Данас је: 26.04.2025
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Његово Преосвештенство Епископ бањалучки Г. Јефрем
Епископ бањалучки Јефрем (у свијету Миле Милутиновић) рођен је у селу Буснови код Приједора, 15. априла 1944. године. Шест разреда основне школе завршио је у мјесту рођења, а VII и VIII разред у Санском Мосту, гдје потом похађа гимназију.
Служба Св. Свештеномученику Платону
Today's name of Banja Luka was mentioned for the first time on 6th February 1494, in the Charter of Hungarian King Vladislav II Jagelovic, when it was a part of the Banate of Jajce.
Banja Luka's fortress „Kastel“ is a reliable witness that the area of Banja Luka was settled much earlier. A systematic research, conducted in 1974, identified the remains of a Baden settlement and traces of life from the period which connects the Neolithic with the Bronze Age (2000-1800 BC).
The first inhabitants of this region were the Thracians, Illyrians, Celts, Avars, the Romans. The Roman conquest of these territories and life in Roman times are witnessed by the archaeological findings and written sources, which recorded that the Roman general Germanicus conquered the Mezei, which means that there had been struggles waged on the territory of Banja Luka as well, since that Illyrian tribe had lived there. To ensure the expansion and dominance in the newly conquered regions, the Romans built roads, one of which had certainly gone through Banja Luka. A road station, Kastra, with military and civilian facilities, was formed in the area of the town.
Archaeological discoveries at the site of Haniste and the settlement of Gornji Seher (or Srpske toplice, in English: Serbian Spa), as well as an altar dedicated to the god Jupiter, discovered in 1895 during the work on the bridge over the Crkvena River, testify about the ancient settlement in the area of Banja Luka. On a beautifully carved stone, there is an inscription which translates to „To Jupiter, the biggest genius of this place, Sicinije Macrinus, a consular beneficiary of the Province of Gornja Panonija (in English: Upper Pannonia) has fulfilled the vow willingly and with gratitude“.
Later studies showed that the settlement had developed and enriched in the Late Roman period. Remains of a large Roman building with a semicircular apse on the south side of the projection, which is believed to be the Late Roman basilica, were identified in the central part of the Banja Luka fortress.
The Roman town would represent a framework for the formation of a medieval settlement, although the structures of numerous Roman buildings would be destroyed during the barbarian ravages of the Migration Period, and even in the early Slavic period.
SERBIAN PEOPLE AND ORTODOX CHURCH IN BANJA LUKA
ORTHODOX CHURCH IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
Slavic tribes immigrated to this region from the Carpathians, in the first half of the seventh century. Local traces of the earlier organization of Christian churches were mostly destroyed in the invasions of the Western and Eastern Goths, as well as in the turbulent years of the Migration Period. Some sources mention two Dioceses in the area of the present Bosnia and Herzegovina – the Bestoen Diocese, as well as the early Christian Diocese Baloienensis, in a place of Baloie, somewhere near the today's Municipality of Mrkonjic Grad or Pecka.
Christianity significantly began to expand and establish in our nation in the ninth century, when the holy brothers Cyril and Methodius translated the ecclesial books from Greek to Slavonic and provided people with liturgy in an understandable language.
The Byzantine emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (905-959) in his famous book (“De administrando imperio”, in English: „On Governing an Empire”), from the year 950, notes that the Serbian tribes grouped mainly in the mountainous regions from the Sava River to the Pljevlja River in the west, to the Lima River and the West Morava River in the east and from the Cetina River to the Bojana River in the southwest. In the aforementioned book, it is said that in the 10th century much of the territory where the Serbs were settled was under the rule of the Serbian Prince Caslav. Porphyrogenitus says that in the first half of the 10th century, Bosnia was a part of the Serbian state all the way to the Sava River.
During the rule of Ban Kulin (1180-1204), there was only one Diocese in Bosnia and Herzegovina. At the time, Prince Miroslav, Ban Kulin's brother-in-law and Stefan Nemanja's brother, ruled in Hum and as the Church sources say, he was known as „a determined and loyal son of the Eastern Church“.
In the third decade of the 12th century, Hungaria managed to conquer Bosnia, but during the rule of Ban Mateja Ninoslav (1232-1250) and Prijezda (1250-1278), some parts of Bosnia regained their independence.
King Tvrtko I (1377-1391) definitely got rid of the Hungaria's tutelage and as a descendant of the Nemanjic dynasty he was crowned in the fall of 1377 in the monastery of Mileseva. This ruler helped and developed orthodoxy in Bosnia and he was a loyal ally to Prince Lazar in Kosovo. Orthodox religion progressed, but Tvrtko I was tolerant toward Roman Catholics as well.
After Tvrtko's death in 1391, an internal fight for power began in Bosnia, several incompetent rulers changed, and in 1463, Bosnia was conquered by the Turks (Turkish people).
Saint Sava and the Independence of Serbian Church
Until the year 1219, Serbian people were not congregated by a unique church organization. One part of them was in the territories under the jurisdiction of the Latin Archdiocese of Split and Bar, occasionally of Dubrovnik, and the other part was subordinated to Dioceses of the Ohrid Church. The border between eastern and western churches was passing through Serbian lands until the 12th century.
Rastko, the third son of the Grand Prince Stefan Nemanja, became a monk on Mount Athos (also known as the Holy Mountain) in 1191, receiving the name Sava. It was him who managed to obtain autocephaly of the Serbian Orthodox Church in 1219, from the Emperor Theodore II Laskaris and Patriarch Manojlo Haritopul in Nicaea. The new autocephalous Serbian Church included eight dioceses, where two of them, Dioceses of Zachlumia and Dabar had an important role in the life of the Serbs in the western areas.
Precisely at the time when the Serbian Church gained independence, charges that “the heretics” had taken effect in Bosnia were intensified. The prosecution of “the heretics” was carried out by the Hungarian nobility at the instigation of a Catholic bishop and with the support of the Hungarian king. In fact, these campaigns had political and economic interests, because, in one hand, they allowed the occupation of the Bosnian ruler’s territory and robbing the areas where “the heresy” was allegedly suppressed, in another.
BANJA LUKA DURING THE TURKISH OCCUPATION
The Turks occupied Banja Luka in 1528. The town was strongly developing until 1553, when the seat of the Bey (ruler) of Bosnian Sanjak (district, an administrative division of the Ottoman Empire) was moved from Sarajevo to Banja Luka. The settlement of Donji Seher was a significant town during Ferhat Pasha Sokolovic, especially since 1580 when Bosnia became a Beylerbeylik (a type of country subdivision in the Ottoman Empire), and Banja Luka became an economic and military-political centre of all of today's Bosnian Krajina.
