Vasilije Kačavenda

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Vasilije Kačavenda (Serbian Cyrillic: Василије Каčавенда), born Ljubomir Kačavenda on 19 December 1938 in Sarajevo, is a Bosnian Serb who rose to become a bishop in the Serbian Orthodox Church. He led the Eparchy of Zvornik and Tuzla from 1978 until his dismissal in 2013.

Kačavenda’s life and career were closely tied to politics and nationalist currents. In the early years of his public life, he reportedly worked with the Yugoslav secret service (UDBA) and was seen as part of nationalist networks within the church. During the Yugoslav Wars of the 1990s, he and fellow church leaders helped shape religious and ethnic tensions. He served as a government minister in Republika Srpska and advocated strong positions on issues like abortion, aligning with nationalist and pro-Serbian causes. He supported a hardline stance during the Bosnian War and had close ties to Serbian nationalists.

Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Kačavenda was involved in controversial actions around church property and artifacts. He relocated religious artifacts from Tuzla to Bijeljina, opposed rebuilding a mosque in Bijeljina, and oversaw other decisions tied to property and heritage that sparked debate. He lived in Bijeljina, where he had established a large residence and monastery complex by the Bosnian Serb army’s assistance after the war.

In 2012 Kačavenda received one of the Republika Srpska’s highest honors, the Order of the Republika Srpska, from President Milorad Dodik.

The most serious chapter of his career began in 2012–13, when videotapes were released showing Kačavenda involved in sexual acts with young men. He initially offered to resign for health reasons, but later refused the allegations and then resigned as bishop on 22 April 2013, with the resignation accepted immediately and his ecclesiastical duties formally ended later that year. Police in Belgrade arrested two men in April 2013 for attempting to sell the video; one of the men was a deacon in Kačavenda’s church and accused the bishop of sexual abuse. The church did not convene ecclesiastical consequences against him, and Kačavenda continued to be discussed in church circles about his future.

Kačavenda has experienced health problems since the scandal. He suffered a stroke in September 2013 and underwent surgery in Belgrade shortly afterward, with additional hospitalizations in the following months.

In summary, Vasilije Kačavenda is a longtime Bosnian Serb bishop whose career was marked by significant political involvement, controversial actions regarding church property and artifacts, and a major sex-abuse scandal that led to his removal from his bishopric and ongoing health issues. He has lived in Bijeljina since 1992.