Joanikije Mićović
Bishop Joanikije is a Serbian Orthodox bishop who has served as the head of the Eparchy of Budimlja and Nikšić since 2002.Biography
He finished his secondary education at the Nikšić Gymnasium. He graduated from the University of Belgrade Faculty of Orthodox Theology in 1990 and he finished his advanced studies at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Philosophy.
He was ordained a monk in the Ćelija Piperska Monastery on 30 October 1990. He was ordained a hierodeacon on 7 February 1991 and a hieromonk on 17 February 1991, taking the role of caretaker head of the Savina Monastery. On 1 September 1991 he became the head of the Cetinje Monastery and a teacher and main instructor in the re-formed Cetinje Seminary. In September 1995, he was promoted to the rank of protosyncellus and he was placed as the caretaker rector of the Cetinje Seminary.
During its regular session in May 1999, the Bishops' Council of the Serbian Orthodox Church chose him as the Budimlja vicar bishop. On 3 June 1999, he was consecrated a bishop in Cetinje by Patriarch Pavle with Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral Amfilohije and twelve other bishops co-serving.
On the recommendation of Metropolitan Amfilohije, the Bishops' Council during its regular session in May 2000 took sections of the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral and re-made the old Eparchy of Zahumlje and Raška which stemmed from the Eparchy of Budimlja and later the Eparchy of Budimlja and Polimlje.
He was a member of the Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church from 2004 to 2006.
On 12 May 2020 during the Montenegrin religious crisis, Bishop Joanikije was arrested by Montenegrin police for leading a religious procession marking the day of Saint Basil of Ostrog.. On 16 May 2020, Bishop Joanikije and eight priests of the Orthodox Cathedral of St. Basil of Ostrog in Nikšić were released at around midnight after 72 hours spent in detention.
