Platon of Banja Luka | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Bishop Platon (Jovanović) | |
| Holy hieromartyr | |
| Born | Milivoje Jovanović 29 September 1874 Belgrade, Principality of Serbia |
| Died | 5 May 1941 (aged 66) Banja Luka, Independent State of Croatia |
| Venerated in | Eastern Orthodox Church |
| Canonized | 21 May 2000, Belgrade, by the Serbian Orthodox Church |
| Feast | 5 May (O.S. 22 April) |
Hieromartyr Platon, Bishop of Banja Luka (born Milivoje Jovanović; 29 September 1874 – 5 May 1941) was a Serbian Orthodox cleric who served as the Bishop of Banja Luka between 1940 and 1941. His tenure ended in May 1941, when he was abducted, tortured and killed by followers of the Ustaše movement.
Platon attended seminary in his hometown of Belgrade and later graduated from the Moscow Theological Academy. He served as a military chaplain in the Royal Serbian Army during both Balkan Wars of 1912–1913, as well as in the opening months of World War I. In 1936, he was ordained a bishop. Two years later, Platon was appointed Bishop of Ohrid and Bitola, but was dismissed from his post after criticizing his predecessor and accusing him of fomenting discord within the eparchy. In October 1940, he assumed the position of Bishop of Banja Luka. Six months later, Yugoslavia was invaded and occupied by the Axis powers. Banja Luka became part of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH), a fascist puppet state ruled by the Ustaše. On 24 April, the Ustaše commissioner of Banja Luka, Viktor Gutić, issued a decree ordering all citizens who had been born in Serbia or Montenegro to leave the city within five days. Platon refused to abide by the order. On the evening of 4–5 May, he was arrested by the Ustaše. The following night, he and another cleric were taken from their cell and driven to the outskirts of Banja Luka, where they were tortured and killed, and their mutilated bodies pushed into the Vrbas.
Platon's body was discovered on the banks of the Vrbas on 23 May and buried in an unmarked grave the following day. He was one of several hundred Serbian Orthodox clerics killed in the NDH over the course of the war. In 1973, Platon's remains were exhumed and reinterred in the crypt of the Church of the Holy Trinity in Banja Luka. In 1998, Platon was elevated to the status of hieromartyr by the Serbian Orthodox Church, and canonized two years later. His feast day is celebrated annually on 5 May, the date of his death.