At the beginning of the Turkish occupation, the Muslims lived in the town, while the Christians, especially Orthodox, preferred to stay in villages. The Turks realized that the immigration of the hard-working and capable Orthodox Christians would provide them a comfortable life, so they allowed „the Christians to settle on a desert area on the right bank of the Vrbas River“. Thus, the first Serbian settlement in Banja Luka was founded and it was called Vlah-mahala (in English: Wallach suburb). Between the Kul-mahala and Vlah-mahala, a parish church with a cemetery was built at the settlement of Rebrovac.
During the Austrian-Turkish wars (1683-1739), Austrian troops raided Banja Luka two times, the first time in 1688, when they burned the town and destroyed almost everything that had been created in the years of progress. What they did not destroy during the first attack on Banja Luka, the Austrians finished in 1737, during the famous Battle of Banja Luka.
Serbian Borough
After the victory over the Austrians, Turkish authorities, bringing Serbs to their homes, allowed them to settle on the left bank of the Vrbas River as well, east of Mema-Mahala, populated exclusively by the Muslim population. Thus, a Serbian borough was founded and it was located between the Serbian Orthodox cemetery and Jelic-polje (in English: Jelic’s Field) from one side, and the today’s Srpska Street from the other.
The Serbs also established their own cemetery, where they still bury people, but they did not have the Orthodox Church. They had to go to the Church of Rebrovac, which miraculously had remained intact after the aforementioned Battle of Banja Luka in 1737.
GOSPODSKA STREET, COMMERCIAL AND CULTURAL CENTER
Along with the commercial and economic development, there was the construction of modern shops, residential houses and other buildings. The town slowly lost its oriental style and seemed more like a progressive, European town. The symbol of that new, citizenish Banja Luka was undoubtedly Gospodska Street (in English: Gentle(wo)man’s street), which has retained the primacy and remained as a hallmark of the city to this day.
Chroniclers note that the name of the street was given back in 1878 when a prominent merchant, Tomo Radulovic, attached a big panel on his house, by then called “Pivara” (in English: Brewery), in the main street, where he had personally hand written “Gospo(d)ska Street” (in English: Gentle(wo)man’s street).
Two master Toma’s houses in Gospodska Street had great significance for the cultural life of the Serbian people in Banja Luka: the first, built in 1855 at the beginning of the street, was at the site of the present City Assembly and the Serbian Primary School was located in it. It is exactly this building where Pelagic’s Theological Seminary worked at the time of its foundation in 1866.
At the other end of Gospodska Street, known as Kastel's corner, Tomo Radulovic built a building called “Albania“ in 1863. On the ground floor of that building, there was a storehouse for goods and on the first floor there was the Kasa's Reading Room where the Serbian intelligence was gathering.
Whatever it was called, Gospodska Street was and has remained the heart of the citizenish Banja Luka, a place where most of the cultural life of the town took place during the Austro-Hungarian rule. There is still a building standing there, the former Serbian Home, as a memory of that time.
The decision on the construction of the Serbian Home was made in March 1907. Due to the lack of funds, the construction did not happen. The idea came to life again in 1936, so the construction began on 1st July 1938, and in June 1939, the new Serbian Home was opened and the Serbian Reading Room was located in it. Soon after that, the Second World War happened and the latter authorities “forgot” who owned the building, which still stands in Gospodska Street to this day.
Hotel “Balkan“
The “Balkan” building, owned by the Church community, was the so called “corner building” (in local: “uglovka”) since its east facade was in Gospodska Street, and the north one linked Gospodska Street with the Imperial Road (in local: Carski drum).
Chroniclers record that the Serbian Reading Room was located under the arches of this building, specifically in the back building of the hotel. Thus, hotel “Balkan” became the gathering centre for Banja Luka’s Serbs, mostly intellectuals and merchants. Among them, there was also Petar Kocic, who used to stay at this elite Banja Luka hotel. A building for the Ban Administration would be built at the site of the hotel in 1930/1931 and it would represent the architectural emphasis of this part of the town.
ORTHODOX CHURCHES
The first news on the existence of an Orthodox Church in Banja Luka comes from the 16th century, which does not mean that there weren’t any before that. The data indicate that the Serbs in this town had their own Church very early and that it was on the left side of the Crkvena River, where they had established a little Christian settlement. In 1596, Idriz Pasha gave permission for building an adobe Church in Banja Luka.
Petar (Ivancevic), an abbot of the monastery of Mostanica (about 1870-1914), noted that the Serbs in Banja Luka had built another Church and a school within it in the town, in Milicev sokak (in English: Milic’s Alley), but it burned in the uprising in 1851.
The original drawing of the Church in Banja Luka, from 1853, signed by Jovo Naumovic, the ordering party for the Church construction project, is one of the rare and precious testimonies about Orthodox Churches in Banja Luka, preserved in the archives of the Banja Luka parish.
Pelagic’s Cell Church
Cell churches, built during the Turkish times, had a distinctive look. They were not supposed to be built of bricks, but of wood and they were not allowed to be constantly covered. When constructing, one could not use iron or any colours what so ever. The first was not allowed so the cells would be strong and long-lasting, and the latter so they wouldn’t be colourful and beautiful.
Seeing that the people of Sarajevo succeeded to gain permission from the Porte to build their magnificent Cathedral, the leader of the Serbian people in Banja Luka, through the Patriarchate of Constantinople, referred to the same address with a desire to be allowed to construct a Church of a designated size, that corresponds to the town and the number of worshippers. In the late 1859, the Porte gave permission to “Banja Luka’s rayah to raise a house of prayer of a designated size” which was confirmed by the imperial firman.
Thinking that everything was resolved, the Serbs from Banja Luka and the surroundings began to collect construction materials. But they were wrong. Even with the imperial firman, the construction of an Orthodox Church in Banja Luka did not happen, as well as in 1863, when the Turks prevented them again.
People from Banja Luka built the Cell Church as a temporary solution, continuing to seek permission to construct a big and beautiful Church.
