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On 22nd November 2020 the divine liturgy and funeral took place in the Church of St. Sava in Belgrade of His Holiness Irinej Patriarch of Serbia (1930 – 2020), who died on 20th November.

The service was headed by the locum tenens of the Patriarchal throne of the Serbian Orthodox Church the metropolitan of Dabar-Bosnia Hrizostom; concelebrating were the chairman of the Department of External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate the metropolitan of Volokolamsk Hilarion and the chancellor of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church the metropolitan of Boryspil and Brovary Anthony, the archbishop of Ochrid John, the metropolitan of Zagreb and Ljublin Porphyrius and other bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Among the concelebrating clergy were the cleric of the Antiochian Patriarchate archimandrite Procopius (Taiar), the secretary of the DECR for inter-Orthodox relations archpriest Igor Yakimchuk and the deputy chairman of the DECR of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church archpriest Nikolai Danilevich. Attending the service in the church were leading Serbian politicians the Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić, the president of the National Assembly Ivica Dačić, prime minister Ana Brnabić and government ministers. Also present were the Serb member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Milorad Dodik and the prime minister-elect for Montenegro Zdravko Krivokapić, the Russian ambassador to Serbia Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko, representatives of Serbia’s traditional religions, diplomats and public and cultural figures.

After the funeral oration by the locum tenens of the Patriarchal throne the metropolitan of Dabar-Bosnia Hrizostom, the chairman of the DECR read out condolences from His Holiness Kirill Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus. Obituaries were also read out by the dean of the St. Michael Cathedral of Belgrade archpriest Petar Lukić, the Serb member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Milorad Dodik and Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić, who noted the good relations which the newly-reposed Primate of the Serbian Church had enjoyed with Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church.

After the funeral service the coffin with the newly-reposed Patriarch was solemnly buried in the crypt of the Church of St. Sava at the site chosen as the resting place for the Primates of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

On the same day the metropolitan of Volokolamsk Hilarion had a conversation with the Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić. The Serbian head of state expressed his heartfelt gratitude to Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church for their participation in the project for the interior décor of the Church of St. Sava in Belgrade. The chairman of the DECR also talked with the president of the Serbian National Assembly Ivica Dačić, the Serb member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Milorad Dodik and the prime minister-elect for Montenegro Zdravko Krivokapić.

Communications Service of the DECR