Here’s who the THRONE GUARD will be!

Synod, Photo: Screen Printed

According to the SOC Constitution, the Serbian Patriarch must be elected no later than three months after vacating the throne. Until then, the guardian of the throne was, as a rule, the oldest metropolitan, today Chrysostom of Dobrobrosan.

Patriarch Irinej passed away today at the age of 90. The news that is The patriarch Irenaeus died It came after 15 days of hard fight against the coronavirus, which the patriarch lost after his health deteriorated drastically in the night between Wednesday and Thursday.

UNCERTAINTY OF THE CROWN

How long the Serbian Church will be without the patriarch is currently completely uncertain because Kovida pandemic 19 it calls into question the celebration of the Council and, therefore, the observance of the provisions of the Constitution of the Church.

However, if not all bishops can travel to Belgrade, the current Constitution allows absent bishops to vote and can authorize other diocesan bishops to vote for them. But a bishop can be authorized by a single vote. In order to resort to this method of election, since the vote is secret, the bishops would have to show a high degree of trust among themselves.

As things stand now, generally speaking, the Serbian Orthodox Church is in a state of emergency because it was suddenly left without a patriarch, but also the oldest metropolitan, who assumes the position of guardian or guardian of the throne. In addition, the diocese of Valjevo, whose bishop Milutin passed away during the first wave of Kovid 19, was exercised, and all dioceses, that is, their bishops, must vote for the election of a patriarch.

After his death, Metropolitan Amfilohije was the guardian of the throne after the death of Patriarch Pavle. He presented the insignia of the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church to Patriarch Irinej.

WHAT DO THE RULES SAY?

According to the rules of the Serbian Orthodox Church, the role of caretaker is assumed by the oldest metropolitan. At the moment, it is little known to the general public, Metropolitan Chrysostom of Dabro-Bosnia. According to information from “Blic”, he left Sarajevo last night for the Belgrade Patriarchate. Next in rank is the Metropolitan of Zagreb-Ljubljana Porfirije.

However, the church government is also not in the “correct” makeup. The Synod has been operating in a state of emergency for months, because there was no Parliament and no new members were elected. As a general rule, two out of five change every year. Currently, the highest by ordination in the Synod is Bishop Irinej of Bačka. However, if there are no changes, and in extraordinary circumstances, the current practice of the Serbian Church continues to be respected, the usual ecclesiastical affairs should be managed by the vicar, the oldest metropolitan with members of the Synod.

The current situation in the Serbian Church, which is in fact a consequence of the Kovid 19 pandemic, is roughly compared to the state of war in the Church. Historically, the only conditionally similar situation was during World War II. At that time, the Church was left without several bishops and patriarchs.

The then patriarch Gavrilo (Dožić) of the Ostrog monastery was taken to the Dachau camp in Germany. It was completely extraordinary in the Church. The Metropolitan of Cetinje was under Italian occupation, but at that time Metropolitan Josif of Macedonia was in Belgrade, when the Bulgarian soldiers drove him out of Skopje. This is how he got the “role of patriarch” because he had no one else.