19.11.2009.
Serbian Patriarch Pavle was buried today around 2 pm in the graveyard of the Holy Archangels' Monastery in Rakovica. The service was held by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and the Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral, Amfilohije, with archbishops and priests and a message of the Patriarch of Moscow, Kirill was read out. Patriarch Pavle was buried beside Patriarch Dimitrije, who was the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church from 1920 to 1930. Along with the highest dignitaries of the Serbian Orthodox church and other Orthodox churches, the funeral was also attended by Serbian President Boris Tadić, PM Mirko Cvetković, Parliament Speaker Slavica Đukić Dejanović and Republika Srpska PM Milorad Dodik, Prince Aleksandar Karađorđević and former FRY President and Serbian PM Vojislav Koštunica. Hundreds of thousands of citizens paid their last homage to the Patriarch in a funeral procession from the Cathedral to the monastery. The central event was the service in front of St Sava's church in Vracar, at which Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and the Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral, Amfilohije, as well as Serbian President Boris Tadic spoke. The prayer for his soul was served by the heads of other Orthodox churches, such as Romanian Patriarch Danilo, Albanian Patriarch Anastasios and the Metropolitan of Czech lands and Slovakia Christifor. Metropolitans of the Russian Orthodox Church, Minsk Metropolitan Filaret, the Metropolitan of the Jerusalem Patrtiarchate Isachia, Peter of the Alexandria Patriarchy and Gerasim of the Georgian Patriarchy also joined in the prayer and so did Metropolitan Vasilios, on behalf of the Athens Archbishoprics and Metropolitan Georgius, on behalf of the Cypriot Bishopric. It is estimated that more than half a million people have paid their homage to the Serbian patriarch in the past four days in the Orthodox Cathedral in Belgrade.
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