Established 1758 | Denomination Eastern Orthodox | |
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Language Church SlavonicSerbian | ||
Eparchy of Osječko polje and Baranja (Serbian Cyrillic: Епархија осјечкопољска и барањска or Епархија осечкопољска и барањска; Croatian: Osječkopoljska i baranjska eparhija) is an eparchy of the Serb Orthodox Church encompassing easternmost areas of Croatia.
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The present bishop is called Lukijan (Lucian) and his see is in Dalj. The eparchy has three hierarchs with vicarages in Osijek, Vukovar and Baranja, with a total of 39 priests and two deacons.
History
Osječko polje (lit. Osijek field) is an old name created in the first years of the 18th century, the area that included the entire area around the city of Osijek and the region between the lower course of the Drava and Danube river and practically whole flow of the river Vuka. Because Osijek field lies on the border of Syrmia, Baranja and Slavonia, it was added, sometimes to one and sometimes to the other of three neighboring Eparchies, while sometimes it had its own bishop. In 1710, the Church Parliament in Monastery Krušedol elected Bishop Sofronije as Bishop for all Serbs under Habsburg authority, and Eparchy of Osječko polje provided care to the newly elected Bishop Nicanor Melentijević.
It remained an independent diocese up to 1733, when it was abolished and its Hungarian part was attached to the Eparchy of Budapest, while its Slavonian part to the Syrmian archdiocese. Patriarch Arsenije IV Jovanović Šakabenta handed Eparchy of Osječko polje in 1746 to his Bishop Jovan Georgijević. The residence of Bishop Jovan was in Osijek, where Eparchy then had two houses. Archbishops Synod after the election of a new Metropolitan in 1748 joined this Eparchy again to the Eparchy of Slavonia-Pakrac.
From 1758 the Eparchy definitely came into the composition of Syrmian diocese till the year 1991. Holy Assembly of the Serbian Orthodox Church in 1991 renewed Osječko polje eparchy and joined the whole Baranja to it, so the eparchy got its present name: Osječko Polje and Baranja Eparchy.