The life of St Joannicius of Serbia
Some years later, when Dušan sought to be crowned emperor, Joannicius was elevated further, in 1346, to the newly created rank of Patriarch of the Serbian Church, based at Peć, becoming the first to bear that title; it was he who then crowned Dušan as tsar. This elevation of the Serbian church to a patriarchate, and the imperial coronation that came with it, proved controversial and led for a time to a breach in communion with the Patriarchate of Constantinople, though relations were later restored.
As patriarch, Joannicius built churches both at home and abroad, including two dedicated in the Holy Land, the Church of Saint Elias on Carmel and the Church of Saint Nicholas on Mount Tabor. When an envoy of the pope came proposing terms of union to the emperor and the patriarch together, Joannicius refused to accept the Western teachings on offer. He died in 1354 and was buried in the Patriarchal Monastery of Peć, remembered as the first to hold the office he was given.
