New abbess of Monastery of Saint Stephen at Lipovac

On the feast of Saint Ignatius the God-bearer, January 2, 2021, His Grace Bishop Arsenije of Nis celebrated the Holy Liturgy in the monastery of St. Stephen at Lipovac, Serbia.

Archimandrite Dionisijae (Pantelic), spiritual father of that sacred monastery; archpriest Miodrag Pavlovic, hieromonk Evstatije (Babic) and deacon Djordje Filipovic concelebrated to the Bishop.

After the prayer behind the ambo, abbess of the monastery of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul at Raletinec, mother Evgenija (Simonovic), brought the newly elected abbess mother Irina (Jovanovic) in front of the  Bishop to be promoted to the rank of abbess.

His Grace Bishop handed over a pectoral cross and an abbess's crosier to the new abbess of the holy monastery of Lipovac. Having introduced Abbess Irina into the throne, His Grace Bishop instructed her: "You are obliged to support spiritually weaker sisters in their monastic life, not with the sceptre of anger and threat, but with soft words of exhortation and by your own holy life, and to patiently endure their infirmities."

At the end of the Holy Liturgy, the Bishop served a memorial service on the grave of abbess Melanija of blessed repose.

Chanting of the nuns of  St. Stephen's monastery, of catechists, students and seminarians of the Diocese of Nis contributed to the beauty of the Eucharistic gathering.

Source: Diocese of Nis