Sava of Gornji Karlovac

Saint Sava Trlajić, hieromartyr, was a bishop of the Serbian Orthodox Church, shepherd of the Eparchy of Gornji Karlovac from 1938, killed by the Ustaše in August 1941 in the Independent State of Croatia. The Serbian Church honours him as a new martyr and hieromartyr.

Childhood and priestly service

He was born in July 1884 in Mol, with the name Svetozar, to Stevan and Jelisaveta, née Karakašević. He attended primary school in his native village, grammar school in Novi Sad and the seminary of Sremski Karlovci, then graduated from the Faculty of Law in Belgrade and passed the judges' examination in Zagreb. In 1909 he was ordained deacon and, ten days later, priest by Bishop Georgije Letić of Timișoara. He served as a parish priest at Peška and Bašaid. In 1927 he was appointed secretary and then chief secretary of the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Serbian Church.

Monk and bishop

After the death of his wife he was tonsured a monk on 27 October 1929 at Krušedol Monastery, with the name Sava. He soon became archimandrite and abbot of Krušedol. In 1930 or 1934, according to the sources, he was elected and consecrated vicar bishop of Srem by Patriarch Varnava, with other bishops of the Serbian Church. He headed the diocesan council of the Archbishopric of Belgrade and Karlovci and, from 1937, the church court. He is said to have played a part in the annulment of the concordat with the Vatican in 1937. On 22 June 1938 he was elected bishop of Gornji Karlovac, with his seat at Plaški, and after the death of Bishop Miron of Pakrac in 1941 he also took charge of the Eparchy of Slavonia.

Martyrdom

After the invasion of Yugoslavia and the founding of the Independent State of Croatia in April 1941, Plaški was occupied first by the Italians and then handed to the Ustaše. Bishop Sava and nine priests were taken hostage. The Italians offered him the chance to leave the eparchy and go to Belgrade, but he refused. His words are reported, on the testimony of a priest: he would give his head but would not leave his people. On 23 May 1941 the Ustaše occupied the bishop's residence and drove him out. On 8 June the executioner Josip Tomljenović ordered the diocesan money and records handed over.

He was arrested on 17 July 1941 and shut with other priests and several prominent Serbs in a stable at Plaški. After torture, on 19 July he was taken in chains to Gospić, together with the priests Bogoljub Gaković, Đuro Stojanović and Stanislav Nasadil. There he was tormented until about the middle of August, when he was led with some two thousand Serbs toward Mount Velebit. Somewhere on this mountain he received the crown of martyrdom, in August 1941.

Veneration

The Serbian Orthodox Church glorified him as a hieromartyr. His memory is kept on 4 July and at the Synaxis of the New Martyrs of Serbia.