Serbian Orthodox Church

Information Service of
the Serbian Orthodox Church
July 13, 2006

ORDINATION OF ARCHIMANDRITE IRINEJ
AS BISHOP OF AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

At the regular session of the Holy Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church held from May 15-27, 2006 the Most Venerable Archimandrite Irinej (Dobrijevic), consultant to the Holy Synod of Bishops and head of the Office of the Kosovo and Metohija Committee of the Holy Assembly of the Serbian Orthodox Church was elected Bishop of the Diocese of Australia and New Zealand.

Archimandrite Irinej, the Bishop-elect of Australia and New Zealand, was born on February 6, 1955 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, to Djuro and Milica Dobrijevic (nee Svilar). He completed his primary education in Cleveland, Ohio, which he continued at the Academy of Art, also in Cleveland, from 1973-75. From 1975-79 he attended the Orthodox Seminary of St. Tikhon in South Canaan, Pennsylvania. In 1980 he enrolled in the Orthodox Theological Academy of St. Vladimir in Crestwood, New York, which he completed in 1982, then enrolling in the Athens Center from 2000-03, where he received a certificate in Modern Greek I and II. After completing his studies at St. Vladimir’s with a master’s degree for a highly praised thesis on Bishop Nikolaj Velimirovic: 1921, Mission in America, and at St. Tikhon’s with academic honors (maxima cum laude), he primarily worked in education, teaching at Loyola University in Chicago, as well as the Theological Faculty of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Belgrade.

On January 14, 1994, His Eminence Metropolitan Hristofor of Central Western America ordained him a deacon in the Serbian Orthodox Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ in Chicago, Illinois. He was tonsured a monk on January 18, 1995 in St. Sava Monastery in Libertyville, Illinois, and on that occasion took the monastic name Irinej after St. Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyon. He was ordained a hieromonk on January 27, 1995 in St. Sava Church in Parma, Ohio.

Of the many functions performed by Father Irinej, it is important to note that he is the co-delegate of the Serbian Orthodox Church in the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Conference of European Churches (KEK-SES), a member of the Jasenovac Committee of the Holy Synod of Bishops, the Permanent Mission Committee of the Holy Synod of Bishops, and the Kosovo and Metohija Committee of the Holy Synod of Bishops. As well, he is a member of the Board of Directors of the International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC), the Executive Board of the United States Council of Religions for Peace, the Serbian Unity Congress, the Advisory Board of the Njegos Serbian Studies Fund at Columbia University, the Organization Board of the Nikola Tesla Heritage Society, the Task Group for Ecological Justice of the U.S. National Council of Christian Churches (NCCC), the Communications Committee of the Board of Directors of St. Vladimir’s Academy, and the Serbian-American Center in Belgrade. He is an honorary member of the Executive Board of ZOE for Life! (a humanitarian organization offering assistance to Orthodox women with high-risk pregnancies). Among the many recognitions he has received, he is the bearer of the Order of Vuk Karadzic of the Third Degree, which was bestowed upon him by the President of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, Svetozar Marovic, for special contributions toward the improvement of relations between the Serbian state and Serbs living abroad and achievements in enhancing the relations between the Church and state.

The rite of election of Bishop-elect Irinej will be performed by His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Pavle on Friday, July 14, 2006, beginning at 5:00 p.m. and the act of the vestment of the new bishop (chirotonia) will be on Saturday, July 15, 2006, on the feast of the Deposition of the Mantle of the Most Holy Theotokos, in St. Michael the Archangel Orthodox Cathedral in Belgrade, starting at 9:00 a.m.

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DEPOSITION OF THE ROBE OF THE THEOTOKOS
TRANSLATION OF THE VINCA-BEZDIN ICON OF THE MOST HOLY THEOTOKOS

During the time of Emperor Leo the Wise (458-471), Empress Berina and Patriarch Gennadios, in Nazareth there was a virgin Jewess who kept in a secret place the robe of the Most Holy Theotokos. Many sick and misfortunate persons received healing through prayer and by touch of that robe. The robe was translated to Constantinople and placed in the Blacherne Church, which was a great source of joy for the Imperial City, and Constantinople was from the beginning dedicated to the Theotokos.

In the Charter of the City of Belgrade, Despot Stephan notes: “I have found the most beautiful place from of old, the most grand city Belgrade, destroyed and abandoned, I have rebuilt it and dedicated it to the Most Holy Theotokos.”

Well before the time of Despot Stephan, and for the first time in the year 1071, there is mention of a miraculous icon, the Belgrade Theotokos, which is believed to have been written by the very Evangelist Luke. The icon most likely remained in Belgrade until the year 1521. With the fall of Belgrade to the Ottomans a great deal of the population was displaced to Constantinople, bearing with them a great number of relics, and most likely including the miraculous icon of the Belgrade Theotokos.

