The Roman Catholic Diocese of Skopje (Lat:Dioecesis Scopiensis), is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic church in Macedonia. From the 4th century to 1656, when it was renamed to Archdiocese of Skopje, it was known as the Archdiocese of Dardania. In 1969 along with the diocese of Prizren, it formed the Diocese of Skopje-Prizren. In 2000 it became a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Vrhbosna, and the bishop is Kiro Stojanov, appointed in 2005.
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Originally erected in the 4th century as the ancient Archdiocese of Dardania, the archdiocese was a bulwark of the Roman Empire, as it was on the primary north/south route from Athens to Sirmium. With the great troubles in the Empire, the Archdiocese remained in the Empire long after the fall of Rome. After suffering from a massive earthquake in 518, the metropolitan cathedral was rebuilt along with most of Skopje, by the Emperor Justinian.
In the 7th century, as the Roman power declined in the Eastern Empire, the Slavs invaded and destroyed the city. No bishops are known from 553 to 882.[1]. After being rebuilt, Skopje switched hands several times in the power struggle between the Romans and the Bulgars, before the eventual collapse of the Bulgar empire. Until 1014, the Archdiocese was in the hands of the Slavs, when the Byzantines finally crushed Tsar Samoil, and reincorporated them within the empire.
There were Catholic bishops in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries,[1], but Skopje remained Byzantine until the arrival of the Turks in 1389, when the see was conquered and suppressed after the defeat of the Serbs in the battle of Kosovo. It would be three centuries before it would be revived again: it was a titular see from 1346 to 1656.[1] In 1656, after the defeat of the Turks in the battle of Vienna, the city was raided and taken by the Austrians, and the archdiocese was finally restored and renamed the Archdiocese of Skopje (Scopia). This marked a brief interlude, as the Turks pressed them back and the see was suppressed once again under the Turks. The archbishops had to reside in the Albanian mountains.[1]
The modern history of the diocese begins after the Greek rebellion in 1816, with the appointment of Matthaes Crasnich as the first resident archbishop of Skopje in over 500 years of Turkish occupation. Since then, there has been an unbroken string of bishops, who resided in Uskup from 1860.[1] In 1924, after the devastation of the first world war, the archdiocese was downgraded to a diocese, and became a suffragan to the archdiocese of Vrhbosna. In 1969, the diocese was merged with the diocese of Prizren, and became the Diocese of Skopje-Prizren. In 2000, they were split once again, as the portion that was formerly the diocese of Prizren became the apostolic administration of Prizren, and the Diocese of Skopje returned to its former name.