Language and Religion as the Basis of Montenegrin National Identity

Sa？etak The aim of the paper is to explore the problems of emancipation of the Montenegrin language and autocephalous Montenegrin Orthodox Church, not only as key bearers of the Montenegrin national identity, but also as categories indicating the deep division of the Montenegrin society. After a brief review of the Montenegrin history and analysis of the results of the population census in the last fifty years, the following text discusses the unfinished process of implementation of the standard Montenegrin language. Particular emphasis is placed on the reception of Peter II. Petrovi？ Njego？ and the recent role of two opposing national academies of science, which among others prevented the true implementation of language standardization. The chapter on the Montenegrin Orthodox Church elaborates the arguments that support its existence as well as the arguments of its main opponent, the Serbian Orthodox Church, along with the elaboration of the influence of the Templars, which gave a strong seal to the local Orthodox Church