Serbian Orthodox Church

The 79th anniversary of the Novi Sad Pogrom was marked

Bishop Irinej of Backa: The sublime Christian imperative is forgiveness. Memory is a sacred virtue, resentment is a sin. That is why we remember and pray for all the victims, and by forgiving we build up a better world and a better future for the Serbian people and for all other peoples with whom we have shared for centuries and still share a living space.

On Friday, January 22, 2021, the 79th anniversary of the Pogrom (Novi Sad Racia) in January 1942 was marked at Novi Sad’s Quay of the Victims of the Pogrom. Representatives of the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Jewish community in Novi Sad, delegations from the City of Novi Sad, the Parliament of Vojvodina and the Serbian Army, representatives of the embassies of Israel and Hungary, other political and cultural activists as well as personalities who came to enhance the prayerful event and to show the unity of all who remember the innocent victims with sadness in their hearts, met at the Family Monument at noon that day.

The Great Feast of the Epiphany of Our Lord in Clearwater, Florida

In sunny but cool Florida, the clergy and faithful of the St. Petersburg Deanery were pleased to invite and host their Diocesan Hierarch, His Grace Bishop Irinej of Eastern America, for the Epiphany cycle of services. 

The culmination of the four-day celebration was the Great Feast of Epiphany itself, which was celebrated in the Church of St. George in Clearwater. His Grace was joined in concelebration of the Festal Divine Liturgy by Protopresbyter-Stavrophor Radivoje Panic of Belgrade’s St. Sava Temple, Presbyter Dragan Zaric of St. Sava Church in St. Petersburg, together with his parishioners, and Protodeacon Milos Zdralic. Prayerfully present was host priest, Protopresbyter Milan Jovanovic.

Theophany Eve - the Feast of the Holy Cross in St. Petersburg, Florida

On the Eve of the Great Feast of Theophany, January 18, 2021, His Grace Bishop Irinej of Eastern America celebrated the Vesperal Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great in the St. Sava  Church in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Concelebrating with His Grace were Protopresbyter-Stavrophor Radivoje Panic of Belgrade’s St. Sava Temple, host priest Presbyter Dragan Zaric, and Protodeacon Milos Zdralic. Prayerfully present was Protopresbyter Milan Jovanovic of the neighboring St. George Parish, together with his parishioners.

School package help to children from Kosovo and Metohija

With the blessings of His Grace, the Right Reverend Irinej, the Bishop of Eastern American Diocese, the Department of Christian Education of the Eastern American Diocese is organizing a mission of collecting two thousand (2000) backpacks with school supplies as help for children in Kosovo and Metohiya.

This humanitarian action is taking place in cooperation with the non-profit The Giolas Foundation from Chicago, federal state of Illinois. Our intention is that all church-school congregations of the Eastern American Diocese take part in collecting children's school materials, and with the help of the Giolas Foundation to collect all materials by the end of December 2020, when they will be shipped to the Orthodox Diocese of Rashka and Prizren.

Visit of the President of the Republic of Serbia to the Diocese of Sumadija and the City of Kragujevac

His Eminence Bishop Jovan of Sumadija solemnly welcomed the President of the Republic of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic in the first capital city of Kragujevac and the seat of the Diocese of Sumadija on January 22, 2021.

The welcome was also attended by the clergy of the Diocese of Sumadija. President Vucic visited the Sumarica Memorial Park, a place where a large number of Kragujevac residents died innocently during the Second World War. Also, the President visited the church dedicated to the Holy New Martyrs of Kragujevac and on that occasion, together with Bishop Jovan and the mayor Mr. Nikola Dasic, gave statements for national and local TV stations.

The feast day in the church of Saint George in Belgrade

On the great feast of the Epiphany, the Holy Liturgy in the church of St. George on Banovo Brdo in Belgrade was served by archpriests-staurophors Caslav Marinkovic and Nedeljko Bozic and deacons Savo Topalovic and Djordje Petrovic, in the prayerful presence of archpriests Dragan Vidojevic and priests Zoran Radojevic and Marko Mudric.