The patriarch of Constantinople is the nominal head of the Orthodox priesthood; but by an arrangement concluded in 1879, his authority was delegated to the Austrian emperor, in exchange for a revenue equal to the tribute previously paid by the clergy of the provinces; and his nominations for the metropolitanate of Serajevo, and the bishoprics of Dolnja Tuzla, Banjaluka and Mostar require the imperial assent.
Thus Hincmar, archbishop of Reims, complains that not only his metropolitanate (dioecesis) but his bishopric (parochia) is divided between two realms under two kings; and this inconvenient overlapping of jurisdictions remained, in fact, very common in Europe until the readjustments of national boundaries by the territorial settlements of the 19th century.
Their episcopal sees of Karlowitz and Pakrac depend upon the metropolitanate of Belgrade; but from 1830 to 1838 Karlowitz was itself the headquarters of the Servian Church.
