History
During the Middle Ages, entire territory of modern Serbian Banat belonged to the Kingdom of Hungary, that had ambivalent attitudes towards the presence of Eastern Orthodox Christianity in its southern and eastern regions, depending on relations with the Byzantine Empire, and medieval Serbia. By the end of the 15th century, Serb presence in those regions was significantly enlarged by continuous migrations that were caused by Ottoman invasion of Serbian lands.
The Eparchy of Vršac was one of several eparchies created on the territory of Banat during the 16th century under the jurisdiction of the Serbian Patriarchate of Peć. By the time of the accession of Serbian patriarch Makarije I (1557), much of the Banat region was already conquered by the Ottoman Empire, who took over Timișoara in 1552. The region was organized as an Ottoman eyalet (province) named the Temeşvar Eyalet
During the Ottoman rule in the 16th and 17th centuries, Banat was mainly populated by Serbs (also called Rascians) in the west and Vlachs (Romanians) in the east. In some historical sources the entire region was thus referred to as Rascia, and in others as Wallachia. Both Serbs and Romanians in Banat were Orthodox Christians.
In 1594, at the beginning of the Long Turkish War, Serbs in Banat started an uprising against Ottoman rule. The local Romanians also participated in this uprising. Rebels took Vršac and various other towns in Banat and started negotiations with Prince of Transylvania. One of the leaders of the uprising was Serbian Orthodox Bishop Teodor.
During the Great Turkish War, Serbian patriarch Arsenije III sided with Austrians and appointed Spiridon Štibica as the new Bishop of Vršac in 1694. Austrian troops took over parts of Banat, and the Eparchy of Vršac was officially recognized as a diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church by charter of emperor Leopold I in 1695. Under the Treaty of Karlowitz (1699) the Banat remained under Ottoman administration.
At the beginning of the Austro-Turkish War of 1716–18, when Prince Eugene of Savoy took the Banat region from the Ottomans, Serbian Bishop of Vršac was Mojsije Stanojević. He sided with the Austrians and secured official confirmation. After the Treaty of Passarowitz (1718), the region became a Habsburg province and was renamed as the Banat of Temeswar.
The Eparchy of Vršac at first went under the jurisdiction of the Metropolitanate of Belgrade. During the Austro-Turkish War (1737–1739), Serbian Patriarch Arsenije IV sided with the Austrians and made his residence in Sremski Karlovci. The Eparchy of Vršac remained under the jurisdiction of the Metropolitanate of Karlovci (after 1848 Patriarchate of Karlovci) until 1920, when a unified Serbian Patriarchate was re-created.
During the 18th and 19th centuries, the prominent bishops of Vršac were Jovan Đorđević, who became Metropolitan of Karlovci in 1769, and Josif Rajačić, who became Metropolitan of Karlovci in 1842 and Serbian Patriarch in 1848.
During the World War I, many Serbian Orthodox priests and parish councilors of the Eparchy of Vršac were persecuted, imprisoned or sent to concentration camps by the authorities of Austria-Hungary. After World War I and the creation of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, its territory was united with other Serbian ecclesiastical provinces to form the unified Serbian Orthodox Church, a process completed in 1920. The Eparchy of Vršac was reorganized and renamed as the Eparchy of Banat in 1931.
During the World War II, the territory of the eparchy was occupied by forces of Nazi Germany from 1941 to 1944. German forces committed numerous atrocities against orthodox Serbs in Banat and also against local Jews and Gypsies. After the Liberation in 1944 and the establishment of new communist regime in Yugoslavia, the Eparchy of Banat was kept under constant political pressure, until the collapse of the communist one-party system (1988–1990).
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