And, the Monk Paisios, a Greek from Corfu, brought an icon known as the Vladimir Icon, to Serbia. Bishop Stephan (Ljubibratic), chancellor to the then Metropolitan Mojsije (Petrovic), was placed in the Belgrade Cathedral Church of the Holy Archangel Michael. There the icon remained for two years granting healing to many infirm who with faith drew unto to it. Paisios in the interim restored the abandoned church of Vinca Monastery near Belgrade, and in 1729 on the 2nd/15th of July – on the day of the Deposition of the Robe of the Most Holy Theotokos – the Icon was solemnly translated from Belgrade to Vinca. Thereafter, the abbot of Vinca Teodosije (Veselinovic) transferred the Icon to Bezdin Monastery.

ST PETER’S DAY ASSEMBLY HELD IN CETINJE

The St. Peter’s Day Church-Peoples’ Assembly began on July 12 in Cetinje with Holy Hierarchal Liturgy served in Cetinje Monastery by His Eminence the Archbishop of Cetinje and Metropolitan of Montenegro and the Littoral Kyr Amfilohije and His Grace the Bishop of Dioclea and Abbot of Ostrog Monastery Kyr Jovan with the clergy and monk-priests of the Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral.

“‘You are Christ, the Son of the Living God,’ said the Holy Apostle Peter, the same apostle who hurried to confess the Lord, to renounce Him but also to repent, the same apostle who gave confession to the Son of God before His crucifixion, Resurrection, Ascension and descent of the Holy Spirit onto the Apostles, before His entry to glory,” said Bishop Jovan in his archpastoral homily to the faithful gathered in Cetinje Monastery.

“The Apostle Peter goes on beseech and warn us: ‘Respect those authorities who are not good to you, who seek to sully your most holy Christian name.’ We, too, sometimes are confronted with people who often are not even aware of this Holy Shrine, this church of God and today’s holiday. And there are also those, unfortunately, who as Christians by the manner of their lives exclude themselves from Community and the blessed course of Christ’s Church and spiritual life. There have always been and will be such people and they should be ignored. One should look at those who by their lives witness the Truth of God, who like the Apostle Peter confessed the one Lord, our Jesus Christ. ‘You are the Son of God, our only Savior, the only source of our life.’ The source from which we drink is in fact Divine Liturgy and the church where it is conducted. Upon this light depends whether a people, a country and the whole world will become enlightened. Give us, Lord, of this heavenly light, enlighten us, first of all us Christians, by the prayers of today’s Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. Grant us, Lord, that within we may be as unified, as harmonious, as calm as possible, and that this light may shine throughout the world. That those who do not know of You, Lord Jesus Christ, may also recognize that You are the Only Savior and Liberator from sin, from evil and death,” said Bishop Jovan.

During the course of the service Metropolitan Amfilohije ordained Igor Balaban from Bar, a graduate of the Faculty of Theology in Belgrade, as deacon.

Upon the conclusion of Holy Hierarchal Liturgy Metropolitan Amfilohije and Bishop Jovan led the formal procession, which circled the foundations of the church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul next to palatial church at Cipur.

“The name Peter means a rock, a crag, are the words of our Lord Jesus Christ for the Holy Apostle Peter, the crag upon which He would build His Church, which even the gates of heaven could not subdue. We are located on the bottommost rock, the foundation rock of the city of Cetinje because the remains of the church where we stand and where we consecrated this slava cake, together with the Vlaska Church, are the remains of one of the oldest churches that exist here. Gathered here in this Holy Place, on the main stone on which the church was built, we are gathered that we, too, may be fortified on this Holy Fortification of the Holy and All-Praiseworthy Apostles Peter and Paul, and reinforce our faith in the Son of God,” said Metropolitan Amfilohije in his archpastoral homily after the cutting of the slava cake on the foundations of the church dedicated to the Holy and All-Praiseworthy Apostles Peter and Paul.

“Upon their faith rests God’s Church, and on this faith rests the Universe. It is their faith, true and sincere, that is the cornerstone upon which rests this city, the universe, human life and the entire history of humanity. It is the fundamental crag upon which everything rests, upon which we, too, are fortified today as we pray to God to also fortify Montenegro on the crag of this true faith in God, the faith of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, the Most Holy Theotokos and all the Holy Ones of God. That the Lord may also fortify this city upon that faith because it became a city by this faith and as long as it honors this true Orthodox faith in Christ and God this city will have a future. The moment it should renounce this faith, God forbid, this will never occur, this city would lose its purpose, its foundation, and together with it Montenegro and all our people, and all people in the world and all the tribes of the world. Hence let us bow before God’s name and celebrate once again the Holy and All-Praiseworthy Apostles Peter and Paul and their namesake, St. Peter of Cetinje, worthy of them, whose sacred remains we venerate. And may God that we, too, are bearers and witnesses of this true faith, that our life is built on this crag, which not even the gates of hell nor death nor any demonic powers can resist nor subdue,” said Metropolitan Amfilohije on the foundation of the church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in Cetinje.

Source: Svetigora Press - S.K.

[Serbian Translation Services]