 At the time his relations with the Montenegrin government were lukewarm and he lobbied for religious education by the SOC to be compulsory in schools.Amfilohije became a prominent advocate and supporter of "Srpstvo" (Serbdom) and was a self declared Serbian nationalist.His appointment as metropolitan coincided with the rise of Slobodan Milošević and the mobilisation of the Serb population in Yugoslavia that was supported by the SOC, along with an increase in Serbian nationalist sentiment.