Eparchy of Marča

Eparchy of Marča Свидничко-Марчанска епархија
The Marcha Monastery (1775)
Location
Country	Habsburg Monarchy
Coordinates
Statistics
Members	60,000–72,000
Information
Rite	Eastern Catholic
Established	21 November 1611
Dissolved	1753

The Bishopric of Marča (Serbian Cyrillic: Марчанска епархија) was an Eastern Catholic bishopric with its seat in the monastery at Marča (today Stara Marča) near Ivanić-Grad, Habsburg Monarchy (present-day Zagreb County, Republic of Croatia) from 1611 to 1753.

Although Serb bishop Simeon Vratanja traveled to Rome and formally accepted jurisdiction of the Pope over this bishopric, until 1670 Serb bishops continued to recognize the jurisdiction of the Serb Orthodox Church and Patriarchate of Peć and struggled against conversion attempts by Roman Catholic bishops from Zagreb. This semi-union existed until the 1670 appointment of Pavle Zorčić as bishop. All Serb Orthodox clergy who objected to the union were arrested and sentenced to life in prison in Malta where they died. The bishopric eventually became the Eastern Catholic Eparchy of Križevci.

Name

The name Marča was derived from the name of the nearby hill, Marča. Other names used for this bishopric include Svidnik (Svidnička eparhija), Vretanija (Vretanijska eparhija), and the "Uskok" bishopric.

Background

The Serbs who settled Croatia and Slavonia in early 16th century were Orthodox Christians. In 1550 they established the Lepavina Monastery. At the end of the 16th century a group of Serb Orthodox priests built a monastery dedicated to Saint Archangel Gabriel (Serbian: Манастир Светог Арханђела Гаврила) on the foundations (or near them) of the deserted and destroyed Catholic Monastery of All Saints.

Eparchy of Vretanija

Some scholars promoted the view that Marča, as a diocese of the Patriarchate of Peć, was established in the late 16th century (1578 or 1597). This theory was used as evidence of the long-time presence of the Serb population on the northern bank of river Sava.

In 1609 Serb Orthodox priests established Marča Monastery in Marča near Ivanić-Grad. In the same year the Marča Monastery became a seat of the Eparchy of Vretanija. This bishopric was the westernmost eparchy of the Patriarchate of Peć. Its name was derived from Vretanija (Serbian: Вретанијски остров) which was a part of the title of the Serbian patriarch. Its first bishop was Simeon Vratanja, appointed in 1609 by the Serb Orthodox patriarch Jovan to the position of bishop of all Orthodox Serbs who settled to Croatia. This appointment marked establishment of the Eparchy of Vretanja in 1609 according to Aleksa Ivić.

Establishment as Eastern Catholic Church

Being under strong pressure from Croatian clergy and state officials to recognize the jurisdiction of the Pope, and to convert the population of his bishopric to Eastern Catholicism, Simeon Vratanja visited Pope Paul V in 1611 and recognized his jurisdiction and maybe the Union of Florence as well. The strongest influence to his decision had Martin Dobrović, who convinced Simeon to recognize papal jurisdiction and to accept the Eastern Catholicism.

In November 1611, the Pope appointed Simeon as bishop of Serbs of Slavonia, Croatia and Hungary. He also granted all estates that once belonged to the Catholic Monastery of All Saints to the Marča Monastery. On 21 November 1611 Marča was established as an eparchy (bishopric) of the Eastern Catholic Church, having around 60,000 believers.

History

Period of semi-union (1611–1670)

Simeon continued to use Slavic language, Julian calendar and maintained connection with Patriarchate of Peć.

In 1642 Benedikt Vinković wrote a letter to emperor Ferdinand III to write a report about "Vlachs" (Orthodox Serbs). Vinković's activities were aimed against Serb bishop of Marča, Maksim Predojević, whom he reported to the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith when Predojević refused to support the conversion of the population of his bishopric to Catholicism. Vinković had intention to depose Predojević and appoint Rafael Levaković instead.

In 1648 the king appointed Sava Stanislavić as bishop of the Bishopric of Marča, as wished by the Slavonian Serbs, although Petar Petretić, bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Zagreb proposed another candidate.

This kind of semi-union attitude of Serb bishops of the Bishopric of Marča remained until 1670 and appointment of Pavle Zorčić on the position of bishop. All priests of the Bishopric of Marča who objected to the union were arrested and imprisoned in Malta where they all died.

Period of union (1670–1753)

In 1754 around 17,000 Serb Uskoks rebelled in support of the Marča monastery, the seat of Uskok bishopric. The monastery was abandoned, as ordered by Empress Maria Theresa, and its treasury was looted.

Bishops

The bishops of the Eparchy of Marča were:

• Simeon Vratanja (1607–1629)
• Maxim Predojević (1630–1642)
• Gabrijel Predojević (1642–1644)
• Vasilije Predojević (1644–1648)
• Sava Stanislavić (1648–1661)
• Gabrijel Mijakić (1663–1670)
• Pavao Zorčić (1671–1685)
• Marko Zorčić (1685–1688)
• Isaija Popović (1689–1699)
• Gabrijel Turčinović (1700–1707)
• Grgur Jugović (1707–1709)
• Rafael Marković (1710–1726)
• Georg Vučinić (1727–1733)
• Silvester Ivanović (1734–1735)
• Teofil Pašić (1738–1746)
• Gabrijel Palković (1751–1758)
• Vasilije Božičković (1759–1777)

Further reading

• Foundation 2001, p. 97.
• Kudelić 2002, p. 145.
• Kolarić 2002, p. 77.
• Kudelić 2002, p. 147.
• Ćirković 2008, p. 164.
• Maković 2005, p. 12.
• Kudelić 2002, p. 148.
• Milutin Miltojević, Serbian Historiography of Union of Serbs in the 17th century, Niš University, p. 225
• Ivić 1909, p. 45.
• arhiv 1916, p. 89.
• Z. Kudelić, Isusovačko izvješće o krajiškim nemirima 1658. i 1666. godine,Hrvatski institut za povijest, 2007, page 121
• Milutin Miltojević, Serbian Historiography of Union of Serbs in the 17th century, Niš University, p. 225
• tisak 1917, p. 37.
• Kašić 1967, p. 49.
• Kašić 1988, p. 144.
• Spomenica 1996, p. 74.
• Milutin Miltojević, Serbian Historiography of Union of Serbs in the 17th century, Niš University, p. 225
• Medaković 1971, p. 236.