Mihailo Jovanović (metropolitan)
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Mihailo Jovanović (baptised as Miloje Jovanović; Sokobanja, 19 August 1826 – Belgrade, 17 February 1898) was the Metropolitan of Belgrade, head of the Serbian Orthodox Church in the Principality of Serbia from 1859 until 1881 and in the Kingdom of Serbia from 1889 until his death in 1898.
Biography
He was born in 1826 in Sokobanja. His birth name was Miloje Jovanović. He received elementary education at his hometown, and studied gymnasium in Zaječar and Negotin. He finished the Belgrade seminary (Bogoslovija) and the Kiev Theological Academy. He was a monk at the Kiev Pechersk Lavra for some time. He stayed in the Russian Empire for eight years. Shortly after returning to the Principality of Serbia in 1854, he was ordained as the Bishop of Šabac. In July 1859, he succeeded Petar Jovanović as the Metropolitan of Belgrade.[1]
Mihailo's time in office was marked with implementation in church management and in the education of priests. On 20 October 1879, the Orthodox Church in Serbia gained autocephaly in agreement with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.[2]
Mihailo was a convinced Russophile and worked for the unification of South Slavs. He maintained close ties with Slavophile circles in the Russian Empire. He was a honorary member of universities in Saint Petersburg and Moscow. Through them he materially helped the Herzegovina uprising (1875–1877). His decisive opposition to the policy of rapprochement with Austria-Hungary, led by Prince Milan Obrenović after the Congress of Berlin, provoked his removal from the position of Metropolitan in October 1881.[3]
From 1883, he lived in exile in the Principality of Bulgaria and the Russian Empire. He returned to the position of Metropolitan in 1889, just a few months following the abdication of Milan (by then King Milan I).[4]
Mihailo remained the Metropolitan of Belgrade until his death in 1898, during the reign of Milan's son King Alexander I.
Works
Metropolitan Mihailo authored publications about church history:
- Pravoslavna crkva u Kneževini Srbiji (Orthodox Church in the Principality of Serbia, published in 1874)
- Pravoslavna crkva u Kraljevini Srbiji (Orthodox Church in the Kingdom of Serbia, published in 1895)
References
- ^ Slijepčević, Đoko (1979). Mihailo, Metropolit von Serbien, in: Biographisches Lexikon zur Geschichte Südosteuropas. Bd. 3. Hgg. Mathias Bernath / Felix von Schroeder. München. pp. 194–195. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
- ^ Slijepčević & 1979 195.
- ^ Slijepčević, 1979 & 195-196.
- ^ Slijepčević & 1979 196.
Eastern Orthodox Church titles | ||
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Preceded by Joanikije Nešković |
Serbian Bishop of Šabac 1854–1859 |
Succeeded by Gavrilo Popović |
Preceded by Petar Jovanović |
Serbian Metropolitan of Belgrade 1859–1881 |
Succeeded by Teodosije Mraović |
Preceded by Teodosije Mraović |
Serbian Metropolitan of Belgrade 1889–1898 |
Succeeded by Inokentije Pavlović |