Eparchy of Lipljan

[2] After the successful Byzantine conquests of 1018 and the establishment of imperial rule in Bulgarian and Serbian lands, by the order of emperor Basil II a new and autonomous Archbishopric of Ohrid was created in 1019, under the supreme ecclesiastical jurisdiction the Patriarchate of Constantinople.

[7] The autocephaly of Orthodox Church in medieval Serbia was established in 1219 by Saint Sava who was consecrated as first Serbian archbishop by the Byzantine patriarch residing at that time in Nicaea.

[11] In that time, during the final years of the reign of Serbian king Stefan Milutin (1282-1321), the grand complex of the Monastery of Gračanica was built as the seat for bishops of Lipjan.

[14] In the time of Turkish conquests, in the middle of the 15th century, Serbian Orthodox Church suffered great devastation.

Metropolitan Venedikt of Lipljan had to flee from his eparchy, finding refuge at the Court of Serbian Despot Đurađ Branković in Smederevo.

[20][21] Two major events of that time tragically impacted Orthodox Church in the region of central Kosovo.

During the Austro-Turkish war (1683–1699) relations between local Muslims and Christians in European provinces of Ottoman Empire were radicalized.

[23] One of the consequences of devastation and depopulation in the regions of central Kosovo during austro-Turkish wars was the reorganization of local Serbian eparchies.