All-Mokranjac choral program climax of commemoration weekend

After months of planning, the choral workshop, symposium and concert of choral works commemorating the 100th anniversary of the death of Serbian composer Stevan Mokranjac is now a fond memory. The Serbian Singing Society Branko Radichevich and Serbian Singing Federation's months of planning and revision finally took form starting on a chilly Friday evening, the 3rd of October, when participants in the choral workshop arrived at the Holy Resurrection Serbian Orthodox Cathedral on Chicago's northwest side. Out-of-town presenters representing two continents, Dr. Danica Petrovic, musicologist and Mokranjac expert from Serbia and His Grace Bishop Irinej of the Metropolitanate of Australia and New Zealand also arrived Friday evening. Dr. Petrovic made the first of her three presentations during the weekend, discussing the history of Serbian liturgical music prior to Mokranjac. Friday's gathering also served as a "meet and greet" for all present.

Patriarch Irenaeus in Thessaloniki

His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Irenaeus arrived to Thessaoloniki on 17 October 2014, in a three-day visit to the Metropolitanate of Neapolis and Stavropolis. The Metropolitanate organized a visit of the Serbian Patriarch on the occasion of the centenary of the beginning of the First World War, since more than 7500 Serbian victims of the Great War rest on its territory within the one section of the Allied military cemetery.

Patriarch Irenaeus is accompanied by Their Graces Bishops Chrysostom of Zvornik-Tuzla and Justin of Zica, protopresbyter Gajo Gajic and deacon Igor Davidovic. Host, Metropolitan Barnabas of Neapolis, welcomed the first hierarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church at the airport and accompanied him to the Cathedral church of Saint John at Neapolis.