Orthodoxy in Serbia
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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 (+Vlachs, Aromanians), Montenegrins, Macedonians and Bulgarians living in Serbia. Almost the whole Orthodox population in Serbia are adherents of the Serbian Orthodox Church.
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[edit] Orthodox Churches in Serbia
Ethnic groups in Serbia by Orthodox Christian Church:
- Serbian Orthodox Church (Religious Majority)
- Serbs, Macedonians, Vlachs, Bulgarians, Roma
- Romanian Orthodox Church (Religious Minority)
- Romanians, Vlachs
- Bulgarian Orthodox Church (Religious Minority)
- Bulgarians
[edit] History
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.
[edit] Demographics
| Serbia (excluding Kosovo) in 2002 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| religion | percent | |||
| Eastern Orthodoxy | 84.1% | |||
| Roman Catholicism | 6.24% | |||
| Islam | 4.82% | |||
| Protestantism | 1.44% | |||
According to the last census in 2002, the most numerous religious groups in Serbia (excluding territory of Kosovo) were:
- Orthodox Christians = 6,371,584
- Catholic Christians = 410,976
- Muslims = 239,658
- Protestant Christians = 80,837
- Jews = 785
- Adherents of Oriental Cults = 530
[edit] Orthodox Christianity by Province
- Central Serbia, - +90% Orthodox Christian
- Vojvodina, - ~70% Orthodox Christian
- Kosovo, - 5% Orthodox Christian
