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Serbian Orthodox Church

December 31, 2022

The Serbian Orthodox Church (Serbian Cyrillic: Српска православна црква, romanized: Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodox Christian churches.[4][5]


Serbian Orthodox Church
Српска православна црква
Srpska pravoslavna crkva
ClassificationEastern Orthodox
ScriptureSeptuagint, New Testament
TheologyEastern Orthodox theology
PolityEpiscopal
GovernanceHoly Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church
StructureCommunion
PrimatePorfirije
Bishops44
Parishes3,100
AssociationsWorld Council of Churches[1]
LanguageSerbian and Church Slavonic
HeadquartersBuilding of the Patriarchate, Belgrade; traditionally Patriarchate of Peć
TerritorySoutheastern Europe (Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia, North Macedonia, Kosovo[a], Slovenia), Australia, Canada, United States of America, United Kingdom, Germany, France
PossessionsOrthodox Ohrid Archbishopric
FounderSaint Sava
Independence1219–1463
1557–1766
1879–present
Recognition1219 (Autocephalous archbishopric)
1346 (Autocephalous Patriarchate)
1557 (Autocephalous Patriarchate)
1879 (Autocephalous metropolis)
1922 (Autocephalous Patriarchate)
SeparationsMacedonian Orthodox Church
Montenegrin Orthodox Church
Members8[2] to 12 million[3]
Official websitewww.spc.rs

The majority of the population in Serbia, Montenegro and the Republika Srpska entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina are members of the Serbian Orthodox Church. It is organized into metropolitanates and eparchies, located primarily in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Croatia. Other congregations are located in the Serb diaspora. The Serbian Patriarch serves as first among equals in his church. The current patriarch is Porfirije, enthroned on 19 February 2021.[6]

The Church achieved autocephalous status in 1219,[7] under the leadership of Saint Sava, becoming the independent Archbishopric of Žiča. Its status was elevated to that of a patriarchate in 1346,[8] and was known afterwards as the Serbian Patriarchate of Peć. This patriarchate was abolished by the Ottoman Empire in 1766,[9] though several regional sections of the church continued to exist, most prominent among them being the Metropolitanate of Karlovci, in the Habsburg monarchy.[10] After the re-creation of Serbia, ecclesiastical autonomy was regained in 1831,[11] and the autocephaly was renewed in 1879. The modern Serbian Orthodox Church was re-established in 1920, after the unification of the Metropolitanate of Belgrade, the Patriarchate of Karlovci, and the Metropolitanate of Montenegro.[12]

Historical background

Early Christianity

Christianity started to spread throughout the southeastern Europe during the 1st century. Early martyrs Florus and Laurus from the 2nd century, who were murdered along with other 300 Christians in Ulpiana near modern Lipljan, are venerated as Christian saints. Bishop Irenaeus of Sirmium was also martyred, in 304. Emperor Constantine the Great (306–337), born in Naissus (modern Niš in Serbia), was the first Christian ruler of the Roman Empire. Several local bishops, seated in present-day Serbia, became prominent during the 4th century, such as Germinius of Sirmium, Ursacius of Singidunum and Secundianus of Singidunum (modern Belgrade), while several Councils were held in Sirmium.[13]

In 395, the Empire was divided, and its eastern half later became known as the Byzantine Empire. In 535, emperor Justinian I created the Archbishopric of Justiniana Prima, centered in the emperor's birth-city of Justiniana Prima, near modern Lebane in Serbia. The archbishopric had ecclesiastical jurisdiction over all provinces of the Diocese of Dacia.[14][15] By the beginning of the 7th century, Byzantine provincial and ecclesiastical order in the region was destroyed by invading Avars and Slavs. In 731, emperor Leo III transferred the entire Illyricum to jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, thus affirming its attachment to the Eastern Christianity.[16][17]

Christianization of Serbs

 
Seal of prince Strojimir of Serbia (from the late 9th century),[18] one of the oldest artifacts on the Christianization of the Serbs

The history of the early medieval Serbian Principality is recorded in the work De Administrando Imperio (DAI), compiled by the Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (r.  913–959). The DAI drew information on the Serbs from, among others, a Serbian source.[19] The Serbs were said to have received the protection of Emperor Heraclius (r. 610–641), and Porphyrogenitus stressed that the Serbs had always been under Imperial rule. According to De Administrando Imperio, the center from which the Serbs received their baptism was marked as Rome.[20] His account on the first Christianization of the Serbs can be dated to 632–638; this might have been Porphyrogenitus' construction, or may have. It likely encompassed a limited group of chiefs, with lesser reception by the wider layers of the tribe.[21]

The establishment of Christianity as the state religion dates to the time of Prince Mutimir (r. 851–891) and Byzantine Emperor Basil I (r. 867–886).[22] The Christianization was partly due to Byzantine and subsequent Bulgarian influence.[22] At least during the rule of Kocel (861–874) in Pannonia, communications between Serbia and Great Moravia, where Methodius was active, must have been possible.[22] The pope must have been aware of this when planning Methodius' diocese and that of the Dalmatian coast, which was in Byzantine hands as far north as Split.[22] Some Cyrillomethodian pupils may have reached Serbia in the 870s, perhaps sent by Methodius himself.[22] Serbia was accounted Christian as of about 870.[22]

The first Serbian bishopric was founded at Ras, near modern Novi Pazar on the Ibar river.[22] According to Vlasto, the initial affiliation is uncertain; it may have been under the subordination of either Split or Durazzo, both then Byzantine.[22] The early Ras church can be dated to the 9th–10th century, with the rotunda plan characteristic of first court chapels.[22] The bishopric was established shortly after 871, during the rule of Mutimir, and was part of the general plan of establishing bishoprics in the Slav lands of the empire, confirmed by the Council of Constantinople in 879–880.[22] The names of Serbian rulers through Mutimir (r. 851–891) are Slavic dithematic names, per the Old Slavic tradition.

With Christianization in the 9th century, Christian names appear among the members of Serbian dynasties (Petar, Stefan, Pavle, Zaharije).[22] Prince Petar Gojniković (r. 892–917) was evidently a Christian ruler,[22] and Christianity presumably was spreading in his time.[23] Since Serbia bordered Bulgaria, Christian influences and perhaps missionaries came from there, increasing during the twenty-year peace.[24] The Bulgarian annexation of Serbia in 924 was important for the future direction of the Serbian church. By then, at the latest, Serbia must have received the Cyrillic alphabet and Slavic religious text, already familiar but perhaps not yet preferred to Greek. [25]

Archbishopric of Ohrid (1018–1219)

 
Map depicting the Archbishopric of Ohrid in ca. 1020
Main article: Archbishopric of Ohrid

Following his final subjugation of the Bulgarian state in 1018, Basil II, to underscore the Byzantine victory, established the Archbishopric of Ohrid by downgrading the Bulgarian patriarchate to the rank of the archbishopric. The now archbishopric remained an autocephalous church, separate from the Patriarchate of Constantinople. However, while the archbishopric was completely independent in any other aspect, its primate was selected by the emperor from a list of three candidates submitted by the local church synod. In three sigillia issued in 1020 Basil II gave extensive privileges to the new see.[26] Serbia was ecclesiastically administered into several bishoprics: the bishopric of Ras,[27] mentioned in the first charter of Basil II (r. 976–1025), became part of the Ohrid archbishopric and encompassed the central areas of Serbia, by the rivers Raška, Ibar and Lim, evident in the second charter of Basil II. In the charter of Basil II, dated 1020, the Ras bishopric is mentioned, with the seat at the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, Ras.[28]

The 10th- or 11th-century Gospel Book Codex Marianus, written in Old Church Slavonic in the Glagolithic script, is one of the oldest known Slavic manuscripts. It was partly written in the Serbian redaction of Old Church Slavonic.[29] Other early manuscripts include the 11th-century Grškovićev odlomak Apostola and Mihanovićev odlomak.

History

 
Timeline showing the main autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Churches, from an Eastern Orthodox point of view, up to 2021

Autocephalous Archbishopric (1219–1346)

 
Saint Sava, first Serbian archbishop

Serbian prince Rastko Nemanjić, the son of Stefan Nemanja, took monastic vows at Mount Athos as Sava (Sabbas) in 1192.[30][31] Three years later, his father joined him, taking monastic vows as Simeon. Father and son asked the Holy Community to found a Serbian religious centre at the abandoned site of Hilandar, which they renovated. This marked the beginning of a renaissance (in arts, literature and religion). Sava's father died at Hilandar in 1199 and was canonized as St. Simeon.[31] Saint Sava stayed for some years, rising in rank, then returned to Serbia in 1207, taking with him the remains of his father, which he interred at the Studenica monastery, after reconciling his two quarrelling brothers Stefan Nemanjić and Vukan.[32] Stefan asked him to remain in Serbia with his clerics, which he did, providing widespread pastoral care and education to the people. Saint Sava founded several churches and monasteries, among them the Žiča monastery. In 1217, Stefan was proclaimed King of Serbia, and various questions of the church reorganization were opened.[33]

Saint Sava returned to the Holy Mountain in 1217/18, preparing for the formation of an autocephalous Serbian Church. He was consecrated in 1219 as the first Archbishop of the Serbian Church, and was given autocephaly by Patriarch Manuel I of Constantinople, then in exile at Nicaea.[34][35] In the same year, Saint Sava published Zakonopravilo (St. Sava's Nomocanon). Thus the Serbs acquired both forms of independence: political and religious.[36] After this, in Serbia, Sava stayed in Studenica and continued to educate the Serbian people in their faith. Later he called for a council outlawing the Bogomils, whom he considered heretics. Sava appointed several bishops, sending them around Serbia to organize their dioceses.[37] To maintain his standing as the religious and social leader, he continued to travel among the monasteries and lands to educate the people. In 1221 a synod was held in the Žiča monastery, condemning Bogomilism.[38]

The following seats were newly created in the time of Saint Sava:

Older eparchies under the jurisdiction of the Serbian Archbishop were:

 
Trojeručica meaning "Three-handed Theotokos" is the most important icon of the SOC, and the main icon of Mount Athos

In 1229/1233, Saint Sava went on a pilgrimage to Palestine and in Jerusalem he met with Patriarch Athanasios II. Saint Sava saw Bethlehem where Jesus was born, the Jordan River where Christ was baptized, and the Great Lavra of Saint Sabbas the Sanctified (Mar Saba monastery). Sava asked Athanasios II, his host, and the Great Lavra fraternity, led by hegoumenos Nicolas, if he could purchase two monasteries in the Holy Land. His request was accepted and he was offered the monasteries of Saint John the Theologian on Mount Sion and St. George's Monastery at Akona, both to be inhabited by Serbian monks. The icon Trojerucica (Three-handed Theotokos), a gift to the Great Lavra from St. John Damascene, was given to Saint Sava and he, in turn, bequeathed it to Hilandar.

Saint Sava died in Veliko Tarnovo, capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire, during the reign of Ivan Asen II of Bulgaria. According to his Biography, he fell ill following the Divine Liturgy on the Feast of the Epiphany, 12 January 1235. Saint Sava was visiting Veliko Tarnovo on his way back from the Holy Land, where he had founded a hospice for Syrian pilgrims in Jerusalem and arranged for Serbian monks to be welcomed in the established monasteries there. He died of pneumonia in the night between Saturday and Sunday, 14 January 1235, and was buried at the Cathedral of the Holy Forty Martyrs in Veliko Tarnovo where his body remained until 6 May 1237, when his sacred bones were moved to the monastery Mileševa in southern Serbia.

