This confirmation of Rajačić as the Serbian Patriarch, and Stevan Šupljikac as Vojvoda, was a political move made by Emperor Franz Joseph I. He was confronted with revolution in his country and had difficulties subduing the Hungarians under Kossuth. Šupljikac and his Croatian counterpart, Josip Jelačić supported the Emperor against the Hungarians.[6]
The position of Serbian Orthodox Church and Serbs in Austria and Hungary was regulated in reforms brought about first by Empress Maria Theresa and later by Emperor Joseph II. The Serbian Church-Public Council of 1769 regulated the Serbs and their Church status in a special paper named "Regulament" and, later, in the "Declaratory Rescript of the Illyrian Nation" issued by Maria Theresa in 1779. These acts regulated the life of the Metropolitanate of Karlovci until 1868. Emperor Franz Joseph I published a special edict regulating Serbian Orthodox Church affairs and his edict was in force until the unification of Serbian Churches in 1920.[7]
The establishment of the Patriarchate in Karlovci was seen as restoration of Serbian unity in Austria and Hungary and the patriarch was even considered the ranking personage among the Serbs.[8] Some authors claimed that actually the Habsburg dynasty in Austria founded the patriarchate of Karlovci.[9]
In 1865, the Eastern Orthodox Romanians that were under jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Karlovci were separated and transferred to the jurisdiction of newly created Romanian Metropolitanate of Sibiu under Andrei Șaguna. Process was accomplished by mutual agreement that included the transfer of the Eparchy of Arad and eastern parts of Eparchy of Temišvar and Eparchy of Vršac.
In 1873, Bishopric of Chernivtsi in Bukovina, that was since 1783 under the spiritual jurisdiction of Karlovci, was elevated to the rank of Archbishopric when new Metropolitanate of Bukovinian and Dalmatia was created for Cisleithanian eparchies. New Archbishop of Chernivtsi gained jurisdiction over Serbian eparchies of Dalmatia and Kotor, that also were (until then) under spiritual jurisdiction of Karlovci.[1]
Emperor Franz Joseph I exercised full control over the Patriarchate. In 1890, contrary to the Serb Church Congress ruling but according to the Orthodox tradition of royal prerogatives, he promoted Georgije Branković to the patriarchal throne. That way the emperor discredited the Church hierarchy in the eyes of laity and encouraged rise of the anti-clerical Serb People's Radical Party in Austria-Hungary.[10][11]
The last patriarch, Lukijan Bogdanović, was murdered in 1913. After his death, the patriarchal throne remained vacant for the last seven years of its existence, with following bishops serving as locum tenens: Miron (Nikolić) of Pakrac (1913 and 1914–1919), Mihailo (Grujić) [sr] of Gornji Karlovac (1913–1914) and Georgije (Letić) of Temišvar (1919–1920; coadjutor 1918–1919).
^ abPaul Robert Magocsi: Historical Atlas of Central Europe, University of Toronto Press, 2002 "Then, in 1766, when the Ottomans abolished Pec, the Karlovci province became an independent body, eventually with six suffragan bishops (Novi Sad, Timișoara, Vrsac, Buda, Pakrac, and Karlovac), known as the Serbian Orthodox Slav Oriental Church, which after 1848 was raised to the status of a patriarchate."
^Erwin Fahlbusch, Geoffrey William Bromiley (editors): The Encyclopedia of Christianity: J-O Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2003 page 603 In these territories a Serbian church for "Hungarian" Serbs was set up, elevated to the Patriarchate of Sremski Karlovci by Emperor Francis Joseph in 1848
^Barbara Jelavich: History of the Balkans, Cambridge University Press, Jul 29, 1983 page 316 In May 1848 Serbian national assembly attended by several thousand people met in Sremski Karlovci. The delegates chose Josip Rajačić as patriarch and Stephen Supljikac as vojvoda.
^ abAidan Nichols: Theology in the Russian Diaspora: Church, Fathers, Eucharist in Nikolai Afanasyev (1893–1966) CUP Archive, 1989 pages 49, 242
^Mario Katic, Tomislav Klarin, Mike McDonald:Pilgrimage and Sacred Places in Southeast Europe: History, Religious Tourism and Contemporary Trends, LIT Verlag Münster, Jan 12, 2014 page 207
^Vladimir Dedijer: History of Yugoslavia, McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1974 page 222 Under successive patriarchs, of Serbian origin, unity was restored and the patriarch was even considered the ranking personage among the Serbs under Habsburg rule, organized in the see of Sremski Karlovci.
^The Salesianum, Volumes 31-32, Alumni Association of St. Francis Seminary, 1936 page 121 ...in Serbia were an autonomous patriarchate; the Habsburg dynasty in Austria founded the patriarchate of Karlovci.
^Bojan Aleksov: Religious Dissent Between the Modern and the National: Nazarenes in Hungary and Serbia 1850–1914, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 2006 pages 37-38 But too tight imperial control over the Karlovci Patriarchate – as in the appointment of unpopular patriarchs – tended to discredit the hierarchy in the laity's eyes, further encouraging the rise of the anti-clerical Radical Party among Hungarian Serbs
^Dejan Medaković: Prilog Srpske akademije nauka i umetnosti javnoj raspravi o nacrtu amandmana na ustav SR Srbije, Srpska akademija nauka i umetnosti, 1989 page 53
.jpg)
_%D0%B2_1866_%D0%B3%D0%BE%D0%B4%D1%83.jpg)
.jpg)
