Greeks in Serbia
Encyclopedia
The Greeks
and Serbs of Greek descent in Serbia
is estimated at around 15,000 people, at the 2002 census there was 572 Greeks recognized as a minority by the Serbian government. They are mostly concentrated in four Serbian cities : Belgrade, Smederevo, Niš and Novi Sad. Greek presence is also recorded in Sombor, Pančevo, Subotica, Kragujevac, Požarevac, Bor, Bački Petrovac and Zrenjanin. Many Greeks added the Slavic ending "ić", "ski" or "ev" to their surnames as an assimilation process in SFR Yugoslavia. The first association of Greeks in Serbia was formed in 1923 under the name "Riga od Fere". The first Serb-Greek friendship society was formed in 1934 by Pavle Karađorđević, the friendship society now has over 2,500 members in Serbia.
No illiteracy is recorded among the Greek minority. On occupation, 57.17% are workers, 26.4% are professional workers, 20.2% are professionals and 12.4% are legislators, officials and managers.
. Mixed Serb-Greeks celebrate the Slava
(Serbian
patron saint
veneration
) and they all celebrate Annunciation
,
The Greek Foreign Ministry asserts that marriages between Serbs and Greeks living in Serbia are quite common, and that this is both a cause and result of the close bonds shared by many Greeks and Serbs.
, the Northernmost Macedonian town was home to 3,000 people in the 4th century BC.
(tribes bound by treaty, allies). Serbia was given greater self-rule and subsequently independence under the Vlastimirovic dynasty that had mainly good relations with the Macedonian dynasty
(867-1056).
In the early 11th century, Serbia was under direct Byzantine rule; Rascia
was annexed while a breakaway principality was established in Duklja
. Constantine Diogenes
was the governor of Serbia during this time.
The Serbian Empire
stretched across half of present-day Greece, Despot
Jovan Oliver
was a 14th-century Serb nobility that ruled parts of Macedonia
under Emperor
Dušan the Mighty, the Emperor of Serbs and Greeks.
After the Ottoman
conquest of Thessaly in 1394, the ruling Angeloi Philanthropenoi family took refuge in Serbia
. A grandson of either Alexios
or Manuel
, Mihailo Anđelović
, served as an official at the court of Đurađ and Lazar Branković in the mid 15th century.
Many medieval Serbian consorts were of Greek
royal descent; Simonida
, Maria Palaiologina, Eirene Kantakouzene
, Helena Palaiologina
.
Kalinik II was the Patriarch of Serbs in 1765–1766 before the Ottomans abolished the Patriarchate of Peć
.
) were held captives by the Bulgarians in 1916 in Bulgarian-occupied Požarevac
(In Serbia) and stayed until 1918 when the Bulgarian front was breached and they returned to Greece. They worked at the Serbs vineyards and in the homes of the Jewish merchant families. However, a number of Greeks remained in Požarevac, who were involved chiefly in commerce and in hotel enterprises, and with great success at that. Some of them became renowned, rich and eminent citizens of the city. Especially as owners of kafeneia (coffee shops), hotels. They gave Greek names to their kafeneia, such as "Itia" (willow tree) or "Kleousa" (weeping willow), "Ta Dyo Lefka Peristeria" (The Two White Doves), or "Kasine". The Greeks and Serbs were Orthodox Christians, and consequently their co-habitation was very good. Very frequently, and early on, weddings between Serbs and Greeks. With the passage of time, the second and third generations of the Greek settlers lost the Greek language, mainly because the Greeks were not living isolated or in groups, but very quickly assimilated into the wider Serbian society.
village with the help of Yugoslav government. From 1945 to 1948, it was a sui generis
case of Greek extraterritorial jurisdiction
. The Yugoslav conflict with informbiro
saw the Greek community divided between loyalty to Yugoslavia and the Comintern
, and those who supported the latter left the country. The remaining 800 also emigrated to Greek Macedonia
eventually, with only a few remaining.
. Greek volunteers fought alongside the Serbs in the Greek Volunteer Guard
, a company of the Army of the Republika Srpska (ВРС, VRS).
The appeal adds that a wrong decision in the matter by the Greek government would "ruin what has taken a long time to build between the two countries".
