Martyrs of Jasenovac

The Holy Martyrs of Jasenovac are Orthodox Christians, mostly Serbs, murdered by the Croatian fascist organisation Ustaše between 1941 and 1945 in the Jasenovac concentration camp, in the Independent State of Croatia, in a campaign of genocide against the Serbs. They are commemorated on 31 August on the old calendar, which is 13 September on the new. They were canonized by the Serbian Orthodox Church on 16 April 2010.

Veneration

Their memory entered church calendars in the 1980s, during the church division in the United States and Canada, first in the calendars printed by the Free Metropolitanate of New Gračanica near Chicago. Later, after that great wound of the Church was healed through the labour of Patriarch Pavle, Metropolitan Irinej and other hierarchs, the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church decided that their memory might also be entered and celebrated in calendars printed by Serbian dioceses abroad.

Since 2010 the feast of the Holy New Martyrs of Jasenovac has been binding on the whole Serbian Orthodox Church. On 16 April 2010 the Holy Synod of Bishops decided on their canonization, with the feast on 31 August (13 September on the new calendar). One source gives 1980 as the year of the first calendar entry, another only says the 1980s.

Place of remembrance

The Holy New Martyrs of Jasenovac are venerated and commemorated in the liturgy mainly at the Jasenovac Monastery. Their image is painted in the crypt of the Cathedral of Saint Sava in Belgrade, and on the left bank of the Sava in Belgrade there is an embankment and a place of remembrance for the victims of Jasenovac.