Joanikije Lipovac

Who was Joanikije Lipovac?

Metropolitan Joanikije Lipovac was a metropolitan of the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral of the Serbian Orthodox Church and in Belgrade in 1999 his name was entered into the List of Serbian Church Saints.

Joanikije was born as Jovan Lipovac to Špiro Lipovac and Marija Damjanović on February 16, 1890 in Stoliv in the Bay of Kotor in what was then the Kingdom of Dalmatia within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He finished elementary school in Prčanj and gymnasium in Kotor. He graduated in Orthodox theology in Zadar and philosophy at the University of Belgrade. After being ordained her served in Kotor and Lastva. From 1925 to 1940 he taught as a professor in Belgrade. In 1939 he was named episcope of the Eparchy of Budim. The following year he was named metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral.

Soon after taking the position of metropolitan, the April War brought the Second World War to Yugoslavia and resulted in the establishment of an independent Montenegro as the protectorate of Fascist Italy. Joanikije collaborated with the occupying Italian and German forces and supported the activities of the Serbian Chetniks. Joanikije was at the head of the column of Montenegrin Chetniks which attempted to flee Yugoslavia at war's end through Germany. Joanikije was captured by Yugoslav Partisans on May 12 near Celje and taken to Zagreb. On orders from Milovan Đilas, he was transferred to Belgrade. He was subsequently killed near Aranđelovac on June 18, 1945.