Christianity in Serbia

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Church of Saint Sava in Belgrade, one of the largest Orthodox church buildings in the world

Eastern Orthodox Christians with 6,079,396 members, comprise 84.5% of country's population. The Serbian Orthodox Church is the largest and traditional church of the country; adherents of it are overwhelmingly Serbs. Public schools in Serbia allow religious teaching, most commonly with the Serbian Orthodox Church. Serbian public holidays include the religious celebrations of Eastern Orthodox Christians. Other Orthodox Christian communities in Serbia include Montenegrins, Romanians, Macedonians, and Bulgarians. The Catholic Church is prominent in north Vojvodina amongst the Hungarian minority. Protestantism is most largely found in Slovak populations within Bački Petrovac and Kovačica. Christianity first arrived in Serbia in the 9th century. It became state-religion in the 9th century when Serbia began to identify as a Christian country. In a 2011 census, 91.22% of Serbians identified as Christian.[citation needed
]

History

Early Christianity

Christian martyrs, lived in the 2nd century in Ulpiana (Lipljan) in modern Serbia. According to traditions, they were twin brothers from Constantinople who were employed to build a pagan temple. They gave their salaries to the poor and are said to have cured the son of Mamertin, the local pagan priest, who then converted to Christianity. The temple was reconstructed into a Church, which prompted local pagans to kill the 300 Christians, including all aforementioned.[1]

Remains of the city Justiniana Prima, seat of the Archbishopric of Justiniana Prima

During the

Margum and Ulpiana are all mentioned as bishoprics by 343.[2] Bishops Germinius of Sirmium and Ursacius of Singidunum were influential in then ongoing Arian controversy. Four ecclesiastical Councils of Sirmium were important events for whole Christendom. Bishop Nicetas of Remesiana
during his long tenure (366-420) contributed much to the spread of Christianity in the region and earliest mention of monastic communities dates from his time.

After the

Innocent I to the Thessalonian vicar Rufus in 412 that the vicariate included the area of Dardania. Bishopric of Sirmium lost much influence once Huns raided the city in 441/442. In 535 a new archdiocese of Justiniana Prima was formed and was given jurisdiction over most of aforementioned bishoprics.[3] Many new churches and basilicas were built during the reign of emperor Justinian I. However mere decades later entire established ecclesiastic structure collapsed under the impact of Avar raids and Slavic
settlement that followed. The last known archbishop of Justiniana Prima and indeed of any bishopric on territory of modern-day Serbia for centuries to come was Ioannes (c. 595-602/3)

Early Middle Ages

The Serbs were baptised during the reign of Heraclius in 610–641 by "elders of

Constantine Porphyrogenitus in his annals (r. 913–959).[4]

In 733,

The forming of Christianity as

Ragusa (Dubrovnik) in 869, on the immediate request of Basil I, who was asked by the Ragusians for help.[7]
A Serbian bishopric (Diocese of Ras) may have been founded in
Mutimir, confirmed by the Council of Constantinople in 879–80.[3][8]

The adherence is evident in the tradition of theophoric names in the next generation of Serbian monarchs and nobles;

Pavle Branović. Mutimir maintained the communion with the Eastern Church (Constantinople) when Pope John VIII invited him to recognize the jurisdiction of the bishopric of Sirmium. The Serbs and Bulgarians adopt the Old Slavonic liturgy instead of the Greek.[4][9]

Notable early church buildings include the

Church of Saints Peter and Paul, the seat of the Diocese of Ras the oldest known medieval church building of Serbia

A Seal of

Strojimir (died between 880 and 896), the brother of Mutimir, was bought by the Serbian state in an auction in Germany. The seal has a Patriarchal cross in the center and Greek inscriptions that say: "Strojimir" (CTPOHMIP) and "God, Help Serbia".[11][12]

In 1019, the

Diocese of Ras, mentioned in 1019, becomes part of the Ohrid archbishopric and encompassed the areas of central Serbia, by the rivers Raska, Ibar and Lim, evident in the second charter of Basil II (r. 976–1025). Among the first bishops are Leontius (fl. 1123–1126), Cyril (fl. 1141–1143), Euthemius (fl. 1170) and Kalinik (fl. 1196). It joined the autocephalous Archbishopric of Zica in 1219, at the time of Saint Sava.[3]

The Diocese (Eparhy) of Prizren is mentioned in 1019, in the first charter of Basil II.[3]

Denominations

Eastern Orthodoxy

Most of the citizens of

Romanian minority. Besides Serbs, other adherents of Eastern Orthodoxy include: Romanians, Macedonians, Ukrainians, Bulgarians, Russians and Greeks
.

The identity of ethnic Serbs was historically largely based on Eastern Orthodoxy and on the

.

