Povijesni prilozi, Vol. 23 No. 27, 2004.
Original scientific paper
The status of the Patriarchy of Peć in the Ottoman Empire from 1557 to 1690
Ivana Andrić
Abstract
Beyond any doubt, after the complete collapse of medieval Serbian state, the Ottomans recognized the Serbian Church even though (in the time after the conquest) it did not succeed in maintaining complete independence of the Church. Moreover, as a result of different historical circumstances, according to the sultan’s decision, the Patriarchy of Peć was reinstated despite of the negative position of the archepiscopy of Ohrid (to which the Patriarchy of Peć was subordinated until 1557) and the Patriarchy of Constantinople. Through this restoration, not only did the Church get its independence, but also both spiritual and national unity of the Serbian nation was realized. What is more, the Serbian Church was instilling the Serbian heritage of the Nemanjić dynasty in the consciousness of the nation and by keeping this tradition and memory of a great Serbian nation, it succeeded in tying the people to itself and obtained their active cooperation, which proved to be crucial in later liberation war against the Ottoman rule. Despite the fact, that in this struggle it primarily wanted to keep the Ottoman benefits, the Serbian Church was the driving force for Serbian people in their aspirations to liberation. In addition, Serbian clergy had a great influence in creating the ideology that led the Serbian nation through the following centuries. Special attention should be given to the mentioned heritage that the Serbian Church embedded in its nation’s consciousness that sustained until the contemporary times. Specifically, based on predetermined practice and cannon regulations of the Eastern Church, the borders of church districts needed to correspond to the state borders. In connection with this, under the influence of Serbian religious circles, Serbs were prone to confuse the borders of jurisdiction of the Serbian Church with Serbian political borders that often lead them to expansionistic politics.
As far as the position of the Serbian Orthodox Church in terms of public law, it is constituted under berat/hatisherif. The jurisdiction of its archpriests and patriarchs is determined by berati that constitute the right for the holder of the power to exercise his own customary and legal rules. The patriarch carried out the autonomous rights of the Church. Those rights were not of only religious nature but also administrative, judicial and finally, political. Judging by the benefits he had, a patriarch truly was the head-ruler and can be perceived as an ethnarch or a national prince, particularly since he had an array of functions that usually belonged to a secular ruler. Having that in mind, some Serbian historians presented the views that the patriarchy of Peć represented “a state in a state”. But caution is necessary in this case. One should keep in mind that the autonomy of the Serbian Church did not stand for its separation from the administrative-political system of the Ottoman Empire. Usually, for a social institution/organization to have state characteristics it was necessary for it to have certain state lines at its disposal, and carry out both general and extraordinary legislative functions. The latter were to be executed under the principle of territoriality by using coercive measures and their own material sanctions. As shown, the authority and thereby, the jurisdiction of the Serbian Orthodox Church in the Ottoman state were not universal. The right of the Serbian Church of professing religion and its authority in certain civil legal matters, as its position in general were determined primarily by acknowledged religious and legal principles of the Muslim state. Therefore, we can conclude that it is too presumptuous to discuss the position of the patriarchy of Peć in the Ottoman Empire as “a state in a state”. This is supported by the fact that despite of the autonomy the patriarchy of Peć had, the Serbian Church was still under the Ottoman state and had to obey its final decisions.
Keywords
Patriarchy of Peć; Patriarchy of Constantinople; Orthodoxy; Catholicism; Archepiscopy of Ohrid; Ottoman Empire; historiography; ecclesiastical union; Serbs
Hrčak ID:
28019
URI
Publication date:
13.12.2004.
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