George Fisher on the historical reputation of the Serbian Orthodox Church in the early 1900's
I clipped this from an email George Fisher wrote in response to my initial comment.
".... About a century ago, travelers visiting Bosnia (I think this was just a little before or after
Bosnia changed hands from the Turkish Empire to the Austro-Hungarian Empire) reported that
the Orthodox Churches in Bosnia (Serb Orthodox) were very corrupt. I do not know if the
Bosnian Church was the most corrupt church on the planet, I have no good comparisons (but this
kind of cultural corruption can take a long time to clear up). I do know that the Serbs, Croats, and
Bosnians were very close culturally (the nationalities were imposed by the Ottoman bureaucracy).
The Serbian "Serbs" rose in revolt against the Turks during the time of the Napoleonic Wars, and
gained their freedom. The Serbs took Kosovo from the Turks early in this century, shortly before
the First World War (and shortly thereafter, began massacring ethnic Albanians). Bosnia was
added to Yugoslavia (or, Greater Serbia) when the western powers broke up the Austrian Empire
at the end of the First World War. Montenegro was never subjugated by the Turks. I have no
direct historical evidence of how corrupt the Serbian Church was; but I can extrapolate based on
the assumption that the corruption was caused initially by the Turks, and later encouraged by the
Communists. The Montenegrins should be least susceptible to corrupting influences. I think we
can see this in the current politics of the region."
As for the Montenegrins, I would probably say "least exposed to corrupting influences".
This quotation has provoked an interesting reply.
Opinions, comments, criticism, etc.? Let me know about it.
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