Miloš Obrenović and the deposition of a Constantinopolitan Patriarch

In my limited study of the Greek and Serbian Churches in the nineteenth century, I had found numerous cases of Greek meddling in Serbian affairs, but never a reverse case. Then I came across a passing reference in Gavrilović’s fine biography of Prince MiloS Obrenovic of Serbia (who ruled from 1815 to 1839) to Miloš’ playing a major part in ousting a Patriarch of Constantinople. Following up Gavrilović’s citation led me to the following letter written by Prince Miloš during his triumphal visit to Constantinople in 1835. It was written (and it should be noted this means dictated since MiloS was illiterate) to his wife Ljubica on 28 September 1835. Since I have never come across any reference to the events Miloš describes in any work I have made use of on the patriarchate in the 19th century, I have taken the liberty of translating the letter from Miloš’ Serbian both to call attention to it and to make the text available to a wider range of scholars. The original text is to be found in Mita Petrović, Financije i Ustanove obnovljene Srbije do 1842, Beograd, 1901, pp. 336–37.