A great man is one who collects knowledge the way a bee collects honey and uses it to help people overcome the difficulties they endure - hunger, ignorance and disease!
- Nikola Tesla

Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.
- Franklin Roosevelt

While their territory has been devastated and their homes despoiled, the spirit of the Serbian people has not been broken.
- Woodrow Wilson

Decani Monastery Relief Fund

The Decani Monastery Relief Fund (DMRF) is a non-profit organization committed to assisting the people of Kosovo/ Metohija through the Decani Monastery located in Kosovo, by providing funds that may be used in ways which include but are not limited to the following:

  • Providing daily lunches to schools.
  • Providing shoes and clothing for youth.
  • Supporting soup kitchens and bakeries.
  • Rebuilding of seminaries, monasteries, and churches in the region.
  • Providing humanitarian aid to refugee centers.
  • Providing for special needs of the elderly.
  • Paying electric bills.
  • Providing firewood.
  • Financing necessary medical and surgical procedures.
  • Helping to purchase farm equipment and livestock.
  • Providing scholarships to the University of Northern Kosovo when applicable.
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These are just some examples of how donations are used after being channeled through the DMRF directly to the monastery. Ultimately the uses of these funds are determined by the Decani Monastery itself and are based purely upon necessity.



Source: The Decani Monastery Relief Fund


SA

 

People Directory

Michael (Miroslav) Djordjevich

Michael (Miroslav) Djordjevich, from San Rafael California, was one of the patrons of today’s Serbian Philanthropy in the United States. Mr. Djordjevich founded Capital Guaranty Corporation, one of the first companies in the US to insure municipal bonds, ensuring $18 billion in financing for various infrastructure projects in America, which company he took public on the NY Stock Exchange in 1993, and subsequently sold his stake to devote himself full time to Serbian philanthropy.

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Publishing

Sailors of the Sky

A conversation with Fr. Stamatis Skliris and Fr. Marko Rupnik on contemporary Christian art

In these timely conversations led by Fr. Radovan Bigovic, many issues are introduced that enable the contemporary reader to deepen and expand his or her understanding of the role of art in the life of the Church. Here we find answers to questions on the crisis of contemporary ecclesiastical art in West and East; the impact of Impressionism, Expressionism, Cubism, Surrealism and Abstract painting on contemporary ecclesiastical painting; and a consideration of the main distrinction between iconography and secular painting. The dialogue, while resolving some doubts about the difference between iconography, religious painting, and painting in general, reconciles the requirement to obey inconographic canons with the freedom essential to artistic creativity, demonstrating that obedience to the canons is not a threat to the vitatlity of iconography. Both artists illumine the role of prayer and ascetisicm in the art of iconography. They also mention curcial differences between iconography in the Orthodox Church and in Roman Catholicism. How important thse distinctions are when exploring the relationship between contemporary theology and art! In a time when postmodern "metaphysics' revitalizes every concept, these masters still believe that, to some extent, Post-Modernism adds to the revitatiztion of Christian art, stimulating questions about "artistic inspiration" and the essential asethetic categories of Christian painting. Their exceptionally wide, yet nonetheless deep, expertise assists their not-so-everday connections between theology, ar, and modern issues concerning society: "society" taken in its broader meaning as "civilization." Finally, the entire artistic project of Stamatis and Rupnik has important ecumenical implications that aswer a genuine longing for unity in the Christian word.

The text of this 94-page soft-bound book has been translated from the Serbian by Ivana Jakovljevic, Fr. Gregory Edwards, and Andrijana Krstic. Published by Sebastian Press, Western American Diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Contemporary Christian Thought Series, number 7, First Edition, ISBN: 978-0-9719505-8-0