The Diocese of Dacia Felix ( ro, Episcopia Daciei Felix; sr, Епархија Дакија Феликс, Eparhija Dakija Feliks) is the

Romanian Orthodox The Romanian Orthodox Church (ROC; ro, Biserica Ortodoxă Română, ), or Patriarchate of Romania, is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox Christian churches, and one of the nine patriarchates i ...

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, pro ...

of the

Romanians in Serbia Romanians ( ro, Românii din Serbia, sr, Румуни у Србији, Rumuni u Srbiji) are a recognised national minority in Serbia. The total number of self-declared Romanians according to the 2011 census was 29,332, while 35,330 people declar ...

(including

Vlachs "Vlach" ( or ), also "Wallachian" (and many other variants), is a historical term and exonym used from the Middle Ages until the Modern Era to designate mainly Romanians but also Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians, Istro-Romanians and other Easter ...

History

In 1971, the Romanian parishes in the Serbian

Banat Banat (, ; hu, Bánság; sr, Банат, Banat) is a geographical and historical region that straddles Central and Eastern Europe and which is currently divided among three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania (the counties of T ...

were merged into a vicariate whose center was

Vršac Vršac ( sr-cyr, Вршац, ; hu, Versec; ro, Vârșeț) is a List of cities in Serbia, city and the administrative centre of the South Banat District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. As of 2011, the city urban area had a pop ...

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

, and which was part of the

Metropolis of Banat The Metropolis of Banat ( ro, Mitropolia Banatului) is a metropolis of the Romanian Orthodox Church. Its see is the Archdiocese of Timișoara; its suffragan dioceses are the Archdiocese of Arad and the Diocese of Caransebeș. The headquarters is t ...

. This vicariate would later be ascended to the Diocese of Dacia Felix in 1997. The city of Deta in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

was chosen as its official center, while Vršac remained as the administrative headquarters. In the early 2000s, the diocese began to expand its influence over the

Timok Valley The Timok Valley ( sr, Тимочка Крајина, Timočka Krajina; bg, Тимошко, Timoshko; ro, Valea Timocului) is a geographical region in east-central Serbia around the Timok River. The Timok Valley corresponds to parts of two Serbi ...

, region that the

Serbian Orthodox Church The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodox Christian denomination, Christian churches. The majori ...

considers its own. On 31 March 2001,

Daniil Stoenescu Daniil (russian: Даниил) is a Russian masculine given name; equivalent to that of the English given name Daniel. Notable examples People named Daniil include: Arts and literature * Daniil Andreyev (1906–1959), Russian writer, poet, and C ...

became the bishop of the diocese. In 2005, the first temple in the Timok Valley with services performed in

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language *** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language ** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...

was built. Serbian authorities viewed it as illegal and attempted to demolish it, but did not do so due to external pressure. The diocese was withdrawn from the Metropolis of Banat in 2009 to be directly subordinate to the

Patriarch of All Romania The Patriarch of All Romania ( ro, Patriarh al Întregii Românii; ) is the title of the head of the Romanian Orthodox Church. The Patriarch is officially styled as ''Archbishop of Bucharest, Metropolitan of Muntenia and Dobrogea, Locum tenens o ...

. On 1 August 2017,

Siluan Mănuilă Siluan Mănuilă (born 16 September 1971 as Cristian Constantin Mănuilă) is a bishop of the Romanian Orthodox Church. He is the bishop of the Diocese of Gyula since 2007 and was the leader of the Diocese of Dacia Felix from 2017 to 2022. He co ...

, bishop of the

Diocese of Gyula The Diocese of Gyula ( hu, Gyulai Román Ortodox Püspökség; ro, Episcopia Ortodoxă Română din Gyula, also or ) is the Romanian Orthodox diocese of the Romanians in Hungary. History The diocese was established in 1999 for the Romanian min ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

, became leader of the diocese due to health problems of Stoenescu. He was replaced on 5 July 2022 by , who became the new head of the diocese.

References

Dacia Felix Roman Dacia ( ; also known as Dacia Traiana, ; or Dacia Felix, 'Fertile/Happy Dacia') was a province of the Roman Empire from 106 to 271–275 AD. Its territory consisted of what are now the regions of Oltenia, Transylvania and Banat (today ...

Romanian Orthodox Church in Serbia Romanians in Serbia Vlachs of Serbia Romania–Serbia relations 1997 establishments in Serbia {{orthodoxy-stub

History

See also

References