Pavel, Patriarch of Serbia (in the world Goiko Stojcevic): biography, books, quotes

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

The article will discuss who Patriarch Pavel is. This is a fairly well-known personality in religious circles, who left behind a big mark. At the moment, many books have been written about him, which consider his fundamental ideas. Most often, he is only occasionally mentioned as the author of certain thoughts.

Introduction

Let's start with the fact that this man was born in the autumn of 1914 in Austria-Hungary. During his life, he managed to be a bishop of the Serbian Orthodox Church, an archbishop and a metropolitan. In addition, he became famous for his unusual lifestyle. He led a rather ascetic life, did not use material goods, refused personal transport, donations and financial rewards.

Childhood

It is interesting that the boy was born just on the day when they celebrated the religious holiday of the beheading of John the Baptist. He was born into an ordinary peasant family, which was no different from hundreds of similar ones in the village. Unfortunately, he had to learn to do it on his own early.life, because he lost his parents when he was a child. His father Stefan was a native Serb, but he had to go to work in the United States in order to provide for his family. There he caught tuberculosis and returned back. He spent his last days in death throes. Goiko Stoycevic, that was the name of the boy in Serbian, was not even 3 years old by that time. In addition, just before the father's illness, a second child appeared in the family.

The future Patriarch Pavel remained in the care of his mother. By the way, she was Croatian by nationality. After her father died of tuberculosis, she remarried about a year later. However, soon she also died during a difficult birth. Thus, Goiko and his brother were now only needed by their grandmother and aunt, and it was the latter who decided to take on all the problems and concerns of raising the boys. In his memoirs and memoirs, the future Serbian Patriarch Pavel often said that he associates maternal love precisely with his aunt, who replaced his real mother quite early in life. He was very grateful to her for the gift of warmth, often mentioned her in his speeches and speeches.

Later life

The country of Serbia did not yet know what kind of spiritual leader awaits it in the future. However, the boy grew up as a rather weak, sickly child, so he was released from most of the housework, and he was able, partly because of this, to get an education.

He received his primary education in his native village. Then in 1925 he and his aunt moved toTuzla in order to continue my studies. He was there from 1925 to 1929. It was within the walls of the school that he met his friend named Mesha Selimovic.

Later, friends recalled that the future Serbian Patriarch Pavel studied quite well in technical disciplines and in those that did not require much mental effort, like geometry and physics. Nevertheless, he received rather poor marks in the catechism, but under the influence of his own aunt, in the future he chose to study at the theological seminary.

Growing up

Later he decided to enter the theological seminary in Sarajevo. Education in it took 6 years, so from 1930 to 1936 the future Serbian bishop spent within the walls of the seminary. There, love for the divine word began to awaken in him. After graduation, he continued to learn spiritual disciplines at the theological faculty of the university in the city of Belgrade. By the way, it should be noted that initially the hero of our article entered the medical department, but later he still chose a religious direction. For some time, the future Patriarch Pavel was even the headman in his group and enjoyed universal respect. It should be noted that he liked to stand out, but only with his work and mind. He wanted the attention he deserved, which would be some kind of praise for his diligence and perseverance, and not an empty phrase.

War years

Before the start of the war, Goiko Stoicevic worked as a secretary for the Minister of Church Affairs. However, already in 1940 he joined the army and went to the front as a military paramedic. Hissent to Zaechar. When the period of terrible German occupation began, the young man lived in Slavonia for some time, after which he moved back to the city of Belgrade, as he missed his native land.

A terrible diagnosis

In Belgrade, a man lived from 1941 to 1942, and at that time worked part-time in an office cleaning the ruins. As we know, Goiko did not enjoy good he alth from childhood, so his poor he alth eventually led him to the walls of the Trinity Monastery. It was here that he was when the Bulgarians occupied his native territory. In 1943, he took a job as a faith teacher and teacher for refugee children. Unfortunately, during this period, the future Serbian Patriarch was diagnosed with tuberculosis. The doctors' prognosis was rather negative, and the man was not predicted to have a long life. He found out about this by chance when he turned to the doctor due to severe ailment.

Service

After these events, he went to Wuyang Monastery. He remained here until 1945. He managed to recover, and he took it as a miracle. That is why already in 1946 he became a novice of the monastery. A couple of years later, he took the tonsure and subsequently received the right to conduct church secret rites.

Until 1955, he represented the interests of the Racha monastery, and after that he worked as an assistant in the seminary of St. Cyril and Methodius in Prizren. It should be added that already in 1954 he became a hieromonk, and three years later he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite.

He devoted two years of his life to working as a graduate student at the Athensuniversity. There he managed to write a scientific work for the degree of Doctor of Theology. And he successfully did it. There is a legend according to which a representative of the Serbian church somehow found out about Pavel as a graduate student. Then he was told that if the Greek Church had several such priests as Goiko, then their Church could be one of the strongest.

