October 30, 2020 - The Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral, Amfilohije, passed away this morning at 8.20am, reports the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral.
The Metropolitan passed away at the Clinical Hospital Center of Montenegro, after receiving holy communion.
The Metropolitanate stated that the public would be informed shortly about details relating to the funeral of the Metropolitan.
He was born Risto Radović, son of Ćiro and Mileva Radović, on Christmas Day, 7th January 1938, in Bare Radović in Donja Morača.
He studied at the Saint Sava Seminary in Belgrade, and graduated from the Serbian Orthodox Church Theological Faculty in Belgrade in 1962.
In addition to theological sciences, he studied classical philology at the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade. He continued his postgraduate studies in Bern and Rome. From there he moved to Athens, where, during his seven-year stay, in addition to his daily parish service, he received a doctorate. He defended his thesis, written in Greek, about St. Gregory Palamas, receiving the highest grade.
He then spent a year on Mount Athos, after which he was invited to teach at the St. Sergius Russian Orthodox Institute in Paris, and worked there from 1974 to 1976, during which time he improved his French, in addition to the other five languages he mastered.
He became a monk in 1967 in Greece, where he later became a hieromonk on 21st July, 1968.
Upon his return to Belgrade, he was elected Dean of the Faculty of Theology and associate professor, and at the end of 1985 he was ordained Bishop of Banat based in Vršac, from where he moved to Cetinje on Christmas Eve 1991 when he was appointed Metropolitan of Montenegro, Skenderija and Primorje, and Exarch of the Peć Throne, taking the title which Bishop Vasilije used before Metropolitan Amfilohije.
He taught at the Faculty of Theology, University of Belgrade from 1980 to 2005, when he retired due to his multiple obligations. In addition to theology and philosophy, he was engaged in essay writing and translation.
By the decision of the Holy Synod of Bishops of 21st May, 2010, he was appointed administrator of the Diocese of Raška-Prizren, before Bishop Teodosije of Lipljan was appointed to the seat of Bishop of Raška-Prizren on 26th December, 2010.
At the regular May session of the Holy Synod of Bishops held from 17th to 26th May, Metropolitan Amfilohije was appointed administrator of the newly established Diocese of Buenos Aires.
Metropolitan Amfilohije was the second in rank among bishops in the hierarchy of the Serbian Orthodox Church, after the Serbian Patriarch.
In February 2012, he received an honorary doctorate from the Institut Saint Sergius in Paris.
On 6th October, Metropolitan Amfilohije was admitted to the pulmonology department of the Clinical Center of Montenegro for hospital treatment after testing positive for coronavirus.
Text: PCNEN
HRB
