History of the eparchy, since 1920

In 1920, after the unification of all Serbian ecclesiastical provinces into one united Serbian Orthodox Church, old Eparchy of Syrmia with its seat in Sremski Karlovci came under direct administration of the archbishop of Belgrade who was also the Serbian patriarch. Formal unification of two eparchies was completed in 1931 when Archbishopric of Belgrade was joined with the Eparchy of Syrmia into the Archbishopric of Belgrade and Karlovci. In that time, the city of Pančevo was transferred from Eparchy of Vršac to the Archeparchy of Belgrade and Karlovci. In 1947, Eparchy of Syrmia and Eparchy of Šumadija were excluded from the Archbishopric of Belgrade and Karlovci and were transformed into separate organizational units. The city of Pančevo was returned to the Eparchy of Banat. Although, the name of the Archbishopric of Belgrade and Karlovci includes the name of the town of Karlovci (Sremski Karlovci), this town is today part of the Eparchy of Syrmia and not of the Archbishopric of Belgrade and Karlovci.

Historical background, before 1920

Eparchy of Belgrade is one of the oldest ecclesiastical institutions in this part of Europe. Ancient Bishopric of Singidunum was an important ecclesiastical center of the late Roman Empire during 4th and 5th century. Its bishops Ursacius and Secundianus were actively involved in religious controversies over Arianism.^[2] That ancient bishopric finally collapsed after 584 when ancient Singidunum was finally destroyed by Avars.

After the Christianization of Slavs, eparchy was renewed as late as 9th century. First medieval Bishop of Belgrade who is known by name was Sergije in 878.^[3] Since 1018 it belonged to the Eastern Orthodox Archbishopric of Ohrid.^[4] At the end of the 13th century, Belgrade became the capital city of Serbian king Stefan Dragutin and Eparchy of Belgrad came under jurisdiction of Serbian Orthodox Church. At the beginning of the 15th century, during the rule of Serbian despot Stefan Lazarević,^[5] metropolitans of Belgrade were among most influential hierarchs of the Serbian Patriarchate of Peć. Belgrade fell under Turkish rule in 1521, but Serbian Patriarchate was renewed in 1557 with its seat in the Patriarchal Monastery of Peć. During 16th and 17th centuries, Serbian bishops of Belgrade were styled as "Metropolitans of Belgrade and Srem".

At the end of the 17th century, regions of Belgrade and Srem were separated by the outcome of the Austro-Turkish War (1683–1699), with Belgrade and Lower Srem remaining under Ottoman rule, while Upper Srem came under Habsburg rule. In 1708, when the autonomous Serbian Metropolitanate in the Habsburg monarchy was created (Metropolitanate of Karlovci), the Eparchy of Srem became archdiocese of the Metropolitan, whose seat was in Sremski Karlovci. As a result of the Austro-Turkish War (1716–1718), Lower Srem and Belgrade came under Habsburg rule. Two seats (Belgrade and Karlovci) were reunited from 1726 to 1739, and then separated again, following the outcome of the Austro-Turkish War (1737–1739).^[6][7]

Aftef that, Eparchy of Srem remained part of Metropolitanate of Karlovci until 1920, while the Eparchy of Belgrade was returned to jurisdiction of Serbian Patriarchs of Peć. After the abolition of the Serbian Patriarchate of Peć in 1766, Eparchy of Belgrade came under jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople.^[8]

In 1831, Eastern Orthodox Church in Principality of Serbia gained its autonomy from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, and Belgrade became the seat of the archbishop who was now metropolitan of Serbia.^[9] In that time, territory of the archeparchy was very large and included regions of present-day eparchies of Šumadija and Braničevo. The Metropolitanate gained autocephaly in 1879.^[10]

In 1920, the Metropolitanate of Belgrade merged with other Serbian ecclesiastical provinces to form united Serbian Orthodox Church. In the same year, region of Braničevo was separated from the archeparchy and old Eparchy of Braničevo was restored. In 1947, region of Šumadija was also separated from the archeparchy and new Eparchy of Šumadija was created. Since then, the archbishopric was reduced to the inner limits of the City of Belgrade.

