Territory Lika, Kordun, Banija Population
- Total 100,000 est. Established 1695 | Headquarters Karlovac, Croatia Denomination Eastern Orthodox Territories Lika, Kordun, Banovina | |
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Sui iuris church Serbian Orthodox Church
Patriarchate of Peć (Serbia) | ||
The Eparchy of Gornji Karlovac (Croatian: Eparhija gornjokarlovačka, Serbian: Епархија горњокарловачка; "Eparchy of Upper Karlovac") is an eparchy of the Serbian Orthodox Church seated in the city of Karlovac, Croatia. It covers the area of Banovina, Kordun, Lika, Krbava, Gorski Kotar, as well as northern Croatia and Istria.
Contents
The important Orthodox Christian monasteries in the region are Gomirje near Ogulin and Komogovina between Glina and Kostajnica.
History
The Serbian Orthodox Ličko-Krbavska and Zrinopoljska Eparchy was established in 1695 by metropolitan Atanasije Ljubojević and certified by Emperor Joseph I in 1707. This eparchy (from the 19th century known as the Eparchy of Upper Karlovac) was the ecclesiastical centre of the Serbian Orthodox Church in this region, populated by Serbs, the community known at the time as "Rascians".
This eparchy was under jurisdiction of the Metropolitan of Dabro-Bosna, directly under the restored Serbian Patriarch in Peć and after 1766 under the new Serbian Metropolitanate of Karlovci, comprising Lika, Banija and Kordun.
In 1993 the old Cathedral Church of Saint Nicholas and the eparchy's diocesan residence were destroyed by Croatians during the Croatian war of Independence.