History of Christianity in Serbia (part one)

The Serbs are a Slavic people, who, moving from "White Serbia" (Bohemia/Saxony), settled in their present homeland around 623 at the instigation of Emperor Heraclius (r. 610-641). Becoming allies ("foederati") of the East Roman Empire of Constantinople, the Serbs, along with the Croats, accepted baptism from western catholic missionaries, but their "conversion" was short-lived and they lapsed back into paganism. 

Around 870, at the time of the mission to the Slavs by Cyril and Methodius, and later by their disciples, the Serbs again accepted Christianity, under Prince Mutimir, and a bishopric was created at Stari Ras. The Serbs, like the Moravians and the Bulgarians, adopted the Slavonic liturgy and Glagolithic writing system (and later the simpler Cyrillic one).

In 924 Bulgaria annexed Serbia. Later, in 1019, as Bulgaria was, in turn, subsumed within the Empire, the Bulgarian Patriarchate was suppressed. The episcopal see at Ohrid became an archbishopric under the Patriarch of Constantinople. The Serbian church was part of this archbishopric. Greek gradually replaced Slavonic as the language of the liturgy and church.  

In 1217 Serbia was united with a new status as a kingdom and, in recognition of this, in 1219, it was granted autocephalous status (ecclesiastical autonomy) with an archbishop - with his seat first at Žiča monastery, later moving to Peć. This was during the time when the Patriarch of Constantinople was in exile at Nicaea (1204-1261). The first archbishop was the son of King Stefan Nemanjić, Sava (1174-1236), who is considered a pre-eminent saint for the Serbian church.  

In 1346 Serbia was granted Patriarchal status. Indeed, in 1346, the Patriarch of Serbia crowned Stefan Dusan as Emperor. 

However, the Serbs were defeated in battle by the Turks at Kosovo in 1359. Eventually Serbia was conquered by the Turks and the Patriarchate suppressed in 1459.