The ephemeral Croatian orthodox church and its Bosnian extension

Abstract

The so-called Croatian Orthodox Church was an ephemeral creation of the Ustachi regime founded in 1942 in Croatia. The analysis of its founder Malsinov, an archbishop of the Russian Orthodox Church in exile, doubtlessly reveals his anti-communist motives, which were also behind his cooperation with the Romanian Orthodox Church through Metropolitan Bessarion. The two prelates ordained Spyridon Mifka as bishop of Sarajevo, an extension of the same Croatian Orthodox Church. The anti-communist aspect of this cooperation continued in exile following the establishment of Soviet rule in Eastern Europe. The climate and reasons that led Maslinov to become the head of this phantom institution, however, cannot be fully elucidated at present.