The Path of Orthodoxy the Official Publication of the Serbian Orthodox Church in North, Central, and South America
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VOLUME 54 NO. 4 FALL 2019 Стаза Православља THE PATH OF ORTHODOXY The Official publication of the Serbian Orthodox Church in North, Central, and South America 800th Anniversary of the Autocephaly of the Serbian Orthodox Church Central Celebration held at Monastery Zicha Inside • VOLUME 54 • NO. 4 • FALL 2019 4 800th Anniversary Celebration of the Autocephaly Central Celebration at Monastery Zicha 3 Encyclical on the Occasion of 800th Anniversary 8 A Glorious Celebration of Two Jubilees in Boston th 9 800 Anniversary Commoration in Canada With the Blessings of the Episcopal Council 12 NYC Cathedral Construction The Path of Orthodoxy The Official Publication 13 Parish Slava Celebration in Akron of the Serbian Orthodox Church in the United States of America 14 125th Anniversary Celebration in Jackson Editorial Staff 16 From Young Ivan to the Great Mardarije V. Rev. Milovan Katanic 1856 Knob Hill Road, San Marcos, CA 92069 Phone: 442-999-5695 17 Orthodox Christian Catechism [email protected] V. Rev. Dr. Bratso Krsic 3025 Denver Street, San Diego, CA 92117 20 Phone: 619-276-5827 [email protected] V. Rev. Thomas Kazich P.O. Box 371, Grayslake, IL 60030 Посланица поводом 800- Phone: 847-223-4300 [email protected] це аутокефалности Technical Editor Vesna R. Meinert Phone: 304-842-2927, 22 Централна прослава [email protected] The Path of Orthodoxy is a quarterly 25 Архијерерји посетили Високе Дечане publication. Issues are available in PDF format at www.serborth.org. 27 Епархија Источноамеричка торжествено Letters to the Editor are welcome. All letters and manuscripts submitted for publication прославила 800 година аутокефалности СПЦ must be signed and contain the author’s name and address and maybe edited for purposes of 29 Православни Катихизис space and clarity. Material must be submitted via email in MS Word format. Business Address: P.O. Box 883, Bridgeport, WV 26330 COVER: Central Celebration at Zica Monastery Email: [email protected] 2 • THE PatH OF ORTHODOXY FALL 2019 †IRINEJ By the Grace of God Orthodox Archbishop of Pec, Metropolitan of Belgrade Karlovci and Serbian Patriarch, with all the Hierarchs of the Serbian Orthodox Church to all the clergy, monastics, and all the sons and daughters of our Holy Church on the occasion the 800th Anniversary of its Autocephaly, sends blessings and greetings with this Conciliar Encyclical May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2 Cor. 13:14). n this blessed year we are con- built, or as a second benefactor he reno- the First Crowned, Serbia, whose position, sumed with sacred emotions and vated and whole-heartedly endowed the greatness and reputation was respected inexpressible joy, for the Lord has monasteries Hilandar, Vatopedi, Iverion, by both East and West, finally became a deemedI us worthy that in it we, conciliarly, the Great Lavra, Karakallou, Xeropotamou Christian kingdom. The young kingdom set all together, the hierarchs, clergy, monas- and Philotheou on Mount Athos, Zicha, the political framework and gave impetus tics and the God-loving people, celebrate Mileseva and the Studenica hermitage in to the growth and spread of the Orthodox the great jubilee – the eight hundredth Serbia, monasteries in Jerusalem, Bethle- faith and the creation of a more solid insti- birthday of our Serbian Orthodox Church! hem, Alexandria and Thessaloniki as well tutional framework for the Serbian Church Exactly 800 years ago, through the endeav- as in Rome and Bari. He laid the founda- and state. At one significant moment, Saint ors of Saint Sava, the greatest and most tion of Serbian medicine with the founding Sava said this to Emperor Theodore Las- significant person in the history of our peo- of the hospitals in Hilandar and Studenica. caris in the famous words that began his ple, the Serbian Orthodox Church received He worked tirelessly in enlightening his mission of acquiring autocephaly: “I am its independence, autocephaly. people with the light of the Gospel’s truth. anxious and sad, my Lord, for my country Saint Sava achieved so much during Among the Serbs he tirelessly developed does not have its own archbishop; and the sixty years of his earthly life that love for church services by showing them many more countries surround my father- anyone who delves deeper into his life will through his own example in podvigs of land in the region of our country, but they only realize, by God’s inspiration, where communal and private prayer, as well as are not advanced in divine rectification.” to start in this telling. For this reason we as love for the church service traditions from At that time, the Serbian people were well, the Serbian hierarchs and his succes- pre-Nemanjic Serbia, Montenegro, Con- at the crossroads of the geographical, sors, invoke the prayer his hagiographer stantinople and Jerusalem. spiritual and political divisions of East and and hymnographer Teodosije wove into the Brothers and sisters! Feeling a respon- West, just as they