September 11, 1950, Radojko and Stana Mladenovic gave birth to a son Jovan in the village Dobrace, Arilje County, Serbia.
He completed elementary school in the village. At eleven years of age, he went to Monastery Klisura where he spent ten months. Thereafter he went to Monastery Studenica where he spent the next thirty years from 1963 to 1993. He grew up next to the holy relics of the Studenica saints and under the wise tutelage of Father Julijan and Father Simeon.
In 1967, he attended the first post-war theological seminary at Monastery Ostrog from which he graduated in 1969. He was inducted and completed the military service.
On April 24, 1971, Jovan was tonsured. The following day, he was ordained a deacon and on July 25, 1973, he was ordained a priest. All three rites were performed by the great Serbian bishop, His Grace Bishop Vasilije, at Monastery Studenica. After his ordination, Jovan enrolled in the five-year Seminary of Saint Sava from which he graduated in 1974 (completing the course of study in three years). Due to renovation work at Monastery Studenica, he didn't enroll at the Theological Faculty in Belgrade until 1976. He graduated in 1980.
Upon completing his studies, the monk Jovan acceded to Abbot of Monastery Studenica, a position he held for thirteen years. In 1983, he was called to the rank of singelos. On the 800th anniversary of Monastery Studenica, abbot Jovan became protosingelos and on the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo, he became a archimandrite. All three of these elevations were performed upon him by His Grace Bishop Stefan of Monastery Zica.
May 26, 1993, while serving as Abbot of Monastery Studenica, Jovan was elevated to Bishop of Tetovo, Administrator of Serbian Diocese in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Vicar to His Holiness Patriarch Pavle of Serbia. His Holiness Patriarch Pavle performed the consecration with twenty-one Serbian Bishops, forty-two priests, five deacons and in the presence of a large number of faithful.
In 1994, the Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church chose Jovan to be the Bishop of Western America and on September 18 of the same year, he was enthroned by His Holiness at the Serbian Orthodox Cathedral of Saint Steven venerable monk Simon in Alhambra, California.
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