A document that reveals some, so far unknown, facts was retained in this Church. It was a baptismal certificate of Josif Radulovic who was born on 1st May 1869 and baptized on 15th May of the same year. The baptism was performed “at the Church of the Holy Trinity Temple in Banja Luka, Bosnia” which means that the Cell Church was dedicated to the Descent of the Holy Spirit. The document was issued on 20th August 1882 and signed by Parson Vid Kovacevic. The document is also valuable because it has a very clear stamp of the Temple of the Descent of the Holy Spirit.
The Church of Rebrovac
In an Annex of the magazine “The Source of Bosnia and Herzegovina” (in local: “Bosansko-hercegovači istočnik”) for 1888, there are valuable data on the Parish of Rebrovac and its Church. In this parish, there was an old wooden Church, called the Church of Rebrovac, which was set on fire with a riot and burned in 1876, with all of its possessions and notes. A new Church started to be built from solid materials in 1885 and by 1888 it was only walled up and covered. The Church was dedicated to the Nativity of the Theotokos.
In 1798, the Serbs gained permission from the Turkish government to renew the Church, destroyed during the uprising, from the beginning and of the previous dimensions. A Commission examined the wreck and found that “the Church should be reconstructed from the foundation” and pointed out that the repair must be done “without any extensions, but of the previous size”.
The Church of Rebrovac was built by a construction worker Antun Cerovic, who, as it was recorded, worked on getting the job done as thoroughly as possible and he succeeded. The Church of Rebrovac was consecrated on the feast of the Protecting Veil of the Mother of God, on 1st October (by Julian calendar) 1889, and the Episcopal liturgy was served by the Most Reverend Metropolitan Djordje Nikolajevic.
The religious divine service was attended by numerous dignitaries of the government, including the county mayor Baron Lazarini, local military general Leopold Gustav, with the officers’ corps, the town mayor Mr Tartalja and outer district mayor Taberi, as well as close to 3000 people.
SERBIAN SCHOOLS
In Banja Luka and Krajina in general, there were no Serbian schools until 1831/32. Living without any schools, the people were condemned to illiteracy and backwardness. The first, and for a long time the only schools for Serbian children, were the monasteries like the Monastery of Gomionica, for example, but not many of the children were able to attend them.
There are two documents on the establishment of a Serbian primary school in Banja Luka, from the first half of the 19th century. A Turkish record shows that the Turkish government allowed the opening of a Christian school in 1831. Four years later (in 1835), a firman came from Constantinople giving permission for opening a school for Christian children, but it remains unknown whether the school was opened or not.
Mitar Papic wrote: “It is known for a fact that Serbian-Orthodox primary school has worked in Banja Luka since 1856. Since then we can regularly follow the life of this school”.
In 1862, the school worked in a one-floor building owned by the Church community and it was located near the Cell Church. In 1864, the school was moved from that building to the Radulovic-Opujic house, which was bought by the Church community from the merchant Opujic from Trieste and used for the Theological Seminary and Serbian Primary School.
In the first arrangement of the Serbian Orthodox Metropolitanate of Banja Luka and Bihac for 1901, it is said that male primary school was established in 1864 and that it had 143 students. In the female primary school, founded in the same year, there were 14 964 students.
The new building of the Theological Seminary was built in 1871 at the Imperial Road (opposite of the today's main post office, on the corner where the City Assembly is set), so the Serbian Primary School had its own space in this spacious building, the largest building in Banja Luka at the time.
Before the uprising in 1875, there were about fifty Serbian schools in Krajina, although their work was constantly interrupted by the Turkish authorities. During the uprising, the Theological Seminary and the Serbian Primary School were banned. After the uprising, the Theological Seminary has never been restored in Banja Luka, and the Serbian Primary School moved back under the vaults of its building and continued working on 1st October 1879.
In 1881, at the former Theological Seminary building, the than Serbian Primary School, the Church and school community put a panel saying SERBIAN ORTHODOX PRIMARY SCHOOL, written in big Cyrillic letters.
Aware that the new occupying power, in contrast to the last Turkish one, wanted to enslave the soul of the Serbian people, as well as the body, the Serbs struggled for the national, cultural, educational and humanitarian institutions. Relying on the Church community, they reopened the Serbian Primary School, built a Church (in 1879), and then started to renew the Serbian Reading Room, establish the Serbian Singing Association “Jedinstvo” (in English: “Unity”) in 1893, Charity Cooperative of Banja Luka’s Serbian Women (1900), the Serbian Cultural and Educational Society “Prosvjeta” (1902), organize Saint Sava’s sayings, etc.
SERBIAN SINGING ASSOCIATION “JEDINSTVO”
Wanting to show itself to the world as a cultural reformer, the Austrian government made the peoples inherited in the occupied areas some small concessions that did not cost much, knowing that they could often achieve a lot without jeopardizing their own political interests. The government allowed the establishment of cultural, educational and humanitarian associations with national prefix.
Serbian singing associations, which were cultural, social and national centres in Serbia and Vojvodina, had an immense importance in preserving the national consciousness of the Serbian people under a foreign rule in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century in Bosnia and Herzegovina was the era in which singing associations were founded on the confessional and ethnic lines. At that time, Serbian Singing Association “Njegus” (1866) was founded in Tuzla, as well as “Vila” (1887) in Prijedor, “Gusle” (1888) in Mostar, “Sloga” (1888) in Sarajevo and “Jedinstvo” (1893) in Banja Luka. While these associations were developing, the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Serbian patriots helped them strengthen.
The few preserved documents indicate that the Serbian Orthodox Church Community in Banja Luka, an important cultural and spiritual centre of the Serbian nation, founded the Serbian Orthodox Church Singing Association, the latter Serbian Singing Association “Jedinstvo”, on the day of the Presentation of the Holy Theotokos, 4th December 1893.
The Serbian Orthodox Church Singing Association “Jedinstvo” and the Serbian Reading Room were the guiding stars of the Serbian people during the Austro-Hungarian occupation. Realizing that the power of all, especially the small nations, was in preserving the culture and the tradition, the Serbian Reading Room and “Jedinstvo” rose above their basic functions and became agents of the Serbian spiritual revival. During the First and Second World War, the Association was banned, and after the liberation, the communist authorities did not allow its reconstruction.
THE BANATE OF VRBAS IN THE KINGDOM OF YUGOSLAVIA
By the decree of King Alexander I Karadjordjevic, from the 6th January 1929, the former Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was divided into nine regional units (banates), and on 3rd October of the same year, it changed the name into the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. The reason for that was a constant political and economic turmoil in the previous country.
