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Serbian Orthodox Church
The Serbian Orthodox Church (Serbian: Српска Православна Црква / Srpska Pravoslavna
Crkva; СПЦ / SPC) or the Church of Serbia is one of the autocephalous Orthodox Christian
churches, ranking sixth in order of seniority after Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch,
Jerusalem, and Bulgaria. It is the second oldest Slavic Orthodox Church in the world, as well
as the westernmost predominant Eastern church in Europe. It exercises jurisdiction over
Orthodox Christians in Serbia and surrounding Slavic and other lands, as well as exarchates
and patriarchal representation churches around the world. The Patriarch of Serbia serves as
first among equals in his church; the current patriarch is His Holiness Pavle.
The Serb Patriarch's full title is "Archbishop of Peć, Metropolitan of Belgrade and Karlovci,
and Patriarch of the Serbs."
History
The Serbian Orthodox Church is an autocephalous, or ecclesiastically independent, member
of the Orthodox communion, located primarily in Serbia,Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Montenegro and Republic of Macedonia, as well as Croatia. Since many Serbs have
emigrated to foreign countries, there are now Serbian Orthodox communities worldwide.
Many significant items from Christianity are in the possession of the Serbian Orthodox
Church, such as the right hand of John the Baptist, Saint George's hand and skull parts[1],
Holy Cross segments, Paraskevi's finger, St Vasilije Ostroski ,...
Origins
The Serbs were converted to Christianity not long after their arrival in the Balkans, before the
Great Schism split the Christian Church into rival Latin-speaking (Roman Catholic) and
Greek-speaking (Eastern Orthodox) Churches. During the early Middle Ages, the religious
allegiance of the Serbs was divided between the two churches.
The various Serbian principalities were united ecclesiastically in the early 13th century by
Saint Sava, the son of the Serbian ruler and founder of the Serbian medieval state Stefan
Nemanja and brother of Stefan Prvovencani, the first Serbian king. Sava persuaded the
Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople to establish the Church in Serbia as an autocephalous
body, with Sava himself as its archbishop, consecrated in 1219. This sealed Orthodox
Christian supremacy in the Serbian realm, which was up then divided between Catholicism
and Orthodoxy.
The status of the Serbian Orthodox Church grew along with the growth in size and prestige of
the medieval kingdom of Serbia. After King Stefan Dušan assumed the imperial title of tsar,
the Archbishopric of Pec was correspondingly raised to the rank of Patriarchate in 1346. In
the century that followed, the Serbian Church achieved its greatest power and prestige.
In 1459, the Ottoman Empire conquered Serbia and made much of the former kingdom a
pashaluk ( to Muslim faith or law. Although many Serbs did convert to Islam, most continued
their adherence to the Serbian Orthodox Church).
The Church itself continued in existence throughout the Ottoman period, though not without
some disruption. After the death of Patriarch Arsenios II in 1463, a successor was not elected.
The Patriarchate was thus de facto abolished, and the Serbian Church passed under the
jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. The Serbian Patriarchate was restored in 1557 by
the sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, much thanks to the famous Mehmed-paša Sokolović,
when Macarios, his brother or cousin, was elected Patriarch in Peć.The restoration of the
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Patriarchate was of great importance for the Serbs because it helped the spiritual unification
of all Serbs in the Turkish Empire. After consequent Serbian uprisings against the Turkish
occupiers in which the Church had a leading role, the Turks abolished the Patriarchate once
again in 1766. The Church remained once more under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical
Patriarch of Constantinople. This period of so called "Phanariots" was a period of great
spiritual decline because the Greek bishops had very little understanding of their Serbian
flock.
During this period, many Christians across the Balkans converted to Islam to avoid severe
taxes imposed by the Turks in retaliation for uprisings and continued resistance. Many Serbs
migrated with their hierarchs to Habsburg Monarchy where they had been granted autonomy.
The seat of the archbishops was moved from Peć to Karlovci. The new Serbian
Metropolitanate of Karlovci became a patriarchate in 1848.
The church's close association with Serbian resistance to Ottoman rule led to Serbian
Orthodoxy becoming inextricably linked with Serbian national identity and the new Serbian
monarchy that emerged from 1817 onwards. The Serbian Orthodox Church in Serbia finally
regained its independence and became autocephalous in 1879, the year after the recognition
by the Great Powers of Serbia as an independent state. This church was known as the
Metropolitanate of Belgrade, thus in the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th
century, two separate Serbian Churches existed - the Patriarchate of Karlovci in the Habsburg
Monarchy and the Metropolitanate of Belgrade in the Kingdom of Serbia. The Cetinje
Metropolitanate held successorship to the Serb Patriarchate in Pec, its Vladikas were "Exarchs
of the Pec Throne"
Serbia and Yugoslavia
After World War I all the Orthodox Serbs were united under one ecclesiastical authority, and
two Serbian churches were united into the single Patriarchate of Serbia in 1920 with the
election of Patriarch Dimitry. It gained great political and social influence in the inter-war
Kingdom of Yugoslavia, during which time it successfully campaigned against the Yugoslav
government's intentions of signing a concordat with the Vatican. During the Kingdom of
Yugoslavia Catholics could only come to power in prominent public positions if they
converted to the Orthodox faith thus some 200,000 Catholics converted. This was in response
to Serbian desires to form a Greater Serbia by seeking the Serbianisation of the Croatian
Catholic populace.
In retaliation to Serbian oppression during the Second World War the Serbian Orthodox
Church suffered severely from persecutions by the occupying powers and the rabidly antiSerbian Ustaše regime of Croatia, which sought to create a "Croatian Orthodox Church"
which Orthodox Serbs were forced to join. Many Serbs were killed during the war; bishops
and priests of the Serbian Orthodox Church were singled out for persecution, and many
Orthodox churches were damaged or destroyed.
After the war the Church was suppressed by the Communist government of Josip Broz Tito,
which viewed it with suspicion due to the Church's links with the exiled Serbian monarchy
and the nationalist Chetnik movement. Along with other ecclesiastical institutions of all
denominations, the Church was subject to strict controls by the Yugoslav state, which
prohibited the teaching of religion in schools, confiscated Church property and discouraged
religious activity among the population.
The gradual demise of Yugoslav communism and the rise of rival nationalist movements
during the 1980s also led to a marked religious revival throughout Yugoslavia, not least in
Serbia. The Serbian Patriarch, Pavle, supported the opposition to Slobodan Milošević in the
1990s.
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The Macedonian Orthodox Church was created by the Yugoslav authorities in 1967,
effectively as an offshoot of the Serbian Orthodox Church in what was then the Socialist
Republic of Macedonia, as part of the Yugoslav drive to build up a Macedonian national
identity. This was strongly resisted by the Serbian Church, which does not recognise the
independence of its Macedonian counterpart. Campaigns for an independent Montenegrin
Orthodox Church have also gained ground in recent years.
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