In 1253 the see was transferred to the Monastery of Peć by archbishop Arsenije.[39] The Serbian primates had since moved between the two.[40] Sometime between 1276 and 1292 the Cumans burned the Žiča monastery, and King Stefan Milutin (1282–1321) renovated it in 1292–1309, during the office of Jevstatije II.[41] In 1289–1290, the chief treasures of the ruined monastery, including the remains of Saint Jevstatije I, were transferred to Monastery of Peć.[42] During the rule of the same king, the Monastery of Gračanica was also renewed,[43] and during the reign of King Stefan Uroš III (1321–1331), the Monastery of Dečani was built,[44] under the supervision of Archbishop Danilo II.[45]

Medieval Patriarchate (1346–1463)

 
Serbian Patriarch Danilo III, fresco from the Patriarchal Monastery of Peć
Main article: Serbian Patriarchate of Peć

The status of the Serbian Orthodox Church grew along with the expansion and heightened prestige of the Serbian kingdom. After King Stefan Dušan assumed the imperial title of tsar, the Serbian Archbishopric 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 the 14th century Serbian Orthodox clergy had the title of Protos at Mount Athos.

On 16 April 1346 (Easter), Stefan Dušan convoked a grand assembly at Skopje, attended by the Serbian Archbishop Joanikije II, Archbishop Nicholas I of Ohrid, Patriarch Simeon of Bulgaria and various religious leaders of Mount Athos. The assembly and clergy agreed on, and then ceremonially performed the raising of the autocephalous Serbian Archbishopric to the status of Patriarchate. The Archbishop was from now on titled Serbian Patriarch, although some documents called him Patriarch of Serbs and Greeks, with the seat at Patriarchal Monastery of Peć. The new Patriarch Joanikije II now solemnly crowned Stefan Dušan as "Emperor and autocrat of Serbs and Romans" (see Emperor of Serbs). The Patriarchal status resulted in raising bishoprics to metropolitanates, as for example the Metropolitanate of Skopje. The Patriarchate took over sovereignty on Mt. Athos and the Greek archbishoprics under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople (the Archbishopric of Ohrid remained autocephalous), which resulted in Dušan's excommunication by Patriarch Callistus I of Constantinople in 1350.[46]

In 1375, an agreement between the Serbian Patriarchate and the Patriarchate of Constantinople was reached.[47] The Battle of Kosovo (1389) and its aftermath had a lasting influence on medieval legacy and later traditions of the Serbian Orthodox Church.[48] In 1455, when Ottoman Turks conquered the Patriarchal seat in Peć, Patriarch Arsenije II found temporary refuge in Smederevo, the capital city of Serbian Despotate.[49]

Among cultural, artistic and literary legacies created under the auspices of the Serbian Orthodox Church during the medieval period were hagiographies, known in Serbian as žitije (vita), that were written as biographies of rulers, archbishops and saints from the 12th up to the 15th century.[50][51][52]

Renewed Patriarchate (1557–1766)

 
Serbian Patriarchate of Peć (16th–17th century)
Main article: Serbian Patriarchate of Peć

The Ottoman Empire conquered the Serbian Despotate in 1459, the Bosnian Kingdom in 1463, Herzegovina in 1482 and Montenegro in 1499. All of the conquered lands were divided into sanjaks. Although some Serbs converted to Islam, most continued their adherence to the Serbian Orthodox Church. The church itself continued to exist throughout the Ottoman period, though not without some disruption. After the death of Serbian Patriarch Arsenije II in 1463, a successor was not elected. The Patriarchate was thus de facto abolished, and the Serbian Church passed under the jurisdiction of Archbishopric of Ohrid and ultimately the Ecumenical Patriarchate which exercised jurisdiction over all Orthodox of the Ottoman Empire under the millet system.

After several failed attempts, made from c. 1530 up to 1541 by metropolitan Pavle of Smederevo to regain the autocephaly by seizing the throne of Peć and proclaiming himself not only Archbishop of Peć, but also Serbian Patriarch, the Serbian Patriarchate was finally restored in 1557 under the Sultan Suleiman I, thanks to the mediation of pasha Mehmed Sokolović who was Serbian by birth. His cousin, one of the Serbian Orthodox bishops Makarije Sokolović was elected Patriarch in Peć. The restoration of the Patriarchate was of great importance for the Serbs because it helped the spiritual unification of all Serbs in the Ottoman Empire. The Patriarchate of Peć also included some dioceses in western Bulgaria.[53]

In the time of Serbian Patriarch Jovan Kantul (1592–1614), the Ottoman Turks took the remains of Saint Sava from monastery Mileševa to the Vračar hill in Belgrade where they were burned by Sinan Pasha on a stake to intimidate the Serb people in case of revolts (see Banat Uprising) (1594). The Temple of Saint Sava was built on the place where his remains were burned.[54]

After consequent Serbian uprisings against the Turkish occupiers in which the church had a leading role, the Ottomans abolished the Patriarchate once again in 1766.[9] The church returned once more under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. This period of rule by the so-called "Phanariots" was a period of great spiritual decline[citation needed] because the Greek bishops had very little understanding of their Serbian flock.

Church in the Habsburg Monarchy

 
Serbian Patriarch Arsenije III, leader of the Great Serbian Migration of 1690
Main articles: Metropolitanate of Karlovci and Patriarchate of Karlovci

During this period, Christians across the Balkans were under pressure to convert to Islam to avoid severe taxes imposed by the Turks in retaliation for uprisings and continued resistance. The success of Islamization was limited to certain areas, with the majority of the Serbian population keeping its Christian faith despite the negative consequences. To avoid them, numerous Serbs migrated with their hierarchs to the Habsburg monarchy where their autonomy had been granted. In 1708, an autonomous Serbian Orthodox Metropolitanate of Karlovci was created, which would later become a patriarchate (1848–1920).[55]

During the reign of Maria Theresa (1740-1780), several assemblies of Orthodox Serbs were held, sending their petitions to the Habsburg court. In response to that, several royal acts were issued, such as Regulamentum privilegiorum (1770) and Regulamentum Illyricae Nationis (1777), both of them replaced by the royal Declaratory Rescript of 1779, that regulated various important questions, from the procedure regarding the elections of Serbian Orthodox bishops in the Habsburg Monarchy, to the management of dioceses, parishes and monasteries. The act was upheld in force until it was replaced by the "Royal Rescript" issued on 10 August 1868.[56]

Modern history

 
Timeline showing the main schisms which came out of the Serbian Orthodox Church, from the second quarter of the 19th century up to 2021
Main articles: Metropolitanate of Belgrade and Patriarchate of Karlovci

The church's close association with Serbian resistance to Ottoman rule led to Eastern Orthodoxy becoming inextricably linked with Serbian national identity and the new Serbian monarchy that emerged from 1815 onwards. The Serbian Orthodox Church in the Principality of Serbia gained its autonomy in 1831 and was organized as the Metropolitanate of Belgrade, remaining under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. [11] The Principality of Serbia gained full political independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1878, and soon after those negotiations were initiated with the Ecumenical Patriarchate, resulting in canonical recognition of full ecclesiastical independence (autocephaly) for the Metropolitanate of Belgrade in 1879.[57]

At the same time, Serbian Orthodox eparchies in Bosnia and Herzegovina remained under the supreme ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, but after the Austro-Hungarian occupation (1878) of those provinces, local eparchies gained internal autonomy, regulated by the Convention of 1880, signed by representatives of Austro-Hungarian authorities and the Patriarchate of Constantinople.[58][59]

In the southern eparchies, that remained under the Ottoman rule, Serbian metropolitans were appointed by the end of the 19th century.[60] Thus by the beginning of the 20th century several distinctive Serbian ecclesiastical provinces existed, including the Patriarchate of Karlovci in the Habsburg monarchy, the Metropolitanate of Belgrade in the Kingdom of Serbia, and the Metropolitanate of Montenegro in the Principality of Montenegro.

During the World War I (1914–1918), the Serbian Orthodox Church suffered massive casualties.[61]

Reunification

 
Serbian Patriarch Dimitrije (1920-1930), first primate of the reunited Serbian Orthodox Church

After the liberation and political unification, that was achieved by creation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (1918), all Eastern Orthodox Serbs were united under one ecclesiastical authority, and all Serbian ecclesiastical provinces and eparchies were united into the single Serbian Orthodox Church, in 1920.[12] The first primate of the united SOC was Serbian Patriarch Dimitrije (1920-1930). The SOC 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 Holy See.

The united Serbian Orthodox Church kept under its jurisdiction the Eparchy of Buda in Hungary. In 1921, the Serbian Orthodox Church created a new eparchy for the Czech lands, headed by bishop Gorazd Pavlik. At the same time, the Serbian Church among the diaspora was reorganized, and the eparchy (diocese) for the United States and Canada was created.[62] In 1931 another diocese was created, called the Eparchy of Mukačevo and Prešov, for the Eastern Orthodox Christians in Slovakia and Carpathian Rusynia.

During the Second World War the Serbian Orthodox Church suffered severely from persecutions by the occupying powers and the rabidly anti-Serbian Ustaše regime of Independent State of Croatia (NDH), which sought to create a "Croatian Orthodox Church" which Orthodox Serbs were forced to join. Many Serbs were killed, expelled or forced to convert to Catholicism during the Serbian Genocide; bishops and priests of the Serbian Orthodox Church were singled out for persecution, and many Orthodox churches were damaged or destroyed.[63] Out of the 577 Serbian Orthodox priests, monks and other religious dignitaries in the NDH, between 214 and 217 were killed and 334 were exiled to German-occupied Serbia.[64] In the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina, 71 Orthodox priests were killed by the Ustaše, 10 by the Partisans, 5 by the Germans, and 45 died in the first decade after the end of WWII.[65]

Under communist rule

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 leadership from the period of Kingdom of Yugoslavia and the nationalist Chetnik movement. According to Denis Bećirović, aside from the League of Communists of Yugoslavia's ideological differences with the Church, this negative attitude was also influenced by the fact that some priests during the war supported the Chetnik movement which are mentioned in Documents of the Commission for Religious Affairs where is stated that among other things, that the majority of priests during the war supported and cooperated with the movement of Draža Mihailović, and that the church spread "hostile propaganda" against the Yugoslav Partisans and appointed persons in the administration of church institutions who were convicted of collaborating with the occupier.[65] 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.[66]

In 1963, the Serbian Church among the diaspora was reorganized, and the eparchy for the United States and Canada was divided into three separate eparchies. At the same time, some internal divisions sparked in the Serbian diaspora, leading to the creation of the separate "Free Serbian Orthodox Church" under Bishop Dionisije. Division was healed in 1991, and Metropolitanate of New Gračanica was created, within the united Serbian Orthodox Church.[67] In 1983, a fourth eparchy in North America was created specifically for Canadian churches: the Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Canada.[68]

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.

Since the establishment of the Yugoslav federal unit of "Macedonia" (1944), communist authorities restricted the activities of SOC in that region, favoring the creation of a separate church.[69] The Macedonian Orthodox Church was created 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 did not recognize the independence of its Macedonian counterpart.[70]

Similar plans for the creation of an independent church in the Yugoslav federal unit of Montenegro were also considered, but those plans were not put into action before 1993, when the creation of the Montenegrin Orthodox Church was proclaimed. The organization was not legally registered before 2000, receiving no support from the Eastern Orthodox communion, and succeeding to attract only a minority of Eastern Orthodox adherents in Montenegro.[71][72]

Recent history

 
Church of Saint Sava, one of the largest Orthodox churches in the world, being built continuously since the end of the 1980s on the site where the relics of Saint Sava were desecrated by the Ottomans

The Yugoslav wars gravely impacted several branches of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Many Serbian Orthodox Church clergy supported the war, while others were against it.[citation needed]

Many churches in Croatia were damaged or destroyed during the Croatian War (1991–95). The bishops and priests and most faithful of the eparchies of Zagreb, of Karlovac, of Slavonia and of Dalmatia became refugees. The latter three were almost completely abandoned after the exodus of the Serbs from Croatia in 1995 (Operation Storm). The eparchy of Dalmatia also had its see temporarily moved to Knin after the self-proclaimed proto-state Republic of Serbian Krajina was established. The eparchy of Slavonia had its see moved from Pakrac to Daruvar. After Operation Storm, two monasteries were particularly damaged, the Krupa monastery built in 1317, and the Krka monastery built in 1345.