One of the nine banates was the Banate of Vrbas, with Banja Luka as its centre and headquarters. Of the total population of the Banate of Vrbas, 88 percent lived in rural areas. A large number of the illiterate, lack of primary schools and experts in all areas complemented a pretty bleak picture that greeted the first Ban, Svetislav Tisa Milosavljevic, on 8th November 1929 when he arrived to Banja Luka. Well informed and having an enviable military and ministerial career, as well as remembering well the words of King Alexander when he addressed him to this duty that “the Serbs there are the majority, and they are the best of the Serbs”, and that there was some important national work pending, the ban immediately accepted the job. Ban Milosavljevic, a visionary and master builder as Banja Luka had never seen before, built the administrative buildings of the splendid palace of the Ban Headquarters and the Ban Court, clerical buildings, roads, schools, parks and hospitals, the House of King Peter I the Liberator, Sokolski dom (sport-gymnastic club) of King Alexander I the Unifier, established the theatre and the museum, helped companies, launched the “Vrbas Newspaper”, significantly contributed to the completion of the monumental Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity in the city centre and was its patron at the consecration in 1939, regenerated Banja Luka and turned it into a modern European city.
In addition to the calvary that the city had suffered in World War II, the city suffered destruction even in the post-war period, but that time by a catastrophic earthquake on 22nd October 1969. After the earthquake, the city was rebuilt and has taken on a look that still adorns it.
Today, Banja Luka is the administrative, cultural and spiritual centre of the Republic of Srpska.
The construction of Christ the Saviour Cathedral Church, on the foundations of the demolished Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity, bombed and destroyed in 1941 has finally fulfilled the eternal desire of the Banja Luka Serbs to have a monumental Orthodox Church at the most beautiful place, in the heart of the town.
CHRIST THE SAVIOUR CATHEDRAL CHURCH
The strength and the will of the people to determine their faith, hope and love throughout building the churches, in which they will chant to their God, reflects in this sanctuary, as in a kind of a mirror.
The former Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity, in addition to the basic religious one, also had a memorial feature, because it was built at the place where ten Serbs and their old priest were executed in 1809, after the Masici Revolt. The today's Christ the Saviour Cathedral Church, will continue this tradition for eternity, rising prayers to the Lord for all its parishioners and the entire Serbian nation, chanting for the repose of the soul of the Bishop of Banja Luka, the holy martyr Platon and of other martyrs who had suffered for the Holy Cross, the Orthodox faith and our homeland.
During the Turkish occupation, the Orthodox Serbs were not allowed to build splendid churches, the bell could not be heard and the cross could not be seen, so the churches called the cells, such as the Pelagic's one in Banja Luka, were built in secret and hidden places.
The Austro-Hungarian occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1878 did not change a lot when it comes to Orthodox Churches in Banja Luka. On the contrary, immediately upon the entrance of the Austro-Hungarian troops into the town, they seized all the building materials prepared for the construction of the cathedral church for which the land had already been purchased. The material was used for military purposes, without any compensation, of course.
The Church Community of Banja Luka, aware of the fact that there were no Orthodox churches in Banja Luka (the two existing churches were burned by the Turks during the Bosnian uprising in 1876), was forced to build a temporary church in 1879 (near the today's multiplex “Kozara”), the Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit, that is the Holy Trinity.
The unquenchable desire of the local Serbs to build an Orthodox Cathedral Church worthy of its people and the town, which in 1900 became the headquarters of the newly formed Metropolitanate of Banja Luka and Bihac and its first Metropolitan Evgenije (Eugene) Letica, did not perish.
And just when the people of Banja Luka thought that it was finally time to build a great church and when they formed a special Committee to manage it, the Balkan Wars prevented the fulfilment of that dream. Afterwards, World War I came and brought great adversity for the Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina and their houses of prayer. The arrest, internments, and the so called “High treason processes“ followed and Serbian leaders were tried on them... The Austro-Hungarian authorities took the church bells off the Orthodox churches and transformed them to artillery shells, and many religious values had vanished forever.
On 13th June 1921, at a special meeting of the Church Community Government, the issue of building a cathedral church was officially raised, which the chroniclers recorded as a significant event, not only for the Orthodox people, but also for Banja Luka, proud Krajina and the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, at that time. The preparations continued until early April 1922, when the Church Community established a special section for the raising of the church. A project of a known Belgrade architect, Dusan Zivanovic, was chosen. The Cathedral Church was not built at the site of the deteriorated temporary church, as it was previously agreed, but a piece of land, called “Jabucik”, was purchased by a waqf and it was located in the former Serbian Borough.
The work on the Church construction, which according to the plan was supposed to be finished in 3 years, officially started on 27th September 1925, and on 5th October of the same year, the Metropolitan Vasilije consecrated the foundation of the future Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity. The Church project was very ambitious and was supposed to cost eight million dinars (DIN, YUD). The Church Community made great efforts to achieve that, quite astonishing sum for that period of time, it asked the state for help, and its member, Mr Djordje Bajic, was sent to America to collect charitable contributions for the long and eagerly awaited Cathedral Church of Banja Luka. Despite all the difficulties, the money was provided, and the fact that the Commission for the technical approval stated at the minutes that the building was completed 40 days before the expiration of the three construction seasons deadline, in 1928, testified on how the people of Banja Luka were engaged in this construction.
The first divine service in the newly built church, a Thanksgiving service for the ten years since the breach of the Thessaloniki Front, was held on 15th September 1928, and until the mid 1929, the outside of the Church was completely finished.
The Cathedral Church, surrounded by a very nice low iron fence set on concrete balusters, dominated the spacious Square of Dusan the Emperor, surrounded by streets on all four sides. A low grass, ornamental shrubs and hedges were around it. The church stood on a white marble pedestal, three steps high. An oval staircase, also made of marble, led from the pedestal to the three platforms before the entrance to the church.
The Church facade was of two colours, alternating horizontal yellowish and reddish bands, and as remembered by the elderly people of Banja Luka, the church reminded them of the Monastery of Decani.
The works on the interior of the Church of the Holy Trinity began in 1938, and they engaged several academic painters - Mr Jovan Bijelić, who painted several icons for the iconostasis of the Church, Mr Svetislav Strala and Mr Veljko Stanojevic, who did the frescoes, while the draft of the iconostasis, chandeliers and woodwork was done by Mr Grigorije Samojlov and the iconostasis was hand-carved by Mr Dragutin Barac. The work was continued with the instalment of electricity, loudspeaker, microphone and mounting of a mechanism for the power ringing of the church bell, and everything was completed in 1939.
The Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity was consecrated on the day of the Ascension of Our Lord, on 18th May 1939, when a great ceremony of the Church and its people was held in Banja Luka. The Metropolitan Dositej, a legate of His Holiness the Patriarch and the administrator of the Diocese of Banja Luka pontificated at the occasion. The patron of the Church was the first Ban of the Banate of Vrbas, Svetislav-Tisa Milosavljevic. The ceremony was attended by the representatives of the Senate and National Assembly, the church, civil and military authorities, various corporations, a number of associations and over 20 000 citizens and farmers from all over the country.
The Church was built in the Serbian-Byzantine style, with five domes, while the frescoes were a good copy of the iconography of our old endowments of Mileseva, Patriarchate, Studenica... Its melodic bells were a gift of the late King Alexander the Unifier. The then press noted that the Cathedral Church in Banja Luka was one of the monumental buildings, and that “based upon the beautiful art of making, it is one of the most beautiful churches throughout the Kingdom”.
Banja Luka's Cathedral Church (dimension 22x10x19x50 meters) with its high tower (46 meters) was surrounded by the Ban Headquarters and the Ban Court during the times of the Banate of Vrbas, which made the Square of Dusan the Emperor (now the Square of the Serbian Rulers) an ornament of Banja Luka, but it also testified on the intention of the then government to emphasize the closeness between the church and the state in the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
The people of Banja Luka did not enjoy its magnificent church for a long time. In early April 1941, at the day of the Annunciation of the Mother of God, the Germans bombed Banja Luka. On Saint Lazarus Saturday, on 12th April at 16:25 hours, the target of the German bombers was the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity. One bomb hit the roof of the altar apse and exploded at the altar. Although, according to the experts, the damage of the Church could be repaired, the notorious commander Viktor Gutic ordered a demolition of the Church to the ground and a destruction of all traces of its existence. At the time, the Church of Saint George at the community of Petricevac was also demolished.
On 4th May of the same year, the Ustashas (The Ustasha - Croatian Revolutionary Movement) took Bishop Platon (Jovanovic) of Banja Luka and after cruel tortures, in the night between the 4th and 5th May, murdered him and thrown him into the Vrbanja River, near Banja Luka. Along with the Bishop Platon, the priest Dusan Subotic from the municipality of Gradiska was murdered as well.
In mid July, the priests who survived the tortures of the Ustasha were taken to the encampment Caprag, near the town of Sisak. The Certificates of Baptisms, Marriages and Deaths were confiscated, which was done in order to abolish every trace of the existence of the Serbian people in this region.
After the World War II, the communists did not allow the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity in the centre of Banja Luka to be reconstructed, and they quickly decided to build a Monument to the Fallen Soldiers at the site of the former Cathedral Church.
For thirty whole years, from 1941 to 1972, the Orthodox worshipers of Banja Luka did not have a house of prayer. The construction of the today’s Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity began in 1962, at the time of the Bishop Andrew (Andrej Forusic), and it lasted until 1972. That is when the Church was consecrated, and although incomplete, it began giving service to its people, because some of the elderly worshippers were afraid that they would not live to see it completely finished.
That church, a much more modest than the demolished one, was built in the courtyard of the Bishop's residence and the desire of the people of Banja Luka to have their own monumental house of prayer in the town centre had to wait for a long time.
In 1991, after a multi-party elections and the change of the communist government, the conditions were created for the restoration of the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity at its old foundations. In the same year, the Initiative Board was formed, which became a Construction Board two years later, with His Excellence Bishop Jefrem of Banja Luka as the president of the board and the archpriest Ratko Radujković, as the vice president.
Under their leadership, at wartime 1993, the local Serbian people mustered the strength and renewed the foundations of the Church, and on the 17th October of that year, they were consecrated by His Holiness the Serbian Patriarch Pavle, with a number of archbishops, priests and deacons, and in the presence of a large number of worshippers. The patron of the foundations was Mr Lazar Kovacevic.
The new calvary of the Serbian people and its Church during the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina delayed the continuation of the construction. The post-war years were used for fundraising, procurement and preparation of construction materials, which lasted until the jubilantly year of Christianity, 2000. Since then, Christ the Saviour Cathedral Church was resurrecting in front of the people of Banja Luka, unto the glory of God and to the joy and pride of the Serbian people.
Truth to be told, on its session, on 14th August 1997, the Board for the Construction of Christ the Saviour Cathedral Church decided to start the third phase of the work which involved building and coverage of the Church, without any handicraft. During the same year, the project of stone and all the decorative elements for the Cathedral Church was also finished. The ceremonial signing of the contract between the Serbian Orthodox Church Community of Banja Luka, as the investor, and the Construction Company „Krajina“, as the contractor, was held on 5th September 1999, when the continuation of work on the renovation and construction of Christ the Saviour Cathedral Church was officially published. It was decided that the Church would be built in three layers, brick-concrete-stone, and following the recommendation of a famous petrologist from Belgrade, professor Nenad Bilbija, a natural two-tone red and yellow travertine from Mesopotamia was chosen as the stone that would cover the Church.
The first quantity of travertine arrived to the construction site and although the construction season was already near its end, it was decided to proceed with the construction. On 5th November 1999, a short divine service, a moleben (a public prayer meeting), held at the reconstructed foundations of the future Christ the Saviour Cathedral Church, officially resumed the construction work, to the delight of the worshippers who in this act saw the foundation of their existence in this region, after the terrifying Patriotic War (War in Bosnia and Herzegovina). Unfortunately, the works could not be continued because the supplier of the stone had not complied with the terms.
The construction season of 2000 began with immense work. The third phase of the construction of Christ the Saviour Church began on 25th April of the same year, according to the earlier arrangement made with the Construction Company „Krajina“. „Krajina“, as a contractor, hired a Belgrade Company “Sarko-Engineering”, whose construction workers had mastered the specific construction technology and the Church began to grow day by day.
In the year 2000, a jubilantly year of Christianity, Orthodox believers from Banja Luka celebrated a hundred-year-anniversary of their Eparchy, as well. A double celebration was magnified by another enjoyment of praise – the canonisation of the Holy Martyr Platon, Bishop of Banjaluka, who was brutally murdered by the Ustasha on 5th May 1941. In 2001, it was planned that the construction of the Church would be continued up to the half-domes and the fifth floor of the bell tower.
