NEWS AND EVENTS - Wednesday, October 18, 2017
PARISH SLAVA IN PATERSON
On Friday, October 6, on the day of the Paterson parish Slava, the Conception of St. John the Baptist, the Holy Hierarchical Divine Liturgy was served by one Metropolitan, three Bishops, six priests and a deacon.
Officiating as guest from Constantinople, the Ecumenical Patriarchate, was Metropolitan Maximos of Silivri, concelebrated by Bishop Ierotheos, abbot of St. Irene Monastery in Astoria, Ecumenical Patriarchate, Bishop Maxim of Western America and the host bishop, Bishop Irinej of Eastern America. Concelebrating were Hieromonk Meletije, Greek Archdiocese, Protopresbyters: Zivojin Jakovljevic from New York, Aleksandar Vlajkovic from Boston, Zoran and Sasa from Elizabeth and Deacon Jovan Anicic. The Paterson church choir sang the responses during this solemn and prayerful gathering in which approximately sixty parishioners participated.
Bishop Maxim of Western America delivered the homily on the feast of the Conception of St. John the Baptist who, as the greatest man born of a woman, serves as a bridge between the Old and the New Testament. He is ever standing in the middle of the Old and New Testament and his entire life from his conception until his martyrdom he always reminds us and directs our thoughts to Christ. Following the Divine Liturgy His Eminence Metropolitan Maximos of Silivri addressed the faithful in perfect Serbian, speaking of the sanctity of the parish which through love and obedience becomes the true community of God's faithful, gathered around their Hierarch, who is a personification of the Lord himself in the parish community. Following the visitng Metropolitan's greeting was the Slava blessing after which a formal Slava luncheon was served in the hall.
The parish priest, V. Rev. Djokan, thanked Bishop Irinej for arranging such a great honor for the Paterson parish on the day of their parish slava that such eminent church dignitaries and friends of the Serbian people be guests of the parish. He thanked Bishop Maxim, brother clergy who with their presence elevated the celebration, as well as sisters Ljubinka Pavlovci, Biljana Srejic, Kata Evtimovsky and Saveta Jankovic, who prepared the agape meal.