The Academy accepted relics of Hieromartyr Plato, Bishop of Banyaluksk as a gift from the Serbian Church

Today, the academic family gathered at the Sunday service with special joy and delight. The academic clergy, teachers, students and parishioners of the Intercession Academic Church witnessed a historical event in the life of the Moscow Theological Academy.

With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Kirill and His Holiness Patriarch of Serbia Porfiry, at the Sunday service the Bishop of Moravia Anthony and the Bishop of Marchansk Savva gave to the Moscow Theological Academy a particle of the relics of Hieromartyr Plato, Bishop of Banyaluksky, who was a graduate of Academy in 1901.

Today, the Academy accepted relics of the Hieromartyr Plato, which will now be kept in the Intercession Academic Church.

Having received a theological education at the Moscow Theological Academy, Hieromartyr Plato became a good shepherd for the Serbian people and the Serbian Church in the XX century. Today, Bishop Plato shines among holy new martyrs glorified by the Church and stands before the throne of God as an intercessor of the fraternal Slavic people.

On November 5, before the Divine Liturgy, relics of Hieromartyr Plato were solemnly met at the gates of the Intercession Academic Church. The shrine was accompanied by the vicar of His Holiness the Patriarch of Serbia, the Bishop of Moravia Anthony and the Bishop Marcansk Savva, Vicar of the Banyaluk Diocese, as well as the clergy of the Banyaluk Diocese such as Hieromonk Methodius (Kragul), Rector of the Homionitsa monastery, and Protodeacon Radojica Zhagran.

Upon the arrival of the hierarchs of the Serbian Church, the Bishop of Sergiev Posad and Dmitrov Kirill, Rector of the Moscow Theological Academy and Abbot of the Holy Trinity St. Sergius Lavra, greeted the guests. Then, under the general singing of the troparion to Hieromartyr Plato, the academic clergy, teachers, students and the delegation went to the Intercession Church to perform the Liturgy.

Also, the Serbian Church donated to the Academy an icon of Hieromartyr Plato. Throughout the entire service, the relics were put in the center of the church, so that everyone could venerate the saint.

The Rector Bishop Kirill performed the Divine Liturgy co-service by the Bishop of Moravia Anthony and the Bishop of Marchansk Sava as well as the academic clergy.

At the antiphons, the Rector ordained Master's students Alexander Inogamov, Pyotr Maksimov and Nikolai Shcherbatykh as Readers.

After the Cherubic Song, Bishop Kirill ordained the MThA graduate student Hierodeacon Innokenty (Melikhov) into a presbyter. After the Eucharistic Canon, he ordained subdeacon Vladislav Smirnov, a student of the Pererva Theological Seminary, into the rank of a deacon.

Before the Communion, Egor Buneev, a Master's preparatory student, delivered a sermon. The preacher dedicated his word to St. Apostle James, the brother of the Lord, whose memory was celebrated on that day.

After the behind the ambo, bishops and the clergy sang glorification to Hieromartyr Plato in front of his icon and part of his venerable relics.

At the end of the service, Bishop Kirill thanked Primates of the Russian and Serbian Churches and the clergy of the Serbian Church for their attention to the Moscow Theological Academy and for such a precious gift. 

Bishop Anthony and Bishop Savva addressed the Rector in response. 

On the eve of November 4, Bishop Kirill led an All-night Vigil with teachers and students. 

Background information:

Chanting performed by the second academic choir under the conduct of A.O. Leventsova and the first mixed choir led by S. P. Borovinskaya.

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Hieromartyr Platon, Bishop of Banyaluks (in the world Milivoj Jovanovic), was born on September 29, 1874 in Belgrade into the family of Ilija Jovanovic and Jelka Sokolovic. He studied at gymnasiums in the cities of Vranje and Nis, then entered the Belgrade Seminary, where he took monastic vows. After graduating from the seminary and being ordained as a hieromonk, he was sent in 1896 by the Serbian Metropolitan Michael (Jovanovic) to the Moscow Serbian metochion. Soon Hieromonk Platon entered the Moscow Theological Academy, which he graduated in 1901 with PhD in Theology.

After returning from Russia, he was appointed as the elder of the Rakovica monastery, and soon as an Assistant Professor in Belgrade. As a professor, Hieromonk Platon worked in Aleksinets and Yagodina, where he was distinguished with the dignity of archimandrite.

During the Balkan and First World Wars, Archimandrite Platon was a brigade priest. For a very short time he was the administrator of the Ohrid diocese. During the occupation of Serbia he was in the country and with the help of his connections abroad he helped all the unfortunate, especially orphans and widows.

Then Patriarch Varnava (Rosich) made him a manager of the monastery printing house in Sremski Karlovci and an editor of the “Bulletin of the Serbian Patriarchate” between 1932 and 1938. In addition, in 1934–1936, Hieromonk Platon was an elder of the Krushedol monastery.

In 1934, Archimandrite Platon was elected as the Bishop of Moravić. The consecration took place on October 4, 1936 in Sremski Karlovci and was performed by Patriarch Varnava, the Metropolitan of Zagreb Dositheus, Bishops Irinej of Bac and Srem Savva, as well as Russian bishops - the head of the Russian Church Abroad, Metropolitan Anastasius and the Bishop of Boston Macarius.

On June 22, 1938, Bishop Platon was elected to the Ohrid-Bitola See, and on December 8, 1939, he was moved to Banja Luka.

With the beginning of the German occupation of the Yugoslav Kingdom, the suffering of the Orthodox Serbs in Bosnia began. On April 10, 1941, new authorities of the “independent state of Croatia” ordered him to leave his diocese, since he was originally from Serbia, to which he responded with a firm refusal and willingness to remain with the flock entrusted to him. On May 4, 1941, he was again ordered to leave immediately on pain of arrest, after which the bishop turned to the Roman Catholic Bishop Jose Garic to persuade the officer in charge to allow him to stay at least a few days to pack his things. Garic reassured Bishop Plato, but that same night, from May 4 to 5, the Croatian Ustasha seized the ailing bishop along with the priest Dusan Subotic and took him out of Banya Luka. They were killed outside the city and their bodies were thrown into the Vrbanja River. This was the work of Ustasha Asim Celic.

The mutilated body of Bishop Platon was found in Kumsale village on May 23, 1941. The holy martyr was initially buried in the military cemetery in Banya Luka, and in 1973 he was transferred to the Banyaluka Cathedral.

At a meeting of the Bishops' Council of the Serbian Orthodox Church in 1998, Bishop Platon (Jovanovic) Banjaluksky was canonized as a saint of the Serbian Church. 

MThA Press Office

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