Pavle, Serbian Patriarch

[1] His full title was His Holiness the Archbishop of Peć, Metropolitan of Belgrade and Karlovci, and Serbian Patriarch Pavle.Because of poor health, he spent his last years in the Military Medical Academy in Belgrade, while his duties were carried out by Metropolitan Amfilohije.Pavle was born as Gojko Stojčević (Гојко Стојчевић) in the village of Kućanci near Magadenovac, then part of Austria-Hungary (present-day Croatia).After the war, he worked in Belgrade as a construction worker, but because of his poor health he took monastic vows in Blagoveštenje monastery in Ovčar in 1946.At first, relations between the Church and the government were good, but gradually eroded because of the Yugoslav Wars and ongoing crisis in Serbia.[5] Pavle met with Serb paramilitary leader Arkan, who he claimed was justified in his actions and presented him with an autographed icon of Saint Nicholas; Arkan considered himself a favorite of Pavle and regarded the Patriarch as his "commander", stating that "we are fighting for our religion, the Serbian Orthodox Church.[8] During the Bosnian War, Pavle supported the President of Republika Srpska, Radovan Karadžić, in his rejection of the Vance-Owen peace plan and supported Karadžić in his claims that there were no Serbian rape camps that kept Muslim women, but accused Bosnian Muslims and Croats of the same thing.Karadžić regarded the Serbian Church as the "only spiritual force capable of uniting the Serb nation, regardless of borders.[12] On 31 July 1995, he traveled to the Krajina capital Knin with Ratko Mladić to assure the rebel Serbs of military and religious support.[14]In September 1997, Pavle signed a declaration to the UN Security Council which demanded suspension of the proceedings against Karadžić before the Hague tribunal.When asked why he' had never owned a car, he replied: "I will not purchase one until every Albanian and Serb household in Kosovo and Metohija has an automobile."In October 2004, Pavle wrote an open letter in which he denounced the elections in Kosovo and urged Serbs to boycott the polls.On 13 November 2007 Pavle was admitted to a medical clinic, and the Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral Amfilohije Radović, as the oldest member, was elected by the Holy Synod to conduct the duties of the Patriarch."[35] Condolences to the Serbian Church, people and officials were sent by Russian Patriarch Kirill of Moscow,[36] Bulgarian Orthodox Church,[37] Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople and Archbishop Ieronymos II of Athens held memorial service,[38] Patriarch Daniel of Romania,[39] Pope Benedict XVI,[40] Cardinal Walter Kasper,[41] Presidents and heads of Government of Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Germany and France[42] as well as leaders of countries that are territorially part of the Serbian Orthodox Church - Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, North Macedonia, Montenegro (President Filip Vujanović).