Bosansko Grahovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, August 10, 2022
Photo: svetigora.com At its session in May, the Bishops’ Council of the Serbian Orthodox Church resolved to canonize the Hieromartyr Fr. Miloš (Bilbija), with his feast established as August 10.
The saint suffered martyrdom, being beaten to death by Austro-Hungarian soldiers on July 28, 1916.
With the blessing of His Grace Bishop Sergije of Bihać and Petrovac, the first liturgical celebration of the new saint was held at Sts. Peter and Paul Church in Bosansko Grahovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, where his relics are kept, reports the Serbian Orthodox Metropolis of Montenegro.
Bp. Sergije celebrated the Divine Liturgy with the reading of the synodal act of canonization this morning, accompanied by a host of clergy.
St. Miloš’ holy relics, which were exhumed in October 2018, were placed into a new reliquary, made by his grandson, Fr. Vojislav Bilbija, who serves in Rotterdam.
Photo: mitropolija.com
The Serbian Bishops’ Council also canonized the child martyr Slobodan Stojanović.
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St. Miloš was born near Bosansko Grahovo on November 2, 1870. Feeling God’s call, he entered and graduated from the seminary in Reljevo in 1893, where he was distinguished by his great love and fervent dedication to future priestly work.
He was married after graduation and soon ordained to the diaconate and priesthood in Sarajevo in November 1893. He also took up teaching duties at a local Orthodox school. On August 4, 1894, he was transferred to the parish in Grkovci-Crni Lug, where he would later meet his martyric fate.
It is known that the people loved and gathered around St. Miloš, considering him an exemplary priest. In 1894, he baptized the infant Gavrilo Princip, who later assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
Under Austro-Hungarian law, the death penalty could only be given to people who were 20 years or older when they committed their crime. However, due to a discrepancy in Princip’s precise birthdate on different documents, it was unclear if he was 19 or 20. The authorities detained and tortured St. Miloš, trying to force him to say that Princip was born in June 1894, and thus was 20 when he carried out the assassination.
The Austro-Hungarian Šuckori militia was well known for its attempt to exterminate Orthodox Serbs. However, St. Miloš refused to lie about Princip’s birthdate, for which he was subject to unspeakable torture.
He eventually died of internal bleeding and organ failure, after two years of torment, on July 28, 1916. He was just 45 years old at the time of his martyrdom.
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