Religion in the Republic of Macedonia Religion in the Republic of Macedonia In the Republic of Macedonia, the most common religion is Orthodox Christianity, practiced by most of the ethnic Macedonians. The vast majority of the Orthodox Christians in the country belong to the Macedonian Orthodox Church, which declared autocephaly from the Serbian Orthodox Church in 1967. Muslims are the second-largest religious group with almost one-third of the population adhering to Islam, mainly from the country's Albanian and Turkish minorities. There are also many other religious groups in Macedonia, including the Catholic Church, Protestantism, and Judaism. In 2011, through a survey carried out by Ipsos MORI
Kayeli people there were approximately 800 people left by the early 21st century. In regards to religion, majority of the them are Sunni Muslims, with some remnants of pagan beliefs. Representative of the ethnic group have completely lost their native Kayeli language by the end of the 20th century as they began to adopt other indigenous Buru languages or Indonesian language. Ethnogenesis of Kayeli is directly associated with the colonization of the Buru island by the Dutch East India Company in the 17th century. In 1658, the first permanent Dutch settlement and a military fort were built at the southern coast of