The Holy Synod of Bishops has received information about the scandalous verdict of the District Court in Ljubljana, by which His Holiness the Serbian Patriarch Porfirije and the Serbian Orthodox Church Municipality of Ljubljana were sentenced to a suspended sentence of four months to one year and also a suspended fine of ten thousand euros for one year. The verdicts were, at the proposal of the District State Prosecutor's Office in Ljubljana, rendered in a summary or, more precisely, summary procedure.

The Holy Synod of Bishops notes that the Serbian Patriarch Porfirije, nor his attorney, were previously informed that the court proceedings had been initiated at all. Moreover, the District Prosecutor's Office in Ljubljana never summoned the Patriarch to give a statement on the charges, which is, in itself, a precedent of its kind and speaks volumes about the intent of this court proceeding.

Of particular concern is the fact that information about this court proceeding reached certain media outlets in Serbia just before this year's session of the Holy Synod of Bishops, undoubtedly with the aim of waging a dirty media campaign against the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Patriarch of Serbia, His Holiness Porfirije.

The Holy Synod of Bishops is obliged to inform the public that this court proceeding is yet another in a series of senseless charges brought against the Serbian Orthodox Church by the dismissed priest Željko Lubarda. The extremely unchurched and unworthy behavior of the named, which began during the time of the blessed memory of Metropolitan Jovan, continued even while the Patriarch of Serbia, His Holiness Porfirije governed the Metropolis of Zagreb-Ljubljana. The Holy Synod of Bishops and the Holy Council of Bishops have repeatedly considered the anti-church activities of this dismissed priest and have made several decisions on this matter, even before Patriarch Porfirije, then Vicar Bishop of Jegar, was elected Metropolitan of Zagreb-Ljubljana.

According to the assessment of legal experts, the District Prosecutor's Office and the District Court in Ljubljana, in accordance with the reasoning of the judgments, ignored the fact that the appointment to church service and the transfer of parish priests are among the inalienable canonical rights of the competent bishop, prescribed by the Constitution of the Serbian Orthodox Church. The Agreement on the Legal Status of the Serbian Orthodox Church – Metropolis of Zagreb-Ljubljana, the Law on Religious Freedom and the binding opinion of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia, as well as the basic principles of a civilized society, the rule of law and the rule of law, have been violated.

The Holy Synod of Bishops, taking into account the above-mentioned actions of the Prosecutor’s Office and the Court in Ljubljana, has asked His Holiness not to object to the judgments of the District Court in Ljubljana and, despite the fact that they deny the canonical structure of the Church, not to participate, as he has not participated so far, in the Kafkaesque process that is exclusively directed against the reputation, structure and dignity of the Serbian Orthodox Church and, in particular, against the Serbian Patriarch.

Source: Serbian Orthodox Church