Knezica

There were following parishes on the north hillsides of the Kozara mountain, in the central part of Knespolje (Republic Srpska): Jelovac, Knezica and Medjuvodje which nowadays make one parish. The seat of this parish is Knezica which is between Kozarska Dubica (16 km) and Prijedor (16 km).

       The Serbs populated this region from ancient times and the population density has been the biggest since the 16th century, after the Turkish occupation of this area. The Turkish reign until the 19th century was marked by resistance and uprisings by the local people. They paid their taxes but if their honour was at stake they would answer with old-fashioned pistol.
      Churches were built far from the roads at that time, they were made of wood and roofed with shingle, and not a single one of those churches was not preserved until nowadays.
      Deakon Avakum, who was impaled by the Turks, originated from Knespolje.

    Austria - Hungary reign was also the time of controlled freedom - Orthodoxy and education were allowed only at the extent that Austia - Hungary government believed was enough. Not only churches but also Serbian schools were built on priests' initiative in Medjuvodje (Urmovci) 1908, Dvoriste (Knezica) 1911, Donji Jelovac 1913 and Brekinja (finished in 1920).
      Serbian people of this region were enabled to have normal religious and national life when Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenians was formed.
    These regions became the part of NDH in 1941 and clergymen of these parishes were taken to Ustashas' camps (Jelovac priest Djuro Sarac, Knezica priest Milan Labus and Medjuvodje priest Blagoje Siljegovic) and after that they were expelled to Serbia. Communists later falsified the truth - the story that priests fled to Serbia had a significant influence on alienation between people and church in the period after the war. The members of Communist Youth Legaue 'spontaneously' welcomed Knezica priest as a traitor and forced him to leave his parish in 1945. Jelovac priest hadthe same fate and only Medjuvodje priest returned to his house.
      There was the biggest massacre of the Serbs in the former Yugoslavia on the territory of these parishes in 1942 (Kozara offensive). In addition to that, there is almost impossible to find a household from which at least one member was not taken to the

infamous Ustashas' concentration camp Jasenovac. The Communist Party wanted to hide a national character of this suffering and it constantly emphasised the suffering of the municipality Bosanska Dubica instead of the suffering of Serbian people. There is a fact in their reports that municipality obtained its prewar population only in 1972 and they ignored the fact of mechanical population inflow (from Cazin) to municipality.Municipality Kozarska (Bosanska) Dubica had a population of 33,550 before the Second World War. There had been killed 18,495 people out of this number (most of them were from Knespolje).
Temples were not spared either. Temples in Knezica, Brekinja and Vlaskovci were torn down while the temples in Donji Jelovac and Medjuvodje were looted and desecrated. This Ustashas' misdeed was finished by Communists in the postwar period - Donji Jelovac temple was turned to warehouse of „Peasants' and Workers' Cooperative“, while Medjuvodje temple was completely torn down in the 1950s.

There was a period when the Orthodoxy was suppressed and the church properties were deprived.

While some people joined Communist movement, either in free will or because of fear, and embraced the false brotherhood and unity, their neighbours',friends' and brothers' monuments were used for paving the stairs. Unfortunately, there are many similar examples in Dubica municipality! Many people were so scared that they refused to baptise or to receive priests in their houses and they didn't celebrate their Slavas. Consequences are still visible nowadays. Only after the Homeland War the Orthodoxy is freed from different pressures and it got its freedom.Fifty-year-long Communist (anti-Orthodox) reign performed its duty - materialism and penetration of different religious sects (Adventists and Jehovah witnesses) are obvious, but the Othodoxy holding up is certain and irrepressible.

All those parishes have been without priests in the period between

1941 and 1993. The priest Zeljko Jevdjenic has been here since 1993. After the introduction of the Orthodox Religious Education to primary schools there is an opportunity for the new church's mission in this area. The religious services has been performed in the kindergarten since the beginning till today, because there are not any elementary conditions and while the temple building and other buildings needed for the parish are being restorated.

Temple in the village Pobrdjani dedicated to St Vasilije Ostroski

Thanking to the believers interceding there was built the sepulchar temple in the village Donji Jelovac dedicated to St Ignjatije Bogonosac (pious endowment of Mr Ostoja Gnjatovic in 2002.), the sepulchar temple in the village Pobrdjani dedicated to St Vasilije Ostroski (pious endowment of Mr Borko Bosiocic 2006), bell tower in the village Brekinja and unfinished bell tower in Medjuvodje. The most of these temples are built on the foundations of the torn down ones.
Despite all the troubles in Knespolje and thanks to the help of the local people, they managed to put a roof on the building of the temple of 'Holy Mother's of God Assumption' in Knezica but unfortunately it was all that has been done there so far. The building of Knezica temple (the centre of Knespolje) started in 1991. and it has been building for 15 years now but there is so much work to do before it will be finished. Unfortunately, we know that the only Serbian feild-Knespolje is still without its cathedral temple!

We,the young ones who gather at these sanctuaries and who get to know our faith through our education and meetings with priests during the last decade and as we become grown up people we want to use this way to make people aware of the situation and to help finishing the building of our temple. This appeal is also our attempt to make you help as much as you can either by donations to the temple or by persuading someone else to do the same, and you can do it forwarding this mail to your friends or to people who you know that want and can help or you can (if it is possible) to give marketing support to our action. Disregarding the fact that you are financially able to donate something for the temple, you are welcome to our website Memory book, and to enter the names of your living or dead relatives who will be mentioned during the Liturgy.

Parishes History

Jelovac parish

The Temple of God's Assumption was built in 1898 and consecrated in 1899. It was built of wood and firstly it was set in the hamlet Cvijici in the east of today's temple. Donji Jelovac temple was robbed during the World War II. After the war there was a warehouse for 'Peasants' and Workers' Cooperation' in 1945 and after that it was left to be ruined by the time.First restoration was done in 1971 despite the local Communists disruptions. The bell tower was restored in 1997. Parish house was built in 1913 and it was turned to school , it exists today but it is taken away from the parish.

Knezica Parish

'Temple of the Holy Mother's of the God Shroud' was built and consecrated in 1899.It was in the Pavici hamlet until 1920 and then it was moved to Knezica. During the Second World War the temple was burned and torn down and the church's land was taken away. There are a textile clothing factory and few family houses now on that place. Four dunums were given to the church in 1990 and on this land foundations for the new temple were set.Six more dunums were bought in 1998. Branch temple of 'Holy Mother's of God Assumption' in Brekinja was built and consecrated in 1893 and it was torn down in World War II. Three dunums of the taken away land were returned. The bell tower was built on the place of this temple in 1998. Religious service space in Knezica was turned into the kindergarten in 1993 whereas parish house has never existed here(its building started in 1999).

Medjuvodje Parish

The 'Temple of the birth of the Holy Mother of God' was built and consecrated in 1886. It was robbed and desecrated during the World War II. It was torn down in the middle of the 1950s and the local Communists sold the bell to the village Tramosnja. At the site of this temple the building of the bell tower started in 1998. Branch temple of 'Holy Mother of God Assumption' in Vlaskovci was built in 1898 and torn down during the World War II.