‘The Meeting shall start working as per the procedure in force what means triple candidacy. There shall be three candidates and among them one shall be chosen by draw. There shall be no change of the Constitution. The change is possible only if new Patriarch cannot be elected in this manner’.
Q: How can that happen?
‘That can happen in case of insufficient number of votes since a candidate has to get 50 percent of votes plus one vote to be included in the triple candidacy. Hypothetically if there are no three candidates with sufficient number of votes, the procedure has to be changed’.
Q: Who are the chief candidates for the new Patriarch?
‘It is difficult to say. We all know that the late Patriarch Pavle was not among chief candidates but was elected in the end. The God shall decide who is to lead the Church’.
Q: ‘Blic’ reported that there are two wings in the SPC. What is the essence of them?
‘There are not two wings but many more. The Church is a live organism. There are bishops 80 years old, educated before the WWII with experience and heritage and there are bishops younger than 40 years of age also very educated at the time of digital communication, some were educated in Greece and the Atos. There is a group of bishops educated in Russia. They all together represent one organism – our Church. There are different stances and opinions, generational differences, spiritual differences, educational differences. These are not conflicts, let alone war’.
Q: Are political parties trying to make their influence on the Church in the sense to have their candidate elected?
‘Our election system is such that only bishops participate in secret voting. That means that influence from outside is possible but it is very small. I do not deny that the State has always considered important who the Patriarch will be but it is God who decides’.
Q: Is the SPC opposing European integration?
‘That is not an issue for the Church to deal with. If there is European integration, the Church accepts it’.
Q: Do you expect the new Patriarch to invite the Pope?
‘That issue is rather delicate not only for the Patriarch, but for the Church and the State as well’.
Q: Were you personally surprised that even 600,000 people took part in funeral ceremony of the Patriarch Pavle?
‘That was a biblical event. I did not expect so many people to come, neither did other priests, but on the other hand we were not surprised. It was the Patriarch’ virtue and holiness that gathered all those people’.
blic
