Participation of the Russian St. Synod in Resolving the Situation of the Church in Bosnia and Herzegovina after the Occupation of these Territories by Austria-Hungary in 1878–1885

This article, based primarily on archival sources, examines an important aspect of the church relationship between the Russian Synod and the Orthodox population headed by Metropolitan Savva during the establishment of the position of the church in the Bosnian Vilayet. Russia, in view of its interest in the Balkan Peninsula, could not help but take part in deciding the fate of the occupied Orthodox, so the Russian Foreign Ministry and the Synod jointly tried to achieve the necessary and beneficial results for Russia. What efforts they made, as well as what they led to, will be analyzed in detail in this paper. As a result, the unenviable situation of the church and the Orthodox population of Bosnia and Herzegovina will continue, because Russia “abandoned” these territories in order to maintain a stable relationship with Austria- Hungary. In turn, the growing discontent with the occupied authorities predetermined the further events of the early twentieth century.