The eparchies of Bihać and Petrovac, Dabar-Bosnia and Zvornik and Tuzla were also dislocated due to the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The eparchy see of Dabar-Bosnia was temporarily moved to Sokolac, and the see of Zvornik-Tuzla to Bijeljina. Over a hundred Church-owned objects in the Zvornik-Tuzla eparchy were destroyed or damaged during the war.[citation needed] Many monasteries and churches in the Zahumlje eparchy were also destroyed.[citation needed] Numerous faithful from these eparchies also became refugees.[citation needed]

 
 
Left: Destroyed Serbian Orthodox Holy Trinity Church in Petrić village, Kosovo[a]
Right: Devič monastery after it was burned down in 2004 unrest in Kosovo

By 1998, the situation had stabilized in both countries. The clergy and many of the faithful returned; most of the property of the Serbian Orthodox Church was returned to normal use and damaged and destroyed properties were restored. The process of rebuilding several churches is still underway,[when?] notably the cathedral of the Eparchy of Upper Karlovac in Karlovac.[citation needed]

Owing to the Kosovo War, after 1999 numerous Serbian Orthodox holy sites in Kosovo left occupied only by clergy. Since the arrival of NATO troops in June 1999, 156 Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries have been damaged or destroyed.[73] In the aftermath of the 2004 unrest in Kosovo, 35 Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries were burned or destroyed by Albanian mobs, and thousands of Serbs were forced to move from Kosovo due to the numerous attacks of Kosovo Albanians on Serbian churches and Serbs.[74]

The process of church reorganization among the diaspora and full reintegration of the Metropolitanate of New Gračanica was completed from 2009 to 2011. By that, full structural unity of Serbian church institutions in the diaspora was achieved.

Adherents

Based on the official census results in countries that encompass the territorial canonical jurisdiction of the Serbian Orthodox Church (the Serb autochthonous region of Western Balkans), there are more than 8 million adherents of the church. Orthodoxy is the largest single religious faith in Serbia with 6,079,296 adherents (84.5% of the population) according to the 2011 census,[75] and in Montenegro with around 320,000 (51% of the population). It is the second-largest faith in Bosnia and Herzegovina with 31.2% of the population, and in Croatia with 4.4% of the population. Figures for eparchies abroad (Western Europe, North America, and Australia) are unknown although some estimates can be reached based on the size of the Serb diaspora, which numbers over two million people.

Structure

The head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, the patriarch, also serves as the head (metropolitan) of the Metropolitanate of Belgrade and Karlovci. The current patriarch, Porfirije, was inaugurated on 19 February 2021. Serbian Orthodox patriarchs use the style His Holiness the Archbishop of Peć, Metropolitan of Belgrade and Karlovci, Serbian Patriarch.

The highest body of the Serbian Orthodox Church is the Bishops' Council. It consists of the Patriarch, the Metropolitans, Bishops, Archbishop of Ohrid and Vicar Bishops. It meets annually – in spring. The Bishops' Council makes important decisions for the church and elects the patriarch.

The executive body of the Serbian Orthodox Church is the Holy Synod. It has five members: four bishops and the patriarch.[76] The Holy Synod takes care of the everyday operation of the church, holding meetings on regular basis.

 
Eparchies of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Serbian autochthonous region of Western Balkans

Territorial organisation

Further information: List of eparchies of the Serbian Orthodox Church

The territory of the Serbian Orthodox Church is divided into:[77][78]

Dioceses are further divided into episcopal deaneries, each consisting of several church congregations or parishes. Church congregations consist of one or more parishes. A parish is the smallest church unit – a communion of Orthodox faithful congregating at the Holy Eucharist with the parish priest at their head.

Autonomous Archbishopric of Ohrid

The Autonomous Archbishopric of Ohrid or Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric is an autonomous archbishopric in the Republic of Macedonia under the jurisdiction of the Serbian Orthodox Church. It was formed in 2002 in opposition to the Macedonian Orthodox Church, which had had a similar relationship with the Serbian Orthodox Church prior to 1967 when it unilaterally declared itself autocephalous. This archbishopric is divided into one metropolitanate, Skopje, and the six eparchies of Bregalnica, Debar and Kičevo, Polog and Kumanovo, Prespa and Pelagonija, Strumica and Veles and Povardarje.

Doctrine and liturgy

The Serbian Orthodox Church upholds the Eastern Orthodox theology, shared by all Eastern Orthodox Churches and based on doctrinal accomplishments of the Seven Ecumenical Councils. It is characterized by monotheistic Trinitarianism, a belief in the Incarnation of the Logos (Son of God), a balancing of cataphatic theology with apophatic theology, a hermeneutic defined by Sacred Tradition, and a therapeutic soteriology. In the fields of Church organization and administration, Serbian Orthodox Church upholds traditions and principles of Eastern Orthodox ecclesiology.[79]

Liturgical traditions and practices of the Serbian Orthodox Church are based on the Eastern Orthodox worship.[80] Services cannot properly be conducted by a single person but must have at least one other person present. Usually, all of the services are conducted on a daily basis only in monasteries and cathedrals, while parish churches might only do the services on the weekend and major feast days. The Divine Liturgy is the celebration of the Eucharist. The Divine Liturgy is not celebrated on weekdays during the preparatory season of Great Lent. Communion is consecrated on Sundays and distributed during the week at the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts. Services, especially the Divine Liturgy, can only be performed once a day on any particular altar.[citation needed]

A key part of the Serbian Orthodox religion is the Slava, a celebration of the Clan Patron Saint, placed into the Serb Orthodox religious canon by the first Serb archbishop Saint Sava.

Social issues

The Serbian Orthodox Church upholds traditional views on modern social issues,[81] such as separation of church and state (imposed since the abolition of monarchy in 1945), and social equality.[82] Since all forms of priesthood are reserved only for men, the role of women in church administration is still limited to specific activities, mainly in the fields of religious education and religious arts, including the participation in various forms of charity work.[83]

Inter-Christian relations

The Serbian Orthodox Church is in full communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (which holds a special place of honour within Eastern Orthodoxy and serves as the seat for the Ecumenical Patriarch, who enjoys the status of first-among-equals) and all of the mainstream autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church bodies except the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. It has been a member of the World Council of Churches since 1965,[84] and of the Conference of European Churches.

Art

Architecture

See also: Serbian architecture

Serbian medieval churches were built in the Byzantine spirit. The Raška style refers to the Serbian architecture from the 12th to the end of the 14th century (Studenica, Hilandar, Žiča). The Vardal style, which is the typical one, was developed in the late 13th century combining Byzantine and Serbian influences to form a new architectural style (Gračanica, Patriarchal Monastery of Peć). By the time of the Serbian Empire, the Serbian state had enlarged itself over Macedonia, Epirus and Thessaly all the way to the Aegean Sea, which resulted in stronger influences from Byzantine art tradition. The Morava style refers to the period of the fall of Serbia under the Ottoman Empire, from 1371 to 1459 (Ravanica, Ljubostinja, Kalenić, Resava).

During the 17th-century, many of the Serbian Orthodox churches that were built in Belgrade took all the characteristics of baroque churches built in the Habsburg-occupied regions where Serbs lived. The churches usually had a bell tower, and a single nave building with the iconostasis inside the church covered with Renaissance-style paintings. These churches can be found in Belgrade and Vojvodina, which were occupied by the Austrian Empire from 1717 to 1739, and on the border with Austrian (later Austria-Hungary) across the Sava and Danube rivers from 1804 when Serbian statehood was re-established.

Icons

 
"A Portrait of the Evangelist", a miniature from the Radoslav Gospel (1429)

Icons are replete with symbolism meant to convey far more meaning than simply the identity of the person depicted, and it is for this reason that Orthodox iconography has become an exacting science of copying older icons rather than an opportunity for artistic expression. The personal, idiosyncratic and creative traditions of Western European religious art are largely lacking in Orthodox iconography before the 17th century, when Russian and Serbian icon painting was influenced by religious paintings and engravings from Europe.

Large icons can be found adorning the walls of churches and often cover the inside structure completely. Orthodox homes often likewise have icons hanging on the wall, usually together on an eastern facing wall, and in a central location where the family can pray together.

Insignia

 
Flag of the Serbian Orthodox Church

The Serbian tricolour with a Serbian cross is used as the official flag of the Serbian Orthodox Church, as defined in the Article 4 of the SOC Constitution.[76]

A number of other unofficial variant flags, some with variations of the cross, coat of arms, or both, exist.[clarification needed]

See also

References

  1. ^ Serbian Orthodox Church at World Council of Churches
  2. ^ World Council of Churches: Serbian Orthodox Church
  3. ^ Johnston & Sampson 1995, p. 330.
  4. ^ Radić 2007, p. 231–248.
  5. ^ Fotić 2008, p. 519–520.
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  20. ^ Živković 2010, p. 121.
  21. ^ Živković 2008, pp. 38–40.
  22. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Vlasto 1970, p. 208.
  23. ^ Fine 1991, p. 141.
  24. ^ Fine 1991, pp. 141–142.
  25. ^ Vlasto 1970, p. 209.
  26. ^ Prinzing 2012, pp. 358–362.
  27. ^ Ćirković 2004.
  28. ^ Ćirković 2004, p. 20, 40.
  29. ^ Jagić 1883.
  30. ^ Vlasto 1970, p. 218.
  31. ^ a b Ćirković 2004, p. 33.
  32. ^ Ćirković 2004, p. 35-36.
  33. ^ Kalić 2017, p. 7-18.
  34. ^ Ferjančić & Maksimović 2014, p. 37–54.
  35. ^ Marjanović 2018, p. 41–50.
  36. ^ Ćirković 2004, p. 43, 68.
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  39. ^ Čanak-Medić & Todić 2017.
  40. ^ Pavlowitch 2002, p. 11.
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  44. ^ Todić & Čanak-Medić 2013.
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  48. ^ Šuica 2011, p. 152-174.
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  50. ^ Birnbaum 1972, p. 243–284.
  51. ^ Thomson 1993, p. 103-134.
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  56. ^ Ćirković 2004, p. 166-167, 196-197.
  57. ^ Kiminas 2009, p. 20-21.
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  59. ^ Tomić 2019, p. 1445-1465.
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  75. ^ Branka Pantic; Arsic Aleksandar; Miroslav Ivkovic; Milojkovic Jelena. . Archived from the original on 3 February 2015. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
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Annotations

a.   ^ The political status of Kosovo is disputed. Having unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008, Kosovo is formally recognised as an independent state by 101 UN member states (with another 13 states recognising it at some point but then withdrawing their recognition) and 92 states not recognizing it, while Serbia continues to claim it as part of its own territory.