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
and Serbs of Greek descent in Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
is estimated at around 15,000 people, at the 2002 census there was 572 Greeks recognized as a minority by the Serbian government. They are mostly concentrated in four Serbian cities : Belgrade, Smederevo, Niš and Novi Sad. Greek presence is also recorded in Sombor, Pančevo, Subotica, Kragujevac, Požarevac, Bor, Bački Petrovac and Zrenjanin. Many Greeks added the Slavic ending "ić", "ski" or "ev" to their surnames as an assimilation process in SFR Yugoslavia. The first association of Greeks in Serbia was formed in 1923 under the name "Riga od Fere". The first Serb-Greek friendship society was formed in 1934 by Pavle Karađorđević, the friendship society now has over 2,500 members in Serbia.
No illiteracy is recorded among the Greek minority. On occupation, 57.17% are workers, 26.4% are professional workers, 20.2% are professionals and 12.4% are legislators, officials and managers.
Culture
The Greek-Serbian families has their own name dayName days in Greece
This is the current Greek Orthodox name day calendar.Some of the names below are linked to the original saints or martyrs from which they originate.- January :*1.Basilius, Telemachus*2.Serafim Sylvestros*3.Genovefa*4.*5. Theoni...
. Mixed Serb-Greeks celebrate the Slava
Slava
The Slava , also called Krsna Slava and Krsno ime , is the Serbian Orthodox tradition of the ritual celebration and veneration of a family's own patron saint. The family celebrates the Slava annually on the patron saint's feast day...
(Serbian
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
patron saint
Patron saint
A patron saint is a saint who is regarded as the intercessor and advocate in heaven of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or person...
veneration
Serbian traditions
Serbs have many traditions. The Slava is an exclusive custom of the Serbs, each family has one patron saint that they venerate on their feast day...
) and they all celebrate Annunciation
Annunciation
The Annunciation, also referred to as the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary or Annunciation of the Lord, is the Christian celebration of the announcement by the angel Gabriel to Virgin Mary, that she would conceive and become the mother of Jesus the Son of God. Gabriel told Mary to name her...
,
The Greek Foreign Ministry asserts that marriages between Serbs and Greeks living in Serbia are quite common, and that this is both a cause and result of the close bonds shared by many Greeks and Serbs.
Antique
Kale-KrševicaKale-Krševica
Kale-Krševica is an Ancient Macedonian archaeological site of more than 4 hectares and so far some 1,000 squares have been excavated with a former fortified town in the hills of Krševica overlooking Bujanovac and Vranje, to the south of Ristovac in southern Serbia...
, the Northernmost Macedonian town was home to 3,000 people in the 4th century BC.
Medieval
During the Middle Ages, Serbia was initially a frontier region of the Byzantine Empire, in the administrative unit of Sclaviniae, granted the Serbs because of their status as foederatiFoederati
Foederatus is a Latin term whose definition and usage drifted in the time between the early Roman Republic and the end of the Western Roman Empire...
(tribes bound by treaty, allies). Serbia was given greater self-rule and subsequently independence under the Vlastimirovic dynasty that had mainly good relations with the Macedonian dynasty
Macedonian dynasty
The Macedonian dynasty ruled the Byzantine Empire from 867 to 1056, following the Amorian dynasty. During this period, the Byzantine state reached its greatest expanse since the Muslim conquests, and the Macedonian Renaissance in letters and arts began. The dynasty was named after its founder,...
(867-1056).
In the early 11th century, Serbia was under direct Byzantine rule; Rascia
Rascia
Rascia was a medieval region that served as the principal province of the Serbian realm. It was an administrative division under the direct rule of the monarch and sometimes as an appanage. The term has been used to refer to various Serbian states throughout the Middle Ages...
was annexed while a breakaway principality was established in Duklja
Duklja
Doclea or Duklja was a medieval state with hereditary lands roughly encompassing the territories of present-day southeastern Montenegro, from Kotor on the west to the river Bojana on the east and to the sources of Zeta and Morača rivers on the north....
. Constantine Diogenes
Constantine Diogenes
Constantine Diogenes was a prominent Byzantine Greek general of the early 11th century, active in the Balkans.Constantine Diogenes is the first notable member of the noble Cappadocian Diogenes family, which played an important role in 11th-century Byzantium. Constantine began his career as a...
was the governor of Serbia during this time.
The Serbian Empire
Serbian Empire
The Serbian Empire was a short-lived medieval empire in the Balkans that emerged from the Serbian Kingdom. Stephen Uroš IV Dušan was crowned Emperor of Serbs and Greeks on 16 April, 1346, a title signifying a successorship to the Eastern Roman Empire...
stretched across half of present-day Greece, Despot
Despot
Despot may refer to:* Despot , a Byzantine court title* Despotism, a form of government in which power is concentrated in the hands of an individual or a small groupPeople with the surname Despot:...
