Religion in Serbia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Đurđevi Stupovi Orthodox monastery, near Novi Pazar
Đurđevi Stupovi Orthodox monastery, near Novi Pazar
Synagogue in Belgrade
Synagogue in Belgrade
Catholic Cathedral in Bačka Topola
Catholic Cathedral in Bačka Topola
Uniate Church in Đurđevo
Uniate Church in Đurđevo

Serbia is a multireligious country. The dominant religion is Orthodox Christianity (notably the Serbian Orthodox Church), but there are also numerous adherents of Islam (living mostly in Kosovo, Sandžak and Preševo Valley), and Catholic Christianity (living mostly in northern part of Vojvodina), as well as adherents of other religious groups such are Protestant Christians, Jews, and others.

Contents

According to the last census in 2002, the most numerous religious groups in Serbia (excluding territory of Kosovo) were:

Most of the citizens of Serbia are adherents of the Serbian Orthodox Church, while the Romanian Orthodox Church is also present in parts of Vojvodina inhabited by ethnic Romanian minority. Besides Serbs, the ethnic groups of Serbia whose members are mostly adherents of Orthodox Christianity are: Montenegrins, Romanians, Yugoslavs, Roma, Macedonians, Ukrainians, Bulgarians, Russians, Greeks, Vlachs, etc.

The identity of ethnic Serbs was historically largely 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. However, the conversion of the south Slavs from paganism to Christianity took place before the Great Schism, the split between the Greek East and the Catholic West. After the Schism, those who lived under the Orthodox sphere of influence became Orthodox and those who lived under the Catholic sphere of influence became Catholic. Some ethnologists consider that the distinct Serb and Croat identities relate to religion rather than ethnicity. With the arrival of the Ottoman Empire, some Serbs and Croats converted to Islam. This was particularly, but not wholly, so in Bosnia. The best known Catholic Serb is Ivo Andrić and the best known Muslim Serb is probably either Mehmed Paša Sokolović or Meša Selimović.

Main article: Islam in Serbia.

Islam is dominant religion in Kosovo and Sandžak, while ethnic groups whose members are mostly adherents of Islam are: Albanians, Bosniaks, Muslims by nationality, Gorani, Turks, Arabs, Ashkali, and Egyptians. A smaller number of ethnic Roma are also adherents of Islam.

Catholic christianity is present mostly in the northern part of Vojvodina, notably in the municipalities with Hungarian ethnic majority and in the multiethnic municipality of Subotica. The ethnic groups whose members are mostly adherents of the Catholic Christianity are: Hungarians, Croats, Bunjevci, Germans, Slovenians, Czechs, Šokci, Poles, etc. A smaller part of Roma, Yugoslavs, and Slovaks are also adherents of the Catholic Christianity. The ethnic Rusyns and a smaller part of the ethnic Ukrainians are adherents of the Eastern Catholic (Uniate) Church.

The largest concentration of the Protestant Christians in Serbia is in the municipality of Bački Petrovac, where the majority of the population are ethnic Slovaks, most of them adherents of Protestant Christianity. Some members of other ethnic groups (especially Hungarians and Germans in proportional terms and Serbs in absolute terms) are also adherents of various forms of Protestant Christianity.

Main article: Jews in Serbia.

As at 2002, there were 785 Jews in Serbia, most living in Belgrade, Subotica and Pančevo.

Advanced Search
Included Web Search Engines


Safe Search

close

Top Matching Results

Occasionally Search.com will highlight specialized results that are based on the context of your query. Examples of specialized results include specific links to news, images, or video.

Top Matching Results may highlight information from other Search.com pages, content from the CNET Network of sites, or third party content. The listings are based purely on relevance. Search.com does not receive payment for listings in this section but our partners that provide this data may get paid for listing these products.

Sponsored Links

This section contains paid listings which have been purchased by companies that want to have their sites appear for specific search terms and related content. These listings are administered, sorted and maintained by a third party and are not endorsed by Search.com.

Search Results

Search.com sends your search query to several search engines at one time and integrates the results into one list which has been sorted by relevance using Search.com's proprietary algorithm. You can customize the list of search engines included in your metasearch from the preferences.

The search engines that are used in your metasearch may allow companies to pay to have their Web sites included within the results. To view the Paid Inclusion policy for a specific search engine, please visit their Web site. Search.com does not accept payment or share revenue with any search engine partner for listings in this section.