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, held a separate yule log service in the town of Cetinje on Monday.  

Christmas services at the Church of Christ’s Ascension in Podgorica were led by Montenegro Littoral Bishop Amfilohije, a fierce critic of the authorities in both Montenegro and Serbia, who said that the spirit of Christmas “invokes peace among the people of Earth” and “calls them to unite”.

Serbia’s Ambassador to Montenegro Vladimir Bozovic was among the large number of people present at the service.