map of Serbia

A Brief History of the Church in

Serbia

Overview

Mischa Markow, a convert from Vojvodina, briefly preached in Beograd and Zrenjanin in 1899, but the first Church member to settle in Serbia was Eviza Arbić Vujičić, who moved to Beograd in 1918 after being baptized in Budapest, Hungary. In part through Vujičić’s efforts to help teach the gospel, in 1933 Matej Spaček became the first person baptized in Serbia.

The Church did not become fully established in Serbia, however, until the 1970s and 1980s. Krešimir Ćosić, who had joined the Church at Brigham Young University, helped spread the gospel during his basketball career in Yugoslavia. In Beograd, Radmila Ranović became the first person living in Yugoslavia to serve a full-time mission. The first branch in Serbia was organized in Beograd in 1983, shortly after Ranović’s return.

The branch developed into a district by 1992 as the work began to spread beyond Beograd. In their branches and in their own lives, Latter-day Saints in Serbia followed Christ’s call to build “upon the foundation of my gospel and my rock” as a protection against evil (Doctrine and Covenants 18:5). Over the following decade, as Saints in Serbia witnessed warfare and endured bombing campaigns, their fellow Saints around Europe worked to deliver aid to their country. By 2002 both proselytizing and humanitarian missionaries had returned to Serbia to serve in the branches in Beograd, Novi Sad, and Sremska Mitrovica.

Quick Facts

• Official Name: Republic of Serbia/Република Србија/Republika Srbija

• Capital: Beograd

• Largest City: Beograd

• Official Languages: Serbian

• Land Area: 77,474 km² (29,912 mi²)

• Church Area: Europe

• Missions: 1 (Part of the Adriatic North Mission)

• Congregations: 3