# Irinej Dobrijević

Irinej Dobrijević (Serbian Cyrillic: Иринеј Добријевић; born 6 February 1955) is the Serbian Orthodox Bishop of Eastern America since 2016. Formerly, he was the Serbian Orthodox Bishop of Australia and New Zealand (2011–2016).

## Biography

Bishop Irinej was born on February 6, 1955 in Cleveland to father Đuro and mother Milica (née Svilar). He grew up and was educated in his native Cleveland, where he completed twelve grades of general education. From 1973 until 1975, he was educated at the Cleveland Institute of Art. He attended Saint Tikhon's Orthodox Theological Seminary in South Canaan Township, Pennsylvania from 1975 to 1979. In 1980, he began his studies at Saint Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary in Crestwood, New York, graduating in 1982. After completing his studies at the Orthodox Spiritual Academy of St. Tikhon with the academic grade maxima cum laude, and the Academy of St. Vladimir, he received the title of Master of Divinity with special honors for his master's thesis Bishop Nikolaj Velimirović: 1921 Mission in America.
On January 15, 1994, Metropolitan Christopher of Midwestern America ordained him as a deacon in the Holy Resurrection Serbian Orthodox Cathedral in Chicago. He received monastic vows on January 18, 1995 in the monastery of St. Sava in Libertyville, and on that occasion he received the monastic name Irinej, after the bishop of Lyon, Saint Irenaeus.
He was one of the key participants in the visit of religious leaders from the USA to Yugoslavia in 1999. He attended the Athens Center in 2000 and 2003, after which he received a diploma in the knowledge of the modern Greek language. He is the holder of the Order of Vuk Karadžić, third degree, which was awarded to him by Svetozar Marović, the president of the state union of Serbia and Montenegro.
He has taught at Loyola University in Chicago, and at the invitation of Serbian Patriarch Pavle at the University of Belgrade Faculty of Theology. For several years, he was one of the editors of the magazine Staze Pravoslavlja, the official publication of the Serbian Orthodox Church in North America. He is a member of the Jasenovac Board and the Permanent Mission Board of the Holy Synod of Bishops and the Committee for Kosovo and Metohija of the Holy Synod of Bishops. He had a notable role as executive director of the Office for Foreign Affairs of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Washington. He was the initiator of connecting the largest Serbian organizations in America.
Until his election as bishop of Australia-New Zealand, he held the position of the official of the Holy Synod of Bishops and the head of the Office of the Committee for Kosovo and Metohija of the Holy Synod of Bishops.

### Bishop

After the Holy Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church elected him as a bishop on June 15, 2006, he was consecrated as the bishop of Australia and New Zealand in the Cathedral Church in Belgrade by Metropolitan Amfilohije of Montenegro and the Littoral together with sixteen other bishops. He was promoted to the rank of Archimandrite on June 18, 2006. In October of the same year, he was appointed as the bishop administrator of the Diocese for Australia and New Zealand of the Metropolis of New Gračanica.
At the parallel session of the Diocesan Council of the Diocese of Australia-New Zealand and the Church-People's Assembly of the Diocese for Australia and New Zealand of the Metropolis of New Gračanica, in September 2010, the unique Constitution of the Metropolis of Australia-New Zealand was adopted, which achieved complete ecclesiastical-administrative unity of the Serbian Orthodox Church in the diaspora. The following year, Bishop Irinej was elected bishop of the Metropolis of Australia-New Zealand.
At the regular May session of the Holy Synod of Bishops, on May 26, 2016, Bishop Irinej was elected as the bishop of the Eparchy of Eastern America, and the former bishop Mitrofan (Kodić) was elected as the bishop of the vacant Canadian Diocese. Protosyncellus Siluan (Mrakić) was elected as the new bishop of the Metropolis of Australia-New Zealand.