External links

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Serbian Orthodox Church.
  • Official website
  • List of Serbian Orthodox Churches abroad
  • Svetosavlje.org (in Serbian)
  • Srpsko Blago | Serbian Treasure site – photos, QTVR and movies of Serbian monasteries and Serbian Orthodox art
  • Article on the Serbian Orthodox Church by Ronald Roberson on the CNEWA website
  • Serbian Orthodox holy sites in Kosovo

December 31, 2022
serbian, orthodox, church, serbian, cyrillic, Српска, православна, црква, romanized, srpska, pravoslavna, crkva, autocephalous, ecclesiastically, independent, eastern, orthodox, christian, churches, Српска, православна, црква, srpska, pravoslavna, crkvaclassif. The Serbian Orthodox Church Serbian Cyrillic Srpska pravoslavna crkva romanized Srpska pravoslavna crkva is one of the autocephalous ecclesiastically independent Eastern Orthodox Christian churches 4 5 Serbian Orthodox ChurchSrpska pravoslavna crkva Srpska pravoslavna crkvaClassificationEastern OrthodoxScriptureSeptuagint New TestamentTheologyEastern Orthodox theologyPolityEpiscopalGovernanceHoly Synod of the Serbian Orthodox ChurchStructureCommunionPrimatePorfirijeBishops44Parishes3 100AssociationsWorld Council of Churches 1 LanguageSerbian and Church SlavonicHeadquartersBuilding of the Patriarchate Belgrade traditionally Patriarchate of PecTerritorySoutheastern Europe Serbia Bosnia and Herzegovina Montenegro Croatia North Macedonia Kosovo a Slovenia Australia Canada United States of America United Kingdom Germany FrancePossessionsOrthodox Ohrid ArchbishopricFounderSaint SavaIndependence1219 14631557 17661879 presentRecognition1219 Autocephalous archbishopric 1346 Autocephalous Patriarchate 1557 Autocephalous Patriarchate 1879 Autocephalous metropolis 1922 Autocephalous Patriarchate SeparationsMacedonian Orthodox ChurchMontenegrin Orthodox ChurchMembers8 2 to 12 million 3 Official websitewww wbr spc wbr rsThe majority of the population in Serbia Montenegro and the Republika Srpska entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina are members of the Serbian Orthodox Church It is organized into metropolitanates and eparchies located primarily in Serbia Bosnia and Herzegovina Montenegro and Croatia Other congregations are located in the Serb diaspora The Serbian Patriarch serves as first among equals in his church The current patriarch is Porfirije enthroned on 19 February 2021 6 The Church achieved autocephalous status in 1219 7 under the leadership of Saint Sava becoming the independent Archbishopric of Zica Its status was elevated to that of a patriarchate in 1346 8 and was known afterwards as the Serbian Patriarchate of Pec This patriarchate was abolished by the Ottoman Empire in 1766 9 though several regional sections of the church continued to exist most prominent among them being the Metropolitanate of Karlovci in the Habsburg monarchy 10 After the re creation of Serbia ecclesiastical autonomy was regained in 1831 11 and the autocephaly was renewed in 1879 The modern Serbian Orthodox Church was re established in 1920 after the unification of the Metropolitanate of Belgrade the Patriarchate of Karlovci and the Metropolitanate of Montenegro 12 Contents 1 Historical background 1 1 Early Christianity 1 2 Christianization of Serbs 1 3 Archbishopric of Ohrid 1018 1219 2 History 2 1 Autocephalous Archbishopric 1219 1346 2 2 Medieval Patriarchate 1346 1463 2 3 Renewed Patriarchate 1557 1766 2 4 Church in the Habsburg Monarchy 2 5 Modern history 2 5 1 Reunification 2 5 2 Under communist rule 2 5 3 Recent history 3 Adherents 4 Structure 4 1 Territorial organisation 4 1 1 Autonomous Archbishopric of Ohrid 5 Doctrine and liturgy 5 1 Social issues 5 2 Inter Christian relations 6 Art 6 1 Architecture 6 2 Icons 7 Insignia 8 See also 9 References 10 Sources 11 Annotations 12 External linksHistorical background EditEarly Christianity Edit Christianity started to spread throughout the southeastern Europe during the 1st century Early martyrs Florus and Laurus from the 2nd century who were murdered along with other 300 Christians in Ulpiana near modern Lipljan are venerated as Christian saints Bishop Irenaeus of Sirmium was also martyred in 304 Emperor Constantine the Great 306 337 born in Naissus modern Nis in Serbia was the first Christian ruler of the Roman Empire Several local bishops seated in present day Serbia became prominent during the 4th century such as Germinius of Sirmium Ursacius of Singidunum and Secundianus of Singidunum modern Belgrade while several Councils were held in Sirmium 13 In 395 the Empire was divided and its eastern half later became known as the Byzantine Empire In 535 emperor Justinian I created the Archbishopric of Justiniana Prima centered in the emperor s birth city of Justiniana Prima near modern Lebane in Serbia The archbishopric had ecclesiastical jurisdiction over all provinces of the Diocese of Dacia 14 15 By the beginning of the 7th century Byzantine provincial and ecclesiastical order in the region was destroyed by invading Avars and Slavs In 731 emperor Leo III transferred the entire Illyricum to jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople thus affirming its attachment to the Eastern Christianity 16 17 Christianization of Serbs Edit Seal of prince Strojimir of Serbia from the late 9th century 18 one of the oldest artifacts on the Christianization of the Serbs The history of the early medieval Serbian Principality is recorded in the work De Administrando Imperio DAI compiled by the Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus r 913 959 The DAI drew information on the Serbs from among others a Serbian source 19 The Serbs were said to have received the protection of Emperor Heraclius r 610 641 and Porphyrogenitus stressed that the Serbs had always been under Imperial rule According to De Administrando Imperio the center from which the Serbs received their baptism was marked as Rome 20 His account on the first Christianization of the Serbs can be dated to 632 638 this might have been Porphyrogenitus construction or may have It likely encompassed a limited group of chiefs with lesser reception by the wider layers of the tribe 21 The establishment of Christianity as the state religion dates to the time of Prince Mutimir r 851 891 and Byzantine Emperor Basil I r 867 886 22 The Christianization was partly due to Byzantine and subsequent Bulgarian influence 22 At least during the rule of Kocel 861 874 in Pannonia communications between Serbia and Great Moravia where Methodius was active must have been possible 22 The pope must have been aware of this when planning Methodius diocese and that of the Dalmatian coast which was in Byzantine hands as far north as Split 22 Some Cyrillomethodian pupils may have reached Serbia in the 870s perhaps sent by Methodius himself 22 Serbia was accounted Christian as of about 870 22 The first Serbian bishopric was founded at Ras near modern Novi Pazar on the Ibar river 22 According to Vlasto the initial affiliation is uncertain it may have been under the subordination of either Split or Durazzo both then Byzantine 22 The early Ras church can be dated to the 9th 10th century with the rotunda plan characteristic of first court chapels 22 The bishopric was established shortly after 871 during the rule of Mutimir and was part of the general plan of establishing bishoprics in the Slav lands of the empire confirmed by the Council of Constantinople in 879 880 22 The names of Serbian rulers through Mutimir r 851 891 are Slavic dithematic names per the Old Slavic tradition With Christianization in the 9th century Christian names appear among the members of Serbian dynasties Petar Stefan Pavle Zaharije 22 Prince Petar Gojnikovic r 892 917 was evidently a Christian ruler 22 and Christianity presumably was spreading in his time 23 Since Serbia bordered Bulgaria Christian influences and perhaps missionaries came from there increasing during the twenty year peace 24 The Bulgarian annexation of Serbia in 924 was important for the future direction of the Serbian church By then at the latest Serbia must have received the Cyrillic alphabet and Slavic religious text already familiar but perhaps not yet preferred to Greek 25 Archbishopric of Ohrid 1018 1219 Edit Map depicting the Archbishopric of Ohrid in ca 1020 Main article Archbishopric of Ohrid Following his final subjugation of the Bulgarian state in 1018 Basil II to underscore the Byzantine victory established the Archbishopric of Ohrid by downgrading the Bulgarian patriarchate to the rank of the archbishopric The now archbishopric remained an autocephalous church separate from the Patriarchate of Constantinople However while the archbishopric was completely independent in any other aspect its primate was selected by the emperor from a list of three candidates submitted by the local church synod In three sigillia issued in 1020 Basil II gave extensive privileges to the new see 26 Serbia was ecclesiastically administered into several bishoprics the bishopric of Ras 27 mentioned in the first charter of Basil II r 976 1025 became part of the Ohrid archbishopric and encompassed the central areas of Serbia by the rivers Raska Ibar and Lim evident in the second charter of Basil II In the charter of Basil II dated 1020 the Ras bishopric is mentioned with the seat at the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul Ras 28 The 10th or 11th century Gospel Book Codex Marianus written in Old Church Slavonic in the Glagolithic script is one of the oldest known Slavic manuscripts It was partly written in the Serbian redaction of Old Church Slavonic 29 Other early manuscripts include the 11th century Grskovicev odlomak Apostola and Mihanovicev odlomak History Edit Timeline showing the main autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Churches from an Eastern Orthodox point of view up to 2021 Autocephalous Archbishopric 1219 1346 Edit Saint Sava first Serbian archbishop Serbian prince Rastko Nemanjic the son of Stefan Nemanja took monastic vows at Mount Athos as Sava Sabbas in 1192 30 31 Three years later his father joined him taking monastic vows as Simeon Father and son asked the Holy Community to found a Serbian religious centre at the abandoned site of Hilandar which they renovated This marked the beginning of a renaissance in arts literature and religion Sava s father died at Hilandar in 1199 and was canonized as St Simeon 31 Saint Sava stayed for some years rising in rank then returned to Serbia in 1207 taking with him the remains of his father which he interred at the Studenica monastery after reconciling his two quarrelling brothers Stefan Nemanjic and Vukan 32 Stefan asked him to remain in Serbia with his clerics which he did providing widespread pastoral care and education to the people Saint Sava founded several churches and monasteries among them the Zica monastery In 1217 Stefan was proclaimed King of Serbia and various questions of the church reorganization were opened 33 Saint Sava returned to the Holy Mountain in 1217 18 preparing for the formation of an autocephalous Serbian Church He was consecrated in 1219 as the first Archbishop of the Serbian Church and was given autocephaly by Patriarch Manuel I of Constantinople then in exile at Nicaea 34 35 In the same year Saint Sava published Zakonopravilo St Sava s Nomocanon Thus the Serbs acquired both forms of independence political and religious 36 After this in Serbia Sava stayed in Studenica and continued to educate the Serbian people in their faith Later he called for a council outlawing the Bogomils whom he considered heretics Sava appointed several bishops sending them around Serbia to organize their dioceses 37 To maintain his standing as the religious and social leader he continued to travel among the monasteries and lands to educate the people In 1221 a synod was held in the Zica monastery condemning Bogomilism 38 The following seats were newly created in the time of Saint Sava Zica the seat of the Archbishop at Monastery of Zica Eparchy of Zeta Zetska seated at Monastery of Holy Archangel Michael in Prevlaka near Kotor in Zeta region Eparchy of Hum Humska seated at Monastery of the Holy Mother of God in Ston in Hum region