Mladen Šaren

Mladen Šaren (1922-1941) was a novice of the Žitomislić Monastery, in Herzegovina, killed by the Ustaše on 26 June 1941. He was canonized as a holy martyr by the Holy Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church on 23 May 2022; he is commemorated on 13 June (26 June by the new calendar), together with the other martyrs of Žitomislić.

Together with Abbot Konstantin Vučurević (1908-1941), the hieromonks Dositej Vukićević and Makarije Pejak, the protodeacon Vladimir Čejović and two seminary graduates, Marko Prodanović and Branko Bilanović, he was cruelly tortured by the Ustaše on 26 June 1941. Since torture did not make them renounce the Orthodox faith, the executioners threw them alive into a ravine and then covered them with stones. In the same way thirty-⁠three other villagers of the area were killed. Another novice, Obren Okilević, also appears in some lists of the martyrs. Their names were entered in the calendar of the Serbian Church in 2022, and the Holy Synod of the Russian Church introduced into the Russian calendar, in 2023, the commemoration of the Synaxis of the Martyrs of Žitomislić.