DIOCESAN DAYS 2018

August 31 – September 2, 2018 – Saint Sava Mission, Jackson, California

THE LORD’S PRAYER AS A WAY OF LIFE

The power of Helplessness Before the Face of God in the Struggle to Free the Hidden Person of the Heart
The Way, the Truth and the Life of the Cross  |  The Lord’s Prayer as a Way of Life

 SCHEDULE OF EVENTS | DAY ONE | DAY TWO | DAY THREE

On the third and final day of the Diocesan Days weekend, the 14^th Sunday after Pentecost, September 2, 2018, the feast day of the Holy Prophet Samuel, the morning Matins service was followed by the Holy Hierarchical Divine Liturgy officiated by His Grace Bishop Maxim and with the concelebration of all diocesan clergy. The bishop noted at the conclusion of the service: “May it be blessed to all of us, especially the communion of the Holy Mysteries, medicine for our immortality, given for our assurance of the blessedness to come. By receiving this little gift, we receive everything. And we should always be grateful for that – the gift of life eternal, for from that gift all other gifts come to us.“

The program during the banquet opened with a hymn to the Mother of God performed by Cellist Popadija Biljana Bojovic.  Rev. Deacon Stephen, in his keynote address, offered a personal summation of the past few days, the different sounds and tastes and sights he had enjoyed and taken part in. “To taste is to discern,” he said, adding that the Hebrew word for taste is also the word for discernment. In other words, all that we take in is to be refined by the sobriety of heart. God breathed into the earth and man was given life by God’s divine breath. Thus, breathing is liturgical, it is an anaphora. We do not choose to breathe or not to breathe, we either breathe or die. We take in the tastes around us but are also called to discern whether they are good or bad. In a story of a Jewish rabbi that he shared, the rabbi tells his student to place prayer on his heart. The student is puzzled and attempts to correct his teacher by telling him that prayer should be placed in the heart. “But no human canplace prayer in the heart,” he noted, “it is placed on the heart so when the heart breaks it falls inside.”Subsequently, our only goal in prayer is eschatological – we yearn for God’s Kingdom, His presence, not as a future event but that He be with him. On that note he thanked Bishop Maxim for his invitation and the opportunity he was given to speak to those hungry for Christ.

The seminarians from Prizren performed a few selections, assisted by Popadija Biljana. As a humble token of appreciation Fr. Marko Bojovic, the host priest, offered gifts to the guest speaker, Professor Dejan Ristic and the students from Prizren Seminary, Papa Ephraim and Fr. Boris Colovic visiting priest from the Diocese Zahum and Hercegovina who has been serving the Salt Lake City parish.  Vice President of the Diocesan Council Ron Radakovich made an announcement regarding the publication of the monumental monograph, The Serbian Christian Heritage of America. “As I predicted,” he said, “we have passed the $50,000 mark in sponsorship for the monograph this weekend”.

The banquet and program ended with prayer and Bishop Maxim’s words of gratitude to all that helped in hosting, to those that attended and everyone that works for the prosperity of the Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Western America.

FACES FROM DIOCESAN DAYS 2018 IN JACKSON, CA

Photos by: Larry Angier and V. Rev. Bratislav Krsic
Article by: V. Rev. Milovan Katanic
Faces from Diocesan Days 2018, Photos by: Reader Patrick Wilkes from Reno’s St. John Parish
Sunday, September 2 2018