With the grace of our merciful God and with His Grace Bishop Irinej presiding, we celebrated St. George and the 100th Anniversary of our parish on May 6th and May 11th respectively. 

On Bright Monday our parishioners gathered to celebrate our patron saint St. George together with their Bishop. In his sermon, His Grace spoke of apostolic succession in the Orthodox Church. There is an unbroken line between Christ’s apostles and all of our bishops and priests throughout history to today that has been preserved through the Holy Spirit. His Grace exemplified this when he laid hands on our Father Vedran and raised his rank to Presbyter-Economos.  Axios Father Vedran! May God grant him many more years.  Father Vedran, together with his family, is grateful for this honor bestowed upon him by His Grace. 

He also spoke of St. George, the patron saint of our parish and his martyrdom in relation to Pascha. He came from a wealthy family and became a great military leader. However, no matter his wealth or his rank, he refused to deny God. Though we are in the joyous paschal period, St. George serves as a reminder of the bloodshed for Christ.  Our clergy don the color red in remembrance of this sacrifice, just as we dye our Pascha eggs red. In this way the Church brings us in a full circle- Christ giving his life for us, and we as martyrs giving our lives for Him.

St. George is also the patron saint of His Grace.  Father Vedran blessed and broke the Slava bread and wheat with His Grace, and the children of our parish also gathered together with them.  It was truly a joyous continuation of the celebration of Pascha.

On May 11th we continued our celebration with a day to honor the 100th Anniversary of our parish. Divine Liturgy was celebrated with a numerous amount of clergy from many jurisdictions of the Holy Orthodox Church.  Parishioners traveled near and far to come together and offered their prayers for the prosperity of our church. But also kept in remembrance their ancestors who had worked tirelessly to build and uphold this community.  Father Aleksa Pavicevic gave an inspiring sermon on the effort it takes to preserve a parish. He spoke of never taking our community for granted.  On behalf of His Grace, Very Reverend Stavrophor Rade Meric presented our parish with a Hierarchical Grammaton which honors “One hundred years of outstanding and dedicated service laboring in the vineyard of the Lord”. 

This year’s Kumovi were Milos and Zeljka Vignjevic, faithful members of our parish, who are also generous donors and benefactors not only to our church but to all those in need. May God grant them many more years! 

A joyous reception followed with a luncheon, music, and dancing that was enjoyed by all of our parishioners and guests.  Glory to God for this beautiful time we shared together.  By the Grace of God,  and through the intercessions of St. George, may we celebrate another 100 years of service and love to the Holy Serbian Orthodox Church.