Information Service of NEW CHURCHES IN THE DIOCESE OF BACKA AND RECENTLY ERECTED CHURCH AT ODZACI May 18, 2001 will be printed with golden letters in the history of Djurdjin, a place near Subotica in which the Orthodox Serbs live together with the Croats and Backa Croats. That day in the afternoon His Grace Irinej, Bishop of Backa, Th.D., consecrated the foundations of the future church which is going to be dedicated to Saint Basil of Ostrog. Apart form a great number of the faithful, Prof. Dr. Vojislav Milovanovic, Minister for Religious Affairs in the Government of the Republic of Serbia, also attended this prayerful gathering. Later on that day, Bishop Irinej consecrated the ground on which the Church dedicated to Saint Elijah the Prophet will be built, at famous tourist resort Palic near Subotica. On Sunday, May 19, 2002 His Grace Dr Irinej consecrated the newly erected Church dedicated to the Incineration of the Relics of Saint Sava at Odzaci, together with Their Graces Lukijan - Bishop of Osijek/Baranja, Longin - Bishop of America/Canada, the Metropolitanate of New Gracanica, and Porfirije - Bishop of Jegar. Many faithful were present at this consecration. The licence for the construction of this Church was obtained in 1989. Architect Radoslav Prokic from Kragujevac made the design for this Church, which is 24m long, 12m wide and 12m high and built in Serbian-Byzantine style. Way back in October 1993, Bishop Irinej appointed priest Goran Artukovic to be the parish priest at Odzaci. This priest and the parish board took up the task to build the new church. At the beginning, the Church was built owing to the contributions of the faithful as well as of the companies. Later on parishioners of Odzaci established some sort of voluntary contribution. Christ-loving family Vujinovic from Odzaci gifted three bells (weighing 80, 120 and 220 kgs respectively) and the three crosses for this Church. |
