One of them was the ancient Bishopric of Ulpiana also known as Iustiniana Secunda situated near the modern town of Lipjan, where the remains of episcopal Basilica dating from the first half of 6th century have been found and excavated.
[27] In the period of major ecclesiastical events that took place around the Fourth Council of Constantinople in 879–880,[27] the decision was made by the Patriarchate of Constantinople to create an autonomous Archbishopric for Bulgaria after the Conversion of Bulgarians to Christianity and secondly, the decision of 870 confirmed the attachment of the Bulgarian Church to Eastern Orthodoxy.
[32] However, Tibor Živković concluded, based on primary sources of the Church of Constantinople, that there was no information regarding the establishment of any new ecclesiastical center and organization in Serbia, and that Ras was only a border fort in the mid-9th century which became the ecclesiastical center of the bishopric by 1019-1020.
[8] The imperial charter of Basil II from 1020 to the Archbishopric of Ohrid, in which the rights and jurisdictions were established, has the earliest mention, stating that the Episcopy of Ras belonged to the Bulgarian autocephal church during the time of Peter I (927–969) and Samuel of Bulgaria (977–1014).
Until the beginning of the 13th century, archbishops of Ohrid were regarded as Archbishopric of Justiniana Prima and all Bulgaria.
In the time of Turkish conquests, in the middle of the 15th century, Serbian Orthodox Church suffered great devastation.
of All of the regional sees in Raška, Kosovo and Metohija remained under constant jurisdiction of Serbian Patriarchate until its abolition in 1766.
In the time of Austro-Turkish war (1683–1699) relations between Muslims and Christians in European provinces of Ottoman Empire were radicalized.
[53] In the following punitive campaigns, Turkish forces conducted systematic atrocities against Christian population in Serbian regions, mainly in Metohija, Kosovo and Raška, resulting in Great Migrations of the Serbs.
[54] One of the consequences of devastation and depopulation in the regions of Kosovo and Metohija during Austro-Turkish wars was the reorganization of local Serbian eparchies.
During the transfer of jurisdictions, Serbian patriarchal archeparchy of Peć was abolished, and its territory was added to the Eparchy of Prizren.
That marked the beginning of mass persecution of ethnic Serbs in the annexed regions of Metohija and central Kosovo.
[58] By the time of the re-annexation in 1944, the Serbian population, of which most were colonizers after the 1st Balkan War, were expelled from Kosovo.
[59] The Church of Peter and Paul in Ras is one of the most important Serbian Christian monuments from the Middle Age period of Serbia.
The church served as a seat of the Bishopric of Ras, named after near by high medieval capital of Serbia.
The foundation of the church, the massive columns, ground-plan and the octagonal tower which conceals an inner cupola are examples of the circular mausolean architectural type used after Emperor Constantine (306–312).