At its meeting held on 18 February of the current year, on the basis of Canon 74 of the Holy Apostles and Article 70, paragraph 1, points 20 and 35, subparagraph (b), of the Constitution of the Serbian Orthodox Church, the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church rendered a decision by which His Eminence Archbishop and Metropolitan of Žiča kyr Justin was relieved of the duty of administering the entrusted Diocese of Žiča until the regular meeting of the Holy Assembly of Bishops in 2026, and proceedings were initiated to determine his canonical responsibility. At the same time, the Holy Synod of Bishops appointed His Eminence Archbishop and Metropolitan of Niš kyr Arsenije as Administrator of the Diocese of Žiča until the forthcoming meeting of the Holy Assembly of Bishops.
 
In the course of the regular procedure of reviewing the material and financial operations of the dioceses of the Serbian Orthodox Church, carried out on the basis of a decision of the Patriarchal Administrative Board of 24 October 2023, the Commission of the Patriarchal Administrative Board, and subsequently the Commission of the Holy Synod of Bishops, collected material evidence on the basis of which it was established that His Eminence Archbishop and Metropolitan of Žiča kyr Justin committed numerous canonical and other ecclesiastical offenses in administering the entrusted Diocese of Žiča.
 
In the previous period it was established that His Eminence Metropolitan of Žiča kyr Justin unlawfully established three commercial companies (“Trifora LLC,” “JEŽ LLC,” and “Studenica Monastery Winery LLC”), concealed their operations, registered himself as the beneficial owner of the three companies, carried out the unauthorized sale of 34 church-owned immovable properties (apartments, commercial premises, etc.) in Kraljevo and Čačak, unlawfully and contrary to the applicable church regulations concluded harmful contracts of multi-million value with legal and natural persons, unlawfully extended loans in multi-million amounts to various commercial companies in Serbia, and committed financial abuses unprecedented in the Serbian Orthodox Church, which entail criminal liability before the state authorities.
 
The Holy Synod of Bishops notes with regret that Metropolitan of Žiča kyr Justin, in the past period, with the aim of avoiding ecclesiastical and canonical responsibility, persistently misled the public together with his associates by claiming that he was being “politically persecuted” due to the current social and political situation in Serbia, which we resolutely deny. In this, as in other similar cases of determining the canonical responsibility of hierarchs of the Serbian Orthodox Church, the matter exclusively concerns internal canonical and ecclesiastical issues for which only the Holy Synod of Bishops and the Holy Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church are competent.