Božidar Živković was born in Sremski Karlovci in 1825. His father was a doctor. He finished Gymnasium in Sremski Karlovci and theology in Szeged. He also studied law at Belgrade's Grandes écoles, and later completed his studies at the Faculty of Theology at Grandes écoles of Saint Arsenije Sremac at Sremski Karlovci. Upon graduation he became a professor at a Teacher's Academy in Sombor. Later, he accepte the post of rector of the Faculty of Theology at his alma mater in Sremski Karlovci.
Monasticism and Episcopacy
Božidar Živković was tonsured as a monk in 1853 and adopted the monastic name of Teofan. Immediately after entering monasticism, he was promoted to deacon. Already in 1858 he became an archdeacon, in 1864 a hieromonkl, and in 1866 elevated to archimandrite. As an archimandrite, Teofan published his book "The Serbian National Church in Timișoara" in 1868. In 1874, Teofan Živković was elected bishop of Upper Karlovac. He was known as a good preacher and travelled throughout his diocese preaching faith to the people. In 1892 his sermons were printed in Karlovac in a collection called "The Preacher.," collected by Manojlo Grbić. In 1881, the Church-People's Committee elected Teofan Živković as the Patriarch of Karlovac. There were 53 votes in favour of Teofan, while there were only 11 against. However, the Austro-Hungarian court did not want to confirm his election as patriarch. Bishop Teofan's speech in 1881played a role in calming down the great expectations of uniting the Serbian National Church with that of the Roman Catholic Church in Croatia by Pope Leo XIII, his apostolic commissioner Josip Stadlerand politician Josip Juraj Strossmayer during the politically volatile period of the 1880s when anything could have happened?Also, Bishop Teofan was supported by Serbian Orthodox Bishops Stefan of Dalmatia and Gerasim Petranović of Montenegro.
Death
He suffered from pulmonary disease and died in Plaški in 1890. He was buried at a Cemetery in PlašKi. Bishop Teofan's grave at the Plaški Cemetery was defiled in March 2013. A hole about 1.5 meters deep was dug at his grave, and municipal authorities did not allow to be determined whether the ground remains were taken out of the grave or not.
