Bishop Irenaeus Elected Patriarch of Serbia



The Serbian Orthodox Church has elected Bishop Irenaeus (Gavrilovic), Bishop of Nis, (pictured above) as the new Patriarch of Serbia, succeeding Patriarch Pavle who died on 15 November. The 45 bishops which make up the electoral assembly of the Serbian Orthodox Church named three candidates on Friday morning 22nd of January: Metropolitan Amphilochius of Montenegro, Bishop Irenaeus of Backa and Bishop Irenaeus of Nis, and chose the new Patriarch by lot. Bishop Irenaeus is already quite senior in years, having been born in 1930. He has been bishop of Nis (a large town in southern Serbia and the birthplace of St Constantine the Great) for 35 years. He is a graduate of the Theological Faculty in Belgrade and did a doctorate in Athens, and known to be a "moderate" among the bishops. The inauguration of the new Patriarch in Belgrade will be this Saturday at 9 am. As the historic Patriarchal See is Pec, the solemn enthronement will be held there, in due course when conditions permit.



The Revd Robin Fox, the priest-in-charge of St Mary's Belgrade, is the Archbishop of Canterbury's Apokrisiarios (emissary) to the Serbian Patriarchate. Fr Robin is keeping in touch with the Patriarchal authorities and hopes to represent the Anglican Communion in the Cathedral in Belgrade on Saturday 23rd of January.

Comments

  1. Jerry Low24 January 2010 at 13:17

    I wonder if Patriarch Irenaeus will continue the policy of using the government and the media to persecute evangelical Christians in Serbia??? www.freebalkans.com

    ReplyDelete

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