Church under its jurisdiction, however, by the intervention of Sokollu Mehmed Pasha in 1557, the latter was renewed and reorganized. During the 15th century, dioceses from the other side of the Danube, from the duchies of Wallachia and Moldova, fell under the jurisdiction of the Archbishopric. Nevertheless, this did not last for more than a hundred years. Towards the beginning of the 16th century, the Ohrid Archbishopric expanded its jurisdiction even over territories in Southern Italy, as well as in Dalmatia. The flock of this diocese was made of Greeks and Albanians. Towards the middle of the 16th century, the Ohrid Archbishopric lost the Diocese of Veroia, however, at the beginning of the 17th century, it gained the Diocese of Durazzo from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. Since then and until its abolishment in 1767, the Archbishopric neither lost nor gained a diocese under its jurisdiction. Abolition The autocephaly of the Ohrid Archbishopric remained respected during the periods of Byzantine, Bulgarian, Serbian and Ottoman rule; the church continued to exist until its abolition in 1767, when it was abolished by the Sultan's decree, at the urging of the Greek Eastern Orthodox leaders of Istanbul, and was placed under the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Constantinople. The division into phanariotes and autochthonists which occurred among the diocesan bishops of the Ohrid Archbishopric and, the difficult financial position of the Ohrid Archbishopric over a longer period of time, contributed to its abolishment. Just a year before, the Patriarchate of Constantinople abolished the Serbian Patriarchate of Peć in the same manner, and its dioceses adjoined to the Patriarchate of Constantinople. Language The Greek language quite early replaced Old Church Slavonic as the official language of the Archbishopric. All documents and even hagiographies of saints, for example the hagiography of Clement of Ohrid, were written in Greek. Despite this, the Slavonic liturgy was preserved on the lower levels of the Church for several centuries. Administration The Archbishopric of Ochrid was an autocephalous church, with full internal ecclesiastical self-governance. Only after the Ottoman conquest, as part of the millet system, did it come under the supreme ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. At the time of its establishment, the archbishopric comprised 32 suffragan sees. However, over the following decades many of the bishoprics removed from other jurisdictions and accorded to Ohrid by Basil II were returned to their original metropolises. Despite the creation