Four years since the death of Patriarch IrinejOn Wednesday, November 20, 2024, it will be four years since the passing away of the blessed Patriarch Irinej. On this occasion, the Liturgy will be served in the Memorial Church of Saint Sava in Vračar from 8 a.m., followed by a memorial service for the first head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, who rests in the crypt of the Church of Saint Sava.
Serbian Patriarch G. Irinej (Gavrilović) was born in the village of Vidova, near Čačak, in 1930 to father Zdravko and mother Milijana. At baptism, he was named Miroslav. He finished elementary school in his native village, and then high school in Čačak. After finishing high school, he enrolled and graduated from the Theological Seminary in Prizren, and then the Faculty of Theology in Belgrade. After graduating from university, he goes to the army. After returning from the army, he was soon appointed as a substitute (professor) at the Prizren Theological Seminary. Before taking up his duties as a professor in October 1959 in the Rakovica monastery, he received the monastic rank from His Holiness Patriarch Germano, receiving the monastic name Irinej.
In the same month, on the day of St. On Friday, October 27, 1959, he was ordained a hieromonk in the Ruzica church below Kalemegdan. While he served as a professor at the Prizren Theological Seminary, he was sent to postgraduate studies in Athens. In 1969, he was appointed director of the Monastic School in Ostrog Monastery, from where he returned to Prizren and was appointed rector of the Prizren Theological Seminary. From that position in 1974, he was elected vicar bishop of His Holiness the Patriarch of Serbia with the title of Bishop of Moravia. A year later, in 1975, he was elected Bishop of Niš, where he was until January 22, 2010, when he was elected Patriarch of Serbia.
Source: Tv Hram