Skopje, Diocese of

SCOPIA (SKOPLJE, USKUB), DIOCESE. — Immediately subject to the Holy See, and situated in southern Yugoslavia between Albania, Greece, and Bulgaria.

A very ancient diocese, already represented at the Council of Sardica (343), and in the fifth century the metropolitan see of Dardania. Justinian rebuilt the city, destroyed by the earthquake of 518, under the name of Justiniana prima, which Pope Vigilius raised to an independent archdiocese. After the incursions of the Slavs, in 1020 Scopia was incorporated into the confederation of Acrida, thereby becoming schismatic. Under Kalojan, king of Bulgaria, it was united with Rome for a brief time (1024). In 1246 it was annexed to the schismatic Serbian Church, and from 1364 was subject to the patriarchate of Ipek. It is currently also a Serbian Orthodox metropolitan see.

During the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries, the Latin bishops of Scopia, mentioned in official documents, were all titular, that is, in partibus infidelium, and none took possession of the see. From 1656 the Latin bishops began to reside there. From 1701 to 1921 the Latin diocese of Scopia was an archdiocese. After a brief vacancy in 1924, following the Concordat between the Holy See and Serbia of 1914, the residence was established at Prizren. On 16 March 1926, the city and region of Bitolj (Monastir), which had previously belonged to the Apostolic Vicariate of Constantinople, were annexed to it in apostolic administration.

(from K. Hielscher, Jugoslavien, Berlin 1885, pl. 136)
SCOPIA, DIOCESE. — The castle of Scopia.

The religious persecution that is still continuing in Yugoslavia makes it impossible to obtain statistics or recent information. In 1940, the 31,463 Catholics were assisted by 24 priests. The bishop, who also administered the vacant diocese of Banjaluka, was never able to visit II.