Information Service of CONSECRATION OF THE RENOVATED CHURCH AT BILJESEVO On Sunday, July 27, 2003, His Eminence Nikolaj Metropolitan of Dabro/Bosnia consecrated the renovated Church of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist at Biljesevo, the Diocese of Dabro/Bosnia. Many priests and deacons participated in the service. The godfather of the renovated Church is Mr Zarko Vidakovic from Germany, born in this region. A large number of the faithful, once residents of this region, as well as many guests from Sarajevo, Serbian Sarajevo, Bijeljina, Bratunac, and Doboj attended the consecration and the Holy Liturgy. There was also Mr Borislav Paravac, Member of Presidency of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Biljesevo is a small village situated between Kakanj and Zenica. The Church of the Nativity of Saint John the Baptist was built in 1908 and as of then it represents a spiritual centre of the entire region. Through the past, it shared the destiny of the Serbian people: at the beginning of the Second World War ustashas killed the priest Miladin Minic whose martyr corpse was buried next to the Church in which he served; several other priests serving in this parish suffered the same destiny. However, the Church and the faithful of this region were mostly affected by the latest war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Being under pressure and torture of the majority Muslim population in Zenica region, almost all the parishioners of Biljesevo fled their houses and moved all around the world in 1992. In November 1992 the Church was plundered and set on fire, and its interior – together with the Holy Throne – was entirely destroyed. Almost all the tombstones and crosses in the graveyard near the Church were razed to the ground, and among them even the tombstone of the martyr priest Miladin Minic. The renovation of the Church started in 2002, by efforts of the priest Boris Banduka from Zenica. The Metropolitanate of Dabro/Bosnia, the Government of the Republic of Srpska, the Monastery of Ostrog and several local companies and individuals, as well as the faithful born in this region, donated the financial funds for the renovation. Special thanks go to Mr Mitar Jeftic, owner of a construction company which performed all the works regarding the renovation. |
