Editing Serbs (section)

===Religion===
{{Main article|Serbian Orthodox Church}}
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| footer            = '''Left:''' [[Patriarchate of Peć (monastery)|Patriarchal Monastery of Peć]], the seat of the Serbian Orthodox Church from the 14th century and a [[UNESCO]] [[World Heritage Site]]<br />'''Right:''' [[Church of Saint Sava]], one of the largest Orthodox churches in the world, dedicated to the nation's [[Saint Sava|patron saint]]
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| image1            = Pecka apside untilted.jpg
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| image2            = Temple of Saint Sava (Crkva Svetog Save, Beograd).jpg
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Serbs are predominantly [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox Christians]]. The [[autocephaly]] of the [[Serbian Orthodox Church]], was established in 1219, as an Archbishopric, and raised to the [[Serbian Patriarchate of Peć|Patriarchate]] in 1346.{{sfn|Fotić|2008b|p=519–520}} It is led by the [[List of heads of the Serbian Orthodox Church|Serbian Patriarch]], and consists of three archbishoprics, six metropolitanates and [[List of eparchies of the Serbian Orthodox Church|thirty-one eparchies]], having around 10&nbsp;million adherents. Followers of the church form the largest religious group in Serbia and Montenegro, and the second-largest in [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]] and [[Croatia]]. The church has an archbishopric in [[North Macedonia]] and dioceses in Western Europe, North America, South America<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pravoslavie.cl/sr/o-nama/|title=О НАМА {{!}} Православна Црква у Чилеу|website=www.pravoslavie.cl|date=7 September 2016|access-date=8 February 2020|archive-date=24 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200224092041/http://www.pravoslavie.cl/sr/o-nama/|url-status=live}}</ref> and Australia.{{sfn|Cvetković|2012|p=130}}

The identity of ethnic Serbs was historically largely based on Orthodox Christianity and on the Serbian Church in particular. The conversion of the South Slavs from paganism to Christianity took place before the [[Great Schism of 1054]]. During the time of the Great Schism, Serbian rulers including [[Mihailo I of Duklja|Mihailo Vojislavljević]] and [[Stefan Nemanja]] were Roman Catholics, with the former being a vassal of the [[Papal States]]. In 1217, the Serbian ruler [[Stefan the First-Crowned|Stefan Nemanja II]] was crowned by [[Pope Honorius III]] of the Roman Catholic Church. However in 1219, Nemanja II was crowned once again by the newly independent Serbian Orthodox Church. This shift solidified the Christian Orthodox religion in Serbia.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Grumeza |first1=Ion |title=The Roots of Balkanization Eastern Europe C.E. 500-1500 |date=2010 |publisher=University Press of America |location=United States of America |isbn=978-0-7618-5135-6 |page=161}}</ref>

With the arrival of the [[Ottoman Empire]], some Serbs converted to [[Islam]]. This was particularly, but not wholly, the case in [[Ottoman Bosnia and Herzegovina |Bosnia]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ML-aXrrBrv8C&q=world+and+its+people+western+balkans&pg=PA1594|title=World and Its Peoples|date=2010|publisher=Marshall Cavendish|isbn=9780761479031|language=en|access-date=3 October 2020|archive-date=27 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230927202624/https://books.google.com/books?id=ML-aXrrBrv8C&q=world+and+its+people+western+balkans&pg=PA1594#v=snippet&q=world%20and%20its%20people%20western%20balkans&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> Since the second half of the 19th century, a small number of Serbs converted to Protestantism,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Bjelajac|first=Branko|title=Protestantism in Serbia|url=https://www.academia.edu/1084811|journal=Religion, State and Society|language=en|volume=30|issue=3|pages=169–218|issn=0963-7494|doi=10.1080/0963749022000009225|year=2002|s2cid=144017406|access-date=26 September 2019|archive-date=23 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230323221505/https://www.academia.edu/1084811|url-status=live}}</ref> while historically some Serbs were Roman Catholics (especially in [[Bay of Kotor]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.politika.rs/sr/clanak/431408/Nisu-svi-Srbi-pravoslavne-vere|title=Nisu svi Srbi pravoslavne vere|website=Politika|access-date=26 September 2019|archive-date=10 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190910062822/http://www.politika.rs/sr/clanak/431408/Nisu-svi-Srbi-pravoslavne-vere|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-09-11 |title=Boka kotorska i njeni živelji u metafori nestanka |url=https://radar.nova.rs/misljenja/nestanak-boka-kotorska-don-niko-lukovic/ |access-date=2024-12-09 |language=sr-RS}}</ref> and [[Dalmatia]]; e.g. [[Serb-Catholic movement in Dubrovnik]]).<ref name="Hidden">{{cite book |author1=Christian Promitzer |author2=Klaus-Jürgen Hermanik |author3=Eduard Staudinger |name-list-style=amp |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nbwXKXeCGPIC&pg=PA183 |title=(Hidden) Minorities: Language and Ethnic Identity Between Central Europe and the Balkans |year=2009 |publisher=The Lit Verlag in 2009 |isbn=9783643500960 |access-date=5 February 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160102074805/https://books.google.com/books?id=nbwXKXeCGPIC&pg=PA183 |archive-date=2 January 2016 }}</ref> In a personal correspondence with author and critic dr. Milan Šević in 1932, [[Marko Murat]] complained that Orthodox Serbs are not acknowledging the Roman Catholic Serb community on the basis of their faith.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Bozic|first=Sofija|date=1 January 2014|title=Umetnost, politika, svakodnevica – tematski okviri prijateljstva Marka Murata i Milana Sevica|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/287693559|journal=Prilozi za književnost, jezik, istoriju i folklor|issue=80|pages=203–217|quote=...Ove tvoje poslednje reklo bi se da nisi primio moju gde sam Ti doneo jednu istinitu priču o Zmaju kad ono bijaše u Dubr. o otkrivanju spomenika Dživu Gunduliću. Pitao Zmaj jednog mladog dubrovačkog majstora da mu pokaže gde je srpska crkva. Mladić odgovori: "Koja?" Zmaj: "Srpska". Mladić: "Koja? Ovdi su u nas sve srpske. Koju mislite?" Zmaj: "Pravoslavnu". Mladić: "E! tako recite. Pravoslavna vam je она онамо". I Zmaj je pohvalio našega meštra koji mu je dao dobru lekciju. — Ali sve zaludu, Milane moj! Ovi naši pravoslavci (koji ne vjeruju ništa, ateiste) zbog vere ne priznaju nas. Nismo im pravi. Ne veruju nikome. Ni vama šojkama. Valjda im niste dovoljno pravoslavni!! Jer su oni jako skrupolozni in re fidei et morum. Et morum, Milane moj! E se non ridi — piange piuttosto. Zato nam ide sve ovako manjifiko. Hoćemo mi našu specijalnu kulturu! Sve su drugo švabe kelerabe etcetc!|doi=10.2298/PKJIF1480203B}}</ref> The remainder of Serbs remain predominantly Serbian Orthodox Christians.