Rafailo Momčilović (

Serbian Cyrillic The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet ( sr, / , ) is a variation of the Cyrillic script used to write the Serbian language, updated in 1818 by Serbian linguist Vuk Karadžić. It is one of the two alphabets used to write standard modern Serbian, th ...

: Рафаило Момчиловић; 23 April 1875 – 3 September 1941) was a

Serbian Orthodox The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodox Christian churches. The majority of the population in ...

cleric, abbot of the

Šišatovac Monastery Šišatovac () is a village located in the municipality of Sremska Mitrovica, Serbia. The village has a Serb ethnic majority and its population numbers 211 people (as of 2011). Near the village is the Šišatovac monastery, one of 16 Serbian Or ...

, and

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

. He was murdered in the Genocide of Serbs in the Independent State of Croatia which took place during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Persecution of Serbs in the

Independent State of Croatia The Independent State of Croatia ( sh, Nezavisna Država Hrvatska, NDH; german: Unabhängiger Staat Kroatien; it, Stato indipendente di Croazia) was a World War II-era puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Fascist It ...

began almost immediately after the

invasion An invasion is a military offensive in which large numbers of combatants of one geopolitical entity aggressively enter territory owned by another such entity, generally with the objective of either: conquering; liberating or re-establishing con ...

of the

Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast Europe, Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 unt ...

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

. Ustasha units, administrative

commissars Commissar (or sometimes ''Kommissar'') is an English transliteration of the Russian (''komissar''), which means 'commissary'. In English, the transliteration ''commissar'' often refers specifically to the political commissars of Soviet and Eas ...

and Ustasha youth took up residence in all Serbian Orthodox monasteries throughout

Greater Croatia Greater Croatia ( hr, Velika Hrvatska) is a term applied to certain currents within Croatian nationalism. In one sense, it refers to the territorial scope of the Croatian people, emphasising the ethnicity of those Croats living outside Croatia. I ...

. The monks who had the opportunity to flee, most often fled to either

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

(from Croatia) or to

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = M ...

(from

Dalmatia Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see #Name, names in other languages) is one of the four historical region, historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of ...

and

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

), and those who were caught were sent to internment camps at Jasenovac or killed on the way. Momčilović was kidnapped by the Ustashe on 25 August 1941 and was tortured until his death on 3 September 1941 at Požega. His burial site has yet to be found. Today the

Serbian Orthodox Church The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodox Christian denomination, Christian churches. The majori ...

venerates him as a martyr and saint on 3 September.

Legacy

The icons of the iconostasis of

Ružica Church Ružica Church ( sr-Cyr, Црква Ружица, Crkva Ružica, 'Little Rose Church') is a Serbian Orthodox church located in the Belgrade Fortress, in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. Original church was built in the early 15th century, whil ...

in Belgrade were painted by Rafailo Momčilović, who had gained his iconographic skills from Russian iconographers. It is significant to mention that Rafailo donated all his gain to the building of

Church of Saint Sava The Temple of Saint Sava ( sr-Cyrl, Храм Светог Саве, Hram Svetog Save, lit='The Temple of Saint Sava') is a Serbian Orthodox church which sits on the Vračar plateau in Belgrade, Serbia. It was planned as the bishopric seat and ...

in Belgrade, the work of which had started before World War II. Also, he painted the icons of the iconostasis in the Orthodox church of Gornji Kovilj. There is an art colony in Vojvodina named after him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Momcilovic, Rafailo 1875 births 1941 deaths People from Odžaci Serbian saints of the Eastern Orthodox Church 20th-century Serbian painters Serbian torture victims Serb people who died in the Holocaust People executed by the Independent State of Croatia Serbian male painters 20th-century Serbian male artists

Legacy

See also

References