Serbian Orthodox Church

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The Serbian Orthodox Church (Serbian Cyrillic: Српска православна црква; SPC, SOC) is a body of some 11 million Orthodox Christians united under the Serb Patriarch who includes Archbishop of Peć and Metropolitan of Belgrade and Karlovci in his title. In this way Serbian Orthodox believers are in communion with all other Eastern Orthodox believers.

The Serb Orthodox Church includes eparchies of Orthodox believers in Serbia and Montenegro, Republika Srpska (Bosnia-Herzegovina), Croatia, Slovenia, Italy, Hungary. The SOC also includes vicariates in Romania and Albania in accordance with the Romanian and Albanian churches. The SOC also has jurisdiction over the Serbian diaspora in the Americas, Western Europe, Africa and Australia.

The issue over the Orthodox jurisdiction in Macedonia is a subject of debate between the SOC and the Macedonian Orthodox Church which has yet to gain recognition of autonomy from the SOC although it does operate on the territory of the former Yugoslav republic.

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Structure

Serbian Orthodox Church is divided into 40 Eparchies (dioceses) each headed by its own Metropolitan, Archiepiscope (Archbishop) or Episcope (Bishop):

In Serbia and Montenegro:

Архиепископија београдско-карловачка - the Archiepiscopy of Belgrade and Sremski Karlovci, with see in Belgrade
Епархија банатска - the Eparchy of Banat, with see in Vršac
Епархија бачка - the Eparchy of Bačka, with see in Novi Sad
Епархија браничевска - the Eparchy of Braničevo, with see in Požarevac
Епархија будимљанско-никшићка - the Eparchy of Budimlje and Nikšić, with see in Đurđevi Stupovi monastery near Berane
Епархија врањска - the Eparchy of Vranje, with see in Vranje
Епархија жичка - the Eparchy of Žiča, with see in monastery Žiča near Kraljevo
Епархија милешевска - the Eparchy of Mileševa, with see in Mileševa monastery
Епархија нишка - the Eparchy of Niš, with see in Niš
Епархија рашко-призренска - the Eparchy of Ras and Prizren, with see in Prizren
Епархија сремска - the Eparchy of Srem, with see in Sremski Karlovci
Епархија тимочка - the Eparchy of Timok, with see in Zaječar
Епархија црногорско-приморска - the Eparchy of Montenegro and the littoral, with see in Cetinje
Епархија шабачко-ваљевска - the Eparchy of Šabac and Valjevo, with see in Šabac
Епархија шумадијска - the Eparchy of Šumadija, with see in Kragujevac

In Bosnia and Herzegovina:

Епархија бањалучка - the Eparchy of Banja Luka, with see in Banja Luka
Епархија бихаћко-петровачка - the Eparchy of Bihać and Petrovac, with see in Bosanski Petrovac
Митрополија дабробосанска - the Metropolitanate of Dabar Bosnia, with see in Sarajevo
Епархија захумско-херцеговачка - the Eparchy of Zahumlje and Herzegovina, with see in monastery Tvrdoš near Trebinje
Епархија зворничко-тузланска - the Eparchy of Zvornik and Tuzla, with see in Tuzla Web : www.spc-brcko.org

In Croatia:

Епархија горњокарловачка - the Eparchy of upper Karlovac, with see in Karlovac
Епархија далматинска - the Eparchy of Dalmatia, with see in Šibenik
Митрополија загребачко-љубљанска - the Metropolitanate of Zagreb and Ljubljana, with see in Zagreb
Also encompasses Italy and all of Slovenia. Web: mitropolija-zagrebacka.org
Епархија осјечкопољска и барањска - the Eparchy of Osječko polje and Baranja, with see in Dalj
Епархија славонска - the Eparchy of Slavonia, with see in Daruvar

In Romania:

Епархија темишварска - the Eparchy of Timisoara, with see in Timisoara

In Republic of Macedonia:

Аутономна охридска архиепископија - the Autonomous Archdiocese of Ohrid, with see in Ohrid

In Europe:

Епархија британско-скандинавска - the Eparchy of Britain and Scandinavia, with see in Stockholm
Encompasses parishes in Great Britain, Norway, Sweden and Denmark.
Епархија будимска - the Eparchy of Buda (Budim), with see in Sentandreja
Encompasses Orthodox Serbs in Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Епархија западноевропска - the Eparchy of West Europe, with see in Paris. Gathers Orthodox Serbs in France, Belgium, Netherlands and Spain
Епархија средњоевропска - the Eparchy of Central Europe, with see in Himmelstühr monastery. Encompasses Serb Orthodox faithful in Germany, Austria and Switzerland

In the Americas:

Епархија западноамеричка - the Eparchy of West America, with see in Los Angeles
Епархија источноамеричка - the Eparchy of East America, with see in Edgeworth
Епархија канадска - the Eparchy of Canada, with see in Milton monastery
Епархија новограчаничка за Америку и Канаду - the Eparchy of New Gračanica, the former schismatic Free Serbian Orthodox Church Diocese for US and Canada, in schism with the Mother Church from 1963 to 1992.
Епархија средњезападно-америчка - the Eparchy of Midwest America, with see in monastery of Saint Sava in Libertyville, Illinois

In Australia and Oceania:

Епархија аустралијско-новозеландска - the Eparchy of Australia and New Zealand, with see in the New Kalenic Monastery, Hall (near Canberra).

Dioceses are further divided into Episcopal Deaneries, each consisting of several Church Congregations and Parishes. Church Congregations consist of one or more Parishes. Parish is the smallest Church unit - a communion of Orthodox faithful congregating at the Holy Eucharist with the parish priest at their head.

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