Sofronije Kirilović

Sofronije Kirilović (, ; died 28 February 1786) was a Serbian Orthodox bishop in the Habsburg monarchy.

Biography Appointment to Transylvania Following the October 1767 resignation of Dionisije Novaković as administrator of the Transylvania diocese, several proposals for a successor emerged. Maria Theresa named Jovan Đorđević to the office a year later. However, he did not have a chance to take up the position, as he became Metropolitan of Karlovci after a month. In December 1769, Đorđević called a church congress for the Serbs, and this meeting elected Kirilović, the former vicar of Novaković in the Eparchy of Buda, as the new bishop of Transylvania. In January 1770, the empress annulled the election on the basis that a Serbian congress could not elect a bishop for the Romanians of Transylvania, but at the same time named Kirilović the new bishop herself.

The same restrictions placed on Novaković were extended to the activity of Kirilović, with two additions. First, he was barred from interacting with his priests, particularly through canonical visits, except as authorized by the provincial government. Second, he was not to allow the presence of priests ordained outside Transylvania (i.e., in Moldavia and Wallachia), and was to denounce any he found. Also in 1770, the empress decided that all liturgical books for the Orthodox peoples of the Habsburg monarchy were to be printing in Vienna, in an effort directed against the importation of texts from Moldavia and Wallachia.

During his time in office, Sofronije met with difficulties from the Romanian Greek-Catholic Church. For instance, in 1772, the Orthodox church in Roșia Montană was seized with the help of the army, handed over to the Greek-Catholics and the parish priest arrested. Such incidents, combined with the restrictions and lack of a residence, led the bishop to request transfer to a Serbian diocese in September 1773. As successor, he recommended his secretary and interpreter, Dimitrie Eustatievici. Moreover, the local authorities had reported him to Vienna for impeding Greek-Catholic efforts at conversion.

Sofronije ordained a number of Romanian priests at Buda and Timișoara; a number of their names are present in a document of 1805. The bishop died in 1786 and was buried in the Serbian Orthodox Cathedral in Timișoara.