Eastern Orthodox Christianity is the main religion in Serbia, with 6,371,584 followers or 84% of the whole country. Orthodox Christianity is the religion of ethnic Serbs, Romanians (including Vlachs and Aromanians), Montenegrins, Macedonians and Bulgarians living in Serbia. The majority of Orthodox Christians in Serbia are adherents of Serbian Orthodoxy.
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Ethnic groups in Serbia by Orthodox Christian Church:
All members of the Bulgarian minority in Serbia belong to the Serbian Orthodox Church, just like all members of the Serbian minority in Bulgaria belong to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.
The identity of ethnic Serbs was historically based on Orthodox Christianity and on the Serbian Orthodox Church, to the extent that some Serb nationalists claimed that those who are not its faithful are not Serbs. Christianizing of the Serbian lands took place long before the Great Schism, the split between the Byzantine Greek East and the Roman Catholic West. After the Schism, those who lived under the Greek sphere of influence became Orthodox and those who lived under the Italian sphere of influence became Catholic, thus, the Serbs became Greek Orthodox (until 1219 when the Church of Serbia was recognized). With the arrival of the Ottoman Empire, many Serbs and Croats converted to Islam. This was particularly, but not wholly, so in Bosnia and Sandzak.
Saints Florus and Laurus are venerated as Christian martyrs, and 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.[4]
After the Edict of Milan (313), Kosovo and Metohia came under the jurisdiction of the Thessalonian vicariate; indicated in a letter from Pope Innocent I to the Thessalonian vicar Rufus in 412 that the vicariate included the area of Dardania. In 535 a new archdiocese of Justiniana Prima is formed which southern Serbia becomes part of.[5]
The Serbs were baptised during the reign of Heraclius (610–641) by "elders of Rome" according to Constantine Porphyrogenitus in his annals (r. 913–959).[6]
In 733, Leo III attaches Illyricum to Patriarch Anastasius of Constantinople.[7]
The forming of Christianity as state-religion dates to the time of Byzantine Christian missionaries (Saints) Cyril and Methodius during Basil I (r. 867–886), who baptised the Serbs sometime before sending imperial admiral Nikita Orifas to Knez Mutimir for aid in the war against the Saracens in 869, after acknowledging the suzerainty of the Byzantine Empire. The fleets and land forces of Zahumlje, Travunia and Konavli (Serbian Pomorje) were sent to fight the Saracens who attacked the town of Ragusa (Dubrovnik) in 869, on the immediate request of Basil I, who was asked by the Ragusians for help.[8] A Serbian bishopric (Diocese of Ras) may have been founded in Stari Ras in 871 by Serbian Knez Mutimir, confirmed by the Council of Constantinople in 879–80.[9][5]
The adherence is evident in the tradition of theophoric names in the next generation of Serbian monarchs and nobles; Petar Gojniković, Stefan Mutimirović, 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.[10][6]
Notable early church buildings include the monastery of Archangel Michael in Prevlaka (Ilovica), built in the beginning of the 9th century, on the location of older churches of three-nave structure with three apses to the East, dating from the 3rd and 6th centuries, Bogorodica Hvostanska (6th century) and Church of Saints Peter and Paul.[11]
A Seal of Strojimir (died between 880–896), 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".[12][13]
In 1019, the Archbishopric of Ohrid is formed after the Byzantines conquers the First Bulgarian Empire. The Greek language replaces the Slavic.[8] Serbia is ecclesiastically administered into several dioceses; 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.[5]
The Diocese (Eparhy) of Prizren is mentioned in 1019, in the first charter of Basil II.[5]
According to the last census in 2002, the most numerous religious groups in Serbia (excluding territory of Kosovo) were:
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