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Serbia and Montenegro

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Archibishop Jovan Marko vicar Bishop of Dremevica and Administrator of Bitola|

Mayor Mark Sokolich of Fort Lee, NJ, who was called 'little Serbian' by Gov Chris Christie aide responsible for bridge closing, is in fact of Croatian descent; Sokolich has called comment offensive to himself and to Serbians; Serbian government and media view scandal as small referendum on Balkan politics in diaspora.|

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During the Second World War, the Serbian Orthodox Church passed through severe trials in which many bishops, , and about 700,000 Orthodox Christians were killed by Croatian and Muslim fascists (according to the Orthodox Diocese of Raska and Prizren). Hundreds of were completely destroyed or desecrated. After the Second World War the church experienced new trials under the communists, who prohibited teaching of religion in schools, confiscated the property of the church, and used various overt and covert means of persecution in order to diminish the influence the church had among the people. It was only after 1989 that the position of the church became tolerable, although church estates have not yet been returned to their lawful owners.|

Archibishop Jovan Marko vicar Bishop of Dremevica and Administrator of Bitola|

Dioceses are further divided into , each consisting of several church congregations and . Church congregation consists of one or more parishes.|

Residents in the Serbian village of Tekija cleared areas of debris as streams flowed through their housing and buried cars in the mud.|

The is one of the Orthodox churches, ranking sixth after , , , , in the of . In the diptychs of the , it ranks seventh. It exercises jurisdiction over Orthodox Christians in Serbia and surrounding Slavic and other lands as well as and patriarchal representation churches around the world. The patriarch of Serbia serves as first among equals in his church; the current patriarch is His Holiness .|

In 2002, at the invitation of the patriarchate, one of the bishops of the breakaway group, (then Metropolitan of Veles and the Vardar Valley), came into union with the Serbian patriarchate, which thus reestablished its , which is the canonically recognized Orthodox church in the Republic of Macedonia. Tensions between the breakaway group and the patriarchate remain high, and Archbishop Jovan, who was made head of the autonomous archdiocese, was imprisoned for eighteen months by local authorities for allegedly criminal activities. The breakaway church has government backing, and so the activities of the autonomous archdiocese are subject to persecution by the authorities.|

The supreme authority of the Serbian Orthodox Church is the Holy Assembly of Bishops, composed of all its bishops, who meet twice a year. A permanent synod of six members carries out the administration of the day-to-day affairs of the church. Over the years the Serbian church has had its primate located at several various locations. There have been 54 (44 in Pec) patriarchs in Serbia, and other major metropolitans.|

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In 1959, the portion of Yugoslavia known as the Republic of Macedonia was approved by the Serbian patriarchate to have its own autonomous archdiocese. In 1967, however, with government and popular backing, the bishops of the archdiocese proclaimed themselves to be an church, styled the , to the protests of the patriarchate. The autocephaly of this church has not been recognized by any of the other Orthodox churches, who have broken off communion with it (though its laity are usually received into communion).|

Talks aimed at overcoming ethnic enmities between Serbia and its former province Kosovo end without agreement, as two countries struggle to negotiate deal that will enhance regional stability and help clear way for their eventual membership in European Union.|

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. After consequent Serbian uprisals against the Turkish occupation in which the church had a leading role, the Turks abolished the patriarchate once again in 1766. The church returned once more to the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constintinople. This period of so-called "" was a period of great spiritual decline because the Greek had very little understanding of their Serbian flock. This was also the period when a great number of Christians converted to to avoid the severe taxes imposed by the Turks in retaliation for uprisings and continued resistance. Many Serbs and their migrated to southern Hungary, where the church was autonomous. The seat of the archbishops was moved from Pec to Karlovci. The Serbian Orthodox Church finally regained its independence and became autocephalous again in 1879, the year after the recognition by the Allied powers of Serbia as an independent state. After World War I, all the Serbs were united under one ecclesiastical authority, and the patriarchate was reestablished in 1920 with election of Patriarch , the patriarch's full title being .|

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