Serbian Orthodox patriarch buried

Thousands attend the memorial service for the late Patriarch Pavle in front of St Sava cathedral, in Belgrade, 19 November 2009

Thousands followed the patriarch's coffin through Belgrade's streets

Half a million people have lined the streets to pay respects to the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Pavle, who has been buried in Belgrade.

Patriarch Pavle's body was buried at Rakovica monastery in a suburb of the Serb capital, as he had requested.

His open coffin was earlier taken in silence from Saborna church to the main Orthodox St Sava cathedral.

The patriarch, who became leader of the Church in 1990, died on Sunday at the age of 95 after two years in hospital.

He had been admitted to the city's military hospital, reportedly with heart and lung conditions.

Some 500,000 people were estimated to have taken part in a funeral procession that followed his coffin, which was draped in a white, green and golden embroidered shroud, through the streets.

Church influence

Most of Serbia's population of seven million people are Orthodox Christians.

A mourner at the main cathedral in Belgrade

Mourners have been paying their respects since Sunday

Patriarch Pavle, a respected theologian and linguist, was known for personal humility and modesty.

His 19 years as Serbian Orthodox leader saw the demise of communism and an increase in Serb nationalism, during which the Church became more influential.

At the beginning of the Balkan wars that followed the dissolution of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, Patriarch Pavle said - according to Serbian state television: "It is our oath not to make a single child cry or sadden a single old woman because they are of another religion or nation."

But he was criticised by some for failing to contain hardline bishops and priests who supported Serb paramilitaries against Catholic Croats and Bosnian Muslims.

However, he later openly criticised Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic after he lost control of Kosovo following Nato's intervention.

Since then, the Serbian Orthodox Church has strongly supported the Serbian government in its efforts to stop Kosovo's independence drive.