Serbian Orthodox Church

Presanctified Liturgy at Saint Demetrius in Fairlawn

With the blessing of His Grace Bishop Irinej, priests from around the Cleveland Deanery gathered to celebrate the Liturgy of Presanctified Gifts on Friday, March 10th at St. Demetrius in Fairlawn, Ohio.  The parish filled with faithful from many different parishes as Fr. Milan Pajic, parish priest of St. Archangel Michael in Akron, and Fr. Aleksa Pavichevich, parish priest of St. George in North Canton, served together with great solemnity.

North Canton Annual Lenten Retreat to New York

With the blessing of His Grace Bishop Irinej, on Thursday, March 1st, parishioners from St. George church in North Canton departed for their 3rd annual Lenten Retreat to New York City.  As in years prior, the group stayed in White Plains, north of the city, in close proximity to their retreat location at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in Tuckahoe, New York.

Suffering Kosovo monastery unveils English-language website and store

Draganac Monastery of the Holy Archangels Gabriel and Michael, a small monastery in Kosovo and Metohija, has recently unveiled a website in English about the monastery, the local region, and its history and present state. This is the only such website in English, about one of the ancient monasteries now living under Muslim rule in Kosovo.

The site contains a presentation of the young brotherhood, which was re-established in the ancient but abandoned monastery in the 1990s thanks to the efforts of Visoki Dečani Monastery. The abbot is Archimandrite Ilarion, and the brotherhood numbers 12 members, one of the larger monastic communities at present in Kosovo, where the situation for Orthodox Christians is an extremely difficult one. Following the violent attacks and subsequent mass expulsions of the Serbian Orthodox population in 1999 and 2004, Orthodox Christians who remain in Kosovo are mostly forced to live in small, rural, isolated ethnic ghettos, barred from participating in general society, where there are few prospects for employment and the psychological impact of living in prolonged isolation can be crushing. More and more Orthodox Christians continue to be forced to leave Kosovo, and with each one that leaves, the situation becomes all the more difficult for those who remain.

Funeral of +Protopresbyter-Staurophor Stevan Stepanov

The Serbian Orthodox Church lost a devoted, faithful, and loving servant in this world with the passing of Protojerej-Stavrofor Stevan Stepanov on February 24, 2018 at his home in Medina, Ohio.  From February 1973 until his retirement in August 2014, +Proto Stevan served the Serbian Orthodox Church as pastor of the parish of the Holy Prophet Elijah in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania. He returned to his beloved Sveti Ilija a final time for his funeral and burial on February 27-28, 2018.

Pan-Orthodox Sunday in Lorain, Ohio

With the blessing of, and encouragement from, His Grace Irinej, our Bishop and Father, Lorain Serbs once again celebrated the Sunday of Orthodoxy with all local orthodox parishes.

Resolutions of the 2018 Eastern Diocese General Assembly

IN THE NAME OF THE HOLY AND LIFEGIVING TRINITY!

We, the clergy, monastics, and representatives of the people of God, ordained and elected members to the Annual Assembly of the Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Eastern America, Serbian Orthodox Church, have gathered together at the church of the Holy Great and Victorious Martyr George in the God-protected city of Clearwater, Florida on February 16 and 17, in the year of our Lord 2018.

Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them:
‘Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am Holy’ (Lev. 19:2).

Today, when we celebrate the memory of the Venerable Isidore of Pelusium, the Holy Spirit has gathered us in the community of the Body of Christ that He might bring us closer us to our Heavenly Father. Having announced the fullness of God’s Church, gathered around our Bishop, Father and Archpastor Irinej, we greet the fullness of the Serbian Orthodox Church in the person of His Holiness, the Archbishop of Pech, Metropolitan of Belgrade and Karlovci, and Serbian Patriarch Irinej.