Diocesan Day 2018

Again, this year the Diocesan Day was traditionally celebrated at the Holy Mother of God Monastery at Shadeland.  The Divine Liturgy was served on Saturday, August 4, 2018 at the Monastery Church.

His Grace Irinej, the Bishop of Eastern America, led the clergy and the faithful in the Eucharistic gathering. There were twenty priests and hieromonks, two deacons, two subdeacons and many children in attendance. On this special occasion, The Holy Trinity Cathedral Choir from Pittsburgh sung the responses, joined by campers and their parents, relatives, counselors, and volunteers.

In the sermon, His Grace addressed the children, gathering them in the center of the church. The Lord told His disciples that they will be able to trample on serpents and scorpions and nothing will hurt them. Yet later He also said: “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes.” (Matthew 11:25) Why are such things revealed to children? It is particularly because of your intuition, and the ability to think with you hearts. You will learn different languages, said the Bishop, grammar and everything else; you speak both English and Serbian, but you haven’t learned these languages from the books, you learned them by listening, not with your ears but rather with your hearts. Listening with your hearts is the intuition, for that reason all mysteries are revealed to children.

The Shadeland Community is made for you, added the Bishop. The word community has three meanings: Society; Group of people who share the same values; The feeling of belonging;

The word community is comprised of two words common and unity. That means that we have something in common and we live in unity. This, however, does not mean that we are perfect, although our goal and purpose is to become perfect as our Father who is in heaven and as the communion of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit is also prefect.

The life in a community has its challenges, advised the Bishop to all in attendance. You all have Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and that is an internet community. What is the challenge in these communities, asked the Bishop. He noted that we must strive to share love and refrain from hatred on social media, to abstain from hurtful comments. The Bishop emphasized the need for careful examination of how we treat others, particularly so because we are all created in the image and likeness of God, consequently, how we treat others is how we treat God. The words we say during the divine liturgy “Let us lift up our hearts” suggest that we should have our hearts in Christ, elevating ourselves above all human imperfections.

Many came forward and received Holy Communion. After the prayer behind the ambo, the Slava Bread was cut and a memorial service was held in remembrance of all those who died during the operation “Storm” in Krajina – outrageous action of the Croatian government and people against Serbs, a great catastrophe and humiliation of Serbian people. 

After the Divine Liturgy, under the clear sky on a beautiful summer day, a luncheon was prepared for all. The Campers worked hard during the week to prepare for the program and they put up a great show for all in attendance. Their talents in music, dancing, playing amazed all in attendance and the program was very well received by all. At the end of the program His Grace addressed all once again and asked everyone to sing along to one of His favorite songs – Marsirala Kralja Petra Garda.

In the afternoon, after four weeks of intensive work, prayer and fun, the children, counselors, staff and guests headed back to their homes filled with joy and anticipation of the next Shadeland Camp season.

Diocese of Eastern America