Eparchy of Banja Luka

Eparchy of Banja Luka
Location
Territory	North-western parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Headquarters	Banja Luka, Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Information
Denomination	Eastern Orthodox
Sui iuris church	Serbian Orthodox Church
Established	1900
Language	Church Slavonic Serbian
Current leadership
Bishop	Jefrem Milutinović
Map

Serbian Orthodox Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Banja Luka

Episcopal Residence in Banja Luka

The Eparchy of Banja Luka (Serbian: Епархија бањалучка) is an eparchy (diocese) of the Serbian Orthodox Church with its seat in Banja Luka, Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It has jurisdiction over the north-western regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

History

Until 1900, territory of this eparchy belonged to the Eastern Orthodox Metropolitanate of Dabar and Bosnia, which in turn was under the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Upon the request of the Eastern Orthodox Serbs of this region, new Eparchy of Banja Luka was created in that year, with seat in the city of Banja Luka. Bishop of Banja Luka was granted with honorary title of Metropolitan, as was the custom in Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.^[1]

In 1918, all Serbian Orthodox bishops in Bosnia and Herzegovina reached a unanimous decision to join with other Serbian ecclesiastical provinces into united Serbian Orthodox Church. Arrangements with the Ecumenical Patriarchate were made, and the canonical process of unification was completed in 1920.^[2] Since then, Eparchy of Banja Luka remains part of Serbian Patriarchate.

Heads

Picture	Name	Time	Notes
Eparchy of Banja Luka (Serbian Patriarchate)
	Evgenije Letica	1901-1907
	Vasilije Popović	1908–1938
	Platon Jovanović	1940–1941
	Vasilije Kostić	1947—1961
	Andrej Frušić	1961—1980
	Jefrem Milutinović	1980—present
Eparchy of Banja Luka (Serbian Patriarchate)

Monasteries

• Gomionica Monastery
• Liplje Monastery
• Stuplje Monastery

See also

• Eastern Orthodoxy in Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina
• List of the Eparchies of the Serbian Orthodox Church

References

1. Kašić 1965, pp. 44.
2. Kiminas 2009, pp. 22, 28.

Bibliography

• Kašić, Dušan, ed. (1965). Serbian Orthodox Church: Its past and present. 1. Belgrade: Serbian Orthodox Church.
• Вуковић, Сава (1996). Српски јерарси од деветог до двадесетог века (Serbian Hierarchs from the 9th to the 20th Century). Евро, Унирекс, Каленић.
• Bataković, Dušan T. (1996). The Serbs of Bosnia & Herzegovina: History and Politics. Dialogue Association.
• Mileusnić, Slobodan (1997). Spiritual Genocide: A survey of destroyed, damaged and desecrated churches, monasteries and other church buildings during the war 1991-1995 (1997). Belgrade: Museum of the Serbian Orthodox Church.
• Ćirković, Sima (2008). The Serbs. John Wiley & Sons.
• Kiminas, Demetrius (2009). The Ecumenical Patriarchate: A History of Its Metropolitanates with Annotated Hierarch Catalogs. Wildside Press LLC.

External links

• Serbian Orthodox Church