Patriarch Irinej, the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, has died due to coronavirus, the country’s President Aleksandar Vucic said on his official Instagram account on Friday, Reuters reports.

“I was honored to know you. People like you never depart,” Vucic wrote under a black and white photo of Irinej.

Irinej, 90, a conservative who also wielded major political influence, was diagnosed with the coronavirus on Nov. 4 and had been in a military hospital in the capital Belgrade since then.