L" Hoc Siqno V,Nces Ln Rern Croo&Oyvrrt
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
l" hoc Siqno v,nces ln rern Croo&oYvrrt o Milo5oBRKNEzEvlc,,,Development of orthodoxy In croatia And The Croatianorthodox Church", Hruatska revija, Munchen-Barcelona, June 1979, 229.-262.(translation ) Onthe 4th of April1942,almost ayeat after the Independent State of Croatiawas founded, newspaperspublished a governmentstatute No. XC-800- 2-1942 announcing the establishment of the CroatianOrthodox Church. On the 5th of June,on thebasis of thisstatute, the constitution of the CroatianOrthodox Church was approved, and on the7th of Junethe MostRev. Germogen was enthronedas thefirst Orthodox Metropolitan of Zagreb.The CroatianOrthodox Church was active in Croatiauntil the end of thewar when it wassuppressed by the new Yugoslav authorities and the MetropolitanGermogen was executed. I actively participated in thefounding of theCroatian Orthodox Church,writing the church's constitution, negotiating with the Croatian authorities and was secretary to MetropolitanGermogen. Thetime has come to tellthe truth, calmly and objectively, about the founding of theChurch and the functionwhich the Croatian Orthodox Church performed during the Second World War in the IndependentState of Croatia.For a betterunderstanding of how this autocephalous Church came into beinga shorthistorical survey of thedevelopment of Orthodoxyin Croatianterritories is required(the presentday Yugoslav Republics of Croatiaand of Bosniaand Herzegovina). THEDEVELOPMENT OF ORTHODOXYAMONG THE CROATS BEFORETHE TURKISH CONQUEST Before the final schism with Rome in 1054the old Patriarchate of Constantinopledid notextend to the landssettled by the Croatswith the exceptionof someparts of Dioclea:the territorieswest of the riverDrina and west of the townof Budvawere outside of the EasternPatriarchate. Even at thetime of Photius'sschism (863-923), when the Metropolitanof Split lookedeastward, he neverthelessremained outside the jurisdiction of Constantinoplebut was subordinateto theAquileian Patriarchate. The situation did not change when the Bulgarianscreated a patriarchatein Ohrid(927- 1018), nor was it affectedby the splitof Christianityin 1054into the Westernor RomanCatholic Church and Eastern or OrthodoxChurch. Thefirst penetration of Orthodoxyinto Croat territories occurred at the beginningof the 13thcentury foflowingthe conquest of RedCroatia (Dioclea or Zeta,Travunja and Zahumlje)t by StevanNemanja, theGrand Count of Rascia(Serbia), and by hisson Stevan, already crowned king of Serbia.ln 1219 SavaNemanjic founded the Serbian Orthodox Church and established two episcopal sees (Ston and Prevlaka/Kotor)on Croatian Catholic territory. The one in Stonwas short lived due to the lackof an Orthodoxpopulation in thatarea, while the other survived until 1485, when it wastransferred to Cetinje in presentday Montenegro. In the meantime,the Serbian Orthodox Church in theterritories of present dayEast Herzegovina and Montenegro, with support from the Serbian State, and with sporadic pressure,including forcible conversions, succeeded in limitingCatholicism to a narrowstretch of land alongthe coast. During the Turkish domination in thisregion the process of conversionto the Orthodoxfaith resulted in thedisappearance of Roman Catholicism from Montenegro about the year 1650,and in reducingthe Croatian Catholic population in thecoastal region to smallpockets around thecity of Kotor.Catholicism survived along the Dubrovnikcoast, protected by the boundariesof the DubrovnikRepublic. There was no Orthodoxy,prior to theTurkish invasion, among the Croats in Bosnia(west of therivers Drina and Neretva) and in Srijem(north of theriver Sava). THEPERIOD OF TURKISH RULE With the Turkish advancements, the first Vlachs (nomadic herdsmenoriginating in a regioncalled Old Vlach east of theriver Drina), appeared in theterritory of EastBosnia. Descendants of theold Roman population from the Balkan Peninsula, they were Orthodox(unlike the Croatian Catholic Vlachs in the Dinaric-Velebitregion) and were known in various regionsand at differenttimes as Arumanians,Czinczars, Riscani, Rkaci and Eastern-Greeks. With the rapidfall of theKingdom of Bosniain 1463and the Turkish advancement into Croatia, irregular military supportingunits of Vlachs,called Martholosen, were brought by the Turks to thenewly conquered territories.They also came to settleand work the land in centralCroatia which had been depopulated as a resultof theconstant fighting. These Orthodox settlers were predominantly Vlach herdsmen, partlyslavonicized, and came from the central Balkan regions: Greece, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Albania,Montenegro and East Herzegovina. The strong migratory movements of theVlachs affected a numberof othernationalities: Montenegrins, Serbs (Rascians), Macedonians, Albanians, Bulgarians, Greeksand also Croats (Uskoks, Prebjezi, Bunjevci, Predavci). The language of theVlachs, apart fromVlacho-Romanian, was predominantly a ljekavian-Neostokavian dialect,2 due either to their gradualwestward movement through the ljekavian regions or elseas a resultof theirlong stay in the ijekavianterritories of EastHerzegovina, Montenegro and Sanjak. I Red Croatia:approximately the area of the Herzegovinaand partsof Montenegroalong the coast. - ljekavian-Stokavian:the Croatianlanguage comprises three dialectgroups distinguished by their respectivewords for "what?": sto, ca and kaj. Hencethe namesof these dialects:Stokavian, Cakavian and Kajkavian.Another classification of Croatian 'lat": dialectsis made on the basisof the tripledevelopment of the CommonSlavic sound e, i, (i)je.Hence the names Ekavian, lkavianand (l)jekavian.Whereas the Serbianliterary language is stokavianand Ekavian,the Croatianliterary language is Stokavianand (l)jekavian. TheOrthodox Church followed the migratory population. First monasteries appeared, some of them builton theruins of abandonedFranciscan friaries. During the 16thand 17th centuries, on theTurkish heldterritories, 3 Serbian Orthodox monasteries were founded in Herzegovina,8 in Bosnia,9 in East Croatia(2 in Slavonia,Tin Srijem),3 in SouthCroatia (Dalmatia) and 4 in BosanskaKrajina.3 In Banska,or ChristianCroatia,a 2 monasteries were founded. In 1502the first metropolitan see was foundedin the Krusedolmonastery in Srijem,in Croatianterritory. In Srijemthe Orthodoxsettlers were predominantlyEkavian speaking Serbs, while in the remainingCroatian lands, particularly in the regionsbordering on theTurkish held territories, ljekavian speaking Vlachs predominated among the settlers.Following the restoration of theSerbian Patriarchate in Pecin 1557,it succeededin bringing underits jurisdiction the majority of theOrthodox clergy, including the Greco-Vlach (Phanariot) clergy whowere dispersed over those regions of Croatiaand Southern Hungary conquered by the Turks. Makarije,the firstpatriarch of the restoredPec Patriarchate, founded the episcopalsee in Orahovica forTurkish Slavonia and the Dabro-Bosnian see for the rest of Croatia-Bosnia under Turkish rule. A periodof closecooperation with the Turks followed (1557-1690) and during that time the Patriarchate of Pecevolved into a strongtheocratic and feudal force, a kindof autonomousgovernment inside the o Ottomanempire. The Patriarchs of Pecexploited the situation, undertaking intensive campaigns to convertCatholic Croats to Orthodoxyand at the sametime were using pressure on the Catholicclergy to paytributes to theSerbian Orthodox hierarchy. Conversion to Orthodoxywas at thattime encourageddue to thewars being waged between the Ottoman empire and the EuropeanCatholic powers,resulting in thepersecutions of Catholics,considered to bethe most unreliable element under the Ottomanrule. Many remaining pockets of Catholicismwere converted to Orthodoxyat thattime in theterritory of TurkishCroatia (Bosanska Krajina and North Dalmatia) and in the Dubrovnikhinterland, unlessthey had already embraced lslam. Many Catholics changed to Orthodoxyvoluntarily for lackof Catholicclergy, as the Franciscans,the only Catholic priests or monkseven partly tolerated by the Ottomanrulers, could not provide for the religious needs of theCatholic Croats. Afterthe Christian/lslam battle line was consolidated in frontof thecity of Senjand in thezones betweenthe rivers Kupa-Una and Cazma-llova in Croatiain themiddle of the 16thcentury, the boundaryline remained unchanged for almost 150 years, untilthe end of 1699.During that time (particularlybetween 1597 and 1605) numerous Uskoks and Prebjezi, among them a numberof the Orthodoxpopulation, crossed into the territory of ChristianCroatia. ln 1595,by a previousagreement withthe Archduke Ferdinand, the bishop of theVlachs, Vasilije, moved from the Croatian territory held bythe Turks (Orahovica) and established the first Orthodox episcopalsee in theCroatia-Slavonia region.His successor, Simun Vratanja, entered into a unionwith the Catholic Church of theCroatian Christianterritory in 1611,recognizing the bishopof Zagreb.This Uniat episcopate known as Svidnicko-Marcanski had about 60,000 adherents using the Greco-Slavonic rite. (lts bishops being: Predojevic,Stanislavic, Kordic, Mijakirc Zorcic, etc.). At the sametime, two moreOrthodox episcopal seeswere founded on Turkishheld Croatian territory (Medak and Savina) and two episcopal sees transferredtheir seat to the territoryof Bosnia(Zvornik and Sarajevo,in 1709). -? BosanskaKrajina: the regionbetween the riversUna and Vrbas. 4' BanskaHrvatska: the area that remainedof Croatiafollowing the Turkishinvasion and the Venetianannexation of Dalmatia; underthe jurisdictionof the ban (viceroy)and Sabor