Eparchy of Dabar Dabarska seated at Monastery of St Nicholas in Dabar region Eparchy of Moravica Moravicka seated at Monastery of St Achillius in Moravica zupa Eparchy of Budimlja Budimljanska seated at Monastery of St George in Budimlja region Eparchy of Toplica Toplicka seated at Monastery of St Nicholas in Toplica region Eparchy of Hvosno Hvostanska seated at Monastery of the Holy Mother of God in Hvosno region northern Metohija Older eparchies under the jurisdiction of the Serbian Archbishop were Eparchy of Ras Raska seated at Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul near Ras in Raska region Eparchy of Lipljan Lipljanska seated at Lipljan in Kosovo a Eparchy of Prizren Prizrenska seated at Prizren in the south of Kosovo a Trojerucica meaning Three handed Theotokos is the most important icon of the SOC and the main icon of Mount Athos In 1229 1233 Saint Sava went on a pilgrimage to Palestine and in Jerusalem he met with Patriarch Athanasios II Saint Sava saw Bethlehem where Jesus was born the Jordan River where Christ was baptized and the Great Lavra of Saint Sabbas the Sanctified Mar Saba monastery Sava asked Athanasios II his host and the Great Lavra fraternity led by hegoumenos Nicolas if he could purchase two monasteries in the Holy Land His request was accepted and he was offered the monasteries of Saint John the Theologian on Mount Sion and St George s Monastery at Akona both to be inhabited by Serbian monks The icon Trojerucica Three handed Theotokos a gift to the Great Lavra from St John Damascene was given to Saint Sava and he in turn bequeathed it to Hilandar Saint Sava died in Veliko Tarnovo capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire during the reign of Ivan Asen II of Bulgaria According to his Biography he fell ill following the Divine Liturgy on the Feast of the Epiphany 12 January 1235 Saint Sava was visiting Veliko Tarnovo on his way back from the Holy Land where he had founded a hospice for Syrian pilgrims in Jerusalem and arranged for Serbian monks to be welcomed in the established monasteries there He died of pneumonia in the night between Saturday and Sunday 14 January 1235 and was buried at the Cathedral of the Holy Forty Martyrs in Veliko Tarnovo where his body remained until 6 May 1237 when his sacred bones were moved to the monastery Mileseva in southern Serbia In 1253 the see was transferred to the Monastery of Pec by archbishop Arsenije 39 The Serbian primates had since moved between the two 40 Sometime between 1276 and 1292 the Cumans burned the Zica monastery and King Stefan Milutin 1282 1321 renovated it in 1292 1309 during the office of Jevstatije II 41 In 1289 1290 the chief treasures of the ruined monastery including the remains of Saint Jevstatije I were transferred to Monastery of Pec 42 During the rule of the same king the Monastery of Gracanica was also renewed 43 and during the reign of King Stefan Uros III 1321 1331 the Monastery of Decani was built 44 under the supervision of Archbishop Danilo II 45 Medieval Patriarchate 1346 1463 Edit Serbian Patriarch Danilo III fresco from the Patriarchal Monastery of Pec Main article Serbian Patriarchate of Pec The status of the Serbian Orthodox Church grew along with the expansion and heightened prestige of the Serbian kingdom After King Stefan Dusan assumed the imperial title of tsar the Serbian Archbishopric 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 the 14th century Serbian Orthodox clergy had the title of Protos at Mount Athos On 16 April 1346 Easter Stefan Dusan convoked a grand assembly at Skopje attended by the Serbian Archbishop Joanikije II Archbishop Nicholas I of Ohrid Patriarch Simeon of Bulgaria and various religious leaders of Mount Athos The assembly and clergy agreed on and then ceremonially performed the raising of the autocephalous Serbian Archbishopric to the status of Patriarchate The Archbishop was from now on titled Serbian Patriarch although some documents called him Patriarch of Serbs and Greeks with the seat at Patriarchal Monastery of Pec The new Patriarch Joanikije II now solemnly crowned Stefan Dusan as Emperor and autocrat of Serbs and Romans see Emperor of Serbs The Patriarchal status resulted in raising bishoprics to metropolitanates as for example the Metropolitanate of Skopje The Patriarchate took over sovereignty on Mt Athos and the Greek archbishoprics under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople the Archbishopric of Ohrid remained autocephalous which resulted in Dusan s excommunication by Patriarch Callistus I of Constantinople in 1350 46 In 1375 an agreement between the Serbian Patriarchate and the Patriarchate of Constantinople was reached 47 The Battle of Kosovo 1389 and its aftermath had a lasting influence on medieval legacy and later traditions of the Serbian Orthodox Church 48 In 1455 when Ottoman Turks conquered the Patriarchal seat in Pec Patriarch Arsenije II found temporary refuge in Smederevo the capital city of Serbian Despotate 49 Among cultural artistic and literary legacies created under the auspices of the Serbian Orthodox Church during the medieval period were hagiographies known in Serbian as zitije vita that were written as biographies of rulers archbishops and saints from the 12th up to the 15th century 50 51 52 Renewed Patriarchate 1557 1766 Edit Serbian Patriarchate of Pec 16th 17th century Main article Serbian Patriarchate of Pec The Ottoman Empire conquered the Serbian Despotate in 1459 the Bosnian Kingdom in 1463 Herzegovina in 1482 and Montenegro in 1499 All of the conquered lands were divided into sanjaks Although some Serbs converted to Islam most continued their adherence to the Serbian Orthodox Church The church itself continued to exist throughout the Ottoman period though not without some disruption After the death of Serbian Patriarch Arsenije II in 1463 a successor was not elected The Patriarchate was thus de facto abolished and the Serbian Church passed under the jurisdiction of Archbishopric of Ohrid and ultimately the Ecumenical Patriarchate which exercised jurisdiction over all Orthodox of the Ottoman Empire under the millet system After several failed attempts made from c 1530 up to 1541 by metropolitan Pavle of Smederevo to regain the autocephaly by seizing the throne of Pec and proclaiming himself not only Archbishop of Pec but also Serbian Patriarch the Serbian Patriarchate was finally restored in 1557 under the Sultan Suleiman I thanks to the mediation of pasha Mehmed Sokolovic who was Serbian by birth His cousin one of the Serbian Orthodox bishops Makarije Sokolovic was elected Patriarch in Pec The restoration of the Patriarchate was of great importance for the Serbs because it helped the spiritual unification of all Serbs in the Ottoman Empire The Patriarchate of Pec also included some dioceses in western Bulgaria 53 In the time of Serbian Patriarch Jovan Kantul 1592 1614 the Ottoman Turks took the remains of Saint Sava from monastery Mileseva to the Vracar hill in Belgrade where they were burned by Sinan Pasha on a stake to intimidate the Serb people in case of revolts see Banat Uprising 1594 The Temple of Saint Sava was built on the place where his remains were burned 54 After consequent Serbian uprisings against the Turkish occupiers in which the church had a leading role the Ottomans abolished the Patriarchate once again in 1766 9 The church returned once more under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople This period of rule by the so called Phanariots was a period of great spiritual decline citation needed because the Greek bishops had very little understanding of their Serbian flock Church in the Habsburg Monarchy Edit Serbian Patriarch Arsenije III leader of the Great Serbian Migration of 1690 Main articles Metropolitanate of Karlovci and Patriarchate of Karlovci During this period Christians across the Balkans were under pressure to convert to Islam to avoid severe taxes imposed by the Turks in retaliation for uprisings and continued resistance The success of Islamization was limited to certain areas with the majority of the Serbian population keeping its Christian faith despite the negative consequences To avoid them numerous Serbs migrated with their hierarchs to the Habsburg monarchy where their autonomy had been granted In 1708 an autonomous Serbian Orthodox Metropolitanate of Karlovci was created which would later become a patriarchate 1848 1920 55 During the reign of Maria Theresa 1740 1780 several assemblies of Orthodox Serbs were held sending their petitions to the Habsburg court In response to that several royal acts were issued such as Regulamentum privilegiorum 1770 and Regulamentum Illyricae Nationis 1777 both of them replaced by the royal Declaratory Rescript of 1779 that regulated various important questions from the procedure regarding the elections of Serbian Orthodox bishops in the Habsburg Monarchy to the management of dioceses parishes and monasteries The act was upheld in force until it was replaced by the Royal Rescript issued on 10 August 1868 56 Modern history Edit Timeline showing the main schisms which came out of the Serbian Orthodox Church from the second quarter of the 19th century up to 2021 Main articles Metropolitanate of Belgrade and Patriarchate of Karlovci The church s close association with Serbian resistance to Ottoman rule led to Eastern Orthodoxy becoming inextricably linked with Serbian national identity and the new Serbian monarchy that emerged from 1815 onwards The Serbian Orthodox Church in the Principality of Serbia gained its autonomy in 1831 and was organized as the Metropolitanate of Belgrade remaining under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople 11 The Principality of Serbia gained full political independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1878 and soon after those negotiations were initiated with the Ecumenical Patriarchate resulting in canonical recognition of full ecclesiastical independence autocephaly for the Metropolitanate of Belgrade in 1879 57 At the same time Serbian Orthodox eparchies in Bosnia and Herzegovina remained under the supreme ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople but after the Austro Hungarian occupation 1878 of those provinces local eparchies gained internal autonomy regulated by the Convention of 1880 signed by representatives of Austro Hungarian authorities and the Patriarchate of Constantinople 58 59 In the southern eparchies that remained under the Ottoman rule Serbian metropolitans were appointed by the end of the 19th century 60 Thus by the beginning of the 20th century several distinctive Serbian ecclesiastical provinces existed including the Patriarchate of Karlovci in the Habsburg monarchy the Metropolitanate of Belgrade in the Kingdom of Serbia and the Metropolitanate of Montenegro in the Principality of Montenegro During the World War I 1914 1918 the Serbian Orthodox Church suffered massive casualties 61 Reunification Edit Serbian Patriarch Dimitrije 1920 1930 first primate of the reunited Serbian Orthodox Church After the liberation and political unification that was achieved by creation of the Kingdom of Serbs Croats and Slovenes 1918 all Eastern Orthodox Serbs were united under one ecclesiastical authority and all Serbian ecclesiastical provinces and eparchies were united into the single Serbian Orthodox Church in 1920 12 The first primate of the united SOC was Serbian Patriarch Dimitrije 1920 1930 The SOC 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 Holy See The united Serbian Orthodox Church kept under its jurisdiction the Eparchy of Buda in Hungary In 1921 the Serbian Orthodox Church created a new eparchy for the Czech lands headed by bishop Gorazd Pavlik At the same time the Serbian Church among the diaspora was reorganized and the eparchy diocese for the United States and Canada was created 62 In 1931 another diocese was created called the Eparchy of Mukacevo and Presov for the Eastern Orthodox Christians in Slovakia and Carpathian Rusynia During the Second World War the Serbian Orthodox Church suffered severely from persecutions by the occupying powers and the rabidly anti Serbian Ustase regime of Independent State of Croatia NDH