The Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church Irinej passed away today at the age of 90 at 07:07h in the military Covid hospital „Karaburma“ in Belgrade, where he has been receiving treatment since he tested positive for COVID-19 on November 4th.
The news of the patriarch’s passing was confirmed by the Serbian Orthodox Church on its official website, noting that the public will soon be notified of the details of the funeral.
An hour before the SOC official statement was published, the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic shared the news of the patriarch’s death on his Instagram page by publishing a black-and-white photo of the patriarch with the caption „I was honored to know you. People like you are never truly gone.“
The Serbian Orthodox Church revealed yesterday that the patriarch’s health deteriorated in the early morning hours, but that his general health condition is complex but stable. The President of Serbia, however, confirmed in the late afternoon that the patriarch had been intubated and that his health condition had further deteriorated.
Some media outlets reported yesterday that Patriarch Irinej had passed away on Thursday. In the meantime, the Serbian Orthodox Church denied these allegations, criticizing these media outlets and some church members. The SOC underlined that it is „highly irresponsible and immoral to post such fake news and intentionally mislead and disturb the entire public.“
Patriarch Irinej (birth name Miroslav) was born on August 27th, 1939, in the village of Vidova, near Cacak. He attended elementary school in the same village, a grammar school in Cacak, and then the Prizren seminary.
He then graduated from the Faculty of Theology in Belgrade. After serving in the military, he was appointed substitute professor of the Prizren Theological Seminary.
The Patriarch received a monastic rank from the Serbian Patriarch German in October 1959, in the monastery of Rakovica, when he got his monastic name Irinej.
On the day of St. Petka of the same year, he was ordained a hieromonk in the church of Ruzica on Kalemegdan. While serving as a professor at the Prizren Seminary, he began his postgraduate studies in Athens.
The patriarch was appointed the head of the Monastic School in the Ostrog monastery in 1969, after which he returned to Prizren where he became the provost of the seminary. In 1974, he was elected vicar of the Serbian Patriarch, bearing the title of Bishop of Moravica. He was elected Bishop of Nis in 1975.
At the Council of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church held on January 22nd, 2010, he was elected Archbishop of Pec, Metropolitan of Belgrade-Karlovci and Serbian Patriarch – reads the biography of the patriarch on the SOC website.
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