1. An Apostle of Universal Significance

Born during the presidency of Abraham Lincoln, Archimandrite Sebastian Dabovich has the distinction of being the first person born in the United States of America to be ordained as an Orthodox priest,[1] and also the first native-born American to be tonsured as an Orthodox monk. His greatest distinction, however, lies in the tremendous apostolic, pastoral, and literary work that he accomplished during the forty-eight years of his priestly ministry. Known as the "Father of Serbian Orthodoxy in America,"[2] he was responsible for the founding of the first Serbian churches in the NewWorld. This, however, was only one part of his life's work, for he tirelessly and zealously sought to spread the Orthodox Faith to all peoples, wherever he was called. He was an Orthodox apostle of universal significance.

У САД је живео до своје осме године када је, по завршетку другог разреда основне школе, заједно са родитељима дошао у Сарајево. Овде је наставио своје школовање и, са одличним успехом, завршио основну школу и гимназију са вишим течајним испитом, а потом је, заједно са оцем, отишао у Охрид код Владике Николаја (Велимировића) да затражи благослов за упис на Богословски факултет у Београду.

The first archpastor of the Eastern American diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church was Bishop Stefan (Lastavica) (1963–1966). The consecration of the newly elected Bishop Stefan took place on July 13, 1963 in the church of the Holy Prophet Elijah In Aliquippa, Pennsylvania.

Bishop Stefan was born October 14, 1908 in the village of Divos, Srem, into a priest’s family. He graduated from the Seminary in Sremski Karlovci and the Faculty of Orthodox Theology at Belgrade University in 1939. Prior to the election of Bishop, he served in the highest Church hierarchical and legislative institutions. Thus he gained experience in Church legislature and administration.

Bishop Damaskin was born in Leskovac in 1892. He graduated from the nine year St. Sava Seminary in Belgrade, while simultaneously attending the Belgrade Music School. After finishing the Seminary, he taught music at the First High School in Kragujevac. Received into the monastic order at Rakovica Monastery by Archimandrite Platon, later martyred as Bishop of Banja Luka, he studied at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy where he received a Master's Degree in Theology in 1917. He then went to Freiburg, Switzerland where he obtained a Ph.D. in Philosophy.

Te Right Reverend Dr. Firmilian, Bishop of the Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Midwestern America, was born on the Feast of the Nativity of Christ, according to the Julian Calendar, on the 7th of January 1910. Born into a clerical family in Kaona, Serbia, he was the son of many generations of priests, specifically, born in the family of the protopresbyter Uros Ocokoljich and his mother, Darinka, nee Plazinic, also the daughter of a priest. To the delight of this family, the parents were blessed with the birth of twins, named at baptism, Stanko (later, Firmilian) and Ranko. Stanko was the tenth child.

Having completed his elementary (in the place of his birth) and secondary education (Gymnasium, High School, in Čačak,) young Stanko was admitted into the Orthodox Seminary in Sarajevo, Bosnia, from where he graduated in the year 1930. After having served the Armed Forces of his country, Stanko was married to Nadežda Popović. Following their marriage, Stanko was ordained to the diaconate and then to the priesthood, being assigned as assistant to his father, protopresbyter Uroš, in the Village of Kaona. He was ordained to priesthood in 1930 by Bishop Jefrem Bojović, brother of well-known Vojvoda Petar Bojović. Tragically, within the first year of his marriage, Father Stanko lost both his wife and son, during childbirth.

As the son of Stevan Udicki, notary, and Anica Udicki Pavlovich, he was born on January 14, 1911, in Velika Kikinda, Banat. He finished the public and secondary school at Velika Kikinda and Timisoara (Romania), the Seminary in Sremski Karlovci (Yugoslavia) in 1930, when he entered the University of Belgrade and finished the Faculty of Orthodox Theology in June 1934.

After the military service in the Red Cross company in Bitola (Yugoslavia) in 1934/35, he became a teacher of the Seminary and gymnasium in Bitola on March 15, 1935. On November 14, he was ordained a priest, on special duty at the monastery church of St. John the Baptist in Bitola till 1938, when passed the examination of a Master degree.

He took monastic vows in the Monastery of Hilandar in 1936.

In September 1938 he went to the U.S.A., to Libertyville, Illinois, taking up there the job of a secretary of the Orthodox Diocese and later on duty of a priest at the Holy Trinity Church at Butte, Montana. In order to complete the studies necessary for getting the PhD degree, he went in 1939 to Athens (Greece), but soon returned to Yugoslavia because of the war between Greece and Italy. Having transferred studies to the University of Belgrade he passed the examination on June 11, 1940. Working on preparation of the dissertation he went to Petrovgrad, Banat (Yugoslavia), where he remained till 1945. During the wartime between Yugoslavia and Germany, he was just a manual worker, and later in 1943 he became again a teacher in Gymnasium and helped at the Church in Petrovgrad. In June 1945 he was forced by communists to leave because of his faith.