Croatian Orthodox Church
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The Croatian Orthodox Church ( hr, Hrvatska pravoslavna crkva) was a religious body created during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
by the Fascist
Ustaše The Ustaše (), also known by anglicised versions Ustasha or Ustashe, was a Croats, Croatian Fascism, fascist and ultranationalism, ultranationalist organization active, as one organization, between 1929 and 1945, formally known as the Ustaš ...
regime in the
Independent State of Croatia The Independent State of Croatia ( sh, Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH; german: Unabhängiger Staat Kroatien; it, Stato indipendente di Croazia) was a World War II-era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Fascist It ...
(NDH). It was created in order to assimilate the remaining Serb minority and also to unite other Orthodox communities into a state-based Orthodox Church. In 1942, NDH authorities finally made a move to organize a domestic Orthodox Church. This was part of a policy to eliminate Serb culture from Axis Croatia. The church lasted from 1942–45, and was intended to serve as a national church to which Serbs living in Croatia would convert, thus making it possible to describe them as "Croats of Orthodox faith". The Croatian Orthodox Church was managed by Montenegrin nationalist
Savić Marković Štedimlija Savić Marković Štedimlija ( sr-cyrl, Савић Марковић Штедимлија; 12 January 1906 – 25 January 1971) was a Montenegrin writer. He studied the history of Croatia and was an associate of the Lexicographic Institute in Zagr ...
. There were some discussions during the 1990s, after the
breakup of Yugoslavia The breakup of Yugoslavia occurred as a result of a series of political upheavals and conflicts during the early 1990s. After a period of political and economic crisis in the 1980s, constituent republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...
, regarding the revival of such a church.


History

The Croatian Orthodox Church was created due to the loss of a significant part of the territory to Partisans and Chetniks, as well as the additional German pressure over growing anarchy in the country caused by the persecution of Serbs, which is why a concession to the Serb population was deemed necessary. The church was formed by a government statute (No. XC-800-Z-1942) on 4 April 1942. On 5 June, using a statute issued by the government, the church's constitution was passed. The church lasted until the collapse of the NDH. A small number of the Serb clergy joined it but the Serbian Church hierarchy along with ordinary Serbs rejected it. Many or most of the church's priests were Serbian priests compelled to change churches in order to survive, along with émigré priests from
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
. On 7 June,
White Russian émigré White is the lightness, lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully diffuse reflection, reflect and scattering, scatter all the ...
Germogen Maximov, a bishop of the
Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (russian: Ру́сская Правосла́вная Це́рковь Заграни́цей, lit=Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, translit=Russkaya Pravoslavnaya Tserkov' Zagranitsey), also called Ru ...
, became its leader. His enthronement was publicized by the Ustashe regime and the official ceremony took place in front of an armed guard, with the speaker of the Croatian parliament, mayor of Zagreb and several ministers in attendance. He was executed by the Partisans after the war as a collaborator. Before the Croatian Orthodox Church was formed, the NDH officially described the Eastern Orthodox Church as the "Greek-Eastern Church", and would refer to it as the "Schismatic Church" or the "Greek non-Uniate Church". It was not recognized by the
Ecumenical Patriarch The ecumenical patriarch ( el, Οἰκουμενικός Πατριάρχης, translit=Oikoumenikós Patriárchēs) is the archbishop of Constantinople (Istanbul), New Rome and '' primus inter pares'' (first among equals) among the heads of th ...
in
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. The Church was only recognized by one other Orthodox church, the Romanian Orthodox Church, on 4 August 1944 (at the time, Romania was also under the control of the
Fascist Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...
regime of
Ion Antonescu Ion Antonescu (; ; – 1 June 1946) was a Romanian military officer and marshal who presided over two successive wartime dictatorships as Prime Minister and ''Conducător'' during most of World War II. A Romanian Army career officer who made ...
). According to historian
Jozo Tomasevich Josip "Jozo" Tomasevich (March 16, 1908 – October 15, 1994; hr, Josip Jozo Tomašević) was an American economist and military historian. He was professor emeritus at San Francisco State University. Education and career Tomašević was born ...
, although the Church was established as a way to appease the remaining Serb Orthodox population in the NDH, it was ultimately a means to destroying religious, cultural and national ties between Serbs in Serbia and Serbs in the NDH because the Ustashe could not achieve their goal of exterminating the whole Serb population of Croatia. Persecution of Serbs persisted even after its establishment, though it was not as intense as before.


Proposals for a revival

On 6 March 1993, Juraj Kolarić, dean of the Catholic Faculty of Theology in Zagreb, was reported by the Tanjug news agency as stating that the " Orthodox Church in Croatia should be organized along the
Macedonian Macedonian most often refers to someone or something from or related to Macedonia. Macedonian(s) may specifically refer to: People Modern * Macedonians (ethnic group), a nation and a South Slavic ethnic group primarily associated with North M ...
principle, with its
patriarch The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and in certai ...
, and break away as far as territory was concerned, from Serbia”. Kolarić tried several times to establish such a church by the "Croat Orthodox believers and possible Croatian Orthodox clergy, because then all the conditions for an
autocephalous Autocephaly (; from el, αὐτοκεφαλία, meaning "property of being self-headed") is the status of a hierarchical Christian church whose head bishop does not report to any higher-ranking bishop. The term is primarily used in Eastern Ort ...
church would be met". Kolarić claimed that if such a church were formed, it would eventually be recognized by the
Patriarch of Constantinople The ecumenical patriarch ( el, Οἰκουμενικός Πατριάρχης, translit=Oikoumenikós Patriárchēs) is the archbishop of Constantinople (Istanbul), New Rome and '' primus inter pares'' (first among equals) among the heads of th ...
as the Serbian Orthodox Church would never again be present in Croatia.


References


Sources

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Further reading

* * * *


External links


Savic Markovic Stedimlija - Ideologist of "Red Croatia"
njegos.org; accessed 20 April 2015

hri.org, 4 April 1996

''Vreme News Digest'' Agency No 77, 15 March 1993 * {{Authority control Ustaše Independent State of Croatia Eastern Orthodoxy and far-right politics