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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 1 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. 2 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. 3