Pavle (, Paul; 11 September 1914 – 15 November 2009) was the patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church from 1990 to his death. His full title was His Holiness the Archbishop of Peć, Metropolitan of Belgrade and Karlovci, and Serbian Patriarch Pavle. Before his death, he was the oldest living leader of an Eastern Orthodox church. Because of poor health, he spent his last years in the Military Medical Academy in Belgrade, while his duties were carried out by Metropolitan Amfilohije. Early life Pavle was born as Gojko Stojčević (Гојко Стојчевић) in the village of Kućanci near Magadenovac, then part of Austria-Hungary (present-day Croatia). He lost both of his parents in childhood, and was raised by an aunt. After finishing elementary school, Pavle graduated from a gymnasium in Belgrade, then studied at the seminary in Sarajevo. After finished Seminary, Gojko entered University of Belgrade where he studied Theology and Medicine in parallel. He quit medicine, but graduated with a Theology degree in 1942. During World War II he took refuge in the Holy Trinity monastery in Ovčar, and later moved to Belgrade. During 1944, he was employed as a teacher and educator at the refugee children's home in Bosnia in Banja Koviljaca. When the children were running on the river, one boy started to drown and Gojko jumped into the cold water to help him. Soon he was seriously ill "on the lungs" and doctors believed that was tuberculosis predicted him another three months of his life. He then went to the Vujan Monastery where he lived for some time isolated from other monks and managed to cure this disease. In gratitude, he carved and donated a wooden cross to the monastery with crucifixion. After the war, he worked in Belgrade as a construction worker, but because of his poor health he took monastic vows in Blagoveštenje monastery in Ovčar in 1946. His monastic name became Pavle (Paul). He served as a hierodeacon in Blagoveštenje, and later in Rača monastery between 1949 and 1955. In 1954, Pavle was ordained to the rank of hieromonk. The same year he was ordained as protosyncellus, and in 1957 as archimandrite. Between 1955 and 1957 Pavle took post-graduate studies in the Theological School of the University of Athens, Greece. He received a doctorate in New Testament and liturgy by the Theological Academy in Athens. After returning from Greece, he was elected the Bishop of