Saint Nicholas among the Serbian Orthodox

Part of the Saint Nicholas Page honoring Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker

[St. Nicholas]

Serbian Orthodoxy

Serbia has long been Orthodox Christian. After the fall of the Kingdom of Serbia to the invading Turks in the 14th century with the loss of the Battle of Kosovo (the heart of the kingdom), Orthodox Christianity sustained the Serbian people through the difficult period of captivity to the Ottoman Empire. Kosovo in particular has hundreds of Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries dating from this period. They are now in grave peril from the ethnic Albanians who, with NATO's complicity, continue to vent their anger upon the Serbian population and cultural landmarks in Kosovo.

During World War II, Serbia was on the side of the Allies; Croatia was an ally of Germany. These two factions remained bitter enemies even though joined into Yugoslavia after the war. During this period, 700,000 Serbians were slaughtered by Croatian forces, along with tens of thousands of Jews and Gypsies. Approximately 230,000 Serbian Orthodox Christians were forcibly converted to Roman Catholicism by the Catholic Croatians. Most of these converts were later killed by the Croatians. The history of Catholic Croatia and Orthodox Serbia has always been a testy one, and recent events have not cooled the animus. Somehow, it seems, American interest seems to side against the Orthodox in Catholic/Orthodox and Muslim/Orthodox ethnic troubles.

Parishes and Mission Churches of the Serbian Orthodox Church in the U.S.A. and Canada.

Other Serbian Orthodox Churches

Parishes and Mission Churches of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Australia

Parishes and Mission Churches of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Canada


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Last modified July 24, 2006.

Copyright © 1999-2004,2006 Stephen Parsons


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