Vladimir Jelic dies after Vracar apartment fire
The administrator of the Patriarchate Court succumbed to his injuries on the seventh day of treatment. The fire at 18 Jovana Rajica Street broke out on October 23.
Subdeacon Vladimir Jelic, administrator of the Patriarchate Court in Belgrade, died shortly after midnight on October 30, the seventh day of treatment for injuries from a fire in Vracar. The blaze broke out on October 23 in an apartment at 18 Jovana Rajica Street. His brother, Dejan Jelic, announced the death on the Instagram profile of TV Hram.
What happened at 18 Jovana Rajica Street?
The fire started around noon on October 23, 2026, in a third-floor apartment. The unit covers about 60 square meters, and within minutes smoke and flames had spread through all of it.
Firefighters pulled two people out of the apartment and handed them to emergency medical services with burns and smoke inhalation. Blic reported that day that the two were a father and son, and that one of the men had been hanging from a window ledge while thick black smoke poured out behind him. According to that paper, the father was in serious condition.
Media reports say Jelic went into the burning apartment to get people out and was badly hurt in the process. The sources do not say whether the people he tried to help were the same two the firefighters rescued, or what his connection to the apartment and its residents was.
Where was he treated and what is known about his injuries?
Jelic was treated at the Clinic for Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery of the University Clinical Center of Serbia. Mondo, citing doctors, reports that he was 56, had burns over 30 percent of his body and a severe lung injury, and remained on a ventilator until the end. Other sources do not give these details.
What did his brother say?
Dejan Jelic said goodbye to his brother in a post on the TV Hram profile. He opened with the words: “Subdeacon Vladimir Jelic has fallen asleep in the Lord.”
The same post described how Vladimir was hurt. Dejan wrote that he suffered severe injuries “trying to save the lives of others,” and did so “without regard for his own life.” The post also quoted the Gospel:
“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”
Dejan Jelic closed the post with the words: “Dear Vanja, thank you for everything!” Telegraf reports that Vanja was his brother’s nickname.
Who was Vladimir Jelic?
He was a subdeacon and the administrator of the Patriarchate Court in Belgrade. For years he worked alongside Patriarch Irinej and then the current patriarch, Porfirije. He was also an active member of the liturgical community around the Orthodox Missionary School at the Church of St. Alexander Nevsky in Dorcol.
He leaves behind his wife Ivana and four children.
The cause of the fire at 18 Jovana Rajica Street has not been given in the available sources.
