The blessed repose of the Serbian Patriarch Pavle, even 16 years after his death (he passed away on November 15, 2009), remains vividly present in the memories and prayers of believers and admirers.
His Holiness Patriarch Pavle was the 44th successor to the throne of Sava Nemanjić. He served in Metohija and Kosovo for 34 summers.
Many admirers fondly remember the image and deeds of Patriarch Pavle and his sermons as teachings.
His Holiness Patriarch Pavle is remembered as a man of peace and respect among people, regardless of their faith. Thus, upon his enthronement, during his first stay in Drenica in Devič, one of his favorite monasteries in Metohija, he stated: “Peace, harmony, brotherhood, justice—and then God will be with us, the Prince of Peace, and we, all people of goodwill, will be able to withstand everything that is not good.”
In northern Kosovo, a monument was erected in Leposavić to the former Bishop of Raška-Prizren.
The bronze figure of His Holiness Patriarch Pavle appears to bless the faithful and well-intentioned visitors in the courtyard of the Church of St. Basil of Ostrog.
“The young academic sculptor Milenko Balović from Raška was entrusted with the task. The creation took a long time, and here it is—the monumental monument,” says protopresbyter-stavrophore Milomir Vlašković, the head of the Church of St. Basil of Ostrog in Leposavić.
The Library of the Patriarchate of the Serbian Orthodox Church owns a collection of 10,000 books belonging to Patriarch Pavle. Most are those dedicated to His Holiness by their authors and publishers.
“It is a true library that included the entire history of books of all peoples, in many languages,” says His Grace David, Bishop of the Diocese of Kruševac.
The publishing fund of the Archdiocese of Belgrade-Karlovci has published the Collected Works and a small religious library of the beloved patriarch, who was exceptionally devoted to the holy sites of Kosovo and Metohija.
A unique testimony to the destruction of Serbian heritage is also the Collection of Annual Reports by the former bishop, His Holiness Pavle – Raspeto Kosovo (“Crucified Kosovo”).
He was born on September 11, 1914, in the village of Kućanci, Donji Miholjac district (then in Austria-Hungary, now in Croatia), into a farming family.
He finished gymnasium in Belgrade, the six-grade Seminary in Sarajevo, and the Faculty of Theology in Belgrade.
He was left without parents early—his father went to work in the USA, contracted tuberculosis there, and “returned home to die” when the boy was three, and the same soon happened to his mother. He was raised by his aunt. Realizing that the child was “very frail,” she spared him farm work and thus enabled him to study: although little Gojko preferred “subjects that didn’t require memorizing, such as mathematics and physics,” and although he had a poor grade in religious studies, the influence of his relatives prevailed and his final choice was theological school.
After completing lower gymnasium in Tuzla (1925–1929) and seminary in Sarajevo (1930–1936), he came to Belgrade, where he enrolled in the Faculty of Theology. There he also completed the remaining grades of gymnasium externally so he could simultaneously enroll in the Faculty of Medicine, where he reached the second year of studies—he completed the Faculty of Theology—when World War II reached Belgrade. To support himself, he worked on construction sites in Belgrade, which did not suit him due to poor health. At the invitation of his schoolmate Jelisej Popović, he went to the Ovčar-Kablar monasteries, where he spent the rest of the war and began his monastic life.
He first stayed in the Monastery of the Holy Trinity in Ovčar, then worked as a religious teacher for refugee children in Banja Koviljača. At that time, he became seriously ill “in the lungs.” Doctors believed it was tuberculosis and predicted he had three months to live. He spent some time in the Monastery of Vujan, where he recovered and, in gratitude, carved and gifted the monastery a wooden cross. He was tonsured in the Monastery of the Annunciation in 1946, when he was elevated to the rank of hierodeacon. From 1949 to 1955, he was a member of the Monastery of Rača. He spent the 1950/51 school year as a substitute teacher at the Prizren Seminary of Saints Cyril and Methodius. He was elevated to hieromonk in 1954, became protosyncellus the same year, and archimandrite in 1957. From 1955 to 1957, he pursued postgraduate studies at the Faculty of Theology in Athens. He was elected Bishop of Raška-Prizren on May 29, 1957, and consecrated on September 21, 1957, in the Belgrade Cathedral. The consecration was performed by Serbian Patriarch Vikentije. He was enthroned as Bishop of Raška-Prizren on October 13, 1957, in the Prizren Cathedral.
In the Diocese of Raška-Prizren, he built new churches, restored old and destroyed ones, ordained and tonsured new priests and monks. He cared for the Prizren Seminary, where he occasionally lectured in church singing and Church Slavonic. He often traveled, visited, and served in all places within his diocese. As Bishop of Raška-Prizren, he testified before the United Nations to many statesmen about the suffering of the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija.
He was elected Serbian Patriarch, the 44th head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, in 1990.
He was deeply engaged in scholarly work.
During his patriarchal service, several dioceses were restored and founded.
Given the scholarly theological achievements of Serbian Patriarch Pavle, the Faculty of Theology of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Belgrade awarded him an honorary doctorate in theology in 1988.
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