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The diocese of Bihac-petrovac |
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"Have all the workers
of iniquity no knowledge? Who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon the Lord?" (Psalm 14:4)
The Diocese of Bihac was founded in 1925, and it comprised the following administrative municipalities: Bosanski Petrovac, Sanski Most, Kljuc, Bihac, Krupa and Cazin. As such, it lasted until 1931, when it was divided into three Dioceses: the Diocese of Banja Luka, the Diocese of Gornji Karlovac and the Diocese of Dalmatia. The first Bishop of the Diocese was Venijamin Tausanovic, elected on 6 December, 1925. Upon his transfer to the Diocese of Zletovo-Strumica, Bishop Nektarije administered this Diocese. By decision of the Holy Assembly of Bishops in 1990, the Diocese of Bihac was revived, under the name: the Diocese of Bihac-Petrovac, with its See situated in Bosanski Petrovac. The temporary See is in Kljuc. Bishop Nikolaj of Dalmatia was appointed Administrator of the newly constituted Diocese in 1990. At the session of the Holy Assembly of Bishops in 1991, protosynkellos Hrizostom (Jevic) was elected Bishop of the Diocese of Bihac-Petrovac. The Diocese was constituted from parts of the Banja Luka and Dalmatia Dioceses. In World War II many churches and other church buildings of the revived Diocese, which at that time comprised the Dioceses of Banja Luka and Dalmatia, were destroyed. This devastation of Serbian holy sites was continued in the present war. In the Diocese of Bihac-Petrovac, five churches have been destroyed, and two heavily damaged. One parish home was destroyed, and one burnt to the ground. On the territory of the Diocese of Bihac-Petrovac historians will record the historically unprecedented slaying of the same victim, twice in the span of half a century. In World War II, Croatian Ustashas martyred more than a thousand innocent Serbian inhabitants of the Livanj region. After half a century, on 11 August, 1991, the martyrs’ relics were exhumated from Hercegovian pits, and buried in the crypt of the Memorial Chapel in Livno. His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Pavle was present during this historic, sacred ceremony and, among other things, he said: "We are standing here in front of this Crypt of our brothers and sisters, before the human remains of hundreds of men, women and innocent children, who were condemned to an unimaginable death fifty years ago, guilty of something only a non-human could imagine. Their guilt was in that they had not been born within the Nation of those who murdered them and threw them into the pits; because they were of a different Faith and with a different alphabet than the one used by those who condemned them to death and by those who inhumanly carried out that inhuman sentence." In the present war, the Memorial Chapel was dynamited, and the same martyrs were once again "put to death" by the sons of those who had tortured and murdered these innocent Serbians half a century before. This Diocese suffered great devastation during the Croatian aggression, known as "Storm", in August 1995, when many churches were destroyed and ravaged, and a great number of parish homes and other buildings belonging to the Serbian Church were looted or destroyed. During the 1991–1995 war years, 26 churches were destroyed, and 68 extensively damaged. Also destroyed were 10 parish homes, while 26 suffered damage. On the territory of this Diocese, the spiritual and cultural heritage of the Serbians was desecrated and destroyed by both Croatian nationalists and Muslim fundamentalists.
Babici Church of Saint Procopius damaged, forcibly entered; bell stolen. Parish house damaged, burglarized.
Baraci (near Mrkonjic) Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul burglarized and damaged by Croatians 1995/96.
Bastasi Church of Saint Elijah the Prophet burglarized and demolished by Croatians 1995.
Benakovac (near Bosanska Krupa) Church of Saint Prince Lazar burglarized and damaged 1995.
Bihac Church of the Holy Trinity under construction, burglarized and laid waste by Muslims. Parish home damaged. Chapel in Parish home laid waste and destroyed.
Bjelaj (near Petrovac) Church of Saint George burnt down by Muslims 1995. Parish home damaged.
Bosanska Bojna Church shelled several times and seriously damaged. Parish home destroyed by fire.
Bosanski Doljani (near Bihac) Church damaged.
Bosanski Milanovac (near Sanski Most) Church damaged by Muslims in September–October 1995.
Bravsko (near Petrovac) Church set afire by Muslims 1995.
Budimlic Japra (near Sanski Most) 
Church set afire by Muslims 1995. Parish home damaged.
Bukovaca (near Petrovac) Church of the Birth of the Most Holy Theotokos burglarized and laid waste.
Velika Kladusa Church damaged.
Velika Rujiska (near Bosanski Novi) Church of the Birth of the Most Holy Theotokos burglarized and seriously damaged; part of church blown up with explosives by Muslims in 1995. Parish home destroyed and set afire.
Vodjenica 
Church of the Birth of the Most Holy Theotokos damaged, roofless, only walls remain (1991–1995).
Vranjske (near Bosanski Novi) Church set afire by Muslims.
Vrbica (near Livno) Church set afire by Croats in 1995. Icons and liturgical vessels removed to Roman Catholic Parish Rectory in Livno. Parish home destroyed.
Vrbljani (near Kljuc) Church of the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos forcibly entered by Croats in 1995. Parish home damaged.
Vrelo Church laid waste.
Vrtoce Church of Saint Elijah the Prophet the Prophet damaged and burglarized. Belltower destroyed (1991–1995).
Gata Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul shelled by Serbian Krajina Army. |
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