 He relates that there were many churches in Asia, in Thrace and the neighboring countries but they have been gradually diminished by oppression and bondage..."" The learned Orthodox Serb cleric, who was called "Ućeni Srb, Dimitrije Serb" (The learned Serb, Demetrius Serb), carried Melanchthon's letter to the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople calling for a Lutheran-Orthodox "unity of all true Christian communities.