Fifteen years ago today, Serbian Patriarch Pavle fell asleep in the Lord.
Patriarch Pavle was born as Gojko Stojčević on September 11, 1914, in the Slavonic village of Kućanci near Donji Miholjec. He lost his parents early. From the age of three, little Gojko was taken care of by his aunt. He completed lower secondary school in Tuzla, and higher secondary school in Belgrade. After graduating from the Sarajevo Theological Seminary in 1936, he enrolled at the Faculty of Theology in Belgrade, where he graduated in 1942. During World War II, he was a religious teacher in the Home for Refugee Children in Banja Koviljača. In August 1944, Gojko contracted tuberculosis. Doctors predicted that he had three months to live. He was healed by praying in the Vujan monastery. As a sign of gratitude to God for giving him health, he carved a cross that is still kept in the monastery today. After his probationary period, he was ordained a monk in 1948 in the shepherd-kabla monastery of Blagoveštenje, receiving the monastic name Paul after the Apostle of Love. From 1949 to 1955, he was a brother of the Rače monastery. School year 1950/1951. he spent the year as a teacher at the Prizren Theological Seminary of Saints Cyril and Methodius. He was ordained a hieromonk in 1954. He attended postgraduate studies at the Faculty of Theology in Athens from 1955 to 1957. He was elected Bishop of Raško-Prizren in May 1957. Serbian Patriarch Vikentije ordained him in September of the same year in the Belgrade Cathedral. He was enthroned as Bishop of Raško-Prizren on October 13, 1957.
In the Diocese of Raško-Prizren, he restored old and destroyed churches and built new ones. He worked hard for the young priests and monks. He constantly traveled and served in all places of his Diocese. He especially took care of the Prizren Theological Seminary, where he taught church singing and the Church Slavonic language. As a bishop and professor, he led a large number of generations of new workers to the Lord's field. He spent more than 33 years as an archbishop in Kosovo and Metohija, during a very difficult time for the Serbs and the Serbian Church. The Holy Synod of Bishops and the Assembly, as well as the state government, were regularly informed about the attacks of the Arbanas against the property of the Church, monks, priests and the Serbian people, who were emigrating under that pressure. He himself, with Christian calmness and patience, endured insults and physical attacks. He testified at the United Nations, in front of numerous statesmen, about the suffering of the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija.
On December 1, 1990, the Holy Council of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church elected him as the forty-fourth first hierarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church. On Sunday, December 2, 1990, in the Cathedral Church in Belgrade, he was enthroned on the throne of the Archbishop of Pec, Metropolitan of Belgrade-Karlovica and Serbian Patriarch, and on May 22, 1994, on the ancient patriarchal throne of the Patriarchate of Pec. During the time of Patriarch Pavle, several dioceses were restored and founded. In 1992, the Seminary of St. Peter of Cetinje in Cetinje was renovated. The following year, the Academy of the Serbian Orthodox Church for Arts and Conservation began its work. The Faculty of Theology of St. Basil of Ostrog in Foča was opened in 1994, and the Theological Seminary of St. John Chrysostom in Kragujevac in 1997. The information service of the Serbian Orthodox Church was founded at the end of 1998. Religious education was returned to the public education system of the Republic of Serbia in 2001, and the Faculty of Theology was returned to the University of Belgrade in 2004. Patriarch Pavle took special care of the construction of the sacred temple of the Serbian people, the Memorial Temple of Saint Sava in Vračar, which, in his time, was completely completed.
Patriarch Paul made a great contribution to the unity of the Orthodox Church. He met with Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexius II, Archbishop of Athens and All Hellas Hristodul, Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa Peter VII and other heads of local Orthodox Churches. Inspired by the words of Christ, May they all be one, like you, Father, who are in me and I in you, in September 2006 he opened the session of the Mixed Commission for theological dialogue between the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church, which was hosted by Belgrade. On the Meeting of the Lord, on February 15, 1992, with the Parliamentary Holy Liturgy served by Patriarch Pavle of Serbia and Metropolitan Irinej of Novogračani, after several decades the full liturgical and canonical unity of the scattered Serbian Orthodox Church was established. He made a special effort to heal the schism in the former FYR Macedonia. In meetings with religious leaders of Roman Catholics and Muslims, as well as direct and written addresses to political leaders in the country and the world, during the tragic wars on the territory of the former Yugoslavia and the NATO aggression against Serbia, Patriarch Pavle evangelically advocated for a peaceful and just solution to the conflicts. He was the president of the Commission of the Holy Synod of Bishops for the translation of the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament, the translation of which was published in 1984, as well as the president of the Commission of the Holy Synod of Bishops for the preparation of the Ministry in the Serbian language....

(SPC)