The Serbian Orthodox Church is the fourth largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches with 11.5 million members. It has 3,100 parishes with 44 bishops. 84% of the residents of Serbia and 88% of the population of Bosnia and Herzegovina are adherents. It was abolished by the Ottoman Turks in the 18th century. but was re-established in 1920.
The church is believed to have begun in the seventh century. In the ninth century a prince named Petar Gojniković (Petar of Serbia) won several wars, expanding the Serbian principality. He was the first Serbian leader with a Christian name, indicating that Christianity had gained prominence in Serbia at that time. It is believed that since Serbia borders Bulgaria, the faith came into Serbia from there.
In 1459 the Ottoman Empire conquered Serbia, and over the next three hundred years there was tension between the church and the Islamic monarchy. Heavy tax burdens were placed on Christians due to the 
numerous uprisings, and as a results many Serbs converted to Islam.
In the 19th century the church became closely aligned with the Serbian independence movement which contributed to the eventual collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Between WWI and WWII the region saw continual war between religious sects, political parties, and ethnic tribes which made expansion and evangelization difficult for the church, as did the subsequent formation of the Soviet Union after WWII.
The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 brought a brief resurgence to the church, but that was halted by the Kosovo War between Islamic Albanians in Serbia and Christian Serbs under Milosevic. The resulting exodus of Albanians brought about the arrival of NATO forces in 1999, which resulted in massive damage to church facilities and the deaths of several priests throughout the country