Righteous Theodore Komogovinski

Martyr Theodore (Teodor Sladić) Komogovinski was born in the 18th century in the village of Kukuruzari near Mount Kozara (in present-day Croatia), into a poor Serbian family. He took monastic vows and lived in strict poverty at the monasteries of Moštanica and Komogovina in the Banija region, then under Ottoman rule. In 1788 Ottoman forces destroyed Moštanica Monastery; Theodore was seized and burned alive for refusing to renounce his Christian faith. Tradition holds that his right hand survived the fire intact — taken as a sign of his sanctity; the relic was kept at Komogovina Monastery and venerated until World War II. He was glorified by the Holy Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church on May 20, 1966. His feast is kept on "Theodore's Saturday" — the first Saturday of Great Lent, a movable date tied to Pascha; no fixed Julian/Gregorian calendar date exists. He is venerated chiefly within the Serbian Orthodox Church.