Zagreb, Croatia -- As Patriarch Pavle of Serbia, the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church lay dying, we visited his resplendent cathedral in Zagreb dedicated to the Transfiguration of Jesus. We found no worshipers here, but didn't expect many: Most of Croatia is Roman Catholic with less than 5% being Orthodox. This cathedral is not only their headquarters but also for the Serbian Orthodox in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, and all of Italy. (Come to think of it, you don't see that many worshipers in the Catholic churches in Italy either.)Most Serbs are Orthodox as that church helped enable Serbian resistance to Ottoman rule, thus promoting Serbian nationalism. After WWII, Tito's communist regime suppressed the institution, but it sprung back in the 1990s -- only to resist Slobodan Milošević's destructive onslaught of neighboring Balkan countries.Several more photos are available at: http://picasaweb.google.com/schmitt.dick/ZagrebChurchesSupplementalPictures?authkey=Gv1sRgCOjpg-KH37OPHw#slideshow/5404770508682567522 .
First |
Previous Picture |
Next Picture |
Last | Thumbnails