which sought to create a Croatian Orthodox Church which Orthodox Serbs were forced to join Many Serbs were killed expelled or forced to convert to Catholicism during the Serbian Genocide bishops and priests of the Serbian Orthodox Church were singled out for persecution and many Orthodox churches were damaged or destroyed 63 Out of the 577 Serbian Orthodox priests monks and other religious dignitaries in the NDH between 214 and 217 were killed and 334 were exiled to German occupied Serbia 64 In the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina 71 Orthodox priests were killed by the Ustase 10 by the Partisans 5 by the Germans and 45 died in the first decade after the end of WWII 65 Under communist rule Edit Building of the Serbian Patriarchate in Belgrade 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 leadership from the period of Kingdom of Yugoslavia and the nationalist Chetnik movement According to Denis Becirovic aside from the League of Communists of Yugoslavia s ideological differences with the Church this negative attitude was also influenced by the fact that some priests during the war supported the Chetnik movement which are mentioned in Documents of the Commission for Religious Affairs where is stated that among other things that the majority of priests during the war supported and cooperated with the movement of Draza Mihailovic and that the church spread hostile propaganda against the Yugoslav Partisans and appointed persons in the administration of church institutions who were convicted of collaborating with the occupier 65 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 66 In 1963 the Serbian Church among the diaspora was reorganized and the eparchy for the United States and Canada was divided into three separate eparchies At the same time some internal divisions sparked in the Serbian diaspora leading to the creation of the separate Free Serbian Orthodox Church under Bishop Dionisije Division was healed in 1991 and Metropolitanate of New Gracanica was created within the united Serbian Orthodox Church 67 In 1983 a fourth eparchy in North America was created specifically for Canadian churches the Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Canada 68 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 Milosevic in the 1990s Since the establishment of the Yugoslav federal unit of Macedonia 1944 communist authorities restricted the activities of SOC in that region favoring the creation of a separate church 69 The Macedonian Orthodox Church was created 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 did not recognize the independence of its Macedonian counterpart 70 Similar plans for the creation of an independent church in the Yugoslav federal unit of Montenegro were also considered but those plans were not put into action before 1993 when the creation of the Montenegrin Orthodox Church was proclaimed The organization was not legally registered before 2000 receiving no support from the Eastern Orthodox communion and succeeding to attract only a minority of Eastern Orthodox adherents in Montenegro 71 72 Recent history Edit Church of Saint Sava one of the largest Orthodox churches in the world being built continuously since the end of the 1980s on the site where the relics of Saint Sava were desecrated by the Ottomans The Yugoslav wars gravely impacted several branches of the Serbian Orthodox Church Many Serbian Orthodox Church clergy supported the war while others were against it citation needed Many churches in Croatia were damaged or destroyed during the Croatian War 1991 95 The bishops and priests and most faithful of the eparchies of Zagreb of Karlovac of Slavonia and of Dalmatia became refugees The latter three were almost completely abandoned after the exodus of the Serbs from Croatia in 1995 Operation Storm The eparchy of Dalmatia also had its see temporarily moved to Knin after the self proclaimed proto state Republic of Serbian Krajina was established The eparchy of Slavonia had its see moved from Pakrac to Daruvar After Operation Storm two monasteries were particularly damaged the Krupa monastery built in 1317 and the Krka monastery built in 1345 The eparchies of Bihac and Petrovac Dabar Bosnia and Zvornik and Tuzla were also dislocated due to the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina The eparchy see of Dabar Bosnia was temporarily moved to Sokolac and the see of Zvornik Tuzla to Bijeljina Over a hundred Church owned objects in the Zvornik Tuzla eparchy were destroyed or damaged during the war citation needed Many monasteries and churches in the Zahumlje eparchy were also destroyed citation needed Numerous faithful from these eparchies also became refugees citation needed Left Destroyed Serbian Orthodox Holy Trinity Church in Petric village Kosovo a Right Devic monastery after it was burned down in 2004 unrest in Kosovo By 1998 the situation had stabilized in both countries The clergy and many of the faithful returned most of the property of the Serbian Orthodox Church was returned to normal use and damaged and destroyed properties were restored The process of rebuilding several churches is still underway when notably the cathedral of the Eparchy of Upper Karlovac in Karlovac citation needed Owing to the Kosovo War after 1999 numerous Serbian Orthodox holy sites in Kosovo left occupied only by clergy Since the arrival of NATO troops in June 1999 156 Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries have been damaged or destroyed 73 In the aftermath of the 2004 unrest in Kosovo 35 Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries were burned or destroyed by Albanian mobs and thousands of Serbs were forced to move from Kosovo due to the numerous attacks of Kosovo Albanians on Serbian churches and Serbs 74 The process of church reorganization among the diaspora and full reintegration of the Metropolitanate of New Gracanica was completed from 2009 to 2011 By that full structural unity of Serbian church institutions in the diaspora was achieved Adherents EditBased on the official census results in countries that encompass the territorial canonical jurisdiction of the Serbian Orthodox Church the Serb autochthonous region of Western Balkans there are more than 8 million adherents of the church Orthodoxy is the largest single religious faith in Serbia with 6 079 296 adherents 84 5 of the population according to the 2011 census 75 and in Montenegro with around 320 000 51 of the population It is the second largest faith in Bosnia and Herzegovina with 31 2 of the population and in Croatia with 4 4 of the population Figures for eparchies abroad Western Europe North America and Australia are unknown although some estimates can be reached based on the size of the Serb diaspora which numbers over two million people Structure EditThe head of the Serbian Orthodox Church the patriarch also serves as the head metropolitan of the Metropolitanate of Belgrade and Karlovci The current patriarch Porfirije was inaugurated on 19 February 2021 Serbian Orthodox patriarchs use the style His Holiness the Archbishop of Pec Metropolitan of Belgrade and Karlovci Serbian Patriarch The highest body of the Serbian Orthodox Church is the Bishops Council It consists of the Patriarch the Metropolitans Bishops Archbishop of Ohrid and Vicar Bishops It meets annually in spring The Bishops Council makes important decisions for the church and elects the patriarch The executive body of the Serbian Orthodox Church is the Holy Synod It has five members four bishops and the patriarch 76 The Holy Synod takes care of the everyday operation of the church holding meetings on regular basis Eparchies of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Serbian autochthonous region of Western Balkans Territorial organisation Edit Further information List of eparchies of the Serbian Orthodox Church The territory of the Serbian Orthodox Church is divided into 77 78 1 patriarchal eparchy headed by Serbian Patriarch 4 eparchies that are honorary metropolitanates headed by metropolitans 35 eparchies dioceses headed by bishops 1 autonomous archbishopric headed by archbishop the Autonomous Archbishopric of Ohrid It is further divided into 1 eparchy headed by the metropolitan and 6 eparchies headed by bishops Dioceses are further divided into episcopal deaneries each consisting of several church congregations or parishes Church congregations consist of one or more parishes A parish is the smallest church unit a communion of Orthodox faithful congregating at the Holy Eucharist with the parish priest at their head Autonomous Archbishopric of Ohrid Edit The Autonomous Archbishopric of Ohrid or Orthodox Ohrid Archbishopric is an autonomous archbishopric in the Republic of Macedonia under the jurisdiction of the Serbian Orthodox Church It was formed in 2002 in opposition to the Macedonian Orthodox Church which had had a similar relationship with the Serbian Orthodox Church prior to 1967 when it unilaterally declared itself autocephalous This archbishopric is divided into one metropolitanate Skopje and the six eparchies of Bregalnica Debar and Kicevo Polog and Kumanovo Prespa and Pelagonija Strumica and Veles and Povardarje Doctrine and liturgy EditThe Serbian Orthodox Church upholds the Eastern Orthodox theology shared by all Eastern Orthodox Churches and based on doctrinal accomplishments of the Seven Ecumenical Councils It is characterized by monotheistic Trinitarianism a belief in the Incarnation of the Logos Son of God a balancing of cataphatic theology with apophatic theology a hermeneutic defined by Sacred Tradition and a therapeutic soteriology In the fields of Church organization and administration Serbian Orthodox Church upholds traditions and principles of Eastern Orthodox ecclesiology 79 Liturgical traditions and practices of the Serbian Orthodox Church are based on the Eastern Orthodox worship 80 Services cannot properly be conducted by a single person but must have at least one other person present Usually all of the services are conducted on a daily basis only in monasteries and cathedrals while parish churches might only do the services on the weekend and major feast days The Divine Liturgy is the celebration of the Eucharist The Divine Liturgy is not celebrated on weekdays during the preparatory season of Great Lent Communion is consecrated on Sundays and distributed during the week at the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts Services especially the Divine Liturgy can only be performed once a day on any particular altar citation needed A key part of the Serbian Orthodox religion is the Slava a celebration of the Clan Patron Saint placed into the Serb Orthodox religious canon by the first Serb archbishop Saint Sava Social issues Edit The Serbian Orthodox Church upholds traditional views on modern social issues 81 such as separation of church and state imposed since the abolition of monarchy in 1945 and social equality 82 Since all forms of priesthood are reserved only for men the role of women in church administration is still limited to specific activities mainly in the fields of religious education and religious arts including the participation in various forms of charity work 83 Inter Christian relations Edit The Serbian Orthodox Church is in full communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople which holds a special place of honour within Eastern Orthodoxy and serves as the seat for the Ecumenical Patriarch who enjoys the status of first among equals and all of the mainstream autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church bodies except the Orthodox Church of Ukraine It has been a member of the World Council of Churches since 1965 84 and of the Conference of European Churches Art EditArchitecture Edit An example of the Serbo Byzantine style in the Gracanica monastery in Kosovo a World Heritage Site See also Serbian architecture Serbian medieval churches were built in the Byzantine spirit The Raska style refers to the Serbian architecture from the 12th to the end of the 14th century Studenica Hilandar Zica The Vardal style which is the typical one was developed in the late 13th century combining Byzantine and Serbian influences to