Thousands line streets to honour Orthodox patriarch

(19 Nov 2009) SHOTLIST
1.Tilt down from Saborna Church to priests
2. Mid of priests coming out of the church
3. Various of priests
4. Tilt down of church
5. Woman standing with eyes closed
6. Wide of hearse for carrying the coffin
7. Mid of priests and honour guard
8. Wide of officials coming out of the church
9. Mid of Prince of Serbia Alexander Karadjordjevic (left) and Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic
10. Mid of bishops coming out of the church
11. Mid of Patriarch Pavle's relatives
12. Wide of church entrance
13. Various of priests carrying coffin
14. Wide of priests in road
15. Mid of priest holding candle
16. Wide of scene
STORYLINE
Hundreds of thousands of people joined a sombre funeral procession on Thursday for Patriarch Pavle, who led the Serbian Orthodox Church through its post-Communist revival and the bloody Balkan ethnic conflicts in the 1990s.
White-robed church elders led funeral prayers in Belgrade's Saborna Church, where Pavle's body covered by green-and-gold embroidered cloth lay surrounded by flickering candles in an open casket.
Pavle, a highly popular patriarch known for his modesty and humility, died over the weekend after being hospitalised for two years with heart and lung problems. He had led the 7 (m) million-member church since 1990.
The casket was placed on a hearse-drawn caisson as crowds joined Serbian leaders and clergy in a solemn procession to the St Sava Temple, the biggest Orthodox Christian church in the Balkans.
The final liturgy, led by Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of world's Orthodox Christians, was held there.
The state TV estimated that about half a (m) million Orthodox believers, many from neighbouring Bosnia and Montenegro, attended the funeral procession through downtown Belgrade as bells tolled from churches.
Pavle is to be buried later on Thursday at a monastery in a Belgrade suburb in a private ceremony attended only by church leaders and Serbian officials.
The frail-looking Pavle, known in Serbia as "the walking saint," had called for peace and conciliation during the Balkan wars.
But critics say he had failed to openly condemn extreme Serb nationalism of former President Slobodan Milosevic, which triggered the clashes with Catholic Croats and Bosnian and Kosovo Muslims in the 1990s.
There have been reports of an internal struggle over who would succeed Pavle.
The election cannot be held within 40 days of Pavle's death. The favourite is influential Bishop Amfilohije, a hard-liner known for his anti-Western and ultranationalist stances, who served as the acting head of church during Pavle's hospitalisation.

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