Bishop Teodosije of Raska-Prizren

On today's session of the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church it has been decided that  vicar Bishop Teodosije of Lipljan to be appointed as Bishop of Raska-Prizren.

Bishop Teodosije, baptized as Zivko Sibalic, was born on June 29, 1963 in Cacak, by father Milan and mother Biljana (born as Jovic), now Sister Marta, a nun.. Upon completing his primary and secondary school in Gorjani and Uzice, he studied theology at the Faculty of Orthodox Theology in Belgrade, where he graduated. He became novice on January 6, 1987 in the monastery of Crna Reka, near Novi Pazar, where he started a monastic life by the spiritual guidance of the current retired Bishop Artemije of Raska-Prizren. He became a monk on the Patron Saint's Day, Saint Michael the Archangel, on November 21, 1989, and got a monastic name Teodosije after St. Theodosios the Great, the founder of monastic communal life (cenobitism).

He was ordained hierodeacon on Bright Wednesday in 1990 in Prizren by then Bishop Pavle of Raska-Prizren. He was ordained  hieromonk in the monastery Celije by Bishop Artemije in 1992.

From May 1991 to March 1992 father Teodosije was on obedience in the Diocesan court in Prizren as deacon and personal chauffer of Bishop Artemije. In March 1992 he went with a few monks in Monastery of Visoki Decani where he was made a head of the monastery and was ordained a heugomen  on October 22, 1992. At the regular session of the Holy Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church held from May 10-19, 2004 heugomen Teodosije (Sibalic), head of the Imperial Laura of the Visoki Decani monastery, was selected as the Bishop of Lipljan, vicar of the Diocese of Raska-Prizren with a seat in the monastery of Dechani. 

Since the renewal of Decani cenobitism in 1992, the monastery has developed several activities, including engraving, icon painting, candle making, publishing, etc. In its vineyards in Velika Hoca near Orahovac, the monastery also produces traditional Decani wine and grape brandy (rakija).During the war and post-war years in Kosovo and Metohija, Abbot Teodosije and his brethren have been and remain active in organizing humanitarian aid for the suffering population regardless of religious affiliation or ethnicity.

Bishop Teodosije carried the title of Bishop of Lipljan after the ancient bishopric of Ulpiana (called Iustiniana Seconda), later known as the Diocese of Lipljan, one of the oldest Orthodox dioceses in our region.