Metropolitanate of Karlovci

Metropolitanate of Karlovci Карловачка митрополија Karlovačka mitropolija
Coat of Arms of Metropolitanate of Karlovci
Location
Territory	Habsburg Monarchy
Headquarters	Karlovci, Habsburg Monarchy (today Sremski Karlovci, Serbia)
Information
Denomination	Eastern Orthodox
Sui iuris church	Self-governing Serbian Orthodox Metropolitanate
Established	1708
Dissolved	1848 (1920)
Language	Church Slavonic Slavonic-Serbian Serbian

The Metropolitanate of Karlovci (Serbian: Карловачка митрополија or Karlovačka mitropolija) was a metropolitanate of the Serbian Orthodox Church that existed between 1708 and 1848 (1920). Between 1708 and 1713 it was known as the Metropolitanate of Krušedol, and between 1713 and 1848 as the Metropolitanate of Karlovci. In 1848, it was transformed into the Patriarchate of Karlovci, which existed until 1920, when it was merged with Metropolitanate of Belgrade and other Serbian church provinces to form the united Serbian Orthodox Church.

During 16th an 17th-century, all of the southern and central parts of the former medieval Kingdom of Hungary were under Turkish rule and organized as Ottoman Hungary. Since 1557, Eastern Orthodox Church in those regions was under jurisdiction of Serbian Patriarchate. During the Austro-Turkish war (1683–1699), much of the central and southern Hungary was liberated and Serbian eparchies in those regions fell under the Habsburg rule. In 1689, Serbian Patriarch Arsenije III sided with Austrians and moved from Peć to Belgrade in 1690, leading the Great Migrations of the Serbs. In that time, large number of Serbs (cca 200 000) migrated to southern and central parts of Hungary.

Important privileges were given to them by Emperor Leopold I in three imperial chapters (Diploma Leopoldinum) the first issued on 21 August 1690, the second a year later, on 20 August 1691, and the third on 4 March 1695. Privileges allowed Serbs to keep their Eastern Orthodox faith and church organization headed by archbishop and bishops. In next two centuries of its autonomous existence, autonomous Serbian Church in Habsburg Monarchy was organized on the basis of privileges originally received from the emperor.