Jovan Oliver
Jovan Oliver
Jovan Oliver Grčinić, known as Despot Jovan Oliver was a magnate of the Serbian Emperor Dušan the Mighty , holding the titles of sebastokrator and despotes, and the great voivode-military rank, showing his prominence and status as one of the most important nobles of Dušan...
was a 14th-century Serb nobility that ruled parts of Macedonia
Macedonia (region)
Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of the Balkan peninsula in southeastern Europe. Its boundaries have changed considerably over time, but nowadays the region is considered to include parts of five Balkan countries: Greece, the Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, Albania, Serbia, as...
under Emperor
Serbian Empire
The Serbian Empire was a short-lived medieval empire in the Balkans that emerged from the Serbian Kingdom. Stephen Uroš IV Dušan was crowned Emperor of Serbs and Greeks on 16 April, 1346, a title signifying a successorship to the Eastern Roman Empire...
Dušan the Mighty, the Emperor of Serbs and Greeks.
After the Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
conquest of Thessaly in 1394, the ruling Angeloi Philanthropenoi family took refuge in Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
. A grandson of either Alexios
Alexios Angelos Philanthropenos
Alexios Angelos Philanthropenos was a Byzantine Greek nobleman who ruled Thessaly from 1373 until ca. 1390 with the title of Caesar....
or Manuel
Manuel Angelos Philanthropenos
Manuel Angelos Philanthropenos was a Byzantine Greek nobleman who ruled Thessaly from ca. 1390 until it was conquered by the Ottoman Turks in 1393, as a Byzantine vassal with the title of Caesar....
, Mihailo Anđelović
Mihailo Anđelović
Mihailo Anđelović was a 15th century Serbian governor of Serbia briefly in 1458.After the Ottoman conquest of Thessaly in 1394, the ruling Angeloi Philanthropenoi family took refuge in Serbia...
, served as an official at the court of Đurađ and Lazar Branković in the mid 15th century.
Many medieval Serbian consorts were of Greek
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
royal descent; Simonida
Simonida
Simonida Nemanjić , born Simonis Palaiologina , was a Byzantine princess and queen consort of Serbia as the fourth wife of Serbian king Milutin . She was a daughter of Byzantine Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos and Irene of Montferrat.- Life :Simonida was born in Constantinople ca. 1294...
, Maria Palaiologina, Eirene Kantakouzene
Eirene Kantakouzene
Irene Kantakouzene was the wife of Serbian Despot Đurađ Branković. In Serbian folk legends, she is the founder of many fortresses in Serbia.-Family:...
, Helena Palaiologina
Helena Palaiologina of Morea
Helena Palaiologina was a Byzantine despotess of Serbia as the wife of Despot Lazar Branković, who ruled from 1456 until his death in 1458. Together they had three daughters....
.
Modern
The first mention of a Greek school in Serbia was in 1718, with Stephanos Daskalos as a teacher at Belgrade. The Greek schools were much respected and were attended by children of famous Serbs. The Greek schools invited language teachers from Greece to teach at primary and secondary schools wherever there was a Greek community such as Karlovac, Smederevo, Zemun, Belgrade, Požarevac, Kragujevac, Novi Sad, Šabac and others.Kalinik II was the Patriarch of Serbs in 1765–1766 before the Ottomans abolished the Patriarchate of Peć
Patriarchate of Pec
The Patriarchate of Peć is a Serbian Orthodox monastery located near Peć. The complex of churches is the spiritual seat and mausoleum of the Serbian archbishops and patriarchs....
.
World War I
Several Aromanian families (from MacedoniaMacedonia (region)
Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of the Balkan peninsula in southeastern Europe. Its boundaries have changed considerably over time, but nowadays the region is considered to include parts of five Balkan countries: Greece, the Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, Albania, Serbia, as...
) were held captives by the Bulgarians in 1916 in Bulgarian-occupied Požarevac
Požarevac
Požarevac is a city and municipality in eastern Serbia. It is the administrative center of the Braničevo District of Serbia...
