WHAT HIS LAST DAY LOOKS LIKE: Confession of his brother Milica who jumped to build to save his honor.

This was said about “Novosti” by Father Milan Kostić, brother of Uncle Milica Kostić (1956), a student at the Kruševac Medical Secondary School, who died on September 4, 1974 as a result of a fall from the 11th floor of the Rubin Tower in Kruševac. She was taken to the apartment for fraud two days earlier, where the four perpetrators, as later proved in court, had a clear intention to attack her. After several hours of resisting and begging, the moment she was left alone in the room, Milica jumped out of the apartment window.

Uncle Milan received us in a house in Strojinci, near Brus, a few houses from the birthplace of his sister Milica. Nobody lives in it anymore. After the death of Milica’s brother, Milomir, in July last year, a daughter-in-law and a cousin remained in the neighbor. The steep underpasses indicate the will of a brave student to conquer the world of knowledge from a small town. She was the only one in the family, then she was attending high school.

– I remember her last outing, I saw her that day, from here she took the same path to school, so many times before – Father Milan testified. – His mother and father sent him to school. She seemed to have a hunch that something was going to happen, she turned to them and cried.

She was a good student, adds our interlocutor. Perhaps, she says, she would graduate from Medical School and become a doctor. She loved helping others, hanging out. Up to three girls from the Kostić family set out on the Milica path, becoming dedicated nurses and doctors.

Photo by S. Babović

Milica’s story would not be complete without emphasizing her faith. That is why we go to the Parish Church of the Holy Archangel Gabriel in the neighboring town of Dupci. She was there in a small chapel, a log cabin, she was baptized on May 7, just two weeks after her birth. The liturgy was served on the day of her death.

– All this that happened today is a gesture of our unforgettable for her, her soul, for her feat that she did – says, for “Novosti”, Archpriest Vukman Petrović of Aleksandrovac, who served in the liturgy. – We all know that she was killed to preserve her chastity and dignity.

Photo by S. Babović

A memorial service was held at the Strojinci Cemetery. The closest relatives, believers, schoolmates were at Milica’s grave like 46 years ago …

RESERVATION AND CANONIZATION

AFTER jumping out of the apartment window, Milica Kostić fell on the awning over the garden and then on the plastic chair of the then “Napredak” restaurant in Kruševac. She died two days later, but found the strength to tell the inspectors that she decided to take that step to preserve her honor. A day later, silent demonstrations were launched in Krusevac with several thousand participants, and there were many of them at the funeral in the Strojinci cemetery. The perpetrators were sentenced to long prison terms. Unfortunately, Milica was forgotten until the moment the student Archimandrite Tikhon published the book. Since then, efforts have begun to canonize him.