Theologian and Democratic Party (DS) official Vukašin Milićević has assessed, while commenting on the ruling against the Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC) Porfirije, that the public is unaware that “workplace bullying occurs in almost all dioceses”. He added that there is no institution that would address what certain bishops are doing to their clergy.
The District Court in Ljubljana has sentenced Patriarch Porfirije to a four-month suspended prison sentence and a conditional fine of €10,000 for workplace harassment. In addition to the Patriarch, the ruling also applies to the church municipality of Ljubljana as a legal entity.
Theologian Vukašin Milićević told N1 television that such cases had not occurred before because “we do not have a state governed by the rule of law”.
“I believe the public is already very well acquainted with this case, because priest Željko Lubarda spoke out publicly and initiated proceedings before the Labour and Social Court as well. In short, we know this is a case of workplace bullying. What the wider public does not know is that similar things happen almost on a daily basis in other dioceses of the SOC too,” Milićević claims.
The priest in question was asked to give false testimony, and Milićević added that one of the Ten Commandments is – thou shalt not bear false witness.
“However, if we know how things work within the SOC, unfortunately, this is something completely expected. We have seen that whenever a scandal from within church ranks threatens to go public, the response is always a conspiracy of silence and the silencing of all those who could help shed light on the matter,” the theologian said.
Milićević stated that this could be seen in countless cases “even more scandalous than this one, from Pahomije onwards”, adding that he does not see a way for changes to occur unless the political context in the country changes.
(021.rs, 14.07.2026)