are today. But this did canon to St. Sava: To praise Sava, grant sibility for the significance of the person- not prevent, but inspired Saint Symeon the me, my God, knowledge! alities and events we celebrate, we, the Myrrh-flowing and his holy sons Sava and Inspired in this way, we remind your hierarchs of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Stephen the First Crowned to wisely and love of the significance of Sava’s deeds. send you this encyclical that we might prudently lead a two-man ship of the Ser- He achieved the autocephaly of the Ser- simultaneously - together with you - share bian people, a ship of the Serbian Church bian Church and as the first Archbishop the joy of this momentous anniversary and, and the Serbian state, through the Scylla he organized its spiritual life into eleven based on careful consideration and a prop- and Charybdis conflicts of the East and the dioceses, with many monasteries and er understanding of the time and circum- West no less than those of today. deaneries. He redirected the development stances in which Saint Sava accomplished Saint Sava knew that the spiritual and of Serbian sacral architecture with the this great work, examine and understand cultural enlightenment of the faithful could construction of the Church of Christ our the circumstances of the times in which we only be achieved if a sufficient number of Savior in Zicha and opened new hori- live today. dedicated bishops, priests and monks were zons of Serbian iconography through art Let us remember: our ancestors were educated under one church administra- programs in Studenica and Zicha. He is the baptized gradually, over the centuries, up tion. Without a unified church framework father of Serbian literature as the author of until the ninth century. During those times, and a unified spiritual space, the essential The Life of Saint Symeon as well as being as in the present day, areas inhabited by pastoral mission of the Church of salvation the author of many letters and homilies. Serbs were separated and divided in terms in its fatherhood and its people was simply He laid the foundation for Serbian church of state administration. The ecclesiastical not possible. In such political circumstanc- law with the typikons of the Kareya cell administration in Raska was under the es, it was necessary for the Church to be and the monasteries Hilandar and Studen- jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Ohrid, autonomous, autocephalous. ica, as well as the famous Zakonopravilo, the western Serbian lands were heavily Saint Sava knew that the spiritual and or Nomocanon, and the decrees which he influenced by the Latins, and the spiritual cultural enlightenment of the faithful could wrote with his father and brother. He made divide and division among the people was only be achieved if a sufficient number of very important state and diplomatic mis- even more pronounced. dedicated bishops, priests and monks were sions with the Bulgarians and Hungarians, At the beginning of the 13th century, educated under one church administra- nurtured good relations with the Eastern when the Great Zupan Stefan Nemanja, on tion. Without a unified church framework Patriarchs, maintained church-political the throne of an already stable state which and a unified spiritual space, the essential relations with Rome and was a pioneer for the first time united almost all Serbian pastoral mission of the Church of salvation in inter-religious dialogue with Islam. He lands, was succeeded by his son Stephen Continued on P. 4 THE PatH OF ORTHODOXY FALL 2019 • 3 the national, governing interest of the Ser- ENCYCLICAL ON THE OCCASION OF THE 800TH ANNIVERSARY bian people. Therefore, on his return from Nicaea to Serbia, he edited the Zakono- Continued From P. 3 OF THE AUTOCEPHALY, pravilnik (Nomocanon), a book that, in addition to church-canonical rules, includ- ed the norms of civil law. However, one should not lose sight of the fact that he did in its fatherland and among its own people this primarily with spiritual and pastoral was simply not possible. In such political motives. Saint Sava knew that in the given circumstances, it was necessary for the historical circumstances, only an adminis- Church to be autonomous, autocephalous. tratively autonomous Church could allow For this reason, the Saint, inspired by for a valid and lasting evangelization, spiri- love for his people, and with the consent of tual progress and religious foundation for his brother the Holy King Stephen the First his people and fatherhood. Crowned, made one of the most important Moreover, for Saint Sava, as well as decisions in the history of the Serbian peo- for the fullness of the Church of Christ at ple. At a time when the Orthodox Eastern all times, unlike the state sovereignty and Roman Empire was being torn apart and organization of any human organization conquered, when the Crusader hordes - and institution in this world, the adminis- with fire and sword - established a Latin trative independence of the Church did not Empire in the capital of Constantinople mean its isolation, closure and isolation.