Serbian Orthodox Church

Žiča Monastery

The church is one of the

The Eastern Orthodox Church is the dominant church in

eparchies located primarily in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Croatia
, but also in surrounding countries, and all over the world. Since many Serbs have emigrated to foreign countries, there are now Serbian Orthodox communities worldwide.

The Serbian Orthodox Church is an

Archbishopric of Žiča. Its status was elevated to that of a patriarchate in the 14th century, and was known afterwards as the Patriarchate of Peć. This patriarchate was abolished by the Ottoman Turks in 1766. The modern Serbian Orthodox Church was established in 1920 after the unification of the Patriarchate of Karlovci and the Metropolitanate of Belgrade
.

The Serbian Orthodox Church owns many significant Christian

St. Paraskevi's finger and body of St. Basil of Ostrog
, among others.

Catholic Church

St. Theresa of Avila Cathedral in Subotica

The

Hungarian ethnic majority and in the polyethnic municipalities of Subotica and Bečej. The ethnic groups whose members are mostly adherents of the Catholic Church are: Hungarians, Croats, Bunjevci, Germans, Slovenes, Czechs, Šokci, Poles, etc. A smaller number of Serbs, Romani, Yugoslavs, and Slovaks are also adherents of the Catholic Church. In the disputed region of Kosovo, Catholics constitute 2.2% of the population, according to the 2011 census.[15] The ethnic Rusyns and a smaller part of the ethnic Ukrainians are adherents of the Eastern Catholic
Church.

Protestant Christianity

Prayer House of Nazarene Christian Community in Novi Sad

The largest concentration of the Protestant Christians in Serbia is in the municipalities of

Kovačica, where the absolute or relative majority of the population are ethnic Slovaks, most of them adherents of Protestant Christianity. Some members of other ethnic groups (especially Serbs in absolute terms and Hungarians and Germans
in proportional terms) are also adherents of various forms of Protestant Christianity.

There are various Protestant groups in the country, including

Seventh-day Adventists
and Evangelical Baptists (Nazarene). Many of these groups are situated in the culturally diverse province of Vojvodina. Prior to World War II, the number of Protestants in the region was larger.

Western Orthodox Church

The

Old Catholic) Church existed in Yugoslavia
since 1921. Nowadays, the only representative of Old Catholic Churches in Serbia is Orthodox - Old Catholic General vicariate of St. Methodius, a canonically established organ of World Council of National Old Catholic Churches (distinct from The Utrecht Union). It is a member of World Council of Churches and was granted autonomy. In 2015., General Vicariate of St. Methodius was recognized as a legal successor of former Western Orthodox Church in Yugoslavia, because they share the same dogmas. Serbian Orthodox Church doesn't look at General Vicariate as its sister church, but as an opponent.

Jehovah's Witnesses

The Jehovah's Witnesses are active in Serbia since 1930. This community have its seat in Zemun. In 1937, the authorities of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia banned the activity of the community, but it was reestablished in 1953. According to 2002 census, there was 2,191 Jehovah's Witnesses in Serbia, while according to 2009 estimation their number was 3,871.[16]

Latter Day Saints

Serbian Cyrillic script
.

References

  1. ^ "Martyr Florus of Illyria". Orthodox Church in America. 2009. Retrieved December 31, 2009.
  2. ^ Zivota Jocic. Episkopija Remezijanska.
  3. ^ a b c d Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Raska and Prizren
  4. ^ a b De Administrando Imperio
  5. ^ A collection of dated Byzantine lead seals, page 47: "733... Church of Constantinople"
  6. ^ "From Eastern Roman to Byzantine: transformation of Roman culture (500-800)". Indiana University Northwest. Archived from the original on 16 September 2017. Retrieved 31 August 2017.
  7. ^ a b "Vladimir Corovic: Istorija srpskog naroda". Rastko.rs. Retrieved 2012-01-12.
  8. . Retrieved 2012-01-12.
  9. ^ "Đorđe Janković: SERBIAN MARITIME FROM 7th TO 10th CENTURY, Summary of the monograph [Projekat Rastko]". Rastko.rs. Retrieved 2012-01-12.
  10. ^ Živković 2007, p. 23-29.
  11. ^ "www.glas-javnosti.co.yu". Arhiva.glas-javnosti.rs. Retrieved 2012-01-12.
  12. ^ Eparhija-dalmatinska.hr
  13. ^ Србија : Мошти светог Ђорђа у Прокупљу : ПОЛИТИКА
  14. ^ "Kosovo Population and Housing Census 2011 - Final Results: Quality Report". unstats.un.org. United Nations Statistics Division. 2011. Archived from the original on 2 November 2016. Retrieved 17 December 2017.
  15. ^ Zorica Kuburić, Verske zajednice u Srbiji i verska distanca, Novi Sad, 2010, pages 211-212.

Sources

External links

Media related to Christianity in Serbia at Wikimedia Commons