Granite pillars, portals, rosettes and other ornaments made of granite and marble were placed down. Four bells, the total weight of six and a half tons, built in the famous „Grasmeyer Bell Factory“ from Innsbruck, Austria, just as those of the former Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity, arrived to Banja Luka on 15th December 2001, and the most modern clocks, made in the same factory, came with them.
The bells, the heaviest of which weighted three tons and one hundred kilograms and the easiest 760 kilograms, were based upon the bells of Saint Sava's Church at Vracar and made of the best alloy in order to achieve the cleanest sound. In August of the same year, six crosses, made of stainless steel and gold plated in the famous workshop „Dimitrijevic“ in Belgrade, arrived for the church domes and the bell tower. By the end of the construction season of 2001, the Church was walled up until the arches, the bell tower until the bifora (a mullioned window) and there were four granite pillars with bases and capitals placed inside the Church. With the completion of the construction season, the Church was protected by an improvised roof in order to wait for the work to continue in 2002.
The works on the construction of the Church were continued on 1st April 2002. On 23rd July of the same year, His Grace Bishop Jefrem consecrated the bells, which were installed on 5th August by the workers of the „Grasmeyer Bell Factory“ from Innsbruck, which produced them. The installation of the electric percussion and bell management with the help of a computer are an innovation in relation to the old bells, and in addition to classical methods of ringing, they can be programmed to play various other appropriate tunes, such as the Hymn to Saint Sava. The clocks in the tower are regulated with an electromagnetic receiver that receives radio waves from the Time and Standard Frequency Station DCF77 in Frankfurt, Germany.
Due to the delays in stone delivery and the lack of money, the Church was still not covered at the end of the construction season of 2002, as planned, and it spent the winter under an improvised roof again. In 2003, the Board for the Construction of Christ the Saviour Cathedral Church decided to work with no breaks and even after the construction season in order to make up for the lost time. They used every beautiful day to complete all the necessary work prior to the covering of the church. Four little and one big dome were constructed and the development of decorative elements on the sites, rosettes and archivolts was all done. At the end of that year, the people of Banja Luka were able to see what the Church would look like, because by the completion of the construction, the Church got a beautiful two-coloured facade and the decorations had come to the fore.
With the beginning of the construction season of 2004, the bell tower was entirely constructed, as well as all of the roof cargo wreaths and the coverage of the Church domes and the bell tower with wooden panels was completed, as well as the installation of all the smaller granite pillars with bases and capitals under the Church gallery. On Saint Prophet Elijah's Day (2nd August) of the same year, archpriest-stavrophor Ratko Radujkovic consecrated six gilded crosses, which were placed on a large dome, four small ones and the Church bell tower in the next few days. The largest cross is almost 2,5 meters high and it weighs 350 kilograms. The workers form the Russian Company „Konversia“ from the Town of Tryokhgorny, Chelyabinsk Oblast (Oblast - a Russian federal subject) in the Ural Mountains region, came to Banja Luka and the Church domes and the bell tower soon shone the golden shine, covered with gilded sheet-metal.
The size of the new Church is 22,10x19,50 square meters and of the bell tower 11x11 square meters and it is 47.10 meters high, which means that it is the tallest building in the city centre. About 20 000 positions of the travertine stone of monolith red and yellow colour was built in the Church and the bell tower.
The year of 2004 was inscribed in the history of the Diocese of Banja Luka in golden letters, because on the 26th September of that year, the first Divine Liturgy was served in the walled and roofed Church. This marked the resurrection of the Church bombed on 12th April 1941 and completely demolished in August of the same year by the order of the notorious commander Victor Gutic.
With His Eminence Metropolitan Nikolaj, who presided at the Liturgy, the Metropolitan of Povardarie Exarch of the Autonomous Ohrid Archdiocese Jovan (John), Bishop of Banja Luka Jefrem (Ephraim), Bishop of Osijecko polje and Baranja Lukijan (Lucian), Bishop of Slavonia Sava, Bishop of Hum Maksim (Maxim), Bishop of Gornji Karlovci Gerasim and Bishop of Dalmatia Fotije (Photius) also served at the Liturgy.
The magnificent ceremonial procession past through the city before the Liturgy, from the today's Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity to the new Cathedral Church, down the streets of Saint Sava and King Peter Karadjordjevic I. The procession was greeted by tens of thousands of citizens of Banja Luka, who in an espalier eminently took part in the ceremony, despite the cold weather and the constant rain which did not stop. The ceremony was attended by the highest representatives of the republic, state and city authorities, culture delegates and numerous guests from home and abroad.
Banja Luka assumed its original appearance again, its uprooted soul was returned and a new life breathed in - said Bishop Jefrem of Banja Luka in his address to the worshippers. Wanting the Cathedral to shine with its inner beauty as well, the Church Community decided that the walls and the portals should be decorated by mosaics. In late September and early October of 2005, workers of “golden hands”, the so called Crnotravci, the unmatched famous masons from Serbia, worked at the Church. They applied a special mortar surface for the mosaics on the Church walls.
Making mosaics on the portals and in the Church interior was agreed with a Belgrade painter Djuro Radulovic, an artist who gained his experience through three decades of a very successful work in this wall painting technique. His mosaics adorn the Saint Petka's Church and Saint Mark's Church, both in Belgrade, the Monastery of Ostrog, as well as the Monastery of Maine, the monastery of Saint Nicholas in Ozren in the Republic of Srpska... Radlovic is especially proud of the mosaics he depicted at the Memorial Chapel in Kamerovo, Russia. On the main portal of Christ the Saviour Cathedral Church, there is a mosaic icon of Christ, conducted by the example of the Saviour's mosaic icon in Hagia Sofia. The Theotokos with the Christ, inspired by the Monastery of Hilandar, looks at the north side of the Ban's Palace (Cultural Centre „Banski dvor“), while the icon of the Holy Trinity, inspired by the famous icon, the Old Testament Trinity from the Sergey's Larvae near Moscow, made by Andrej Rublev, shines from the southern portal towards the City Assembly. All of these mosaics were made with the Murano paste, a natural material produced in Venice, whose technology is kept as a state secret.
The floors of Christ the Saviour Church are made from the best quality granite in red, blue, white and yellow colour with ornaments, such as the floors in the Saint George's Church on top of the Hill Oplenac or the Saint Peter's Church in Rome. All the decorative elements of the Church – the rosettes, the archivolts, the small pillars with bases and capitals on all of the domes and the bell tower, as well as the fence of the Church gallery were made of white Carrara marble from Italy. The covering of the Church walls was done with the “jupa“ stone.
