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The Constitution of the Serbian Orthodox Church stipulates that a Serbian patriarch can be anyone who has been a “diocesan bishop for at least five years”, and the procedure requires that three candidates be chosen by secret ballot by Parliament, whose equal members are all metropolitans and bishops of Serbia and the world.
Photo: Predrag MiticThe election takes place during the “Electoral Assembly”, whose work requires the participation of at least two-thirds of the members of the Assembly.
Then they swear that they will only concern themselves with the good and interest of the Church, the people and the Fatherland, and that they will vote for the best.
The vote is then cast in secret and each of the three candidates, who is then the candidate for the new patriarch, must receive more than half of the votes, so there are at least two rounds of voting.
When the names of the three candidates who received more than half the votes are known, they proceed to the election by lot, that is, in the “apostolic way”, which results from the New Testament election of the Apostle Matthew after the betrayal of Judas.
Members of Parliament from the Hall of Parliament are transferred to the patriarchal chapel of Saint Simeon the bearer of myrrh, for the service “Invocation of the Holy Spirit for the election of a new patriarch”, which is attended by the oldest hierarch by ordination .
During that service, three names are placed on separate envelopes, and those of the Gospel.
The essence of this act is in the belief that “the members of the Assembly elected the candidates according to human virtues, and that it is the will of God that of the three he is worthy of the throne of the Serbian patriarch.”
In a specific part of the service, one of the monks, chosen by the Council, takes out an envelope with the name of the new patriarch.
Clearly defined and precise articles of the Constitution of the Serbian Orthodox Church and the fact that only the hierarchs of the SOC participate in the election of the patriarch, completely exclude the possibility that the state or another person, outside the church, influences somehow in the vote for the new head of the autocephalous Serbian Orthodox Church.
According to the current Constitution of the Serbian Orthodox Church, “when the patriarchal throne becomes vacant, the authority of the patriarch is exercised by the Holy Synod of Bishops, who announces it to the diocesan bishops and informs the state authorities.”
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