form a new architectural style Gracanica Patriarchal Monastery of Pec By the time of the Serbian Empire the Serbian state had enlarged itself over Macedonia Epirus and Thessaly all the way to the Aegean Sea which resulted in stronger influences from Byzantine art tradition The Morava style refers to the period of the fall of Serbia under the Ottoman Empire from 1371 to 1459 Ravanica Ljubostinja Kalenic Resava During the 17th century many of the Serbian Orthodox churches that were built in Belgrade took all the characteristics of baroque churches built in the Habsburg occupied regions where Serbs lived The churches usually had a bell tower and a single nave building with the iconostasis inside the church covered with Renaissance style paintings These churches can be found in Belgrade and Vojvodina which were occupied by the Austrian Empire from 1717 to 1739 and on the border with Austrian later Austria Hungary across the Sava and Danube rivers from 1804 when Serbian statehood was re established Icons Edit A Portrait of the Evangelist a miniature from the Radoslav Gospel 1429 Icons are replete with symbolism meant to convey far more meaning than simply the identity of the person depicted and it is for this reason that Orthodox iconography has become an exacting science of copying older icons rather than an opportunity for artistic expression The personal idiosyncratic and creative traditions of Western European religious art are largely lacking in Orthodox iconography before the 17th century when Russian and Serbian icon painting was influenced by religious paintings and engravings from Europe Large icons can be found adorning the walls of churches and often cover the inside structure completely Orthodox homes often likewise have icons hanging on the wall usually together on an eastern facing wall and in a central location where the family can pray together Insignia Edit Flag of the Serbian Orthodox Church The Serbian tricolour with a Serbian cross is used as the official flag of the Serbian Orthodox Church as defined in the Article 4 of the SOC Constitution 76 A number of other unofficial variant flags some with variations of the cross coat of arms or both exist clarification needed See also EditList of heads of the Serbian Orthodox Church List of eparchies of the Serbian Orthodox Church List of Serbian Orthodox monasteries List of Serbian saintsReferences Edit Serbian Orthodox Church at World Council of Churches World Council of Churches Serbian Orthodox Church Johnston amp Sampson 1995 p 330 Radic 2007 p 231 248 Fotic 2008 p 519 520 His Holiness Porfirije Archbishop of Pec Metropolitan of Belgrade and Karlovci and Serbian Patriarch enthroned Serbian Orthodox Church Official web site Retrieved 4 April 2021 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint url status link Cirkovic 2004 p 28 Cirkovic 2004 p 64 65 a b Cirkovic 2004 p 177 Cirkovic 2004 p 149 151 a b Cirkovic 2004 p 192 193 a b Radic 2007 p 235 236 Popovic 1996 Curta 2001 p 77 Turlej 2016 p 189 Fine 1991 p 116 Treadgold 1997 p 354 355 Zivkovic 2007 p 23 29 Zivkovic 2010 p 117 131 Zivkovic 2010 p 121 Zivkovic 2008 pp 38 40 a b c d e f g h i j k l Vlasto 1970 p 208 Fine 1991 p 141 Fine 1991 pp 141 142 Vlasto 1970 p 209 Prinzing 2012 pp 358 362 Cirkovic 2004 Cirkovic 2004 p 20 40 Jagic 1883 Vlasto 1970 p 218 a b Cirkovic 2004 p 33 Cirkovic 2004 p 35 36 Kalic 2017 p 7 18 Ferjancic amp Maksimovic 2014 p 37 54 Marjanovic 2018 p 41 50 Cirkovic 2004 p 43 68 Cirkovic 2004 p 43 Vlasto 1970 pp 222 233 Canak Medic amp Todic 2017 Pavlowitch 2002 p 11 Vasary 2005 p 100 101 Ljubinkovic 1975 p VIII Curcic 1979 Todic amp Canak Medic 2013 Pantelic 2002 Fine 1994 pp 309 310 Fine 1994 p 387 388 Suica 2011 p 152 174 Cirkovic 2004 p 107 134 Birnbaum 1972 p 243 284 Thomson 1993 p 103 134 Ivanovic 2019 p 103 129 Daskalov amp Marinov 2013 p 29 Sotirovic 2011 p 143 169 Cirkovic 2004 p 149 151 166 167 Cirkovic 2004 p 166 167 196 197 Kiminas 2009 p 20 21 Cirkovic 2004 p 231 Tomic 2019 p 1445 1465 Cirkovic 2004 p 244 Radic 2015 pp 263 285 Vukovic 1998 Stojanovic 2017 p 269 287 Velikonja 2003 p 170 a b Becirovic Denis 2010 Komunisticka vlast i Srpska Pravoslavna Crkva u Bosni i Hercegovini 1945 1955 Pritisci napadi hapsenja i suđenja PDF Tokovi Istorije 3 76 78 Vukic Neven 2021 The Church in a Communist State Justin Popovic 1894 1979 and the Struggle for Orthodoxy in Serbia Yugoslavia Journal of Church amp State 63 2 278 99 Spasovic 2004 p 124 129 Rhodes Ran 2015 The Complete Guide to Christian Denominations Harvest House Publishers p 328 ISBN 978 0 73695 291 0 Slijepcevic 1958 p 224 242 Radic 2007 p 236 Radic 2007 p 247 Morrison amp Cagorovic 2014 p 151 170 Batakovic 2017 p 116 Batakovic 2007 p 255 260 Branka Pantic Arsic Aleksandar Miroslav Ivkovic Milojkovic Jelena Republicki zavod za statistiku Srbije Archived from the original on 3 February 2015 Retrieved 5 March 2015 a b Constitution of the Serbian Orthodox Church See List of Eparchies of the Serbian Orthodox Church Official SPC site Eparchies Links in Serbian Jovanovic 2019 p 169 187 Ubiparipovic 2019 p 258 267 Radic amp Vukomanovic 2014 p 180 211 Kuburic 2014 p 399 Abramovic 2019 p 243 262 Serbian Orthodox Church World Council of Churches Retrieved 4 April 2021 Sources EditAbramovic Anja 2019 Women s Issues in Serbian Orthodox Church Religion and Tolerance Journal of the Center for Empirical Researches of Religion 17 32 243 262 Andric Stanko 2016 Saint John Capistran and Despot George Brankovic An Impossible Compromise Byzantinoslavica 74 1 2 202 227 Batakovic Dusan T ed 2005 Histoire du peuple serbe History of the Serbian People in French Lausanne L Age d Homme ISBN 9782825119587 Batakovic Dusan T 2007 Surviving in Ghetto like Enclaves The Serbs of Kosovo and Metohija 1999 2007 PDF Kosovo and Metohija Living in the Enclave Belgrade Institute for Balkan Studies pp 239 263 Batakovic Dusan T 2017 The Case of Kosovo Separation vs Integration Legacy Identity Nationalism Studia Srodkowoeuropejskie i Balkanistyczne 26 105 123 Birnbaum Henrik 1972 Byzantine Tradition Transformed The Old Serbian Vita Aspects of the Balkans Continuity and Change The Hague and Paris Mouton pp 243 284 Buchenau Klaus 2014 The Serbian Orthodox Church Eastern Christianity and Politics in the Twenty First Century London New York Routledge pp 67 93 ISBN 9781317818663 Canak Medic Milka Todic Branislav 2017 The Monastery of the Patriarchate of Pec Novi Sad Platoneum Beseda ISBN 9788685869839 Carter Francis W 1969 An Analysis of the Medieval Serbian Oecumene A Theoretical Approach Geografiska Annaler Series B Human Geography 51 1 2 39 56 doi 10 1080 04353684 1969 11879331 Cirkovic Sima Korac Vojislav Babic Gordana 1986 Studenica Monastery Belgrade Jugoslovenska revija Cirkovic Sima 2004 The Serbs Malden Blackwell Publishing ISBN 9781405142915 Cirkovic Sima 2014 1964 The Double Wreath A Contribution to the History of Kingship in Bosnia Balcanica 45 107 143 doi 10 2298 BALC1445107C Crncevic Dejan 2013 Architecture of Cathedral Churches on the Eastern Adriatic Coast at the Time of the First Principalities of South Slavs 9th 11th Centuries The World of the Slavs Studies of the East West and South Slavs Civitas Oppidas Villas and Archeological Evidence 7th to 11th Centuries AD Belgrade The Institute for History pp 37 136 ISBN 9788677431044 Curcic Slobodan 1979 Gracanica King Milutin s Church and Its Place in Late Byzantine Architecture Pennsylvania State University Press ISBN 9780271002187 Curta Florin 2001 The Making of the Slavs History and Archaeology of the Lower Danube Region c 500 700 Cambridge Cambridge University Press ISBN 9781139428880 Curta Florin 2006 Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages 500 1250 Cambridge Cambridge University Press ISBN 9780521815390 Curta Florin 2019 Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages 500 1300 Leiden and Boston Brill ISBN 9789004395190 Daskalov Rumen Marinov Tchavdar eds 2013 Entangled Histories of the Balkans Volume One National Ideologies and Language Policies BRILL ISBN 9789004250765 Đorđevic Zivota Pejic Svetlana eds 1999 Cultural Heritage of Kosovo and Metohija Belgrade Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments of the Republic of Serbia ISBN 9788680879161 Dragojlovic Dragoljub 1990 Dyrrachium et les Eveches de Doclea jusqu a la fondation de l Archeveche de Bar PDF Balcanica 21 201 209 Dragojlovic Dragoljub 1991 Archeveche d Ohrid dans la hierarchie des grandes eglises chretiennes PDF Balcanica 22 43 55 Dragojlovic Dragoljub 1993 Serbian Spirituality in the 13th and 14th Centuries and Western Scholasticism Serbs in European Civilization Belgrade Nova Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts Institute for Balkan Studies pp 32 40 ISBN 9788675830153 Dvornik Francis 1962 The Slavs in European History and Civilization New Brunswick Rutgers University Press ISBN 9780813507996 Ferjancic Bozidar Maksimovic Ljubomir 2014 Sava Nemanjic and Serbia between Epiros and Nicaea Balcanica 45 37 54 doi 10 2298 BALC1445037F Fine John Van Antwerp Jr 1991 1983 The Early Medieval Balkans A Critical Survey from the Sixth to the Late Twelfth Century Ann Arbor Michigan University of Michigan Press ISBN 0472081497 Fine John Van Antwerp Jr 1994 1987 The Late Medieval Balkans A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest Ann Arbor Michigan University of Michigan Press ISBN 0472082604 Fine John Van Antwerp Jr 2005 When Ethnicity did not Matter in the Balkans A Study of Identity in Pre Nationalist Croatia Dalmatia and Slavonia in the Medieval and Early Modern Periods Ann Arbor Michigan University of Michigan Press ISBN 0472025600 Fotic Aleksandar 2008 Serbian Orthodox Church Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire New York Infobase Publishing pp 519 520 ISBN 9781438110257 Gavrilovic Zaga 2001 Studies in Byzantine and Serbian Medieval Art London The Pindar Press ISBN 9781899828340 Ivanovic Milos 2019 Serbian Hagiographies on the Warfare and Political Struggles of the Nemanjic Dynasty from the Twelfth to Fourteenth Century Reform and Renewal in Medieval East and Central Europe Politics Law and Society Cluj Napoca Romanian Academy Center for Transylvanian Studies pp 103 129 Ivic Pavle ed 1995 The History of Serbian Culture Edgware Porthill Publishers ISBN 9781870732314 Jagic Vatroslav 1883 Quattuor Evangeliorum versionis palaeoslovenicae Codex Marianus Glagoliticus characteribus Cyrillicis transcriptum PDF Berlin Weidmann Janicijevic Jovan ed 1990 Serbian Culture Through Centuries Selected List of Recommended Reading Belgrade Yugoslav Authors Agency Janicijevic Jovan ed 1998 The Cultural Treasury of Serbia Belgrade Idea Vojnoizdavacki zavod Markt system ISBN 9788675470397 Johnston Douglas Sampson Cynthia eds 1995 Religion the Missing Dimension of Statecraft New York amp Oxford Oxford University Press ISBN 9780195102802 Jovanovic Zdravko B 2019 Ecclesiology in Contemporary Serbian Theology An Overview of some Important Perspectives Die Serbische Orthodoxe Kirche in den Herausforderungen des 21 Jahrhunderts Regensburg Pustet pp 169 187 ISBN 9783791730578 Kalic Jovanka 1995 Rascia The Nucleus of the Medieval Serbian State The Serbian Question in the Balkans Belgrade Faculty of Geography pp 147 155 Kalic Jovanka 2017 The First Coronation Churches of Medieval Serbia Balcanica 48 7 18 doi 10 2298 BALC1748007K Kasic Dusan ed 1965 Serbian Orthodox Church Its past and present Vol 1 Belgrade Serbian Orthodox Church Kasic Dusan ed 1966 Serbian Orthodox Church Its past and present Vol 2 Belgrade Serbian Orthodox Church Kasic Dusan ed 1972 Serbian Orthodox Church Its past and present Vol 3 Belgrade Serbian Orthodox Church Kasic Dusan ed 1973 Serbian Orthodox Church Its past and present Vol 4 Belgrade Serbian Orthodox Church Kasic Dusan ed 1975 Serbian Orthodox Church Its past and present Vol 5 Belgrade Serbian Orthodox Church Kasic Dusan ed 1983 Serbian Orthodox Church Its past and present Vol 6 Belgrade Serbian Orthodox Church Kia Mehrdad 2011 Daily Life in the Ottoman Empire Santa Barbara California Greenwood Press ISBN 9780313064029 Kidd Beresford James 1927 The Churches of Eastern Christendom From A D 451 to the Present Time London Faith Press ISBN 9780598821126 Kiminas