(In Serbia) and stayed until 1918 when the Bulgarian front was breached and they returned to Greece. They worked at the Serbs vineyards and in the homes of the Jewish merchant families. However, a number of Greeks remained in Požarevac, who were involved chiefly in commerce and in hotel enterprises, and with great success at that. Some of them became renowned, rich and eminent citizens of the city. Especially as owners of kafeneia (coffee shops), hotels. They gave Greek names to their kafeneia, such as "Itia" (willow tree) or "Kleousa" (weeping willow), "Ta Dyo Lefka Peristeria" (The Two White Doves), or "Kasine". The Greeks and Serbs were Orthodox Christians, and consequently their co-habitation was very good. Very frequently, and early on, weddings between Serbs and Greeks. With the passage of time, the second and third generations of the Greek settlers lost the Greek language, mainly because the Greeks were not living isolated or in groups, but very quickly assimilated into the wider Serbian society.
World War II
In May 1945, 4,650 Greek refugees, mostly male members of ELAS, settled in the MaglićMaglic
Maglič is a medieval fortress in Ibar gorge 20 km south from Kraljevo in Serbia. It is placed atop a hill around which the Ibar River makes a curve, about 100 m above river level. The fortress protected the only caravan road that connected the Morava Valley and Kosovo polje...
village with the help of Yugoslav government. From 1945 to 1948, it was a sui generis
Sui generis
Sui generis is a Latin expression, literally meaning of its own kind/genus or unique in its characteristics. The expression is often used in analytic philosophy to indicate an idea, an entity, or a reality which cannot be included in a wider concept....
case of Greek extraterritorial jurisdiction
Extraterritorial jurisdiction
Extraterritorial jurisdiction is the legal ability of a government to exercise authority beyond its normal boundaries.Any authority can, of course, claim ETJ over any external territory they wish...
. The Yugoslav conflict with informbiro
Tito-Stalin Split
The Tito–Stalin Split was a conflict between the leaders of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which resulted in Yugoslavia's expulsion from the Communist Information Bureau in 1948...
saw the Greek community divided between loyalty to Yugoslavia and the Comintern
Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
, and those who supported the latter left the country. The remaining 800 also emigrated to Greek Macedonia
Macedonia (Greece)
Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of Greece in Southern Europe. Macedonia is the largest and second most populous Greek region...
eventually, with only a few remaining.
Yugoslav Wars
Greek politicians and organizations backed Serbia during the Yugoslav WarsYugoslav wars
The Yugoslav Wars were a series of wars, fought throughout the former Yugoslavia between 1991 and 1995. The wars were complex: characterized by bitter ethnic conflicts among the peoples of the former Yugoslavia, mostly between Serbs on the one side and Croats and Bosniaks on the other; but also...
. Greek volunteers fought alongside the Serbs in the Greek Volunteer Guard
Greek Volunteer Guard
The Greek Volunteer Guard was a unit of Greek volunteers that fought in the Bosnian War on the side of Bosnian Serbs...
, a company of the Army of the Republika Srpska (ВРС, VRS).
Following the Kosovo independence
The Greek minority living in Serbia have turned to Greece to not recognize the unilateral secession in Kosovo by the Kosovo Albanians. They stated that the independence of Kosovo would endanger the stability in the Balkans and weaken the traditional Serbian-Greek relations.The appeal adds that a wrong decision in the matter by the Greek government would "ruin what has taken a long time to build between the two countries".
People
- Vladan Ðordevic (Hippocrates Tsolekas), Prime Minister of Serbia (1897–1900)
- Rigas FeraiosRigas FeraiosRigas Feraios or Rigas Velestinlis was a Greek writer and revolutionary of Aromanian origin, active in the Modern Greek Enlightenment, remembered as a Greek national hero, a victim of Balkan uprising against the Ottoman Empire and a forerunner of the Greek War of Independence.-Early...
, Greek writer and revolutionary, died in Belgrade - Constantine Kumanudis, 1874–1962, from Adrianupolisa, PhD of Political Sciences, professor of administrative law at the University of BelgradeUniversity of BelgradeThe University of Belgrade is the oldest and largest university of Serbia.Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it merged with the Kragujevac-based departments into a single university...
's Law SchoolUniversity of Belgrade Faculty of LawThe University of Belgrade Faculty of Law , also known as the Belgrade Law School, is one of the first-tier educational institutions of the University of Belgrade, Serbia...
, reserve Captain in the Balkan wars and in World War II, a deputy of the Democratic Party, President of the Belgrade municipality, the Minister of Finance, Education, Forest and Mining, Trade and Industry, Chairman of the National Assembly. He was a writer and political philosopher. Decorations: White Eagle V, III and IV lines, and Saint Sava, and Karađorđeva Star IV lines and the Legion of Honor. - Vera Jeftimijades-Jobst
- Dragutin Inkiostri, architect (Cvijić house)