| Group: | Serbs of Romania |
| Flag: |   |
| Population: | 18,076 (2011)[1] |
| Popplace: | Banat |
| Langs: | Serbian and Romanian |
| Rels: | Serbian Orthodox Church |
| Related: | Bulgarians of Romania, Croats of Romania, Macedonians of Romania |
The Serbs of Romania (Romanian; Moldavian; Moldovan: Sârbii din România, Serbian: Срби у Румунији/Srbi u Rumuniji) are a recognized ethnic minority numbering 18,076 people (0.1%) according to the 2011 census. The community is concentrated in western Romania, in the Romanian part of the Banat region (divided with Serbia), where they constitute the absolute majority in two communes and the relative majority in one other. The community represents the oldest Serbian community outside of Serbia. [2]
Slavic presence is attested in Romania since the Early Middle Ages. The Avar Khaganate was the dominant power of the Carpathian Basin between around 567 and 803.[3] Most historians agree that Slavs and Bulgars, together with the remnants of the Avars, and possibly with Vlachs, inhabited the Banat region after the fall of the khaganate.[4] Place names of Slavic origin recorded already in the Middle Ages show the early presence of a Slavic-speaking population.[5]
From the late 14th- to the beginning of the 16th century a large number of Serbs lived in Wallachia and Moldavia. Following Ottoman expansion in the 15th century, Serb mass migrations ensued into Pannonia. Serbian Orthodox monasteries began to be built in the area from the 15th century, including Kusić and Senđurađ built by despot Jovan Branković, and in the 16th century including Bezdin and Hodoș-Bodrog Monastery where built by the Jakšić family. In the Ottoman period, some thirty Serbian Orthodox monasteries were built in the administrative unit Eyalet of Temeşvar, modern day territory of Romania.
Ottoman pressure traditionally forced members of several South Slavic communities to seek refuge in Wallachia - although under Ottoman rule as well, the latter was always subject to less requirements than regions to south of the Danube.
The Serbian Uprising in Banat (1594) against the Ottomans in Eyalet Temeşvar, included territories that are part of modern Romania. There were reprisals, contemporary sources speaking of "the living envied the dead". After the crushing of the uprising in Banat, many Serbs migrated to Transylvania under the leadership of Bishop Teodor; the territory towards Ineu and Teiuș was settled, where Serbs had lived since earlier – the Serbs had their eparchies, opened schools, founded churches and printing houses.
Serbs-proper probably constituted the vast majority of mercenary troops known as seimeni, given that their nucleus is attested to have been formed by "Serb seimeni" (as it was during their revolt in 1655), and that the rule of Prince Matei Basarab had witnessed the arrival of a large group of Serb refugees.
After defeating the Turks and ending Ottoman rule, the result was Treaty of Karlowitz (1699), northern Pomorišje present Southern Crișana ceded to the Habsburg monarchy, and, between 1702 and 1751, it was part of the Tisa-Mureș (Potisje-Pomorišje) section of the Habsburg Military Frontier. During this period, the Serb population in the region was still significant. In 1720, the population of Arad, the main city of the region, numbered 177 Romanian, 162 Serbian, and 35 Hungarian families. Other important cities in Pomorišje were Lipova, Pecica, Nădlac, Makó, and Szeged. Roughly, the area between Szeged and Arad was mainly populated by Serbs, while area in the east of Arad mainly by Romanians. Remainder of Pomorišje was passed from Ottomans to Austrians after Treaty of Passarowitz in 1718.
The Great Migrations of the Serbs in 1690 and 1737–39 led to additional settlement of Serbs.
These groups are, however, hard to distinguish one from another in early Wallachian references, as the term "Serbs" is regularly applied to all Southern Slavs, no matter where they might have originated. This only changed in the 19th century, through a transition made clear by an official statistic of 1830, which reads "census of how many Serbs are resident here in the town of Ploiești, all of them Bulgarians" (Giurescu, p. 269).
The Bărăgan deportations (1951–56) saw minorities (including Serbs) from the Banat region bordering Yugoslavia deported to south-eastern Romania due to the deteriorating Yugoslav–USSR relations and the perceived "elements who present a danger through their presence in the area" to the Romanian Communist regime.[6]
According to the 2011 census, there was 18,076 people of the Serb minority,[1] down from 22,561 people in 2002.
The vast majority of the Serbs in Romania today live in about sixty localities in the west and south-west part of Romania, starting with the village of Turnu and the towns of Nădlac and Arad on the north-side of Mures river, all the way to the commune of Sviniţa located on the Danube along the border with Serbia. Serbs live primarily in the (counties of Arad, Timiş, Caraș -Severin and Mehedinti). The number of Serbs is constantly decreasing, it has effectively halved in the last eight decades: according to the statistics of the Serbian Diocese of Timisoara in 1924 there were 44,078, following the 2002 census – 22,561; according to the 2011 census, approximately 18 000 Serbs live in Romania, which represents less than 0.1% of the country's total population. [7]
In Caraș-Severin County, the Serbs constitute an absolute majority in the commune of Pojejena (52.09%)[8] and a plurality in the commune of Socol (49.54%).[9] Serbs also constitute absolute majority in the municipality of Svinița (87.27%) in the Mehedinți County.[10] The region where these three municipalities are located is known as Clisura Dunării in Romanian or Banatska Klisura (Банатска Клисура) in Serbian.
The following localities had a Serb population greater than 1% according to the 2011 census. Serbian placenames are included in brackets.
Three well-known Orthodox hierarchs came from the Branković family from Ineu: Sava I, of Lipova and Ienopole (at the beginning of the 17th century), Longin of Ienopole (1628 – after 1645) and Sava II, the metropolitan of Transylvania at Alba Iulia (1656-1683). They assumed the role of leaders of the Serbian and Romanian Orthodox population and defended them against Catholics and Evangelicals, stoically enduring Catholic and Calvinist persecutions. Earlier, the despot Đorđe Branković renounced his title and domains and, being ordained as a monk with the name Maksim, moved to Wallachia at the call of the ruler and became metropolitan. In Târgovişte he opens the first printing house in Romania, where the Serbian monk Makarije worked, later also Dimitrije Ljubavić. Metropolitans Sava II and Maksim were canonized by the Romanian and Serbian Orthodox Churches.
Saint Iosif/Josif of Partoș was metropolitan of Timisoara in 1643, respectively between 1648-1656. He was born in Dubrovnik, later moving to the Banat Partoș Monastery. Shortly after his death he was proclaimed a saint. He was canonized by the Romanian and Serbian Orthodox Churches. His relics are found in the Timișoara Orthodox Cathedral. [11]
The Serbs has left a rich heritage, especially orthodox churches and monasteries in Banat and in southern Crișana called Pomorišje historically. Most of the Serbs in Romania are Orthodox Christians; the vast majority belong to Serbian Orthodox Church Eparchy of Timișoara.
List of Serbian Orthodox monasteries in Romania: