Diocese of Caransebeș

The Diocese of Caransebeș (Romanian: Episcopia Caransebeșului) is a Romanian Orthodox diocese based in Caransebeș, Romania, in the historic region of the Banat, and covering Caraș-Severin County. Established by the 17th century, it was moved to present-day Serbia during the 18th century, before being restored in 1865. It was dissolved in 1949 and revived in its current form in 1994.

Bishops are attested in Caransebeș at the end of the 17th century and into the 18th, some of them Serbs, others Romanian. The bishop's residence was moved to Vršac (Vârșeț) in 1775; the precise date is uncertain and other sources mention 1749. In the 1860s, under the Austrian Empire, the ethnic Romanians of Transylvania and Hungary were under the authority of the Serbian Patriarchate of Karlovci. A synod held in August–September 1864 decided on their separation. The Metropolis of Transylvania was to be centered at Sibiu and led by Andrei Șaguna. There were to be two suffragan dioceses, one at Arad and the other in Caransebeș, with the Serbian dioceses of Vršac and Timișoara remaining in place. The new Transylvanian synod named Ioan Popasu, archpriest at Braşov and one of Șaguna's closest associates going back to 1848, the first bishop of the revived Caransebeș Diocese in March 1865. He was named bishop by Emperor Franz Joseph I in July, consecrated bishop by Șaguna in August and installed in October.

The manner of the appointment, as well as the lack of a diocese of their own at Timișoara, angered some Romanians, as exemplified by an August 1865 newspaper article protesting that the people had not been allowed to choose their own bishop. However, the new diocese became a focal point of attention for the Romanian intelligentsia of the Banat, adopting as its mission the development of the cultural and spiritual well-being of Romanians living in the area. Whereas the early 18th century diocese had eight districts (Vârșeț, Palanca Nouă, Caransebeș, Mehadia and Lugoj in the Banat and three in Serbia proper), the new one had eleven: Caransebeș, Biserica Albă (Bela Crkva), Bocșa Montană, Buziaș, Ciacova, Făget, Mehadia, Oravița, Panciova (Pančevo), Lugoj and Vârșeț. A church census of 1868 found 332,272 members in 452 parishes. About two-thirds lived in civilian areas, with the largest district at Oravița, while the rest inhabited the Military Frontier, the largest district there being at Mehadia.

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