On August 27, 1930, the pious parents Zdravko and Milijana Gavrilović from the village of Vidova near Čačak – and with them the entire Serbian family – were blessed by the Lord with the birth of a male child who was named Miroslav at his baptism.
He finished elementary school in his native village, and later competed high school in Čačak and seminary in Prizren. Then he graduated from the Faculty of Theology in Belgrade. After completing his military service, he was appointed deputy (professor) of the Prizren seminary.
Before taking office as a professor in October 1959, in the monastery of Rakovica, he received the monastic rank from the Serbian Patriarch German, receiving the monastic name Irinej. On the day of Holy Friday of the same year, he was ordained a hieromonk in the church of Ružica on Kalemegdan.
While serving as a professor at the Prizren seminary, he was sent to postgraduate studies in Athens.
He was appointed the director of the Monastic School in the Ostrog monastery in 1969, from where he returned to Prizren to the position of rector of the famous seminary. In 1974, he was elected vicar of the Serbian Patriarch with the title of Bishop of Moravica. And, in 1975 he was elected Bishop of Nis.
On January 22, 2010, at the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church, he was elected Archbishop of Pech, Metropolitan of Belgrade and Karlovac and Patriarch of Serbia.
On Friday, November 20, 2020, at 7:07 AM, in the Military Kovid Hospital “Karaburma” in Belgrade, His Holiness the Archbishop of Pech, Metropolitan of Belgrade and Karlovac and Patriarch of Serbia Mr. Irinej (Gavrilovic) reposed in Lord.
May His memory be eternal!
