New Martyrs of the Piva canonized

Serbian Orthodox Patriarchate – June 2017

On the feast of the Third Finding of the Head of St. John the Baptist, on June 7, 2017, His Grace Bishop Joanikije of Budim and Niksic celebrated the Holy Liturgy in the memory-church at the Dola village in the Piva region.

Quite a great number of the clergy and hieromonks from this Diocese concelebrated, with the prayerful participation of numerous faithful people. During the Divine Liturgy the Rite of canonization of the Holy New Martyrs of the Piva was performed, following a decision of the Holy Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church brought at their spring session, and consequently they have been included into the Diptych of saints.

By this act there were canonized victims of crime in the Piva region, whose villages from 6 to 12 June 1943, Nazi “Prince Eugen Division”, which included a large number of ethnic Volks-Germans and Bosnian Ustashas, killed 1,290 innocent people, including 549 children and young people up to 20 years of age. Only in the village of Dola, on June 7, 1943, – 522 weak persons were shot, out of which 109 children under the age of 15. Dola village, as the largest execution place in this area, became a place of a universal remembrance of the Piva Martyrs. Their remembrance day will be the 7th of June.

Diocese of Budim-Niksic

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