Domovina uredništvo
As millions prepare to celebrate the Eastern Orthodox Christmas, you’d be excused in thinking that a country that’s part of the EU would have no issues with religious freedom. Not so when it comes to Croatia, which has decided to discriminate against its own Orthodox minority.ž
But not all of its Orthodox minority – ironically just the part that wants its own, autocephalous Orthodox church in Croatia.
The reasons behind this are complex but revolve around history and politics. Some though have claimed this is also about corruption.
Up until the mid-19th century, most Orthodox in Croatia considered themselves, like their Catholic brethren, as Croats. With the expansion of Serbian ultranationalism from the 1870s onwards and the renaming of some Orthodox Churches in the country as ‘Serbian Churches’, their rebranding towards a different ethnicity for what was then 25 percent of Croatia’s population had begun.
By 1921, when the new Yugoslav kingdom forced all three Serb-based Orthodox Churches in the country, along with the Bulgarian, Romanian, Macedonian, Montenegrin Orthodox Churches, the country’s entire Greek Catholic parishes plus some renegade Roman Catholic and Protestant ones into a single religious body and rename as the ‘Serbian Orthodox Church’ or SPC, the deal was done.
This was then sealed with a 1.5 million florin ‘donation’ (or ‘tomos’) to the Patriarch of Constantinople who officially recognised this new religious union in 1926.
During World War II, the so-called Independent State of Croatia (NDH), which was run by the collaborationist Ustashi regime banned the SPC and resurrected the Croatian Orthodox Church or HPC, in June 1942 as a counterpoint to Serbian expansionism.
The Serbs, who consider Balkan Orthodoxy as their own private domain were so alarmed by this tiny religious body, that when the NDH collapsed in May 1945, the entire hierarchy of the HPC from its 84-year old Archbishop Germogen, down to 34 of his bishops, deacons and priests were all executed by Tito’s victorious Partizans.ž
In fact, Patriarch Germogen was the only head of an autocephalous church killed in World War II, and the HPC is the only church in world history destroyed by killing off its entire clergy.
On the eve of Croatia’s to the EU, in 2011 a group of Orthodox believers, decided to set up the latest reincarnation of the HPC – with a Bulgarian priest – Aleksander Ivanov – as its head.
While providing regular liturgies in their chapel in Zagreb, this new HPC has for years tried to get official recognition from Croatia’s government.
As Archbishop Aleksander says, “the restored Croatian Orthodox Church has been autocephalous since December 2013, based on the church canon according to which ‘the order of church works must follow state distribution’ and works to gather all Orthodox in the Republic of Croatia, regardless of their ethnic origin.”
In fact, he notes, the Croatian Orthodox Church is the legal and historical successor of the autocephalous Karlovac Archbishopric with its seat in Srijemski Karlovci, which has been part of the Croatian Kingdom since time immemorial and is the historical Orthodox Church of the Croatian Kingdom from 1707 to 1920.”
“It never made the decision to join the Autocephalous United Serbian Orthodox Church in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, created in 1920 by the state,” he says.
Despite Articles 40 and 41 of the constitution of the Republic of Croatia and Articles 10 and 22 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights all guaranteeing religious freedom in the country, these laws seem to apply to everyone bar the HPC, who according to the last Croatian census number almost 20,000 – a figure equal to the number of Protestants, Muslims or Greek Catholics, who are all each officially recognised.
žPart of the problem seems to stem from fear by Croatian politicians of being tainted with the NDH, despite it now being 2022, while some of it has to do with not wanting to annoy Belgrade in an era of Balkan détente.
Others have noted that there is also a touch of racism here, as it seems Croats are the only people in Europe not allowed to have their own Orthodox church.ž
One well-connected member of the ruling HDZ who asked for anonymity claimed it was also due to corruption, saying the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) has over the years allegedly bribed several Croatian MPs to ensure the HPC never sees the light of day.
This is not surprising, as an officially recognised HPC would have the legal right to claim part of the SPCs lucrative real estate and investment portfolio in Croatia, estimated to be worth over $USD5.5 billion.
Whatever the real reason behind the ongoing suppression of Croatian Orthodoxy, the fact remains that near the centre of Europe, there is a religious minority for who it won’t really be a Merry Christmas this year.