Bishops and metropolitans of Belgrade (until 1766)

Under direct jurisdiction of Constantinople (1766–1831)

No.	Primate	Portrait	Personal name	Reigned from	Reigned until	Title	Notes
1	Jeremiah Јеремија Jeremiah			1766	1784	Metropolitan of Belgrade	Ethnic Greek
2	Dionysius I Дионисије I			1785	1791	Metropolitan of Belgrade	Ethnic Greek
3	Methodius Методије			1791	1801	Metropolitan of Belgrade	Ethnic Greek
4	Leontius Леонтије		Leontije Lambrović Леонтије Ламбровић	1801	1813	Metropolitan of Belgrade	Ethnic Greek
5	Dionysius II Дионисије II		Dimitrije Димитрије	1813	1815	Metropolitan of Belgrade	Ethnic Serb
6	Agathangelus Агатангел			1815	1825	Metropolitan of Belgrade	Ethnic Greek
7	Kiril Кирил			1825	1827	Metropolitan of Belgrade	Ethnic Greek
8	Anthimus Антим			1827	1831	Metropolitan of Belgrade	Ethnic Greek

Autonomous (1831–1879) and autocephalous (1879–1920)

No.	Primate	Portrait	Personal name	Reigned from	Reigned until	Title	Notes
1	Melentije Pavlović Мелентије Melenthius		Melentije Pavlović Мелентије Павловић	1831	1833	Archbishop of Belgrade and Metropolitan of Serbia	Serb
2	Petar Jovanović Петар Peter		Pavle Jovanović Павле Јовановић	1833	1859	Archbishop of Belgrade and Metropolitan of Serbia
3	Mihailo Jovanović Михаило Michael		Miloje Jovanović Милоје Јовановић	1859	1881	Archbishop of Belgrade and Metropolitan of Serbia	First tenure
4	Teodosije Mraović Теодосије Theodosius		Teodor Mraović Теодор Мраовић	1883	1889	Archbishop of Belgrade and Metropolitan of Serbia
--	Mihailo Jovanović Михаило Michael		Miloje Jovanović Милоје Јовановић	1889	1898	Archbishop of Belgrade and Metropolitan of Serbia	Second tenure
5	Inokentije Pavlović Инокентије Innocentius		Jakov Pavlović Јаков Павловић	1898	1905	Archbishop of Belgrade and Metropolitan of Serbia
6	Dimitrije Димитрије Demetrius		Dimitrije Pavlović Димитрије Павловић	1905	1920	Archbishop of Belgrade and Metropolitan of Serbia	Archbishop of Peć, Metropolitan of Belgrade and Karlovci, and Serbian Patriarch (1920–1930)

Metropolitans of Belgrade and Karlovci (1920–present)

Serbian Patriarchs, Heads of the Holy Patriarchal See of Belgrade (1920–present)
Regnal title: Archbishop of Peć, Metropolitan of Belgrade and Karlovci, and Serbian Patriarch[B]
No.	Primate	Portrait	Personal name	Reigned from	Reigned until	Place of birth	Notes
1	Dimitrije [I] Димитрије (I) Demetrius (I)		Dimitrije Pavlović Димитрије Павловић	12 September 1920	6 April 1930	Požarevac, Principality of Serbia	First Patriarch of the reunified Serbian church
2	Varnava [I] Варнава (I) Barnabas (I)		Petar Rosić Петар Росић	12 May 1930	23 July 1937	Pljevlja, Ottoman Empire	Some believe he may have been poisoned
3	Gavrilo [V] Гaврилo (V) Gabriel (V)		Gavrilo Dožić Гaврилo Дoжић	21 February 1938	7 May 1950	Vrujci, Principality of Montenegro	Known unofficially as Gavrilo V Dožić-Medenica
4	Vikentije [II] Викентије (II) Vicentius (II)		Vitomir Prodanov Витомир Проданов	1 July 1950	5 July 1958	Bačko Petrovo Selo, Austria-Hungary	Not known as Vikentije II but entered just as Vikentije. Some believe he may have been second poisoned Patriarch
5	German [I] Герман (I) Herman (I)		Hranislav Đorić Хранислав Ђорић	14 September 1958	30 November 1990	Jošanička Banja, Kingdom of Serbia	Longest reigning Patriarch and only retired Patriarch during his life
6	Pavle [II] Павле (II) Paul (II)		Gojko Stojčević Гојко Стојчевић	1 December 1990	15 November 2009	Kućanci, Austria-Hungary	Not known as Pavle II but entered just as Pavle
7	Irinej [I] Иринеј (I) Irenaeus (I)		Miroslav Gavrilović Мирослав Гавриловић	23 January 2010	20 November 2020	Vidova, Kingdom of Yugoslavia
8	Porfirije [I] Порфирије (I) Porphyrius (I)		Prvoslav Perić Првослав Перић	19 February 2021	Incumbent	Bečej, SFR Yugoslavia