List of Heads of The Serbian Orthodox Church

List Of Heads Of The Serbian Orthodox Church

This is a list of the Archbishops and Patriarchs of Peć and the Serbs from the creation of the church as an archdiocese in 1219 to today's Patriarchate. The list includes all the Archbishops and Patriarchs that led the Serbian Orthodox community under Patriarchate of Peć. Today, the church is unified under a Patriarch who is known officially as Archbishop of Peć, Metropolitan of Belgrade and Karlovci, and Serbian Patriarch. The current holder of the title is His Holiness, Patriarch Irinej, since 23 January 2010.

The episcopal see was founded as an archdiocese in 1219 by St. Sava under the autocephaly of the Patriarchs of Constantinople. In 1346 it unilaterally declared itself as a patriarchate in Peć in response to the declaration of a Serbian Empire. This was only recognized by Constantinople in 1379.

After the Ottoman conquest of Serbian Despotate in 1459, the Patriarchate gradually lost its importance. At times the church was forced by the Porte to install Greeks to the office. From 1766–1920 the patriarchate was abolished and all ecclesiastical jurisdiction was placed under 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 linage of the descendants of the throne of St. Sava in Peć. The Patriarch rules over the territory of the former Yugoslavia and holds possessions abroad in Western Europe, Australia, and North and South America.