During Turkish rule in the 16th and 17th centuries, Banat was mainly populated by Serbs (also called Rascians) in the west and Vlachs (Romanians) in the east.

[3] During the Austro-Turkish War (1683–1699), Serbian patriarch Arsenije III sided with Austrians and appointed Spiridon Štibica as the new Bishop of Vršac in 1694.

Austrian troops took over parts of Banat, and the Eparchy of Vršac was officially recognized as a diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church by charter of emperor Leopold I in 1695.

At the beginning of the Austro-Turkish War (1716–1718), when Prince Eugene of Savoy took the Banat region from the Turks, Serbian Bishop of Vršac was Mojsije Stanojević.

During the First World War (1914–1918), many Serbian priests and parish councilors of the Eparchy of Vršac were persecuted, imprisoned or sent to concentration camps by the authorities of Austria-Hungary.

The region of Banat was liberated and united with Serbia in 1918, becoming part of newly created Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (Yugoslavia).