Metropolitan Bishop
Metropolitan Dosifej (Vasić) was born on December 5, 1877, in Belgrade. After graduating from the Belgrade Theological Seminary, he continued his studies at the Kiev Theological Academy, where he received a Master's degree in Theology in 1904. After taking monastic vows at the seminary, he further pursued theology and philosophy in Germany and Switzerland. During World War I, Bishop Dosifej actively served his people, experiencing suffering and loss, as more than 150 priests from his diocese perished at the hands of the enemy. In 1913, he was elected Bishop of Niš, and in 1918, he returned from captivity to his diocese.
After the war, he became the deputy chairman of the Main Hierarchical Council and participated in negotiations with the Patriarchate of Constantinople regarding the restoration of the Patriarchate in Serbia. In 1931, he was elected the first Metropolitan of Zagreb, where he bore witness to Orthodoxy under persecution. During the illness of Patriarch Varnava, he managed the affairs of the Serbian Orthodox Church, and after his death, he headed the Belgrade-Karlovac Archdiocese.
With the onset of World War II, the metropolitan was arrested by Croatian fascists and subjected to torture in prison. He suffered from brutal mistreatment until he fell into a state of oblivion. He died on January 13, 1945, in the Vvedensky Monastery in Belgrade and was buried on its grounds.
