Jovan Višlavski

The holy hieromartyr Jovan (Janko) Višlavski (1912-1942) was parish priest of the village of Gospođinci, in Bačka, killed in January 1942 by the Hungarian occupiers. His commemoration belongs to the Synaxis of the Saints who taught and studied at the Theological School of Belgrade, whose celebration was ordered by Patriarch Porfirije in February 2024, pending the official decision; he is also numbered among the martyrs of Bačka.

He was born on 27 April 1912 into a poor family in Ruski Krstur. In 1932 he finished eight grades of classical gymnasium with the maturity examination at Zagreb, and in 1936 the Faculty of Theology in Belgrade. As a student of theology he passed from the Union to the Orthodox faith, in the Ascension church in Belgrade, on 15 December 1934, and received the name Jovan. He knew Rusyn, Polish, Russian, Czech and German excellently and also used Latin. He was ordained on 24 March 1935 and appointed parish priest of the Orthodox Rusyns of Kucura, Novi Sad and Gospođinci. From 1936 he edited Pravoslavni visnik, the periodical in the Rusyn language. From 1937 he was permanent parish priest at Gospođinci, where he remained to the end of his life.

On 9 January 1942 the Hungarian occupier began mass arrests of the civilian population at Gospođinci: on that day thirty-⁠nine persons were arrested, of whom twenty-⁠eight were killed. Among them the faithful servant of Christ, Priest Jovan, received the crown of martyrdom.