⁍ Metropolitan Amfilohije Radovic, the top cleric of the powerful Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro, has died from a COVID-19 infection.

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⁍ Radovic, 82, was diagnosed with the coronavirus on Oct. 6 and had been hospitalised in the Montenegrin capital Podgorica since then.

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⁍ The Serbian Orthodox Church has about 12 million followers, mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia, all former Yugoslav republics bordering each other.

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– The leader of the powerful Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro has died of a respiratory disease, reports Reuters. Metropolitan Amfilohije Radovic, 82, had been hospitalized since Oct. 6, when he was diagnosed with the coronavirus, which has so far claimed nearly two dozen lives in the small European country. Radovic, who had been archbishop of Cetinje since 2001, was “a fervent Serb nationalist who also wielded major political influence” in Montenegro, which is a NATO member and a candidate for membership in the European Union, reports the New York Times. From December until August this year, Radovic played a pivotal role in protests over a contested religion law in the tiny Adriatic country that is a member of NATO and a candidate for membership in the European Union. The dispute over the law, which allowed the state to seize some religious property, helped the opposition win the Aug. 30 parliamentary election and unseat the Democratic Party of Socialists of longtime President Milo Djukanovic.