Porfirije sentenced to four months suspended prison sentence in Slovenia on charges of mobbing priests

The Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) has spoken out after the District Court in Ljubljana sentenced Patriarch Porfirije to a suspended sentence of four months in prison with a one-year probationary period, as well as a suspended fine of 10.000 euros, also with a one-year probationary period, the Nova.rs portal reports today, adding that the proceedings were initiated after a multi-year dispute between former Ljubljana parish priest Željko Lubarda and the leadership of the SPC.

Lubarda previously announced that, as the legal representative of the Church Municipality of Ljubljana, he had filed a criminal complaint against former parish priest Peran Bošković for financial embezzlement, on the orders of the then Metropolitan Jovan Pavlović.

After that, he claims, he refused requests to withdraw the report and change his statement in favor of Bošković, which is why he was subjected to years of mobbing. He also claims that the then newly elected Metropolitan of Zagreb and Ljubljana, Porfirije, played a key role in this persecution.

The Serbian Orthodox Church, however, rejects these claims. The Holy Synod of Bishops' statement states that these are "meaningless lawsuits" filed for years by the defrocked priest Željko Lubarda, and that the appointment and transfer of priests are the exclusive canonical right of the competent bishop.

The Serbian Orthodox Church also claims that Porfirije, as well as his attorney, were not informed that the proceedings had been initiated, nor were they given the opportunity to comment on the charges, which is why they believe that the proceedings were conducted with serious procedural shortcomings.

The Synod also announced that it had advised the patriarch not to object to the verdict and not to participate in the proceedings, which it assesses as politically motivated and directed against the Serbian Orthodox Church and its head.

How the dispute began

The conflict between Željko Lubarda and the leadership of the Serbian Orthodox Church has lasted for more than a decade and began when Lubarda was the parish priest and legal representative of the Church Municipality of Ljubljana, according to Nova.rs.

According to his claims, at the behest of then-Metropolitan Jovan Pavlović, he filed criminal charges against the then-head of the temple, Peran Bošković, on suspicion of financial malfeasance in the church treasury. Bošković has since been convicted by a final verdict of embezzlement of church money.

Lubarda claims that he was subsequently subjected to years of pressure to withdraw the report and change his statement in favor of Bošković, which he refused. He states that this is precisely why his persecution within the Serbian Orthodox Church began, in which, as he claims, the then Metropolitan Porfirije played a key role.

According to documents seen by Nova.rs, Porfirije then made a decision to transfer him from Slovenia to Croatia, to the parish in Koprivnica. Lubarda refused to accept such a transfer, stating that he would have to move his family to another country and that such a decision was not in accordance with his employment contract in Slovenia.

After that, Porfirije placed him under a ban on clerical service and initiated proceedings against him before the Ecclesiastical Court of the Diocese of Zagreb-Ljubljana for disobedience to the competent bishop.

The church court then found him guilty of refusing obedience and imposed the most severe church punishment, deprioritization and reinstatement into the lay order. This decision was later confirmed by the Great Church Court of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Belgrade.

At the same time, Lubarda filed a lawsuit in Slovenian courts for workplace harassment, claiming that the transfer was retaliation for his participation in the criminal proceedings against Bošković.

The Court for Labor and Social Disputes in Slovenia later ruled that Lubarda was a victim of workplace harassment, finding that he had been subjected to psychological violence, humiliation, and discrimination over several years. The findings from that proceeding formed the basis for the criminal complaint, after which the District State Prosecutor's Office in Ljubljana filed charges against Porfirije and the Church Municipality of Ljubljana for workplace harassment.