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

Oakland 90th Anniversary Greeting 2016

Greeting from His Grace Bishop Maxim of Los Angeles and Western America

Oakland 90th Anniversary Greeting 2016

Dear Brothers and Sisters, our beloved Children in the Lord,

This anniversary in Oakland coincides with the recent canonization of Archimandrite Sebastian (Dabovich) of San Francisco and Jackson, clergyman and preacher of the Gospel who inspired many missionaries. Once again, through the life of this Saint, we see a faith that produces holy persons, enriches the world with saints and insists on an ethos of holiness. 

Living in the Bay area, you might better understand how the life of the Church has the depth and breadth of the open ocean, such that great swells do not make the waters turbid, but release the “ozone” of health and courage which strengthens man in his struggle. When you live in the world that they have shaped and partake in the universal concelebration of heaven and earth which is celebrated in the Orthodox Church, you pulse with a vibration that reveals to you things unseen.

Many times Orthodox immigrants have gone to other countries and not lost our faith and our character, but have often rediscovered and lived them better. Our Orthodox manners and customs are liturgical, and our upbringing, ethos, and education are those of the Church. The axis of our tradition and our life is the God-man. The whole parish is one family, one Church. Its feast and festivals, the feasts of the Church. And the church feasts are the days for its holidays, festivities and songs. The folk songs, their words and their music, are related to the music (and the ethos) of the Church. 

In most cases, Church life in this part of the Serbian Church during the Great Depression survived, its organization preserved at both the diocesan and congregational level. There was even the case of Akron where people, though suffering hardship and destitution during the Depression, through the efforts of their priest Milan Popovic, built a new church dedicated to St. Demetrius. During this period of adversity our people united around their Church, which had also become impoverished, since it was the only place they could turn to and share what little they had in those sad times.

May this Jubilee which we commemorate in Oakland as well as the Commemorative Book marking the ninetieth anniversary of the establishment of the Serbian Orthodox Parish of Saint George, remind us all of the zeal of our ancestors and guide us to the sacred goal of unity in Christ and His Orthodox Church.

 


SA

 

People Directory

Vladimir Djordjevic

Vladimir Mr.V Djordjevic, US citizen of Serbian descent, born January 23, 1973 in Belgrade, Serbia, live and work in Miami, Florida, USA. Vladimir is a 5 time US Martial Arts Hall of Fame'r and a WorldWide known Hand to Hand Combat Instructor. Mr.V is an edged weapon combat specialist who also designs some of the world's deadliest blades known as " Mr.V® - Made in USA". He is founder and chief instructor of Odbrana, Tactical Defense System. As highly skilled combat instructor, he has taught classes and seminars in weapon awareness and use for military, law enforcement, and security organizations. Mr.V is known as martial artist, producer, stuntman, writer and talk show host with an expertise in fight choreography.

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Publishing

Commentary on the Epistles of St. John the Theologian

by Archimandrite Justin Popovich

This Commentary on the Epistles of St. John the Theologian - published now, three years after the blessed repose of Venerable Fr. Justin (on the Feast of the Annunciation, 1979) - was written by the tireless Messenger of Christ forty years ago, in circumstances similar to those in which Christ's Holy Evangelist John wrote his sacred Epistles.

The text of this 93-page soft-bound book has been translated from the Serbian by Radomir M. Plavsic. Published by Sebastian Press, Western American Diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Contemporary Christian Thought Series, number 5, First Edition, ISBN: 978-0-9719505-6-6