The adoption of the first Constitution of the Serbian Orthodox Church in 1931

Abstract

The process of adoption of the Constitution of the Serbian Orthodox Church, after its unification and elevation to the rank of Patriarchate, has been analyzed. During ten years of work it was necessary to overcome and solve numerous and complex problems that had the internal church character or came from the political sphere. Among the first to dominate were different theoretical and canonical standpoints about the body with power to prepare the text of the Constitution and the institution with the full legitimate authority for its adoption. There was also a dissatisfaction of the people in Bosnia and Herzegovina unwilling to relinquish historically acquired rights to directly elect representatives of the ecclesiastical self-governing bodies and accept increasingly emphasized efforts to transfer all church affairs to the Episcopate. Other issue was directly related to the current political events and its main driver was the unwillingness of the ruling Serbian elite to accept the Constitution which would result in a greater autonomy of the Church and elimination of state control mechanisms. After a lengthy discussion a text was adopted as a compromise, which enabled the consolidation of church unity, the establishment of the planned organization and the assumption of jurisdiction from all the bodies and institutions envisaged in the Constitution, but also gave the state a significant influence on some important areas of church life.