Memorial service in Lipljan marks anniversary of death of teacher and priest Dena Debeljkovic

A memorial service held today at the grave of Mladen Dena Debeljkovic, Lipljan’s first teacher, priest and collector of Kosovo’s oral folk heritage, marked the 111th anniversary of his death, as well as Armistice Day in the First World War.

Debeljkovic was killed on November 11, 1915, when Bulgarian soldiers lured him to the nearby village of Suvi Do, where they brutally killed him by beheading him.

The Lipljan teacher, priest and national activist was buried between two churches in Lipljan—the Church of the Presentation of the Most Holy Mother of God and the Church of Saints Florus and Laurus.

The memorial service was officiated by Lipljan parish priest Dragisa Jerinic, who, speaking about Debeljkovic’s life and work, recalled that Mladen Dena Debeljkovic was born in Lipljan, where he also completed primary school.

After graduating from the Prizren Seminary, Debeljkovic became one of the first teachers in Lipljan and also served as a priest.

“He devoted himself not only to the Church but also to the school. He worked to preserve all forms of folk heritage created by the people through their customs, culture and traditions. He dedicated a great deal of time to this and then recorded it all in writing, leaving us as a legacy everything that is valuable to a person as an individual—values to preserve within oneself in order to remain on the right path, not stray from the faith and not forget one’s soul. Priest Dena Mladen demonstrated through his own example everything that he did, taught and preached—how one should live. In the end, he suffered and gave his life for his beliefs because he refused to renounce any of them,” Jerinic said.

He stressed that the greatest thing that could happen to a person was to suffer for one’s faith.

“That is what happened to the priest we commemorate here today, who has rested for more than a century behind the altar of the Church of the Presentation of the Most Holy Mother of God, which he faithfully served until the final breath of his life. In doing so, he left us a legacy that we, too, must strive to preserve true values—first through faith, and then through education, culture and everything that makes us truly human,” Jerinic said.

Representatives of the Provisional Authority of the Municipality of Lipljan laid a wreath at the monument dedicated to Mladen Dena Debeljkovic.

In honor of his legacy, the Braca Aksic Primary School in Lipljan organized the Days of Dena Debeljkovic for the first time this year.

Through a school performance and an extensive cultural and artistic program prepared by pupils together with their teachers, the school seeks to preserve the memory of his life and work while also bringing younger generations closer to the period in which he lived and worked.