Patriarch Irinej of the Serbian Orthodox Church died of COVID-19 at age 90 Friday morning. He is the first primate in Orthodoxy who has died because of the coronavirus.

He was hospitalized in a military hospital in Belgrade when he became sick just three weeks after he presided over the funeral of a Serbian Orthodox bishop in Montenegro, Amfilohije Radović, who also died because of complications caused by COVID-19. During the funeral, thousands of attendees didn’t wear masks or socially distance, and nearly everyone followed tradition to kiss the body in an open casket.

Patriarch Irinej faced deteriorating health outcomes in the hospital this week. On Thursday, many Serbian media outlets published that he passed away, but the public relations service of the Serbian Orthodox Church denied his passing. In the evening hours Thursday, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic arrived to visit the patriarch. Then on Friday morning, Vucic was the first one who announced that Irinej died, on his Instagram account.

The 45th leader of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Irinej was born as Miroslav Gavrilovic in 1930. He was a Serbian Orthodox bishop in Nis for 35 years. Serbia is an Orthodox-majority country (about 88% of Serbians identify as Orthodox) with a secular government. The Serbian Orthodox Church is autocephalous, meaning it appoints its own head of the church.

When Irinej became patriarch in 2010, Irinej continued the construction work of the famous and magnificent St. Sava Cathedral in Belgrade, considered Serbia’s Hagia Sophia for its great cultural and religious significance. This October, the Serbian Orthodox Church and her leader finished the 85 years of the cathedral’s construction, with 15,000 square meters of unique mosaics.

During his 10 years as Orthodox patriarch, he was well known for his pro-Russian views. In a recent clash inside the Orthodox world between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Serbian patriarch sided with the Russians. When Ecumenical patriarch Bartholomew I recognized the Orthodox Church of Ukraine as independent, Irinej was one of many Orthodox leaders who opposed the move.

Irinej always pointed out that Serbia has close connections with Russia because of its Slavic identity, culture and Orthodox religion.

Controversial government ties

In 2012, the Serbian progressive party led by Vucic became the most powerful political party in Serbia. He has had important influence inside the Serbian Patriarchate. For example, he was the first lay man who attended a meeting of the highest Church body, the Holy Assembly.

As an ex-radical party member, Vucic was well-known as a right-wing politician and nationalist with anti-Western, pro-Russian views when he was elected. As a populist, he tries to use the Serbian Orthodox Church’s influence in his policies, especially related to Kosovo, a disputed territory that declared independence from Serbia. The Serbian Orthodox Church sees Kosovo (and Metohija, another disputed region) as part of the Republic of Serbia.

When Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Belgrade and St. Sava Cahtedral, it was not planned for Putin to give a speech. But on live TV, many heard Vucic ask Patriarch Irinej if he could ask Putin to say something.

Some bishops inside the Serbian Church publicly spoke against Vucic, but Irinej quickly banned such criticism. Bishop Grigorije, who is a well-known critic of Vucic’s politics, was transferred from his diocese to a new diocese in Germany. The Serbian bishop of Western America, Maxim, who doesn’t support Vucic’s politics, was removed from the Orthodox Theological Faculty in Belgrade, where he was a professor. Other professors were also removed from the faculty for their public opposition to Vucic. After the faculty removals, Irinej banned every clergy in Belgrade and on faculty from making any public statement without his approval.

And all of these sanctions were approved by Irinej.

Because of these acts, the Serbian political opposition and their supporters were not happy with the patriarch’s ties with the government.

Last year, when the Serbian Orthodox Church celebrated 800 years of church independence, Patriarch Irinej awarded Vucic with the Order of St. Sava.

“We thank God for giving us a man who is fighting like a lion for the Serbian people, and especially for the martyred and suffering Kosovo and Metohija,” Patriarch Irinej said in 2018.

The Church in Serbia received a lot of money from the government for construction projects, including 40 million euros for St. Sava Cathedral (which cost about 100 million euros in total). Irinej will be known as the patriarch who finally finished one of the biggest Orthodox churches in the world.

The Serbian Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Orthodox Church. Serbia, a secular state, is an Orthodox-majority country, with 88% of the population identifying as Orthodox Christians.

As of Nov. 20, Serbia had reported 110,000 COVID-19 cases and 1,140 deaths.

Currently, two other Orthodox leaders are infected with the coronavirus: the head of the Greek Orthodox Church, Archbishop Ieronymos and the head of the Albanian Orthodox Church, Archbishop Anastasios. Both of them are in same hospital in Athene, Greece.

Mladen Aleksic is a freelance journalist who covers the Orthodox Church as well as a theologian and elementary school teacher in Serbia. He writes for various Serbian media outlets as well as Balkan Insight, Global Comment and Christianity Today. Follow him on Twitter @MladenAleksic85.