The priest-martyr Barnabas, Patriarch of Serbia

Abstract

The article reviews the life span of the Serbian Patriarch Barnabas, a prominent church and state figure of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, Slovenes (from 1929 - Kingdom of Yugoslavia), whose pastoral ministry required special efforts of spiritual power. In 1920 the bishop Barnabas was installed in historical Skoplje cathedra (extremely neglected diocese was tormented by the Turkish yoke, the Balkan wars, the World War I). The Russian clergy, arrived at the Kingdom after the Russian catastrophe of 1917 became great support for His Eminence. Upon assuming the Patriarch throne on the 12 of May 1930 the Holy Barnabas worked indefatigably in church pursuits, was a loyal assistant of the King Alexander the Uniter, he cared a lot about the preservation of peace and tolerance of another creed in the country. The patriarch played a great role in safeguarding the Orthodoxy in the Balkans, in preventing the expansion of Roman catholic church to the East, his firm uncompromising position in the issue of the Concordat with the Vatican cost him his life. All his works find the response in the modern life of the Serb people - reverence of the blessed memory of the patriarch Barnabas. An amendment is attached to the article, which touches upon the topical problems of the modern religious and political situation in Serbia.