Rmanj Monastery Urges Serbs in Krajina Not to Sell Land

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Milorad Dodik, president of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats, arrived at Rmanj Monastery in Martin Brod on Sunday, August 2, 2026, around 2 p.m. The monastery sits at the tripoint of Lika, Dalmatia and Bosnia, and the two leaders were welcomed by Sergije, bishop of Bihac, Petrovac and Rmanj. The message that came out of the monastery courtyard that day was not about protocol but about property: Serbs living in that eparchy were told not to sell their land. For Belgrade, that carries more weight than any statement of support, because land sold in Drvar, Petrovac or Glamoc does not come back, and the people who remain there are counted in the hundreds, not the thousands.

In Rmanj, Dodik said it was important for Serbs in the Bihac-Petrovac Eparchy not to sell their properties, adding that they have no wish to do so either. He also said institutions of Republika Srpska are supporting all four municipalities with a Serb population in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Why was the question of land raised at Rmanj?

Because this is an area where the administrative border split what used to be a single Serb settlement. Speaking in the monastery courtyard, Vucic recalled that the four municipalities ended up within Livno Canton, where, he said, Croats never made up more than one percent of the population. The figures he cited show the scale of the depopulation: Cipuljici had four thousand Serbs before the war, he said, and today there are fewer than thirty, while no one is left in Vukovsko.

Bishop Sergije thanked the Serbian president for his support in rebuilding the monastery and said the eparchy he leads is a precondition for the survival of the Serb people in that part of Krajina.

You stand here among us today as the president of Serbia, but also as our brother and true friend, as someone who understands our needs, but also our helplessness. By helping Rmanj, you have written yourself into its history, a history that will not forget you and that will speak of both you and us even when our footsteps can no longer be heard and our voices fall silent. History remembers without fail.

The bishop also spoke about the church’s role for people who left the region, tying the rebuilding of its churches to the possibility of return.

The Serbian Orthodox Church is of decisive importance for the people who live here, but also for everyone who fled these parts. Without the Church and its churches, many would have nowhere to return to. The Church connects displaced Serbs with their homeland, and our churches and graves preserve the identity and memory of our people.

Alongside the renovation of the monastery and its churches, Sergije said the eparchy is also working on a Center for History, Tradition and Spirituality. He closed his address by asking Vucic and Dodik to keep looking after Serbs living outside the borders of Serbia and Republika Srpska.

How much has been invested, and in what

Vucic said in Rmanj that both his family and the Serbian state had contributed to the monastery’s renovation, with the state’s share considerably larger. Speaking more broadly about investment in the region, he said Serbia has set aside 142 million euros for projects there, not counting the last ten million earmarked for the highway. In Drvar, he said, 4,010,000 euros have been invested in recent years, half of which went toward paying off debts. He also announced new equipment for a local plant, worth 140,000 euros, due within fifteen to twenty days, along with one and a half million euros for a shopping center.

In Drvar, Dodik said Serbia has become the leading donor to Republika Srpska in infrastructure projects, with more than 140 million euros invested, and said he had promised one million convertible marks for the shopping center.

Rmanj Monastery was built in 1443 and dedicated to St. Nicholas of Myra. It was destroyed and burned down repeatedly over the centuries and was devastated again at the end of the last war. The renovated monastery church was consecrated by Serbian Patriarch Porfirije in September 2024. We wrote earlier about the announcement of this visit, in a piece on how Rmanj Monastery was preparing to welcome Vucic and Dodik on St. Elijah’s Day, when the visit was presented as a festive occasion. What came out of Rmanj today was an operational message, not a festive one.

Before leaving for Republika Srpska, Vucic wrote on Instagram: “No one can destroy the spiritual unity of Serbs, and Serbia wants to, is willing to, and can help its people.”

From Rmanj, the delegation traveled to Drvar, then to the Petrovac road, where they laid wreaths at the site where a Croatian aircraft attacked a column of refugees on August 7, 1995, killing ten civilians, four of them children. From there they went on to Sitnica, near Ribnik, for the slava of the Church of the Holy Prophet Elijah. Also attending the visit to Rmanj were Republika Srpska Prime Minister Savo Minic, Justice Minister Goran Selak, Minister of Labor and Veterans’ Affairs Radan Ostojic, and Senator Aleksandar Vulin.

The program in Sitnica ran as follows:

• 9:30 a.m., Divine Liturgy at the Church of the Holy Prophet Elijah
• 11 a.m., slava lunch and gathering with guests
• 6 p.m., gathering of local residents, guests and Republika Srpska leadership
• 6:30 p.m., welcome for the president of Serbia and Bishop Sergije

This year’s kum of the slava was Justice Minister Goran Selak, who ahead of the feast called on believers from Sitnica and the surrounding area to gather in large numbers.

In Rmanj, Vucic announced that on Tuesday he would speak more openly about Serbia’s relationship with Republika Srpska and about mistakes made over the past fifteen years. Before that address comes the anniversary of the killings on the Petrovac road, which falls five days later.