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Serbian Orthodox patriarch dies | |
(about 4 hours later) | |
The head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Pavle, has died in Belgrade, the Church has announced. | The head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Pavle, has died in Belgrade, the Church has announced. |
The patriarch, 95, became leader of the Church in 1990. He was admitted to the city's military hospital two years ago. | |
Though he reportedly suffered from heart and lung conditions, the Church did not specify the cause of death. | |
Most of Serbia's population of seven million people are Orthodox Christians. President Boris Tadic said this was "an irredeemable death" for the nation. | |
"There are people who bond entire nations and Pavle was such a person," Mr Tadic said in a statement. | |
"His death is also my personal loss," the president said. | |
Bishop Amfilohije, who has served as acting head of the church during most of Pavle's illness, broke into tears as he held a prayer after announcing the death. | |
Bells tolled from Serbian churches, as the government announced three days of mourning, beginning on Monday. | |
Another bishop, Lavrentije, said the patriarch's death was no reason to be sad. | |
"The Serbian people now have someone to represent them before God better than anyone else," Lavrentije said. | |
The Church's highest body, the Holy Synod, may announce as early as Monday when a new patriarch will be chosen - usually after at least 40 days. | |
Serb interests | |
Pavle was a respected theologian and linguist, known for personal humility and modesty. | Pavle was a respected theologian and linguist, known for personal humility and modesty. |
After the fall of communism and rise of Serb nationalism, the Church regained a leading role during his rule. | After the fall of communism and rise of Serb nationalism, the Church regained a leading role during his rule. |
Serbs flocked to churches upon hearing of the patriarch's death | |
At the beginning of the Balkan wars that followed the dissolution of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, Pavle said - according to Serbian state television: "It is our oath not to make a single child cry or sadden a single old woman because they are of another religion or nation." | |
But critics accused him of failing to contain hardline bishops and priests who supported Serb paramilitaries against Catholic Croats and Bosnian Muslims. | |
After those wars, Pavle became more directly involved - openly criticising Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, after he lost Kosovo following Nato's intervention. | |
Since then, the Serbian Orthodox Church has strongly supported the Serbian government in its efforts to stop Kosovo's independence drive. | |
"Kosovo is not only a question of territory, it is a question of our spiritual being," he said after Kosovo's declaration of independence. |