| Titleoverride: | Archbishop of |
| Archbishopric: | Peć and Serbian Patriarch |
| Border: | Eastern Orthodox |
| Incumbent: | Porfirije |
| Incumbent Note: | since 19 February 2021 |
| Style: | His Holiness |
| Residence: | Building of the Patriarchate, Belgrade |
| Established: | 1219 1346 and 1920 |
This article lists the heads of the Serbian Orthodox Church, since the establishment of the church as an autocephalous archbishopric in 1219 to today's patriarchate. The list includes all the archbishops and patriarchs that led the Serbian Orthodox Church under the Serbian Archbishopric and Serbian Patriarchate of Peć. Today, the church is unified under a patriarch who is officially styled as Archbishop of Peć, Metropolitan of Belgrade and Karlovci, and Serbian Patriarch (Serbian: Архиепископ пећки, митрополит београдско-карловачки, и патријарх српски|Arhiepiskop pećki, mitropolit beogradsko-karlovački, i patrijarh srpski).
According to the current constitution of the Serbian Orthodox Church, the patriarch is elected by a special convocation of the Bishops' Council,[1] and serves as the chairman of the Holy Synod.[2]
The current patriarch is Porfirije, elected on 18 February 2021.[3] He acceded to this position the next day, following his enthronement in the St. Michael's Cathedral in Belgrade.[4] Porfirije was formally enthroned to the ancient throne of the Serbian patriarchs in the Patriarchal Monastery of Peć on 14 October 2022.[5]
The autocephalous Serbian Archbishopric was founded in 1219 by Sava, under the authority of the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople. In 1346, when Stefan Dušan proclaimed himself emperor, he also elevated the archiepiscopal see of Peć to the rank of a patriarchate, creating the Serbian Patriarchate of Peć. This was only recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in 1375.
After the Ottoman conquest of the Serbian Despotate in 1459, the patriarchate gradually lost its importance. At times the church was forced by the Ottoman government to install Greeks in the office. From 1766 to 1920 the patriarchate was abolished and all ecclesiastical jurisdiction was given to the patriarch of Constantinople. A metropolitan see was maintained in Belgrade from 1766 afterwards. There were also independent Serbian Orthodox sees based in Karlovci and in Montenegro.
In 1920, the church was reunified and the patriarchy was reestablished with the see moving to Belgrade, but retaining the lineage of the throne of Saint Sava in Peć. The patriarch holds ecclesiastical authority over the Orthodox Church in the territory of the former Yugoslavia (with the exception of Macedonia), and also over the Serbian Orthodox diaspora in Western Europe, Australia, and the Americas.
Currently, the style of the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church is "Archbishop of Peć, Metropolitan of Belgrade and Karlovci, and Serbian Patriarch" (архиепископ пећки, митрополит београдско-карловачки и патријарх српски). The short title is "Serbian Patriarch" (патријарх српски). Historically, various styles have been used.
Archbishop Sava (s. 1219–33) was styled "Archbishop of Serb Lands" and "Archbishop of Serb Lands and the Littoral" in the Vranjina charter, while Domentijan (1253) used the style "Archbishop of all the Serbian and coastal lands" when speaking of Sava.[6] The fresco of Sava at Mileševa calls him "the first Archbishop of All Serb and Diocletian Lands".[7] Archbishop Sava III (s. 1309–16) was styled "Archbishop of All Serb and Littoral Lands".
| Venerated to sainthood | Also served as Metropolitan of Karlovci | ||
| Also served as Metropolitan of Belgrade | Current Serbian Patriarch | ||
| Serbian Archbishopric (1219–1346) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Primate | Portrait | Reign | Notes | |
| 1 | Sava | 1219–1233 | First Archbishop of the autocephalous Serbian Church. Seated at Žiča. Styled "Archbishop of Serb Lands and the Littoral". | ||
| 2 | Arsenije I | 1233–1263 | Sava's disciple. Moved the seat to Peć amid Hungarian invasion. | ||
| 3 | Sava II | 1263–1271 | Sava's nephew. | ||
| 4 | Danilo I | 1271–1272 | Replaced due to unknown reason. | ||
| 5 | Joanikije I | 1272–1276 | Disciple of Sava II. Buried at Sopoćani. | ||
| Seat vacant 1276–1279 | |||||
| 6 | Jevstatije I | 1279 – 4 January 1286 | Moved the seat to Žiča in 1285. Relics buried at Patriarchate of Peć. | ||
| 7 | Jakov | 1286–1292 | Moved the seat to Peć in 1291 amid foreign invasion, likely final transfer. | ||
| 8 | Jevstatije II | 1292–1309 | Established seven new eparchies. | ||
| 9 | Sava III | 1309–1316 | Styled "Archbishop of All Serb and Maritime Lands". | ||
| 10 | Nikodim I | 1316–1324 | Co-founder of the Vratna monastery. | ||
| 11 | Danilo II | 1324–1337 | Hagiographer. | ||
| 12 | Joanikije II | 3 January 1338 – 6 April 1346 | Elevated to Patriarch. | ||
| First Serbian Patriarchate of Peć (1346–1463) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Primate | Portrait | Reign | Notes | ||
