Before Gavrilo becameSerbian Patriarch, he was the metropolitan of an unknown eparchy, under Serbian patriarchsVikentije I andPajsije II. In 1758, during the great internal turmoil in theSerbian Patriarchate of Peć, when patriarch Vikentije I died inConstantinople and his successor Pajsije II seized the patriarchal throne, metropolitan Gavrilo took the opportunity and succeeded in overthrowing patriarch Pajsije II and becoming the new Serbian Patriarch as "Gavrilo IV". His tenure was also very short since his main rival was another ethnic Greek, metropolitan Kirilo, who succeeded in overthrowing Gavrilo IV and becoming the new Serbian Patriarch asKirilo II.[1]
