Jubilees of His Holiness Irinej, Serbian Patriarch
The Serbian Orthodox Church is marking the great jubilees of His Holiness Irinej, Serbian Patriarch: the 60th Anniversary of monastic, 45th anniversary of diocesan and 10th anniversary of patriarchal service to God and the Serbian kin.
His Holiness Patriarch Irinej (Gavrilovic) of Serbia was born in the village of Vidova, near town of Cacak, Serbia, in 1930. His baptismal name is Miroslav. He finished elementary school in his village, and later on high school in Cacak. Thereupon he enrolled and completed Theological Seminary in Prizren, and then graduated at the Faculty of Orthodox Theology in Belgrade.
Upon graduation his army service he was appointed a professor of the Prizren Theological Seminary. In October 1959, before assuming this assignment he was tonsured by the late Serbian Patriarch Herman (German) and got the monastic name Irinej.
That same month, on the Feast of St. Paraskeva at the Ruzica church within the Kalemegdan old town of Belgrade, he was ordained hieromonk. While he worked as a professor at the Prizren Seminary he spent a period of time at post-graduate studies in Athens. In 1969 he was appointed as Principal of the Monastic School in the Monastery of Ostrog, Montenegro, from where he returned back to Prizren and became Principal of the Prizren Seminary. From that office he was elected as Vicar Bishop of the then Patriarch of Serbia with the title of Bishop of Moravica in May, 1974. A year later, in 1975, he was elected as diocesan Bishop of Nis.
The Holy Assembly of Bishops elected Bishop Irinej as Archbishop of Pec, Metropolitan of Belgrade-Karlovci and Serbian Patriarch on January 22, 2010.
