Dr Matthew Raphael Johnson looks at the ethno-nationalist saints of Montenegro and their battles against the Islamic empire builders. Today's broadcast is the first of an in-depth analysis of the history of the Montenegrin Orthodox idea. This series of lectures will explain the true nature of the medievalist and ethno-nationalist vision of the Prince-Bishops of Montenegro, most of whom have been canonized. Each one of these saints, elected from the monks of Cetinje, were not just intense ascetics and bishops, but also trained warriors. They include Sts. Peter I and Peter II Petrovich-Njegos, the most revered saints of the Balkans because they themselves took up arms and gloried in the blood of the “Worshippers of Baal” – their name for Muslims and elite Greek and Jewish oligarchs serving the Turkish empire in the Phanar district of Istanbul. Bishop Danilo himself was wounded in combat many times and killed a minimum of 22 Turkish officers. Their writings and speeches are some of the most vehemently nationalist in the entire Christian world and make a mockery of modern, “traditionalist” Orthodoxy. Further, this broadcast will also explain the strange phenomenon of Stepan I Mali, the Tsar of Montenegro in the late 18th century who might very well have been Tsar Peter III of Russia. Clearly, this is no ordinary country, but it has been distorted beyond recognition not only by its enemies, but also by its misinformed friends. This is a history of Orthodox Montenegro without the ulcers of trendy modern ideology. Presented by Matt Johnson The Orthodox Nationalist: Orthodoxy and Nationalism in the History of Montenegro I – TON 052020