The Montenegrin-coastal Metropolitan will begin the construction of a large temple dedicated to the Holy Apostle Marko, on the property of the Church of St. Petka, on the city bypass. This was said by Metropolitan Amfilohije to "Vijesti", confirming that the project of the Orthodox Church is finished, and that Budva deserved such a sanctuary.
The construction of the temple is planned at the place where the city chapel is currently located, which the Municipality has built, without the approval of the Metropolitan, so that the church would then allow it to remain, but that it must be moved when the construction of the temple, which used to exist at that place, was planned. The temple is planned right next to the HDL supermarket, which will soon be built on church land, which the Metropolitan has given to lease to this chain of stores for ten years and plans to invest this money in the construction of the temple.
"With God’s will, we will build the temple of the apostle Marko, and it also depends upon the citizens of Budva. And it needs to be built because it is the oldest temple of all. It's time for this temple to be restored. The Apostle Marko is over a lion (with the example of Saint Marko, in pictures usually shown with a winged lion, because it emphasizes the power of resurrection and the overcoming of death), and the lion is in the coat of arms of Montenegro. If we want to reintegrate the coat of arms of Montenegro in the right way, then we should build the temple of the Holy Apostle Mark," said the Metropolitan Amfilohije.
"I see that Budva became a big city. This temple will be the decoration of Budva and its soul. For, the old Budva, where the temples are both Roman Catholic and ours, the Holy Trinity, and now here we should build a real temple dedicated to the apostle Marko, a witness to eternal and impenetrable love," said Amfilohije, and stated that the chapel was to be moved because it was placed here without blessing.
The city's lead architect recently gave her consent to the conceptual solution of the business-commercial complex HDL, which will be built on the church land. Although the conceptual solution envisages two phases, one that supposes the construction of supermarkets, and the other 59 apartments, as it was told to "Vijesti" by the municipality, the construction of residential part will not be carried out.
For HDL to build a supermarket, it was necessary for the parcel to be completed, so at the beginning of November, the Municipal Assembly, by a strong majority, gave the green light to sell 483 square meters of municipal land to the supermarket chain for 154 thousand euros.
The green light to build a supermarket was voted by ten members of the ruling coalition, namely, six from DF, three from the Montenegrin, SNP, and independent councilor Stevan Dzakovic. There were nine delegates against it - seven from Democrats, independent councilor Dragana Vujovic and URA Bozena Jelusic. A vote by one delegate prevailed so that the municipal land is sold to HDL. The total area of the church land on which the temple will be built, and also the supermarket is 4 518 square meters.
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Text by Vuk Lajovic, on March 28th 2019, read more at Vijesti