Rashko-Prizren Bishop

At a meeting of ministers of the church in 1957, the newly defended Doctor of Theology Gojko was elected bishop. Interestingly, he himself learned about this during his journey to Jerusalem as a pilgrim. The appointment was officially announced in the spring, and already in the middle of autumn the hero of our article took office.

It is known that for his activities he stood out by sponsoring the construction of various churches, and was also an active organizer of various repair and restoration works in order to preserve church shrines as much as possible. He tried to attract as many investors as possible in order to build new temples, as well as renovate those that were destroyed or were in a deplorable state. He also paid great attention to the seminary in Prizren, where he even personally read material on the Slavic language and singing. And although he was quite limited in time, he still found time for children.

It is interesting that he ruled alone, without using the services of additional employees, at least one secretary. Also completely refused transport. You ask how hemoved? He walked or took public transport.

It is also known that the Serbian Orthodox Church is very proud of this spiritual leader, because he even spoke at the UN on issues of relations between different ethnic groups. Note that at that time this issue was rather painful, so its consideration was beneficial. The country of Serbia needed a person who would take care of its interests comprehensively, and the hero of our article was just such a person. He often wrote personal letters to the highest officials of the church and even the country, trying to encourage them to visit this or that temple, as well as develop a policy that would help avoid various conflicts on religious grounds.

He often received threats from the Albanians, but tried never to talk about it. It should be noted that no answer was given to the bishop to all letters and appeals to state bodies.

Patriarch

Church service Paul was a joy, and in the fall of 1990 he was elected head of the church. It is interesting that before that there were 8 voting attempts that did not lead to any result, that is, there was no consensus.

Pavel took the place of Patriarch Herman, who at that time was very ill. For him it was an important and great event, but it was not an end in itself. That is why the spiritual master behaved very reservedly, which earned him great respect from his followers and colleagues.

The inauguration took place in early December 1990 in one of the maingoals for Belgrade. In his festive speech, Patriarch Pavel said that he was very weak and needed the help of his parishioners. But nevertheless, he hoped that his work would be fruitful and it would bring some benefits. So, during his time in the rank, the patriarch managed not only to resume the work of various religious institutions, but also to open new seminaries and dioceses.

Another great merit to the Serbian Orthodox Church is that he created an information service under it. Few people know that when Pavel became patriarch, he was already 76 years old, and before him no one had entered this rank so late. True, his successor entered the patriarchate at the age of 79. It should be noted that the patriarch visited all the churches in Serbia and on all continents where there are its branches. When he turned 91, he went on a trip to Austria for 2 weeks. Then he also managed to visit a large number of Orthodox churches.

Further activities

Paul is known to have served on the commission for the translation of the New Testament. The translation, in which he participated, was officially approved and published in 1984. After 6 years there was a reissue. When the Civil War began in Yugoslavia, the patriarch visited Croatia and Bosnia. He also tried to reconcile the two sides and urged them to resolve the conflict situation. He even met with the President of Croatia.

Treatment

In November 2007, the he alth of the clergyman completely weakened, he was forced to go to inpatient treatment, which took place inBelgrade. Due to rather poor prospects, in 2008 it was decided that the functions of the Synod's rector would be temporarily transferred to another person. But in the same year there was a meeting at which the question was considered that it was necessary to elect a new rector, because Patriarch Pavel announced his resignation due to an incurable disease and age. However, the resignation was not accepted. On the contrary, the members of the Synod decided that Paul should continue to fulfill his duties, but with such an amendment that greater powers would be given to representatives of lower ranks. Immediately after this, it was reported that the patriarch, whose biography we are considering in the article, agreed to remain in his place.

Sad news

He passed away in autumn 2009. When Patriarch Pavel of Serbia died, his coffin was placed in the Cathedral of St. Michael the Archangel. There it was opened for round-the-clock access. Note that there was a queue for several days at the coffin, despite the fact that people stood day and night. It is also known that mourning was declared in Serbia, which dragged on for 3 days. In addition, the authorities have officially announced that November 15, 2009 is a non-working day. On November 19, a funeral liturgy was held, and in the end the coffin was taken to the Temple of St. Sava. After that, the body was buried, and the parishioners with the clergy went to the Rakovitsa Monastery.

Finally, in the afternoon, the body was interred in the presence of the President of Serbia and several other high officials. Before his death, Patriarch Kirill said thatdoes not want his funeral to be filmed using photo or video equipment, so there is no official documentary material left, but the journalists managed to take a few shots.

Patriarch Pavel: quotes

This man spoke very wise thoughts that still impress and inspire many people. There is one famous quote that says that a person does not choose the place in which he is born, the family in which he is born, the time in which he is born, but nevertheless, he always chooses himself: to be a man or follow your dark beginning.