On the portals of the Cathedral Church in Banja Luka, an academic mosaic painter Djuro Radulovic, who has already proven his skills in making mosaics, made the mosaics in the apse of the altar, on 46,5 square meters, consisting of the following compositions: the Protecting Veil of the Mother of God, the Communion of the Apostles, the four holy liturgists and the seven medallions of the saints. These mosaics already adorn the temple of Christ the Saviour Church. The chandeliers in the Serbian-Byzantine style were made by a specialized company from Athens. The Church is illuminated by a large central chandelier with 160 bulbs, an oros of 12 segments, 24 icons and 12 lamps, as well as with four chandeliers with 40 bulbs, set under four vaults.
The iconostasis in a wood-engraving, a bas-relief and the required inventory in the same style - two cantor's stands, three thrones, three tables for the venerating icons and the tomb of Christ, were all made in the workshop “Drvo Dekoracija” in the town of Arandjelovac. The icons on the iconostasis, made in the Serbian-Byzantine style, are the work of an iconographer, priest Velimir Klincov.
The altar table, sacred vessels, crosses and other inventory needed for the Church altar, all of a beautiful workmanship and excellent quality, came from the famous Orthodox Church Shop „Sofrino“ from Moscow.
Christ the Saviour Cathedral Church will be able to receive more than a thousand believers. The Church has the most modern way of heating and cooling. Besides the Church, another, official building for the priests was constructed in the same style, because this is a “living church”, people will praise their Lord in it, come to light a candle, consecrate their special bread and a sweet boiled wheat dish (in local: žito or koljivo) for their patron saint's feast day, will be married and baptized in it...
ARCHPRIEST STAVROPHOR RATKO RADUJKOVIC, EPISCOPAL VICAR OF BANJA LUKA
Archpriest stavrophor Ratko Radujkovic was born in 1942 in the village of Drugovici, in the municipality of Laktasi, to a father Mitar and mother Jovanka, whose maiden name was Bojic.
He finished the Saint Sava Orthodox Seminary in 1963 in Belgrade.
He was ordained a deacon on 21st September 1965, and a presbyter (priest) on 19th August 1976 by the Bishop Andrej of Banja Luka. From 1965 to 1976, he served as a deacon in the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity and as an officer of the Diocese Management Board of the Diocese of Banja Luka. From 1976 to 1982, he served in the first parish of Banja Luka and from 1982 to 2009 he performed the duty of the dean of the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity and served as a parson in the second Banja Luka parish. From 2009 to 2011, he performed the duty of the dean of the renewed Christ the Saviour Cathedral Church. Today, he is the Episcopal Vicar of Banja Luka and a member of the Church Court of the Diocese of Banja Luka.
He has two children: Aleksandar (1967) and Vladislav (1973).
Patron Saint’s Day: Holy Chains of the Saint Apostle Peter
Contact: 051/233-370
ARCHVICAR DRAGAN MAKSIMOVIC, THE DEAN OF THE CHURCH
Parson: Archvicar Dragan Maksimovic was born on 31st December 1981 in Banja Luka, to a father Srbobran and mother Borislavka, whose maiden name was Sladojevic.
He graduated from the Saint Petar of Dabar and Bosnia Orthodox Seminary in 2001 in the town of Foca and the Academy of Orthodox Theology in Moscow in 2007 in Russia.
He was ordained a deacon on 31st October 2007 in the community of Cesma and a presbyter on 12th July 2009 in the community of Petricevac by the Bishop Jefrem of Banja Luka.
He is the parson of the first Banja Luka parish. Before coming to this parish, he served at the Eparchial Church of the Holy Trinity in Banja Luka and as an officer of the Diocese Management Board of the Diocese of Banja Luka.
He is married to Milanka Maksimovic, maiden name Popovic.
He has one child: Sofija (2009).
Patron Saint’s Day: Saint Nicholas of Myra the Wonderworker
Contact: Phone/fax: 051 233 370; e-mail:
PRIEST (in Greek: HIEREUS) DRAGAN GRUJIC, MTh
Parson: Priest Dragan Grujic, MTh, was born on 13th October 1974 in Banja Luka, to a father Momir and mother Mileva, maiden name Peulic.
He graduated from the Faculty of Orthodox Theology of the University of Belgrade in 2001. He finished his post-graduate studies at the same faculty and a master’s thesis in 2008.
He was ordained a deacon on 21st November 2011 in the Monastery of Mostanica and a presbyter on 25th November 2001 in the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity in Banja Luka, by the Bishop Jefrem of Banja Luka.
He serves in a part of the second Banja Luka parish and as a military priest at the Headquarters for the support to the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
He is married to Marijana Grujic, maiden name Mladenovic.
He has two children: Ana (2003) and Katarina (2009).
Patron Saint’s Day: Saint John the Baptist
Contact: Phone number: 051 233 371; e-mail:
PRIEST (in Greek: HIEREUS) BORISLAV DJURICIC
Parson: Priest Borislav Djuricic was born on 12th April 1980 in the municipality of Doboj, to a father Milovan and mother Brankica, whose maiden name was Stokanovic.
He finished the Three Holy Hierarchs Orthodox Theological Seminary in 1999 in the municipality of Srbinje. He graduated from the Academy of Music of the University of Istocno Sarajevo (Department of Sacred Music and Chanting) on 20th June 2004.
He was ordained a deacon on 28th August 2004 in Bacvani – the municipality of Kozarska Dubica and appointed a parish deacon at the Church of the Nativity of the Theotokos in the community of Rebrovac – Banja Luka. He was ordained a presbyter on 20th June 2008 by the Bishop Jefrem of Banja Luka and appointed a military priest at the barracks “Kozara” in Banja Luka. He serves in a part of the second parish of Banja Luka.
He is married to Natasa Djuricic, born Radosavljevic. They have three children: Isidora (2005), Emilija (2008) and Nikola (2010).
Patron Saint’s Day: Saint Archdeacon Stephen
Contact: Phone number: 051 233 371; e-mail:
PRIEST (in Greek: HIEREUS) DRAGAN VIDOVIC
Parson: Priest Dragan Vidovic was born on 9th November 1982 in Banja Luka, to a father Brane and mother Dragica, whose maiden name was Vidovic.
