Cross, Serbian Orthodox

SERBIAN ORTHODOX CROSS -  The Serbian Orthodox Church is one of the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Christian churches.  It is the second oldest Slavic Orthodox Church in the world (after the Bulgarian Orthodox Church).

Christianity spread to the Balkans beginning in the 1st century.  Florus and Laurus are venerated as Christian martyrs of the 2nd century; they were murdered along with 300 Christians in Lipljan.  Constantine the Great (306–337), born in Niš, was the first Christian Roman Emperor.  Several bishops seated in what is today Serbia participated in the First Council of Nicaea (325), such as Ursacius of Singidunum.   In 380, Eastern Roman Emperor Theodosius decreed that his subjects would be Christians according to the Council of Nicea formula.  Greek was used in the Byzantine church, while the Roman church used Latin. With the definite split in 395, the line in Europe ran south along the Drina river.  Tim Judah says that the Roman split resulted in that Serbs are Orthodox and the Croats Catholic.   Among old Christian heritage is the Archbishopric of Justiniana Prima, established in 535, which had jurisdiction over the whole of present-day Serbia.