Alba Regia. Annales Musei Stephani Regis. – Alba Regia. A Szent István Király Múzeum Évkönyve. 32. 2002 – Szent István Király Múzeum közleményei: C sorozat (2003)

Tanulmányok – Abhandlungen - Demeter Zsófia: The History and the Situation of Serb Minority in the East-Transdanubian Region. p. 51–60.

A teacher's training school was established in Szentendre and dormitory was built in Pest. Following the example of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences the Matica Srebska was founded as well. The first newspaper and literary magazine was published there in Serbian. The Serbs were politically ahead among the nonHungarian nations in our country on the way of becoming a nation. The Serbian Orthodox Church had a major role in it, as it was the most important factor in the feudal nation's life. It was a conservative cementing force interweaving with the people's lives, that was the support of the national state. Even the Court of Vienna itself encouraged the independence of the Serbian Church and that it should not depend upon foreign, Constantinopolitan or Russian patriarchy. The Habsburg politics also contributed to the situation that Karlóca became the centre of Serbian political and the community consciousness. The prerogatives of the Orthodox Church in Hungary helped to formulate the national identity and the political intentions of the Serbs. At this point we should mention that till World War I the westernmost organisation of the orthodoxy was the Hungarian one. When the patriarch or the metropolitan wanted to obtain the autonom rights of his church, there were at the same time national requirements behind the religious attempts. Because of the privileges the Serbs in Hungary were living in an isolated unit, in one political block. The Serbian Orthodox denomination had not had a regulation recognised by the state authority until 1770. With the ceasing of the Patriarchy of Ipek the Hungarian Serb Orthodox Church gained autocephalia, but that was only admitted in 1855 by the Patriarch of Constantinople. The residence of the Serbian metropolitan in Hungary from 1708 was the monastery of Krusedol, then from 1739 Karlóca. The autonomy of the Orthodox Churches was acknowledged in 1868. According to this, the representatives chosen by the Serbian people could decide in Serbian church and religious matters. The metropolitan was chosen by the 120 members of the metropolitan congress. Their decision was confirmed by the king after the recommendation of the Hungarian prime minister. It is important that this law came into being to guarantee the equal rights of nationalities, and that Hungary was the second country - after Switzerland - that enacted the rights of minorities. In a country with bourgeois values, which characterised Hungary in the years after the Compromise of 1867, Serbs had equal opportunities with the other nations of Hungary. In this era the assimilation of the Serbs was completed in towns and intensified in villages. In parallel with the development of the national state in the 20

th century, the Orthodox Serb Church of Karlóca melted into the Serb-Croatian-Slovene Kingdom's independent Church in 1920. The Patriarchy of Belgrade today the Greek Orthodox Serb Church of Buda belong to them - came into being as a successor of the Patriarchy of Ipek. The Serb Orthodox Church got supplies from the renewed Serb emigration wave, and kept in touch with its homeland through the patriarchy and metropolitan. The national solidarity was nourished by the fact that Serbs conquered territories that had not previously had a Serb population. The reason for their intimate relationship with their priests was that priests were allowed to marry and had to farm the land or have a trade in order to secure a decent living for their families - they lived like their followers. Celibacy was only compulsory for monks. But bishop could be only a priest in celibacy, so bishops were usually chosen from the monks. The Serbs have a particular timetable, following parts of the Julian Calendar. They have 160 fasts and almost 100 feastdays. The Serb Orthodox Church follows the Byzantine liturgy and rejects all dogmas. Their liturgy is expressive and suggestive, the services are rich. They use their mother language in the church life, which is a cohesive power, although in liturgy the sacral language is the old Slav. Their churches and monasteries are embodiments of the cohesive power. In Hungary their only monastery built during the Turkish Rule, is in Grábóc, in Tolna County. SERBS IN FEJÉR COUNTY The settlement of Serbs on the banks of the Danube can be explained by the strategic importance of Székesfehérvár. The castle of Székesfehérvár was of key importance for both belligerent sides in controlling Buda and the Transdanubian region. When Székesfehérvár was reconquered in 1601 the Turks thought that Buda's right arm was left. The Serbs living in villages where warfare was frequent chose to live in more peaceful surroundings. Székesfehérvár was a welcoming town for them. Pentele, Almás, Ercsi, Érd, Venyim, Cikola and Szabolcs became Rác villages in the beginning of the 17

th century. Between 1630 and 1650 the southern Slavs inhabited 22 villages, lived in 1370 houses and their number was about 6850, 3800 out of this were Greek Orthodox. The number of Rác inhabitants decreased continuously. Many Rác settlements were deserted in the last decades of the Turkish occupation. Between 1683 and 1688, 16 settlements were abandoned from the 21 villages inhabited by southern Slavs. A part of them resettled the settlements after the war, whereas the more wealthy ones moved to Székesfehérvár. 60