massive project, it took a long time and the church was completed in 2021. Patriarch German was a pragmatic religious leader in times that were very oppressive for religion. After the death of Josip Broz Tito in 1980, he slowly pushed church issues as Yugoslav society changed and nationalism grew among the various peoples, and in the end he was universally popular among the Serbs and had become a part of the Serbian social elite. In 1989, patriarch German broke his hip, which led to a series of surgeries and repeated injuries, so the already old patriarch was unable to perform his duties. As a result of this, the Holy Synod declared him incapacitated on November 30, 1990, and appointed the metropolitan bishop of Zagreb and Ljubljana Jovan Pavlović as the guardian of the throne and elected the new patriarch, Pavle, on December 1, 1990. Patriarch German died in the VMA hospital in Belgrade on August 27, 1991, aged 92, and was buried in Belgrade's St. Mark's Church. His tenure of 32 years is one of the longest in the history of the Serbian Orthodox Church. He was awarded the Order of Saint Sava, Order of the Yugoslav flag, Legion of Honour, Order of George I, National Order of the Cedar and a number of other decorations and awards. See also List of 20th-century religious leaders References Bibliography Serbian Church in History at the Orthodox Research Institute Ko je ko u Jugoslaviji 1970; Hronometar, Belgrade Srpska porodična enciklopedija, Vol. VI (2006); Narodna knjiga and Politika NM; (NK) Mala Prosvetina Enciklopedija, Third edition (1985); Prosveta; External links Documentary movie about German (in Serbian) 1899 births 1991 deaths People from Raška, Serbia People from the Kingdom of Serbia Patriarchs of the Serbian Orthodox Church Eastern Orthodox Christians from Serbia 20th-century Eastern Orthodox bishops University of Belgrade Faculty of Orthodox Theology alumni Burials at St. Mark's Church, Belgrade Recipients of the Order of St. Sava Order of George I Recipients of the Legion of Honour Serbian Orthodox Church in Hungary