Danilo

Saint Danilo (Danilo Jakšić) was Bishop of Gornji Karlovac, with his see at Plaški, from 1751 until his death on 27 January 1771. The Serbian Orthodox Church numbered him among the saints in 2022.

He was born in 1715 at Srpske Moravice, to Mileta and Stojna. As a young man he came to the Monastery of Gomirje, where he learned to read and was tonsured. At nineteen he was ordained deacon, then hieromonk, by Bishop Danilo Ljubotina, whom he served at Plaški. He lived eighteen years at Gomirje under Abbot Teodor Miletić, then served Bishop Pavle Nenadović, who in 1748 entrusted him with the office of exarch. When Pavle became Metropolitan of Karlovci, in 1749, he made Danilo archimandrite of Gomirje and gave him provisional administration of the eparchy of Gornji Karlovac and of the neighbouring eparchy of Kostajnica.

The council of 1750 moved Lika and Krbava from Kostajnica under the Bishop of Gornji Karlovac, and Danilo was elected bishop on 3 June 1750. Because the state authorities delayed confirmation, he was consecrated only on 4 November 1751, at Rakovac Monastery, by Metropolitan Nenadović, and enthroned on 19 August 1752. He carried out vigorous pastoral work and earned great merit for the growth and defence of Orthodoxy. In 1769 the church assembly proposed him as Metropolitan of Karlovci and he even received the majority of votes, but the authorities frustrated his election. After Bishop Josif Stojanović of Kostajnica was removed in 1769, Banija was joined to his eparchy. He died at Plaški and is remembered as one of the most deserving and respected hierarchs of the eparchy. The Assembly of Bishops of 2022 named him a saint, with commemoration on 27 January, old style (9 February, new style).