There are a few more popular sayings that belong to a priest:

• Everything works out if you can endure and trust God.
• You can't turn the earth into heaven, you must prevent it from turning into hell.
• The mind gives us light, it is our inner eye, but it is cold. And kindness is warm, but blind. So to establish a balance in the development of the mind and kindness, this is the whole point. Otherwise, mind without kindness turns into malice, and kindness without mind turns into stupidity.
• Non-believers reproach us that we, Orthodox priests, not only remind believers of death, but also frighten them with it. This is not true. To ourselves, brothers and sisters, and to all those who have ears to hear, we say only the truth: we will leave this world. Even unbelievers know this, but they do not know and do not want to know that the soul is immortal and that it will stand before the face of God in order to receive either eternal blessedness or eternal torment. And we must know this, we must be those who understand what they are doing.

It should also be noted that the hero of our article has a fairly large number of awards. He owns several orders and prizes, and also has state and confessional awards.

On religiosity

Additionally, I would like to say that not everyone knows what religion is in Serbia. Many believe that anything reigns in this country, but not Orthodoxy. In fact, most of the inhabitants profess Orthodoxy. In addition to the native Serbs, Romanians and Montenegrins adopt the same religion. However, the country also has Catholic churches and Muslim communities. That is why, the question of what religion is in Serbia should not arise from an educated person.

Books

It is known that the Serbian Patriarch wrote several books ("Let's be human!", "Walking into eternity: selected sermons and interviews", "Let's listen to God!"). Also, for about 20 years, various of his studies and thoughts were published in the publication Vestnik SPTs. As we said above, he was also on the commission for the translation of the Holy Scriptures, so he had points of contact with literature. There are also books in which you can read the sermons of the patriarch, read his interviews that he gave throughout his life.

Note that at the moment this person is considered a saint. Unfortunately, this was not always the case, during his activities he faced many ups and downs and conflicts, as well as misunderstanding. However, the literature often says that Patriarch Pavel withfrom the very beginning he was considered a holy man, but one must pay tribute to literary inaccuracies. Today in bookstores you can find a fairly large list of books that have been written about this person. He remains a mystery to many minds around the world.

What was the path of the saint?

However, in many interviews with street recordings, the man admitted that his path was rather thorny. This is true, because the Serbian Church for a long time believed that this is the most misunderstood spiritual teacher. It seemed strange to everyone that he refused many blessings and led an ascetic life. Some argued that a person of his rank simply needed to enjoy certain benefits, but all this passed by the patriarch, because he had his own point of view on this. Perhaps that is why he had quite a few ill-wishers, because it was simply impossible to bribe this person and agree on something dishonest with him, because no one could offer him anything that he would truly want.

So, it is known that when the hero of our article tried to balance the conflicts in Bosnia and Herzegovina, this led to the fact that he became an undesirable person in political circles. Many state leaders quarreled among themselves because of the speeches and proposals of Patriarch Pavel.

However, when both sides realized that enough blood had already been shed and needed to be reconciled, they could not come to a common solution. It was then that they decided that some third party was needed, with the help of which they could negotiate and establishconnection. Then they decided to turn to the patriarch. He led a rather interesting line, trying not only to reconcile both parties, but to make it so that they would forgive each other and not repeat such mistakes again. An agreement was signed, which was signed by the President of Serbia and even the Patriarch himself. However, it must be said that not all state and clergy people liked this solution to this situation. So, Bishop Artemy of Raska-Prizren wrote a letter to Pavel, in which he asked to explain some of his strange thoughts and decisions, saying that the peace negotiations were only a veil. He believed that it was impossible to transfer power to one side or another, since they both seek certain advantages, and spiritual leaders are used simply as a distraction.

Interestingly, a large number of people had such a reaction of indignation, so for some time the idea that the patriarch should be demoted was even considered. In the end, everything ended well, but even after this situation, some influential people did not want to leave the patriarch alone. 2 years later, a case was opened against him, in which some third parties wanted to show how badly the patriarch took care of his parishioners and church property in order to remove him from such a high rank. All this was done very competently from a legal point of view, but there were professionals who spoke on the side of the patriarch, so they were able to document and factually confirm how empty and unfounded the accusations were.

Summing up this article, I would like to note thatthat Patriarch Pavel was right when he said that a person chooses for himself which path to follow. So, his well-wishers and henchmen chose the true path, which led to honesty with themselves. Others chose a different beginning, but nevertheless, they failed to shed a shadow on the activities of this great man. Today he is one of the most revered saints in the spiritual world of Serbia, and for good reason. Many believers still yearn for the departure of this kindest person, and constantly re-read his sermons and interviews in order to receive certain spiritual food and learn more about the biography of Patriarch Pavel.