Sava of Gornji Karlovac | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
| Archimandrite,NewHieromartyr | |
| Born | Svetozar Trlajić (1884-07-19)19 July 1884 Mol,Austria-Hungary |
| Died | August 1941(1941-08-00) (aged 57) Velebit,Independent State of Croatia |
| Venerated in | Eastern Orthodox Church |
| Canonized | 1998,Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro byHoly Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church |
| Feast | 17 July (O.S. 4 July) |
| Attributes | episcopal vestments |
Sava Trlajić (Serbian Cyrillic: Сава Трлајић; 19 July 1884 – August 1941) was a bishop of theSerbian Orthodox Church serving as Bishop of theEparchy of Gornji Karlovac in theKingdom of Yugoslavia from 1938 until the beginning ofWorld War II.[1]
He was martyred by theUstaše in theNazipuppet state of theIndependent State of Croatia sometime in August 1941.[2] TheSerbian Orthodox Church venerates him as a saint,[3] with the titles ofnew martyr andhieromartyr.
He was born asSvetozar Trlajić to his parents Stevan and Jelisaveta (née Karakašević) inMol on 18 July 1884. His education included the primary school in his hometown, a grammar school inNovi Sad, andseminary of Sremski Karlovci. He then went on to graduate from theFaculty of Law at theUniversity of Belgrade and passed the qualifying examination for judges at the Faculty of Law at theUniversity of Zagreb.
In 1909, he was ordained adeacon by theBishop of Timișoara and then as a priest ten days later. As a parish priest, he served at parishes in Peška andBašaid. Early in 1927, he was appointed to an administrative position, and later principal secretary, of the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Church of Serbia. When his wife died, he took monastic vows on 27 October 1929 in theKrušedol Monastery, beingtonsured with the name Sava. Soon afterward he became rector andarchimandrite of the Krušedol Monastery.
On 30 September 1930, Sava was elected Auxiliary Bishop of Sremski Karlovci. He was consecrated there by PatriarchVarnava, BishopEmilijan of Timok, BishopJovan of Niš, Bishop Tihon of theEparchy of Zahumlje and Herzegovina, and Bishop Simeon of Zletovo and Strumica. As Patriarchal Vicar Bishop Sava chaired the diocesan council of theArchbishopric of Belgrade and Karlovci. From early 1937, Bishop Sava chaired the ecclesiastical court. He was appointed Bishop ofGornji Karlovac on 22 June 1938, with his residence inPlaški. After the death of Bishop Miron ofPakrac in 1941, he was also named administrator of theEparchy of Slavonia.
After theinvasion of Yugoslavia and the formation of theIndependent State of Croatia in April 1941, Plaški was first occupied by Italian forces and then turned over to the Ustaše in late 1941. Bishop Sava and nine priests were then takenhostage. On 23 May 1941, the Ustaše occupied the bishop's residence and expelled him from it.
On 8 June, the notorious executioner Josip Tomljenović ordered all diocesan money and records to be handed over to the Ustaše. Sava refused the Ustaše order to leave his diocese and go to Belgrade, not wanting to abandon his flock. Bishop Sava was arrested on 17 June, 1941, and confined, together with three other Serbian priests and thirteen eminent Serbian laymen, in a stable owned by Josip Tomljenović in Plaški. After experiencing intensetorture, Bishop Sava and the priests, Bogoljub Gaković, Đuro Stojanović, and Stanislav Nasadilo, were chained and taken to theGospić concentration camp on 19 July 1941. There, they were tortured until mid-August. At that time Bishop Sava was taken together with 2,000 Serbs toward theVelebit Mountains. Somewhere on this mountain, he was murdered together with thousands of other Orthodox Serbs. The exact site is still unknown.[4][5][6][7]
In 1998, at the regular session of theHoly Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Bishop Sava wasglorified and entered into themenologium of the Serbian Orthodox Church as ahieromartyr andnew martyr.
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