Information Service of
the Serbian Orthodox Church
August 15, 2002

“Each one must do as he has made up his mind,
not reluctantly or under compulsion,
for God loves a cheerful giver”
(II Cor. 9:7)

After nearly 150 years of pause (since the period of rule of Prince Milos Obrenovic), the construction of a new, rather big, church (30.74m long, 20m wide and high, central dome 25.5m) dedicated to the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul started in Arandjelovac, a little town situated in a gentle valley of Sumadija, at the foot of Bukulja Mountain.

His Grace Bishop Sava (Vukovic) of Sumadija, of blessed memory, had blessed the beginning of the construction and consecrated the cross and the land, while His Grace Bishop Vasilije (Kacavenda) of Zvornik-Tuzla, the Administrator of the Diocese of Sumadija, consecrated the foundations on September 2, 2002.

Less than a year has passed since that moment, and the Construction Committee with its President Mr Goran Savovic and the undersigned parish priest can, with joy and pride, say that diligent workers (who start and finish they job with prayers) headed by their chief Milinko Miletic from Kragujevac are nearing the completion of works on the belfry, owing to the contributions of the faithful and the economic entities from Arandjelovac. Furthermore, the main dome is being built, which allows for reasonable expectation that, God willing, this beauty of Sumadija (as many people already call this church) is going to be roofed till this year-end.

We are also taking the opportunity to inform the public that very soon a church-people centre is going to be built for the needs of the faithful. This centre will be built in the church-yard, west to the narthex of the new church, and it will contain offices, a hall for church-people celebrations, a library, premises for the sale of candles and space for the lighting of candles as well as two apartments for priests.

Herewith we would like to express our sincere and cordial gratitude to all the donators who, in any way, helped the construction of the church. Simultaneously, being aware of the fact that we live in a period when it is hard to expect from people to “bring much for the sanctuary, and more”, (Exodus 36:7), we ask and entreat all the residents of Arandjelovac, wherever they may be, as well as other people who care about shrines, to help us in this project so that the works could be carried out according to planned schedule, and so that the newly erected church – which will be, we hope, an adornment both of Arandjelovac and of the entire Sumadija – could as soon as possible receive us into its warm and holy arms.

You can send your contributions in dinars for the construction of the Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, as well as for the construction of the church-people centre in Arandjelovac, to the giro account no. 4083-620-0-133/50700-1028291012, held with Centrobanka in Arandjelovac.