The Patriarch with the Holy Synod responded favourably to Bishop Nikolaj's petition and in the same year was founded the Metropolitanate of Banja Luka-Bihac with the Metropolitanate of Dabar-Bosna. The new metropolis consisted of 13 districts: Banja Luka; Kotor Varos; Derventa; Prnjavor; Bosanska Gradiška; Tešanj; Bihać; Prijedor; Ključ, Una-Sana Canton; Bosanski Petrovac; Stari Majdan; and Sanski Most with 134 parishes. The Act of Establishment of the New Metropolis was issued by the Patriarchate of Constantinople on 13 August 1899, and the Vienna Court upheld that decision on 14 January 1900. The Synod of the Patriarchate of Constantinople elected Archimandrite Evgenije Letica as the first Metropolitan of the newly-founded Banja Luka-Bihac Metropolitanate. He was appointed by the Vienna court as Metropolitan on 24 August 1900. When he was appointed Metropolitan, he held the rank of Archimandrite at St. George's Monastery. The New Metropolitan addressed the priesthood and spiritual congregation on the day of Saint Ignatius in 1900, informing them of his consecration and ordering them to address him in the future on spiritual matters, and not the Metropolitan of Sarajevo. He asks the priest to mention his name at worship. In the newly established diocese,church life was to be organized, which was not an easy job. At the request of Metropolitan Evgenije, the Vienna Court on 18 July 1900 approved the establishment of a Consistory court. The advisers to the Consistory were appointed Archpriest Petar Djenić and priest Aleksa Jokanović. The Consistory began operating on October 6, 1901. Often the Metropolitan visited his diocese to teach the congregation and required priests to perform church rites uniformly. He responded to every call and in seven years he visited over one hundred churches of his diocese. In April and May 1901 he visited the Bihac district: Prijedor, Sanski Most, Ključ, Petrovac, Bihac, Bosanska Krupa and other small places. In July of the same year, he visited the Tešanj Protopresbyterate. On this occasion, he visited churches in the villages of Pribinić, Teslić, Tešanj, Gojakovac and Doboj.