During the Second World War the
Gornokarlovatsky Diocese found itself on the territory of the puppet
Independent Croatian State and suffered in ways that had never been seen
before. It seems as if most of the devilish evil of the Croat fascists
fell to its lot. Obviously, the tragedy was that the Diocese was located
in the very heart of the newly-formed State, very close to the Croat
capital of Zagreb. During the genocide which took place between 1941 and
1945, 65 Orthodox priests were murdered by the Ustashi, 116 churches
were completely destroyed, 39 others seriously damaged and over 160
parish and monastic libraries were completely or partially destroyed.
Vladyka Sabbas was born on 6
July 1884 in Mol to the family of Stephen and Elizabeth Trlaich and was
baptized Svetozar. After studying at grammar school and then seminary in
Sremski Karlovtsy, he graduated from the faculty of law at the
University of Belgrade. He was ordained deacon and then priest in 1909.
From 1909 to 1927 Fr Svetozar served as a parish priest. In early 1927
he was appointed to an administrative post at the Holy Synod and then
became its secretary. Widowed, in 1929 he took his monastic vows with
the name of Sabbas and became rector and archimandrite of the Monastery
of Krushedol. He served there until 1934, when he was appointed
Vicar-Bishop of Sremski. He was consecrated bishop in Sremski Karlovtsy
on 30 September 1930 by Patriarch Barnabas of Serbia. As Patriarchal
Vicar, Vladyka Sabbas chaired the diocesan council of the Archdiocese of
Belgrade-Karlovtsy until November 1936 and from then until early 1937
he chaired the ecclesiastical court. Then, on 4 September 1938, he was
appointed Bishop of Gornji Karlovac, with his residence in Plashkom.
The German invasion of Yugoslavia and
the ensuing proclamation of an Independent Croatian State saw Plashkom
occupied by the Italians, but at the end 1941, it was handed over to the
Croat Ustashi. On this, Bishop Sabbas and nine priests were taken
hostage. On 23 May 1941 the Ustashi occupied the bishop's residence and
expelled the bishop. On 8 June the notorious executioner Josip
Tomlenovich appeared at the residence and ordered any diocesan money and
papers of importance to be handed over to the Ustashi. Bishop Sabbas
was ordered to leave the town and head for Serbia. However, he refused
to do this and stated that he could not abandon his diocese and his
people.
On 17 June 1941 Vladyka was
arrested together with other well-known Serbs and priests who did not
wish to leave the place of their ministry. The Ustashi locked their
prisoners into a cowshed and set an armed guard. For one month all those
arrested and especially Bishop Sabbas were subjected to humiliation and
torture on a daily basis. They were then sent to the notorious
concentration camp at Gospich. The prisoners were taken from the railway
station at Gospich to the local prison and again subjected to
humiliation and torture.
In the first half of August 1941 about
2,000 Serbs were taken from Gospich to Velebita, Bishop Sabbas among
them. It is supposed that he was murdered there, at the same time as
about 8,000 other Serbs, in August 1941. The Holy Synod of the Serbian
Church constantly, but unsuccessfully, called for the forces of
occupation to explain what had happened to Bishop Sabbas and other
Serbian bishops on the territory of the Independent Croatian State and
tried to obtain their release.
Unfortunately, we have no exact
information about the circumstances of the martyrdom of Bishop Sabbas.
However, the Serbian historian, Velibor Dzhomich in his book, Ustashi Crimes Against Serbian Priests,
quotes a testimony which may throw some light on the question.
According to this, a Fr Iovan Silashki wrote the following in an issue
of The Banat Herald newspaper:
Hieromartyr Sabbas (Trlaich), Bishop of Gornji Karlovac
In 1941 the Gornokarlovatsky
Diocese was under the control of the dreadful Ustashi regime. The bishop
and the priests were told that they were undesirables and that they
must abandon their flocks. The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Zagreb,
Aloysius Stepinac, openly told Vladyka that he must leave "Croatian"
Karlovac, otherwise he would be liquidated. Vladyka answered him: "Even
if it costs me my head, I will not abandon my people!"
Soon it became clear that the
Catholic Archbishop was not joking. Vladyka Sabbas was arrested and
horribly tortured. During the tortures and beatings in Plashkom, the
Ustashi used a gramophone to play the hymn, "As many as have been
baptized in Christ, have put on Christ."
When they took Vladyka to his
place of execution, his mother stood in front of the church and waited
for him. She wanted to see her son for one last time and make her
farewells. However, the executioners did not allow her to do this.
Vladyka nevertheless blessed his mother, his legs tied, and went to his
death.
A few years after this a
stranger walked into the church in Bashaida, where Vladyka had served.
He spoke to the postmaster Sabbas Saravolets.
"Did you know Vladyka Sabbas Trlaich," asked the stranger, "I heard that he was priest here."
"Of course, Vladyka was my teacher. I'm grateful to him for everything I have managed to do in life. How do you know Vladyka?"
"I was an eyewitness of his
sufferings," answered the stranger. "The Ustashi butchers took Vladyka
to a clearing and continued to torture him there. They tore his skin off
him and then covered him with salt. Then they buried him alive, with
just his head protruding, brought an iron harrow and pulled it across
his head until he gave up his soul to God. What happened after that, I
don't know. Maybe the Ustashi threw him into one of the many precipices
there, which they used as graves for the Serbs. So even in death he
wasn't separated from his people."
In 2000 Hieromartyr Sabbas was
glorified by the Council of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church as a
hieromartyr. A true son of his people, he showed himself to be a true
pastor, laying down his life for his flock, and his ministry was crowned
by martyrdom. His memory is celebrated on April 22.