From the request to ban entry into the European Union due to his relationship with Ratko Mladić, through the condemnation of the Islamic Community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, to the court proceedings in Slovenia, Patriarch Porfirije found himself at the center of several disputes with neighboring countries.
Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church Porphyry he found himself in the spotlight of the region after he officiated at the funeral of convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić.
U Croatia there was a request to ban him from entering the European Union (EU), while Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) condemned his move.
Parliamentary representative and vice-president of the House and National Gathering (DOMiNO) party, Igor Peternel, requested that Croatia initiate a ban on the entry of Patriarch Porfirio into the European Union.
The occasion was the patriarch's messages at the funeral of Ratko Mladić, former commander of the Republika Srpska Army, who was convicted of war crimes. Peternel, commenting on Serbian media reports about the large number of people at the funeral, assessed Porfiry's address as a glorification of a war criminal.
"He died, they celebrate him there, while Porphyry practically turns him into a saint, and that publicly," said Peternell, reports Index.
He called on the EU and Croatia to react on the issue of the former Metropolitan of Zagreb and Ljubljana.
"I think that the European Union is on the move, and primarily that country that was directly involved in that war," said Peternel.
He believes that Croatia should initiate the ban on Porfirio's entry into the EU "for reasons of civilization, for glorifying a war criminal." He added that if this does not happen, it would mean that the judgments of international courts are not perceived as serious and relevant.
Similar reactions came from Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Islamic community in BiH announced that it followed with concern and regret the public and official glorification of Ratko Mladić and his crimes, as well as the outpouring of hatred in the public space.
The attitudes of state officials of the Republic of Serbia and representatives of the Republika Srpska are particularly worrisome, they say. The Islamic community assessed that the reception and send-off of the body of a convicted war criminal with state honors and the presence of numerous officials represented a missed opportunity to confront the past and restore trust.
For them, the fact that Porfirje personally served the funeral for Mladić is particularly controversial. The statement makes a distinction between the church's obligation to pray for every believer and, as they state, turning a war criminal into a hero, saint and role model for future generations.
"We consider his presentation at that gathering to be scandalous, which relativizes the judgments of international courts and which identifies the church with the legacy of a convicted war criminal," the announcement states.
The Islamic community reminds us of the statement of Metropolitan Metodije of Budimlja-Nikšić, who served a memorial service in the Piva Monastery for the "newly presented servant of God, General Ratko Mladić".
Unlike the polemics in Croatia and BiH, the dispute in Slovenia has a different character. At its center is not the attitude towards war crimes, but the multi-year conflict between the former Ljubljana parish priest Željko Lubarda and the top of the Serbian Orthodox Church, which recently received a judicial epilogue.
The District Court in Ljubljana sentenced Porfiri to a conditional sentence of four months in prison, with a one-year probation period, as well as a conditional fine of 10.000 euros, also with a one-year probation period. The procedure was initiated after a multi-year dispute between Lubarda and the top of the Serbian Orthodox Church.
Lubarda previously announced that, as a legal representative of the Church Municipality of Ljubljana, he filed a criminal complaint against the then parish priest Peran Bošković due to suspicion of financial malfeasance. In the meantime, Bošković was sentenced with the final force of law for embezzlement of church money.
According to Lubarda's claims, after he refused requests to withdraw the report and change his statement in favor of Bošković, he was exposed to several years of mobbing. He also claims that the then Metropolitan of Zagreb-Ljubljana Porfirije played a key role in his persecution.
Porfirije made the decision about Lubarda's transfer from Slovenia to Croatia, to the parish in Koprivnica. Lubarda refused to accept the transfer, stating that he would have to move his family to another country and that the decision was not in accordance with his work contract in Slovenia.
Lawsuit in Slovenia: The trial of Patriarch Porfiri is possible, but unthinkable
After that, according to his statements, Porfirius placed him under a ban on ministering and initiated proceedings against him before the Ecclesiastical Court of the Diocese of Zagreb-Ljubljana for disobedience to the competent bishop. The ecclesiastical court then declared him guilty and sentenced him to the most severe ecclesiastical punishment, namely deprivation of the priestly rank and reinstatement in the order of the laity. That decision was later confirmed by the Great Ecclesiastical Court of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Belgrade.
At the same time, Lubarda initiated proceedings in the Slovenian courts for abuse at work. The Court for Labor and Social Disputes in Slovenia legally determined that he was a victim of abuse at work, assessing that he was exposed to psychological violence, humiliation and discrimination over many years. Based on those findings, the District State Prosecutor's Office in Ljubljana filed an indictment against Porfiri and the Church Municipality of Ljubljana for workplace abuse.
SPC, however, rejects Lubarda's claims. In the announcement of the Holy Synod of Bishops, it is stated that it is a question of "meaningless lawsuits" filed by the excommunicated priest Željko Lubarda for years. The SPC claims that the appointment and transfer of priests is the exclusive canonical right of the competent bishop.
The Synod also announced that Porfirius, as well as his representative, were not informed that the proceedings had been initiated, nor were they given the opportunity to state their views on the accusations. Therefore, they believe that the procedure was carried out with serious procedural errors. They also stated that they advised the patriarch not to object to the verdict and not to participate in the proceedings, which they consider to be politically motivated and directed against the Serbian Orthodox Church and its head.
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