Belgrade, February 18, 2021
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His Eminence Metropolitan Porfirije of Zagreb and Ljubljana has been elected as the 46th Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church, following the repose of His Holiness Patriarch Irinej in November.
The Bishops’ Council of the Serbian Orthodox Church gathered in Belgrade today for the election. The day began with the celebration of the Divine Liturgy in the Cathedral of St. Sava, after which the Bishops’ session began at about noon, reports Pravoslavie.ru.
First, three candidates were chosen: Met. Porfirije, His Grace Bishop Irinej of Bačka, and His Grace Bishop Ephraim of Banja Luka. After a common prayer, the three names were placed into the Holy Gospel, and Archimandrite Matthew (Ristanović) from Holy Transfiguration-Sisojevac Monastery pulled out one name—that of Met. Porfirije.
A moleben of thanksgiving was celebrated immediately following the election, and Many Years was chanted to the Archbishop of Peć, Metropolitan of Belgrade-Karlovac and Serbian Patriarch Porfirije, reports the site of the Serbian Orthodox Church.
He will be formally enthroned as Patriarch tomorrow at Archangel Michael Cathedral in Belgrade. According to tradition he will also be enthroned later at the Patriarchate of Peć in Kosovo and Metohija.
Axios, and may God grant Patriarch Porfirije many years!
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The site of the Serbian Church provides Pat. Porfirije’s biography:
Newly-elected Metropolitan Dr. Porfirije (ć) of Zagreb-Ljubljana was born on July 22, 1961 in Becej, northern Serbia, and was baptized as Prvoslav. He finished primary school in Curug, and the Jovan Jovanović Zmaj Grammar school in Novi Sad. He was ordained a monk according to the rite of small schema by his spiritual father, then hieromonk Dr. Irinej (Bulović), at Dečani Monastery in 1985.
He graduated from the Faculty of Orthodox Theology in Belgrade in 1986, when the then Bishop of Raška-Prizren Diocese, future Serbian Patriarch Pavle of blessed memory, ordained him a hierodeacon at the monastery of Holy Trinity in Musutiste, Kosovo and Metohija.
He attended postgraduate studies in Athens from 1986 until 1990. That year, upon the blessing of Bishop Dr. Irinej of Bačka, he joined the Monastery of the Holy Archangels in Kovilj, near Novi Sad, where he was ordained as hieromonk and became its abbot.
Many young monks and novices came to the monastery following him. These were the years when the Kovilj Monastery became a spiritual center for many young people: intellectuals, artists, popular actors and rock musicians, especially from Novi Sad and Belgrade. Since then, Abbot Porfirije has particularly dealt with drug-addicted patients. For this purpose he formed (in 2005) a therapeutic community called The Land of the Living, which is recognized as the most successful project for therapy of drug-addiction; under the leadership of Bishop Porfirije, it has more than hundred residents in camps throughout Serbia at the time being.
During the ordinary meeting of the Holy Assembly of Bishops of the SOC in Belgrade on May 14, 1999 he was elected as Bishop of Jegar, Vicar of the Bishop of Bačka.
He defended his PhD thesis, The Possibility of the Knowability of God in St. Paul’s Understanding According to the Interpretation of St. John Chrysostom at the Faculty of Theology of the University of Athens in 2004.
He became a lecturer at the Faculty of Orthodox Theology in the Department of Pastoral Psychology, succeeding the famous psychiatrist and academician Dr. Vladeta Jerotić.
Bishop Porfirije has not been just president of the Steering Board for a decade, but a real spiritus movens of the Humanitarian Fund Privrednik, which has provided scholarships for a great number of gifted, but poor pupils and students, regardless of nationality or religious affiliation.
The Assembly of the Republic elected him as representative of all Churches and religious communities, to be a member of the Council of the Republic Broadcasting Agency, and in 2008 the RBA elected him its president.
The Holy Assembly of Bishops entrusted him to establish a military chaplaincy in the Serbian Armed Forces in 2010.
His expert theological works have been published in magazines both in Serbia and abroad. He has participated in a number of academic conferences and symposia throughout the world.
He speaks Greek, English, German and Russian.
He was enthroned on the throne of the Metropolitan of Zagreb and Ljubljana on July 13, 2014 in the Cathedral Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord in Zagreb. The solemn Hierarchal Liturgy was served by Serbian Patriarch Irinej, accompanied by a large number of archbishops of the Serbian Church and other sisters Churches, as well as priests, monks, and pious laity.
He remained in the Metropolis of Zagreb until his election as the 46th Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church.
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