The patriarch Dimitrije was born in Požarevac in 1846. In 1868, he finished the theological school in Belgrade, and in 1870 he was ordained to the rank of deacon and presbyter. He became the professor of the Belgrade Seminary in 1882. From that position, he went to Niš where he was appointed the bishop on November 8th, 1884. Upon the return of the metropolitan Michael in the country, he withdrew from the position and went to France. In 1920, he became the Patriarch of Serbia. Died on April 6th 1930 in Belgrade and was buried in the Rakovica Monastery.