Bosnian Church

As Bosnian Church ( Crkva Bosanska Bosnian; Latin Ecclesia bosniensis ) is referred to in the 13th and 15th centuries an autonomous, independent of Catholicism and Orthodoxy Christian community and church organization in Bosnia. Erroneously, it is sometimes identified with the Bogomils.

The phenomenon of Bosnian Church is historically controversial. The Serbian Orthodox historian Bozidar Petranović introduced in 1867 on the thesis that the Bosnian Church was an apostate from the Serbian Orthodox Church. This interpretation is popular in Serbia and is being exploited as evidence of the medieval Serbian presence in Bosnia. The Croatian historian Franjo Rački joined Petranovićs Theses 1869/70 forward with studies in which he tried to prove that the Bosnian Church was born from the dualistic sect of the Bulgarian Bogomils. This interpretation was strong reverberation especially among Bosniak scholars since the Bogumilentheorie " ... an authentic Bosnian church " implied and is offered as an explanation for the subsequent conversion of a significant portion of the population to Islam.

In Croatia, a theory (Leon Petrović, Jaroslav Sidak ), which " basically a branch of the Roman Catholic Church " saw in the Bosnian Church was schismatic in the insulation and heretical tendencies recorded developed after the Second World War.

The members of the Bosnian Church called themselves Krstjani. Your organization pointed to parallels with the monastic religious organization. In the liturgy of the Slavic language was used as the Glagolitic script, later the Bosančica. Designations for hierarchical ranks were Djed for the head of the Church or Gost. The entire hierarchy was indigenous origin. Whether the church as a monastic organization had many easy lay members, is open. About the organization, the ceremonies and the theology of the Bosnian Church there is no Bosnian sources other than the will of the Gost Radin.

After the Franciscan mission campaign in Bosnia in the 14th and 15th centuries shrank the Bosnian Church. By spring 1453 the Djed left the territory of Bosnia and actual refuge with Duke Stefan Vukčić. In the same year he converted to the Orthodox Church. When the Ottomans took over power, the Bosnian Church was probably already broken up. In the Ottoman land registers from the 15th and 16th centuries, only a few residents are listed as " Kr ( i) stjani ".