Patriarch Varnava of Serbia

Varnava Варнава
His Holiness the Archbishop of Peć, Metropolitan of Belgrade and Karlovci, Patriarch of Serbs
Church	Serbian Orthodox Church
See	Belgrade
Installed	May 12, 1930
Term ended	July 23, 1937
Predecessor	Dimitrije
Successor	Gavrilo
Orders
Ordination	1905
Consecration	1910
Personal details
Birth name	Petar Rosić
Born	September 11, 1880 Pljevlja, Montenegro
Died	Belgrade, Yugoslavia

Styles of Patriarch Varnava of Serbia
Reference style	His Holiness
Spoken style	Your Holiness
Religious style	Patriarch
Posthumous style	His Holiness Patriarch Varnava of Blessed Repose

Patriarch Varnava Rosić (Serbian Cyrillic: Варнава Росић) was born in Pljevlja, at the time Principality of Montenegro, on August 29, 1880. He was the Head of Serbian Orthodox Church between 1930 and 1937. His birth name was Petar Rosić.

During the archipastoral rule of Patriarch Varnava, the dioceses of Zagreb and Mukačevo-Prjaš were formed. Between 1931 and 1947, the Serbian Orthodox Church consisted of 27 dioceses and a vicarate in Skadar, Albania. Church life was on the move in all regions. Many monasteries, churches and church buildings were erected, some of these being the present Patriarchate building in Belgrade, monastery Vavedenje (Vavedenye, Entrance to the Theotokos into the Temple) etc. The construction of the edifice of the great Temple of Saint Sava was initiated in Belgrade (the biggest Orthodox Temple in Europe).

Varnava firmly resisted the introduction of legislation giving greater privileges to the Roman Catholic Church not in Yugoslavia in general, but in Serbia in particular (hence The Concordat Crisis). He maintained that these would certainly undermine positions of both the Serbian Orthodox church and those of other faiths in the country. He died unexpectedly during the night between July 23–24, 1937 when the Concordat legislation was carried into Parliament. The Holy Synod was also against government pro-Concordat policy, and the government was soon forced to withdraw this new legislation.

Many people believed that Patriarch Varnava was poisoned because of his struggle against Concordat, and his death is still unresolved.

He is the great uncle of performance artist Marina Abramović.

References

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Eastern Orthodox Church titles
Preceded by Dimitrije	Patriarch of Serbs 1930–1937	Succeeded by Gavrilo V