St. Bogoljub Gakovich (Hieromartyr)

St. Bogoljub Gakovich came to the United States in 1928 and then to the Iron Range in 1932. He and his wife, Ksenija, had three boys. Along with the parishes on the Iron Range he served in McKeesport, Steelton, Chicago, and Kansas City. During the Depression, he worked very hard to activate church life among the Orthodox on the Range. In 1935, he returned to Plaški in Lika, Yugoslavia (now present day Croatia). In June of 1941, he was arrested by the Nazis, and with his Bishop St. Sava (Svetozar Trlajić) of Gornji Karlovac and others (including fellow Priests Đuro Stojanović and Stanislav Nasadilo) was confined to a barn for a month. After a month of suffering, he was taken to Gospić prison, then to Jadovno Camp. There they tied his hands and tied his arms to another person and one of them was shot in the head and pushed into the deep pits dragging the other person down to die either of the drop or from dehydration/starvation.

Father Saint Bogoljub Gakovich served as Parish Priest of our St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Church (McKeesport, PA) from January 1933 until June 1934.

His martyric death serves both as an inspiration but also a sobering warning to us all about radical ideologies.  

He was glorified by the Orthodox Church in 2004.

The image and portions of this article were taken from All Saints of North America Orthodox Church