| 1 | Joanikije II | 6 April 1346 – 3 September 1354 | First Patriarch of the Serbian Church. Elevated during the coronation of Emperor Dušan. Seated at Peć. Styled "Archbishop of Peć and Patriarch of all Serb Lands and the Maritime". | |||
| 2 | Sava IV | 1354–1375 | ||||
| 3 | Jefrem I | 3 October 1375 – 1380 | First tenure. | |||
| 4 | Spiridon I | 1380 – 11 August 1389 | ||||
| Jefrem I | 1389–1390 | Second tenure. | ||||
| 5 | Danilo III | 1390–1396 | ||||
| 6 | Sava V | 1396–1406 | ||||
| 7 | Danilo IV | 1406 | ||||
| 8 | Kirilo I | 1407–1419 | ||||
| 9 | Nikon I | 1420–1435 | ||||
| 10 | Teofan I | 1435–1446 | ||||
| 11 | Nikodim II | 1446–1455 | ||||
| 12 | Arsenije II | 1457–1463 | ||||
| First Ottoman abolishment (1463–1557) | ||||||
| See vacant due to Ottoman abolition and transfer of jurisdiction to Archbishopric of Ohrid | ||||||
| No. | Primate | Portrait | Reign | Notes | ||
| Pavle I | 1526–1541 | Styled "Metropolitan of Smederevo". Attempted to restore Serbian Patriarchate on few occasions between 1526 and 1541, succeeding briefly. | ||||
| Second Serbian Patriarchate of Peć (1557–1766) | ||||||
| No. | Primate | Portrait | Reign | Notes | ||
| 13 | Makarije I | 1557–1571 | Seated at Peć. Full style "Archbishop of Peć and Patriarch of Serbs and Bulgarians" . | |||
| 14 | Antonije I | 1571–1575 | ||||
| 15 | Gerasim I | 1575–1586 | ||||
| 16 | Savatije I | 1586 | ||||
| 17 | Nikanor I | 1588 | Records lacking | |||
| 18 | Jerotej I | 1589–1590 | ||||
| 19 | Filip I | 1591–1592 | ||||
| 20 | Jovan II | 1592–1613 | ||||
| 21 | Pajsije I | 1614–1647 | ||||
| 22 | Gavrilo I | 1648–1655 | ||||
| 23 | Maksim I | 1655–1674 | ||||
| 24 | Arsenije III | 1674–1690 (1706) | Leader of the First Serbian Migration into the Habsburg monarchy. After 1690, reorganized and headed the branch of the Serbian Church in the Habsburg Monarchy. | |||
| 25 | Kalinik I | 1691–1710 | Ethnic Greek. Maintained the Serbian Patriarchate in turbulent times after the First Serbian Migration from the Ottoman Empire. | |||
| 26 | Atanasije I | 1711–1712 | ||||
| 27 | Mojsije I | 1712–1725 | ||||
| 28 | Arsenije IV | 1725–1737 | Leader of the Second Serbian Migration into the Habsburg monarchy. | |||
| 29 | Joanikije III | 1739–1746 | Ethnic Greek. Afterwards reigned as Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, from 1761 to 1763. | |||
| 30 | Atanasije II | 1746–1752 | ||||
| 31 | Gavrilo II | 1752 | ||||
| 32 | Gavrilo III | 1752–1758 | ||||
| 33 | Vikentije I | 1758 | ||||
| 34 | Pajsije II | 1758 | Ethnic Greek. | |||
| 35 | Gavrilo IV | 1758 | Ethnic Greek. | |||
| 36 | Kirilo II | 1758–1763 | ||||
| 37 | Vasilije | 1763–1765 | ||||
| 38 | Kalinik II | 1765–1766 | Ethnic Greek. Resigned as Patriarch, effectively abolishing the post and relegating it to the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. | |||
| Second Ottoman abolishment (1766–1920) | ||||||
| After the Ottoman Empire abolished the Serbian Patriarchate of Peć for the second and final time in 1766, the Serbian Orthodox population within the Ottoman Empire was subject to the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople until 1920. Due to the Great Turkish War between the Ottoman Empire and the Holy League, a large number of Serbs migrated to the Habsburg monarchy in 1690. This caused the establishment of a metropolitanate in Karlovci in 1708. This see was elevated to a patriarchate in 1848, as a reward to Serbs who supported the Habsburgs during the 1848–49 revolutions. After the founding of the Principality of Serbia, the autonomous Metropolitanate of Belgrade was created in 1831, under the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. It gained full autocephaly in 1879 and merged in 1920 with the Patriarchate of Karlovci and the Metropolitanate of Montenegro to form the unified Serbian Orthodox Church. | ||||||
| Serbian Patriarchate of Belgrade (Peć) (1920–present) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Primate | Portrait | Reign | Notes | ||
| 39 | Dimitrije | 12 September 1920 | 6 April 1930[8] | First Patriarch of the reunified Serbian Church. Seated at Belgrade. Styled "Archbishop of Peć, Metropolitan of Belgrade and Karlovci, and Serbian Patriarch" | ||
| 40 | Varnava | 12 May 1930 | 23 July 1937 | Died under unclear circumstances (possible poisoning). | ||
| 41 | Gavrilo V | 21 February 1938 | 7 May 1950[9] | Commonly known as Gavrilo. | ||
| 42 | Vikentije II | 1 July 1950[10] | 5 July 1958 | Died under unclear circumstances (possible poisoning). Commonly known as Vikentije. | ||
| 43 | German | 14 September 1958 | 30 November 1990 | Longest reigning Patriarch. The only retired Patriarch during his life; died on 27 August 1991. | ||
| 44 | Pavle | 1 December 1990 | 15 November 2009[11] | |||
| 45 | Irinej | 23 January 2010[12] [13] | 20 November 2020[14] | |||
| 46 | Porfirije | 19 February 2021 | Incumbent | |||