Belgrade, May 19, 2025
The relics of the newly canonized St. Ana, mother of St. Basil of Ostrog. Photo: Facebook The Council of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church established several new feasts at its most recent session.
The hierarchs of the Serbian Church gathered under the chairmanship of His Holiness Patriarch Porfirije at St. Sava’s Cathedral in Belgrade from May 13 to 17. Among its many decisions, the Council canonized six individual saints and three groups of holy martyrs.
According to the Council press release, having considered the relevant proposals, the Council “joyfully accepted, and announces the names of these saints to its spiritual children for emulation in virtue and firmness of faith.”
The new saints are:
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Bishop Nikodim (Milaš) of Dalmatia (September 21/October 4)
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Protosingel Kiril (Cvjetković), confessor of Bezdin and Dalmatia-Boka (September 29/October 12)
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Fr. Mihailo Barbić, parish priest of Krtoli (January 9/22)
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Fr. Ilija Rodić (April 26/May 9)
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Monk-martyr Jovan of Stjenica (July 28/August 10)
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Blessed Ana, mother of St. Basil of Ostrog (April 30/May 13)
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Martyrs of Reškovac who suffered at the hands of the Turks in 1688 (April 21/May 4
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Martyrs of Rmanj (August 28/September 10)
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Martyrs of Garavice and Bihać-Petrovac (July 14/27)
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St. Nikodim (Milaš) of Dalmatia (1845-1915) was bishop of Dalmatia and Istria, a renowned theologian, and canonical scholar who authored over 180 works including the influential Orthodox Church Law, and served as rector of the Belgrade Seminary.
St. Kiril (Cvjetković) (1791-1857) was a monk and confessor who steadfastly defended Orthodoxy against Uniatism in Dalmatia, suffering twenty-five years of imprisonment and exile for his faith before his death in Bezdin Monastery
St. Mihailo Barbić, a parish priest from Krtoli near Kotor, was brutally tortured and killed by communist authorities after World War II under false accusations and his body disposed of in a septic tank.
St. Ilija Rodić (†1942) a Prizren Seminary graduate, president of the literary society Rastko, poet, and father, was executed without trial on April 7, 1942, by local partisan forces under the command of Milutin Morača, and later rehabilitated in 1957 by the Military Court in Zagreb.
St. Jovan of Stjenica (c. 1382-1462) was a monk whose relics are kept in Stjenik Monastery on Mount Jelica, venerated for their healing powers, and who was executed by the Turks.
Saint Ana (Anastasia) (16th–17th C.) of Popovo Polje, a widow from the Vasojević tribe, was the virtuous and deeply pious mother of St. Basil of Ostrog who experienced miraculous appearances of the Most Holy Theotokos, practiced constant prayer and humility, and assisted the elderly and sick in her community.
The Martyrs of Rmanj were monks and clergy from St. Nicholas Monastery in Rmanj whose remains were discovered during renovation work around the monastery church in 2022, having been buried near the church foundations and entrance as witnesses to the monastery’s difficult history, and are now preserved in a reliquary in the monastery.
The Martyrs of Garavice and Bihać-Petrovac were 12,000 Serbs who were brutally murdered by Ustaše forces in 1941 near Bihać at one of the largest execution sites of World War II in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
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