Serbian Religious Organizations Call for Implementation of Property Restitution Law

Representatives of Serbia's historic religious organizations, among them leaders of the Serbian Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church in Serbia, and the Muslim community, have renewed calls for the Serbian government to fully implement its law on the restitution of property stolen from religious organizations during the Communist era. More (in Serbian) here.

Queen Maria of Yugoslavia Remembered in Belgrade

Patriarch Irinej (Gavrilovich) of the Serbian Orthodox Church served a memorial earlier today for Queen Maria of Yugoslavia, who reposed 50 years ago on this date. The anniversary of Queen Maria's death coincides with the opening this year of an exhibition in her honor in the former royal palace in Belgrade. Crown Prince Alexander Karadjordjevic and other members of the Yugoslav royal family were in attendance at the memorial, which was served in the royal palace's Church of St. Andrew. More here.

Serbia Arrests Ratko Mladic

Serbia has arrested war crimes perpetrator Ratko Mladic and handed him over to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague, in the words of Serbian President Boris Tadic closing "a difficult of [Serbian] history." More here.

St. Platon of Banja Luka

Christ is risen! Joyous feast! St. Platon was a clergyman and hierarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church who served in both pre-WWI Serbia and royal Yugoslavia, eventually being elected Bishop of Banja Luka in Bosnia.

When what today is Bosnia-Herzegovina was occupied by Ustashe Croatia during World War II St. Platon was ordered to leave his diocese. He refused, however, saying that he had bound himself "to take care of [his] spiritual flock permanently and firmly, regardless of any events." The day following St. Platon's reply he was arrested by the Ustashe, taken out of the city, tortured, and martyred, with his relics eventually being recovered from the Vrbanja River and being enshrined in Banja Luka's cathedral.

The Serbian Orthodox Church formally glorified St. Platon as a new hieromartyr in 1998. More on his life can be found here. May his blessing and prayers be with us all!

Possible Site of Dragoljub Mihailovic's Grave Found

Serbian officials say that they may have located the grave of Dragoljub Mihailovic, the leader of Yugoslav royalist resistance to the Nazis during World War II and the Yugoslav Communists in the aftermath of the war. More here.

Metropolitan Amfilohije on Injustice and Nations

At a recent lecture Metropolitan Amfilohije (Radovic) of Cetinje and Montenegro stated that the peace of a land and its people is based on its relationship to justice, noting that states built on injustice inevitably fell and continue to fall, whereas "justice builds villages and towns." The statement is stunning in the light of the ongoing collapse of Serbia and what was once Yugoslavia. Metropolitan Amfilohije is a senior hierarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church. More here.

Bishop Irinej of Bachka on the Holocaust, Communism

Bishop Irinej (Bulovic) of Bachka of the Serbian Orthodox Church has stated that the crimes of the Nazi Germans are not equal to those of the Yugoslav Communists after World War II despite a number of concerning similarities to one another. Bishop Irinej also condemned anti-Semitism and reminded reporters of Patriarch Pavle (Stojchevic) of blessed memory's strong stance against the rise of anti-Semitism in post-Communist Yugoslavia and Serbia. More here.