His Grace the Right Reverend Dr. Vasilije (Kostić) (Serbian: епископ др Василије (Костић)) was the Serbian Orthodox bishop of Banja Luka from 1947 to 1961 and of Žiča from 1961 to 1978. He was born as Tihomir Kostić in Veliki Jovanovac near Pirot. He graduated from the gymnasium in Pirot, from the seminary in Sremski Karlovci, and from the Orthodox Theological Faculty in Belgrade. He was tonsured in Monastery Jošanica as a student. He obtained his theology doctorate in Athens, graduating in 1940. He was ordained deacon and priest on July 11 and 12, 1934. Fr. Vasilije was a disciple of St. Nikolaj of Žiča. Fr. Vasilije was clerk of sentence Synod, teacher in the monastic school in Ostrog Monastery, and a teacher in the seminaries in Bitola and Prizren. When World War Two broke out, he was a