While he was still a metropolitan, i.e. before he became the Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Porfirije, criticised people inside the Serbian Orthodox Church who gave out honours left and right. Now, he finds himself in a situation where he is the one giving medals of honour to the likes of Vojislav Seselj and the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orban.
“Every second mobster in Serbia has received honours from the Serbian Orthodox Church. The honours now mean nothing, they have been devalued,’ Porfirije said back at the time when he was the Metropolitan of the Zagreb-Ljubljana diocese. The situation today is quite different.
The leader of the Serbian Radical Party (SRS), Vojislav Šešelj, is the latest in a series of recipients of the Serbian Orthodox Church’s medal of honour. Previous recipients included government ministers Aleksandar Vulin and Siniša Mali, the president of United Serbia political party, Dragan Marković Palma, the director of the BIA (The State Security and Information Agency), Bratislav Gašić, and the editor-in-chief of Večernje Novosti daily, Milorad Vučelić.
The Serbian Radical Party announced on Sunday that the Serbian Orthodox Church conferred the Order of St. Mardarije on their leader, Vojislav Seselj.
Among other things, Seselj was convicted in The Hague of crimes against humanity, and criminal charges were filed against him for threatening political opponents and journalists, dissident politicians, journalists and protesters with a gun, punching a taxi driver, etc.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, known for his right-wing views, received the SPC’s highest award, just days after the bust of Miklos Horthy, a close ally of Adolf Hitler, was displayed in the Hungarian parliament. On Horthy’s orders, one of the greatest genocides was committed in this region in 1942, when 25,000 innocent victims were murdered in Novi Sad and thrown into the icy cold waters of the Danube and Tisa rivers.
Minister Aleksandar Vulin was also awarded the Order of St Sava and another high decoration. Another member of the Serbian government who has received the order is Finance Minister Sinisa Mali, who plagiarised his doctorate and was involved in the affair concerning his alleged ownership of 24 apartments in Bulgaria. Also, his ex-wife has named him as the person who ordered the night-time demolition of the Savamala district in Belgrade.
(021.rs, 13.09.2022)
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