Bishop Sava was born on April 13, 1930 in Senta. After graduating from secondary school he completed the St. Sava Seminary in Belgrade in 1950 and the Faculty of Orthodox Theology of the University of Belgrade in 1954. He did his postgraduate studies at the Old Catholic University in Bern, Switzerland. He obtained a Doctor of Divinity degree at the Faculty of Theology in Belgrade. His dissertation topic was “Typicon of the Archbishop Nikodim.”

He was professor at St. Sava Seminary in Belgrade prior to his election as a bishop. He received monastic vows at the Monastery “Vavedenje” (Entry of the Theotokos) in Belgrade on December 3, 1959. The monastic name he received was Sava. He was ordained hierodeacon on December 4, 1959. On June 3, 1961 he was ordained hieromonk. The Holy Bishops’ Assembly of the Serbian Orthodox Church elected him bishop on May 20, 1961 with title “vicar bishop of Moravica.” He was consecrated bishop on July 23, 1961 in the Patriarchal Cathedral in Belgrade by Patriarch German. Bishop Sava held the following positions: Professor of liturgies at the Theological College, member of the Orthodox Commission for Pan Orthodox Council, and representative of the Serbian Church for inter-confessional dialogues. The Bishops’ Assembly elected Bishop Dr. Sava on June 1, 1967 for a Bishop of the Eastern American and Canadian Diocese. He occupied this position until May 1977 when he was elected as Bishop of the diocese of Šumadija.

Bishop Christopher came at the helm of the Eastern American and Canadian Diocese when the Diocese was well organized by his two predecessors. He focused on the Church schools and religious education of adults. There was already an Education Department with developed plans and programs. In addition to the Church Educational work during the period of Bishop Christopher’s administration, new Church School Congregations and parishes were organized; new Churches and other facilities were built.

In 1910, Petar Kovacevich left his town of Grahovo and after a lengthy and arduous journey he arrived in the southern part of America, on the shore of the Gulf Coast in the city of Galveston where the oldest organized Serbian parish in America originated in 1862–1864. After four years, in 1914 on St. Vitus Day (Vidovdan), his bride Rista nee Vujačić, a native of Grahovo, arrived and together through hard physical labor they gave birth and raised twelve children, eight sons and four daughters. The ninth born child, Velimir, was born on 25 December 1928, according to the new calendar, which he, despite his baptized name Velimir, was nicknamed Chris by his American friends, by which he was known to his circle of friends and acquaintances.

Milan Kovačević was born to Sreten and Kristine Kovačević on 6 September, 1914, in the village Vrnčani near Gornji Milanovac in the Kingdom of Serbia. Milan completed primary school in his village, and high school in Gornji Milanovac. After completing the course at the Teachers High School, he served as a teacher in the village Ljutovnica near Gornji Milanovac.

In 1941, during World War II, because he was at that time an army reserve officer, he was taken by the Nazis to a camp in Germany, where he remained until 1945. After the liberation, Milan went to England, where he temporarily attended a seminary in Dorchester.

In 1950, he emigrated to the USA, and he enrolled in the Saint Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in New York, and also in Columbia University.

In October, 1953, Milan entered the Serbian Orthodox Monastery of Saint Sava in Libertyville, Illinois. On 30 December, 1953, he was tonsured to be a monk by Archimandrite Firmilian (Ocokoljić), and he was given the name Irinej. On 31 December, 1953, the Monk Irinej was ordained to the Holy Diaconate in the monastery by Bishop Dionisije, while on April, 1954, the Hierodeacon Irinej was ordained to the priesthood in the monastery by Bishop Dionisije. On 31 August, 1956, the Hieromonk Irinej was elevated to the dignity of igumen (abbot).

After the death of Bishop Grigorije the Western Diocese was administered by Irinej, Bishop of Niš, from October 1985 until May 1986, and by Sava, Bishop of Šumadija, from July 1986 until May 1988.

The Holy Bishops’ Assembly at the regular session in May 1988 elected Archimandrite Hrizostom Stolić as a Bishop of the Western Diocese.

Bishop Hrizostom was born in 1939 in Ruma where he graduated from elementary school and middle school (High School). After High School he went to the Dečani Monastery where he took monastic vows. He was ordained to hierodeacon and hieromonk by Rt. Rev. Pavle, Bishop of Ras-Prizren. Soon afterwards he went to America to be at the service to his Church and people. He studied at the Seminary in the Russian Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville. He then came to Chicago and helped the pastor at Holy Resurrection Church with his duties. He was appointed temporary pastor of St. George Church in East Chicago, Indiana in 1967. He remained there until 1969. For two years he established firm spiritual roots in the community. He felt a higher calling and responded to it. In 1969 he went to the Hilandar Monastery at Mount Athos in Greece, where he remained for nineteen years. There he was elevated to the rank of archimandrite by the Patriarch of Constantinople, His Holiness Demitrius the First. At one time he was elected a Dean of Mount Athos. He was a librarian in the Hilandar Monastery. Along with the spiritual growth he advanced his intellectual dimensions. He published the Lives of the Holy Fathers in two volumes and the Liturgy of St. Apostle James, which he translated into the Serbian language.