SITUATION OF THE SERBIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00810A005100010005-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 27, 2007
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: October 6, 1954
• Content Type: REPORT

Approved For Release 2007/08/04: CIA-RDP80-0081 OA005100010005-2
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION REPORT
COUNTRY Yugoslavia
SUBJECT Situation of the Serbian
Orthodox Church
DATE OF INFO.
PLACE ACQUIRED
This material contains information affecting the Na-
tional Defense of the United States within the mean-
ing of the izspionage Laws, Title 18, U.S.C. Seas. ?YS
and 794, the transmission or revelation of which in
any manner to an unauthorised person is prohibited
by law.
REPORT
DATE DISTR. 6 Oct. 1954
NO. OF PAGES 1
REQUIREMENT NO. RD
REFERENCES
THE SOURCE EVALUATIONS IN THIS REPORT ARE DEFINITIVE,
THE APPRAISAL OF CONTENT IS TINTATIVI.
(FOR KMY sit REVERSE)
1. The feeling of many Serbs, including Government workers, is that the West
cares nothing for religious freedom in Yugoslavia, and is uninterested in
the safety of their churchmen. Religious Serbs are particularly bitter
that the trial of the Metropolitan Arsenije of Montenegro, and his sentence
to 114 years solitary confinement, were covered by only one Western corre-
spondent, and received little if any notice in the Western press, while
the trial of Roman Catholic Cardinal Stepinac was covered by hundreds of
newsmen from the West and became the subject of editorial comment for an
extended period of time. Some Serbs expressed the hope that the Catholic
Church itself would issue a blast against the trial and sentence of the
Metropolitan of Montenegro, thereby indicating a firm stand by all reli-
gious groups in the country against government persecution of the church-
men; failure of the Roman Catholics to do so was pointed out as another
example of how the Catholic Croatians "ignore and despise us Serbs."
2. Also in line with their attempts to nullify church solidarity, the Yugoslav
Communists have broached the idea of establishing a separate Macedonian
Orthodox Church, thereby withdrawing the Macedonians from their history-old
religious affiliation with the Serbs and the Montenegrins. The idea was
proposed by Communist-supported Orthodox priests at the May 1954 annual
Sabor (Parliament of the Church) in Belgrade; the idea made no progress
at this session, but may go through at the next year'$ meeting, particularly
after the elimination of the Metropolitan of Montenegro.
Along the same lines of division, the Government is making every effort to
attract the children and youth of Yugoslavia to summer camps, excursions,
and other activities designed to'remove them from parental religious educe-
tion or direct participation in church functions.
SECRET - U. S. OFHCIALS ONLY
STATE EV ARMY NAVY AIR FBI AEC
(NOTE: Washington distribution indicated by "X" I field distribution by "#".)
Approved For Release 2007/08/04: CIA-RDP80-0081 OA005100010005-2