Serbian Orthodox Church leader Patriarch Irinej

The leader of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Ir i n e j , has died after testing positive for the coronavirus. He was 90.

The patriarch, who often criticized Western policies toward Serbia and urged close relations with Slavic ally Russia, was taken to hospital with the virus early in November.

This came days after Irinej had attended the funeral of the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro, Bishop Amfilohije, who also died from complications caused by the Covid-19 infection.

Thousands of mourners, most of them without masks, gathered at the funeral in the Montenegrin capital, Po d g o r i c a , on November 1, in violation of coronav irus-f ight ing measures proclaimed by the small Adriatic state’s authorities.

The burial turned out to be a major coronaviruss p r e a d i n g event, with several high-ranking church officials and others who were there later testing positive.

Since Bishop Amfilohije’s death, and the patriarch’s hospital admission, Serbian priests have been appealing for their parishioners to t a ke the deadly virus seriously.

Serb ian pres ident Aleksandar Vucic also attended the burial.

Following the news of Irinej’s death, Mr Vucic posted on Instagram: “It was an honour to have known you,” alongside a black and white photo of the patriarch.

Patriarch Irinej took over the influential church’s helm in January 2010 after the death of his predecessor, Patriarch Pavle, who was a high ly popu lar and respected church leader in the Balkan country.

At the time, Irinej was seen as a relative moderate and a compromise choice among the factions within the church.

But throughout his chu rch re ign , he maintained the hardline nationalist s tance the church developed during the wars that cleaved the Balkans in the 1990s.

That included beliefs that the Serbs were historic victims of injustice and played on alleged anti-Serb policies in rival Balkan nations as well as the international community.

He often criticised Western policies toward Serbia over its breakaway Kosovo province, which unilaterally declared independence in 2008, and he kept close relations with the Ru s s i a n Orthodox Church and the populist Serbian president.

Irinej ’s traditional enthronement was held in Kosovo in October 2010 to underscore his dedication to Serbian historical claims that the majority ethnic Albanian-populated former province is the cradle of its statehood.

“We can’t and must not give away what has been ours for centuries and which has never in history belonged to the Albanian state, even if it has been taken from us and put under foreign occupation,” Irinej said in an interview posted on the church’s website.

Irinej, howe ver, was among the rare Serbian church dignitaries who openly called for improved ties with the Roman Catholic Church.

The Serbian church is one of a group of au tocepha lou s , o r independent, churches that make up the Orthodox Christian faith.

The Orthodox Churches split from the Vatican in the 11th Century in an event called the Great Schism.

Patriarch Irinej died after contracting Covid-19.