Metropolitan Amfilohije (Radovic)

"It was always important for the state to have the support of the Serbian Orthodox Church for its policy, whether domestic or international," he said. "The pressure is not bigger now," Aleksic said, but Vucic's constant presence in the media makes his role appear "most important".

Serbs no longer go in for eerie "penetrating wails" as much as they did, but, as with Firmilian's death over a century ago, Patriarch Irinej's death last Friday is an event of much more than religious significance - which explains the three days of state mourning and telegrams from the likes of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Serbian Orthodox Church Metropolitan bishop of Montenegro, Metropolitan Amfilohije (Radovic) leads a protest rally in Podgorica, Montenegro. Photo:PA-EFE/BORIS PEJOVIC

"Metropolitan Amfilohije denied that he violated the ban by the national coordination body for infectious diseases on public gatherings," Milanovic told the daily newspaper Pobjeda.

In October last year, at a celebration marking the 800th anniversary of the SPC's autocephaly, or ecclesiastical autonomy, Patriarch Irinej honoured Vucic with the Order of St. Sava 1st Degree, the Church's highest order.