Today, September 5, on the feast of the Assumption of the Most Holy Theotokos, it has been four years since His Eminence Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral, Mr. Joanikije, was enthroned in the Cetinje Monastery, whom the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church elected as the successor of the blessed Metropolitan Amphilochius at its May session in the summer of 2021.
Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral, Mr. Joanikije, was solemnly installed on the ancient sacred throne of the Montenegrin and Littoral metropolitans by His Holiness the Serbian Patriarch Porphyrije.
Metropolitan Joanikije is the 56th bishop of this Episcopate of St. Sava, which was established 800 years ago, later elevated to the rank of a metropolis, and the 41st Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral who was enthroned in the Cetinje Monastery.
In his introductory speech, Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral, Mr. Joanikije, said that he would begin his metropolitan service with the gentle word of the Gospel, uniting the people entrusted to him around the throne of God in order to feed them with heavenly bread, teaching everyone how to govern themselves in the House of God, which is the Church of God, the pillar and stronghold of truth.
“The Gospel of Christ will be the foundation of everything I will do and build, knowing that I have come to build not an ordinary building but the living Church of God, of which Christ is the cornerstone. Performing his holy service, the Hierarch stands visibly before his people before the face of God, offering from all and for all, through Christ, gifts to the living God. The Hierarch has been given by God to perform the ministry of reconciliation so that we may be reconciled with our conscience and with one another so that we may also be reconciled with God, to unite with God and our neighbors. In that holy unity lies our strength, salvation and immortality…
As archpastor, I will serve fraternal reconciliation in Montenegro by healing old and new wounds in the life of the people entrusted to me. I will seek the goodness of God in the souls of the faithful, which, I am convinced, is abundant so that it may shine for the glory of the Church of God. As before I will share both good and bad with my people, joy and sorrow. To help the poor, to comfort the sorrowful, to encourage the fearful, to seek the lost and forgotten, carrying the cross of my people so that the Lord, with His Life-giving Cross, may strengthen and strengthen me in this sublime service.

https://mitropolija.com/2025/09/05/na-mnogaja-i-blagaja-ljeta-visokopreosvecenom-mitropolitu-joanikiju/