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| - The highly influential head of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) in Montenegro, Archbishop Amfilohije, died Friday at the age of 82 after a battle with Covid-19, the church said. Amfilohije, whose lay name was Risto Radovic, died in a hospital in Podgorica. He had served in the top religious post for some 30 years, spanning a tumultuous period in which former Yugoslavia shattered into separate states, including the breakaway of Montenegro from Serbia in 2006. Throughout, the archbishop remained an unwavering advocate of pro-Serb interests, defending Serb nationalists and war criminals such as Radovan Karadzic, the Bosnian Serb leader convicted of genocide. At the funeral of Karadzic's mother in 2005 in Montenegro, the church leader declared that she was "the mother of an immortal". He had also become a fierce critic of Montenegro's President Milo Djukanovic, who led the country's independence from Serbia. Analysts believe the archbishop's influence was crucial to the historic loss of Djukanovic's party in an August election. For months, the church led thousands of people to protest against the government and a controversial law that could see a state takeover of hundreds of SPC churches and monasteries. Based in Belgrade, the SPC is still the main religious body in Montenegro. "This is one of the saddest days for our Church," the faith's leader, Patriarch Irinej, told media in Belgrade. "A good man and a great theologian has gone." Amfilohije was admitted to the hospital at the beginning of October after contracting the new coronavirus. The Church had said on October 20 that he was no longer positive for the virus, but his pneumonia had worsened again in recent days. str-rus/ssm/txw
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