ESTABLISHMENT AND ACTIVITIES OF THE CROATIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH DURING 1942 AND 1943: EXAMPLE OF GREAT COUNTY OF POSAVJE

Nakon proglašenja Nezavisne Države Hrvatske (NDH) na njezinu teritoriju ukinut je naziv »srpska pravoslavna vjera« umjesto kojega je trebalo koristiti naziv »grkoistočna vjera«. Tijekom 1941. vlasti NDH provodile su politiku prijelaza grkoistočnjaka na priznate vjeroispovijesti, kako bi provele kroatizaciju tog dijela stanovništva. No ova je politika znatnim dijelom napuštena tijekom prve polovice 1942., kada je osnovana Hrvatska pravoslavna Crkva (HPC) u koju je, kao »hrvatske pravoslavce«, trebalo privući dotadašnje grkoistočnjake. O ovoj vjerskoj organizaciji pisano je u historiografskoj i publicističkoj literaturi. Pri tome je naglasak posvećen pitanjima kao što su, primjerice, razlozi osnivanja te vjerske organizacije, a postojeća literatura daje i glavne podatke o organizaciji i svećenstvu HPC-a. No postoji manje podataka o osnutku i djelovanju HPC-a u pojedinim dijelovima NDH, odnosno kako je HPC djelovala u stvarnosti. Dokumenti iz arhivskog fonda Velike župe Posavje koji se nalazi u Hrvatskom državnom arhivu u Zagrebu, iako fragmentarni, zajedno s drugim izvorima omogućavaju da se ukaže na neke probleme u osnutku i djelovanju HPC-a. Navedena velika župa imala je sjedište u Brodu na Savi, a u njezinu sastavu bili su kotarevi Bijeljina, Brčko, Brod na Savi, Derventa, Gradačac i Županja. Na tom području u znatnom je broju živjelo srpsko, odnosno grkoistočno stanovništvo, pa se putem dokumenata iz navedenog arhivskog fonda dijelom može pratiti osnutak i djelovanje HPC-a u navedenoj velikoj župi.After the establishment of the Independent State of Croatia (Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH) led by the Ustasha movement, Serbian orthodox faith was abolished and Serbs were renamed as Greek-Eastern population. This was one of the measures of NDH against the identity of the Serbs many of whom were also killed by the new regime or forced to resettle to Serbia. Croatian authorities soon began with the campaign of religious conversions of Greek Eastern population to other recognized religions. In fact the majority of Greek-Easterners were converted to Roman Catholic faith and with the conversion they formally became equal to other Croatian citizens. But the policy of religious conversions was largely abolished during the first half of 1942 with the establishment of the new Croatian Orthodox Church. Its establishment coincided with other measures of Croatian authorities aimed at the pacification of the situation in the state. By that time many Serbs have already joined Royalist Chetnik movement or communist led Partisans. These insurgent movements took control over the large areas of NDH and placed its authorities into a difficult military and political situation. One of the measures taken by NDH authorities was to establish new Croatian Orthodox Church and policy of forces religious conversions was mostly abandoned. In the ideal case Greak-Eastern population would have become Croatian-orthodox population equal to Roman Catholics Croats and Moslems from Bosnia-Herzegovina (Ustasha regime considered Moslems as integral element of Croatian nation). The article tries to present the establishment of the organization of Croatian Orthodox Church at the territory of one of the great counties of NDH that was in large number inhabited by Greek-Eastern/Orthodox population. Sources for this are available for the Great county of Posavje. Its seat was in town Brod na Savi and it consisted of several districts. Two of its districts (Brod na Savi and Županja) were located in Slavonia, north from the river Save. These districts were inhabited mostly by Catholic Croats and, in much smaller number, by Greek-Eastern population. The Great county of Posavje also included four districts south from river Sava, in northeastern part of Bosnia. These districts were in large number inhabited by Greek-Easterners, but also by Croatian Catholic and Moslem population. The available documents show various problems in the establishment of Croatian Orthodox Church in the Bosnian districts of Great county of Posavje. There are no sources that Croatian Orthodox Church was ever established in districts Brod na Savi and Županja because percentage of Greek-Eastern population in these districts was not high and most of them have already converted to Roman Catholicism before the establishment of Croatian Orthodox Church. The available sources show that the organization of the new Orthodox Church was faced with various obstacles and problems. Nevertheless it can be said that it did have a limited success and that members of the former Serb Orthodox Church did join the new Orthodox Church and took part in its religious activities. Therefore Croatian Orthodox Church at the territory of Great county of Posavje played a role in the appeasement of relations between the NDH authorities and the local Orthodox population as well as local Chetnik detachments who in the meantime made ceasefire agreements with the NDH authorities and formally recognized the NDH sovereignty. But the increased presence and activities of Partisans at the territory of Great county of Posavje from the second half of 1943 and afterwards deteriorated the ability of NDH authorities to effectively rule over that territory and therefore its efforts to develop the organization of Croatian Orthodox Church were also severely hampered