Demetrius 2009 The Ecumenical Patriarchate A History of Its Metropolitanates with Annotated Hierarch Catalogs Wildside Press LLC ISBN 9781434458766 Komatina Predrag 2014 Settlement of the Slavs in Asia Minor During the Rule of Justinian II and the Bishopric twn Gordoserbwn PDF Beogradski istoriјski glasnik Belgrade Historical Review 5 33 42 Komatina Predrag 2015 The Church in Serbia at the Time of Cyrilo Methodian Mission in Moravia Cyril and Methodius Byzantium and the World of the Slavs Thessaloniki Dimos pp 711 718 Krstic Branislav 2003 Saving the Cultural Heritage of Serbia and Europe in Kosovo and Metohia Belgrade Coordination Center of the Federal Government and the Government of the Republic of Serbia for Kosovo and Metohia ISBN 9788675560173 Kuburic Zorica 2014 Serbian Orthodox Church in the Context of History PDF Religion and Tolerance Journal of the Center for Empirical Researches of Religion 12 22 387 402 Ljubinkovic Radivoje 1975 The Church of the Apostles in the Patriarchate of Pec Belgrade Jugoslavija Marjanovic Dragoljub 2018 Emergence of the Serbian Church in Relation to Byzantium and Rome PDF Nis and Byzantium 16 41 50 Marjanovic Dusanic Smilja 2006 Lʹ ideologie monarchique dans les chartes de la dynastie serbe des Nemanides 1168 1371 Etude diplomatique Archiv fur Diplomatik Schriftgeschichte Siegel und Wappenkunde 52 149 158 doi 10 7788 afd 2006 52 jg 149 S2CID 96483243 Markovic Miodrag Vojvodic Dragan eds 2017 Serbian Artistic Heritage in Kosovo and Metohija Identity Significance Vulnerability Belgrade Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts Medakovic Dejan 1989 Die Serbische Kirche und die Kunst im 18 und 19 Jahrhundert Tradition and Modern Society A Symposium at the Royal Academy of Letters History and Antiquities Stockholm Almqvist amp Wiksell International pp 133 147 ISBN 9789174022025 Mileusnic Slobodan ed 1989 Serbian Orthodox Church Its past and present Vol 7 Belgrade Serbian Orthodox Church Mileusnic Slobodan 1997 Spiritual Genocide A survey of destroyed damaged and desecrated churches monasteries and other church buildings during the war 1991 1995 1997 Belgrade Museum of the Serbian Orthodox Church Mileusnic Slobodan 1998 Medieval Monasteries of Serbia 4th ed Novi Sad Prometej ISBN 9788676393701 Moravcsik Gyula ed 1967 1949 Constantine Porphyrogenitus De Administrando Imperio 2nd revised ed Washington D C Dumbarton Oaks Center for Byzantine Studies ISBN 9780884020219 Morrison Kenneth Cagorovic Nebojsa 2014 The Political Dynamics of Intra Orthodox Conflict in Montenegro Politicization of Religion the Power of State Nation and Faith The Case of Former Yugoslavia and its Successor States New York Palgrave Macmillan pp 151 170 ISBN 9781137477866 Obolensky Dimitri 1974 1971 The Byzantine Commonwealth Eastern Europe 500 1453 London Cardinal ISBN 9780351176449 Ostrogorsky George 1956 History of the Byzantine State Oxford Basil Blackwell Paizi Apostolopoulou Machi 2012 Appealing to the Authority of a Learned Patriarch New Evidence on Gennadios Scholarios Responses to the Questions of George Brankovic The Historical Review 9 95 116 Pantelic Bratislav 2002 The Architecture of Decani and the Role of Archbishop Danilo II Wiesbaden Reichert ISBN 9783895002397 Pavlovic Jovan ed 1992 Serbian Orthodox Church Its past and present Vol 8 Belgrade Serbian Orthodox Church Pavlovich Paul 1989 The History of the Serbian Orthodox Church Serbian Heritage Books ISBN 9780969133124 Pavlowitch Stevan K 2002 Serbia The History behind the Name London Hurst amp Company ISBN 9781850654773 Popovic Radomir V 1996 Le Christianisme sur le sol de l Illyricum oriental jusqu a l arrivee des Slaves Thessaloniki Institute for Balkan Studies ISBN 9789607387103 Popovic Radomir V 2013 Serbian Orthodox Church in History Belgrade Academy of Serbian Orthodox Church for Fine Arts and Conservation ISBN 9788686805621 Popovic Svetlana 2002 The Serbian Episcopal Sees in the Thirteenth Century Starinar 51 2001 171 184 Prinzing Gunter 2012 The autocephalous Byzantine ecclesiastical province of Bulgaria Ohrid How independent were its archbishops Bulgaria Mediaevalis 3 355 383 ISSN 1314 2941 Radic Radmila 1998 Serbian Orthodox Church and the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina Religion and the War in Bosnia Atlanta Scholars Press pp 160 182 ISBN 9780788504280 Radic Radmila 2007 Serbian Christianity The Blackwell Companion to Eastern Christianity Malden Blackwell Publishing pp 231 248 ISBN 9780470766392 Radic Radmila 2015 The Serbian Orthodox Church in the First World War The Serbs and the First World War 1914 1918 Belgrade Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts pp 263 285 ISBN 9788670256590 Radic Radmila Vukomanovic Milan 2014 Religion and Democracy in Serbia since 1989 The Case of the Serbian Orthodox Church Religion and Politics in Post socialist Central and Southeastern Europe Challenges since 1989 Houndmills Palgrave Macmillan pp 180 211 ISBN 9781137330727 Radojevic Mira Micic Srđan B 2015 Serbian Orthodox Church cooperation and frictions with Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and Bulgarian Exarchate during interwar period Studia Academica sumenesia 2 126 143 Roudometof Victor 2001 Nationalism Globalization and Orthodoxy The Social Origins of Ethnic Conflict in the Balkans London Greenwood Press ISBN 9780313319495 Runciman Steven 1985 The Great Church in captivity A study of the Patriarchate of Constantinople from the eve of the Turkish conquest to the Greek War of Independence Cambridge University Press ISBN 9780521313100 Sakota Mirjana 2017 Ottoman Chronicles Decani Monastery Archives Prizren Diocese of Raska Prizren Samardzic Radovan Duskov Milan eds 1993 Serbs in European Civilization Belgrade Nova Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts Institute for Balkan Studies ISBN 9788675830153 Sedlar Jean W 1994 East Central Europe in the Middle Ages 1000 1500 Seattle University of Washington Press ISBN 9780295800646 Slijepcevic Đoko M 1958 The Macedonian Question The Struggle for Southern Serbia Chicago The American Institute for Balkan Affairs Sotirovic Vladislav B 2011 The Serbian Patriarchate of Pec in the Ottoman Empire The First Phase 1557 94 25 2 143 169 a href Template Cite journal html title Template Cite journal cite journal a Cite journal requires journal help Soulis George Christos 1984 The Serbs and Byzantium during the reign of Tsar Stephen Dusan 1331 1355 and his successors Washington Dumbarton Oaks Library and Collection ISBN 9780884021377 Spasovic Stanimir 2004 Serbian Orthodoxy in Canada Diaspora Serbs A Cultural Analysis Edmonton University of Alberta pp 95 168 ISBN 9780921490159 Spehar Perica N 2010 By Their Fruit you will recognize them Christianization of Serbia in Middle Ages Tak wiec po owocach poznacie ich Poznan Stowarzyszenie naukowe archeologow Polskich pp 203 220 Spehar Perica N 2015 Remarks to Christianisation and Realms in the Central Balkans in the Light of Archaeological Finds 7th 11th c Castellum Civitas Urbs Centres and Elites in Early Medieval East Central Europe Budapest Verlag Marie Leidorf pp 71 93 Stephenson Paul 2000 Byzantium s Balkan Frontier A Political Study of the Northern Balkans 900 1204 Cambridge Cambridge University Press ISBN 9780521770170 Stojanovic Aleksandar 2017 A Beleaguered Church The Serbian Orthodox Church in the Independent State of Croatia NDH 1941 1945 Balcanica 48 269 287 doi 10 2298 BALC1748269S Subotic Gojko 1998 Art of Kosovo The Sacred Land New York The Monacelli Press ISBN 9781580930062 Subotin Golubovic Tatjana 1999 Reflection of the Cult of Saint Konstantine and Methodios in Medieval Serbian Culture Thessaloniki Magna Moravia Proceedings of the International Conference Thessaloniki Hellenic Association for Slavic Studies pp 37 46 ISBN 9789608595934 Suica Marko 2011 The Image of the Battle of Kosovo 1389 Today a Historic Event a Moral Pattern or the Tool of Political Manipulation The Uses of the Middle Ages in Modern European States History Nationhood and the Search for Origins New York Palgrave Macmillan pp 152 174 ISBN 9780230283107 Todic Branislav 1999 Serbian Medieval Painting The Age of King Milutin Belgrade Draganic ISBN 9788644102717 Todic Branislav Canak Medic Milka 2013 The Decani Monastery Belgrade Museum in Pristina ISBN 9788651916536 Thomson Francis J 1993 Archbishop Daniel II of Serbia Hierarch Hagiographer Saint With Some Comments on the Vitae regum et archiepiscoporum Serbiae and the Cults of Mediaeval Serbian Saints Analecta Bollandiana 111 1 2 103 134 doi 10 1484 J ABOL 4 03279 Todorovic Jelena 2006 An Orthodox Festival Book in the Habsburg Empire Zaharija Orfelin s Festive Greeting to Mojsej Putnik 1757 Aldershot Ashgate Publishing ISBN 9780754656111 Tomic Marko D 2019 The View on the Legal Position of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Bosnia and Herzegovina under the rule of the Austro Hungarian Empire PDF Zbornik radova Pravni fakultet u Novom Sadu 53 4 1445 1465 Treadgold Warren T 1997 A History of the Byzantine State and Society Stanford CA Stanford University Press ISBN 9780804726306 Turlej Stanislaw 2016 Justiniana Prima An Underestimated Aspect of Justinian s Church Policy Krakow Jagiellonian University Press ISBN 9788323395560 Ubiparipovic Srboljub 2019 Development of Liturgiology among the Orthodox Serbs and its Impact on Actual Liturgical Renewal in the Serbian Orthodox Church Die Serbische Orthodoxe Kirche in den Herausforderungen des 21 Jahrhunderts Regensburg Pustet pp 258 267 ISBN 9783791730578 Vasary Istvan 2005 Cumans and Tatars Oriental Military in the Pre Ottoman Balkans 1185 1365 Cambridge Cambridge University Press ISBN 9781139444088 Velikonja Mitja 2003 Religious Separation and Political Intolerance in Bosnia Herzegovina College Station TX Texas A amp M University Press ISBN 9781603447249 Vlasto Alexis P 1970 The Entry of the Slavs into Christendom An Introduction to the Medieval History of the Slavs Cambridge Cambridge University Press ISBN 9780521074599 Vukovic Sava 1998 History of the Serbian Orthodox Church in America and Canada 1891 1941 Kragujevac Kalenic Zivkovic Tibor Bojanin Stanoje Petrovic Vladeta eds 2000 Selected Charters of Serbian Rulers XII XV Century Relating to the Territory of Kosovo and Metohia Athens Center for Studies of Byzantine Civilisation Zivkovic Tibor 2007 The Golden Seal of Stroimir PDF Historical Review Belgrade The Institute for History 55 23 29 Archived from the original PDF on 24 March 2018 Retrieved 3 April 2021 Zivkovic Tibor 2008 Forging unity The South Slavs between East and West 550 1150 Belgrade The Institute of History Cigoja stampa ISBN 9788675585732 Zivkovic Tibor 2010 Constantine Porphyrogenitus Source on the Earliest History of the Croats and Serbs Radovi Zavoda Za Hrvatsku Povijest U Zagrebu 42 117 131 Zivkovic Tibor 2012 De conversione Croatorum et Serborum A Lost Source Belgrade The Institute of History Zivkovic Tibor 2013 On the Baptism of the Serbs and Croats in the Time of Basil I 867 886 PDF Studia Slavica et Balcanica Petropolitana 1 33 53 Annotations Edita The political status of Kosovo is disputed Having unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008 Kosovo is formally recognised as an independent state by 101 UN member states with another 13 states recognising it at some point but then withdrawing their recognition and 92 states not recognizing it while Serbia continues to claim it as part of its own territory External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Serbian Orthodox Church Official website List of Serbian Orthodox Churches abroad Svetosavlje org in Serbian Srpsko Blago Serbian Treasure site photos QTVR and movies of Serbian monasteries and Serbian Orthodox art Article on the Serbian Orthodox Church by Ronald Roberson on the CNEWA website Article on the medieval history of the Serbian Orthodox Church in the repository of the Institute for Byzantine Studies of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in German Serbian Orthodox holy sites in Kosovo Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Serbian Orthodox Church amp oldid 1127051136, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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