He graduated from The Saints Cyril and Methodius Serbian Orthodox Theological Seminary in the town of Prizren (temporarily in the town of Nis), and at the moment, he is a senior undergraduate at the Faculty of Orthodox Theology of the University of Belgrade.
He was ordained a deacon on 24th October 2010 at the Church of the Reverend Mother Paraskeva in the community of Kuljani, and a presbyter on 27th October 2010 at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Banja Luka, by the Bishop Jefrem of Banja Luka.
He is a parson of the third parish of Banja Luka.
He is married to Sandra Vidovic, maiden name Pesic.
Patron Saint’s Day: Saint John the Baptist
Contact: Phone number: 051 233 371; e-mail:
PRIEST (in Greek: HIEREUS) MIODRAG KOPANJA
Parson: Priest Miodrag Kopanja was born on 7th February 1980 in Bugojno, to a father Danilo and mother Nevenka, whose maiden name was Zubic.
He graduated from the Three Holy Hierarchs Orthodox Theological Seminary in 2000 in the municipality of Srbinje and the Faculty of Orthodox Theology of the University of Belgrade in 2011.
He was ordained a deacon on 3rd April 2011 at the Church of the Protecting Veil of the Mother of God in the community of Trn, and a presbyter on 10th April 2011 at the Church of the Nativity of the Theokos in the municipality of Kotor Varos, by the Bishop Jefrem of Banja Luka.
He serves as a parson of the fourth parish of Banja Luka.
He is married to Marija Kopanja, born Mijailovic. They have one child: Marta (2012).
Patron Saint’s Day: Saint Nicholas of Myra the Wonderworker
Contact: Phone number: 051 233 371, e-mail:
DEACON ZORAN DJURIC
Deacon Zoran Djuric was born on 19th April 1981 in the municipality of Prijedor, to a father Milan and mother Jelena, whose maiden name was Djumic.
He graduated from Three Holy Hierarchs Orthodox Theological Seminary in 2000 in the municipality of Srbinje and the Faculty of Orthodox Theology of the University of Belgrade in 2008.
He was ordained a deacon on 31st August 2008 at the Church of the Holy Trinity, in a village of Vlatkovici – the Parish of Imljani.
He is a parish deacon at Christ the Saviour Cathedral Church.
He is married to Bojana Djuric, born Kontic.
He has one child: Milos (2011).
Saint Patron’s Day: Saint Great Martyr George – George’s Day
Contact: Phone number: 051 233 371; e-mail:
Bishop Jefrem (Ephraim) of Banja Luka (worldly name Mile Milutinovic) was born on 15th April 1944 in the village of Busnova near the municipality of Prijedor. In his birth place, he finished six grades of primary school, and the seventh and eighth grade, as well as the Grammar School, in the municipality of Sanski Most. In mid 1964, he went for a novice to the Monastery of Raca, in the Diocese of Zica. He became a monk on 9th July 1967 in the Monastery of Liplje, Diocese of Banja Luka. In the same year, he enrolled in a Theological Seminary in the Monastery of Krka and he completed it in 1971 with honours. He ordained the holy order of deacon by Bishop Andrej of Banja Luka on 14th January 1968 in the Cathedral Church in Banja Luka. After he had graduated from the Theological Seminary, the hierodeacon ordained the holy order of hieromonk on 14th June 1970, on the Trinity Sunday, in the same Church and by the same bishop.
After he had graduated from the Theological Seminary in 1971, he was sent to continue his education at the Academy of Orthodox Theology in Moscow, and in 1975 he graduated with honours and with the title of the Candidate of Theology for the thesis “The Doctrine of Saint Vasilije (Basil) the Great on Monasticism”. The work was evaluated excellent and recommended for printing.
He was consecrated with the title of synkellos in 1975. In the same year, he moved from the Diocese of Banja Luka in the concatenation of clergy of the Diocese of Dalmatia and he joined the brotherhood of the Monastery of Krka. By the decision of the Holy Episcopal Synod, on 2nd September 1975, synkellos Jefrem became a deputy teacher at the Theological Seminary of the Holy Three Hierarchs in the Monastery of Krka. In addition to these duties, he performed the duties of a teacher and then the duty of a teacher in chief. In the monastery he acted as a parish priest of the monastery parish in Kistanje and he managed a part of the monastery economics.
On 1st June 1978 he was elected Vicar Bishop of Moravica. The chirotony was done on 17th September 1978 in the Cathedral Church in Belgrade by the Serbian Patriarch German, Bishop Stefan of Zica and Bishop Nikolaj of Dalmatia.
After two years spent in Belgrade as a Vicar Bishop, on 19th May 1980, he was elected the Bishop of Banja Luka. The enthronement of Bishop Jefrem took place on 1st June 1980 in Banja Luka, in the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity by the Bishop Andrej of Srem, as a representative of the Holy Episcopal Synod and in the presence of the Dabro-Bosnian Metropolitan Vladislav and Lord Bishop Nikolaj of Dalmatia, Irinej of Nis, Milutin of Timok, Jovan of Lepavina, Vasilije of Zvornik and Tuzla, Vasilije of Australia and New Zealand, and most of the priests of the Diocese of Banja Luka and a large number of believers from Banja Luka and the wider area of the diocese.
Bishop Jefrem found a much more favourable situation in the diocese than his predecessors, Bishops Vasilije and Andrej. Many things had already been done in order to restore the Diocese and the political conditions were more favourable and significantly exploited.
Unfortunately, some tragic events happened, such as the destruction of the joint state and a civil war with other severe consequences for the Serbian people and Serbian Orthodox Church. In those times, people did what was possible and what the situation allowed. First of all, the canonical principles of the Diocese structure were empowered and it created the conditions for a stronger momentum in all areas of the church life and its results would be seen from the data mentioned forth below.
In the previous period (1980-2007) in the Diocese of Banja Luka, Bishop Jefrem consecrated 126 new churches, 38 churches were generally restored and 89 churches are currently under construction. At the same time, 33 parish homes were built and consecrated. The Bishop's Palace was generally restored and consecrated.
With a permit of the civil authorities and the blessing of the Bishop, religion as a regular subject in all primary schools was organized in the Diocese. The number of believers, communicants and church marriages has increased in all the parishes.
In the post-war period, which is extremely difficult, both in political and economic terms, the Church is increasingly taking its rightful place in the life of the Serbian people, showing a millennial eternal youth and vitality, and the Lord, as in apostolic times, adds and multiplies those who walk down the path of salvation.