GRACE UPON GRACE

The Jackson Festivities in honor of the Theotokos and Saint Sebastian, November 29th–December 4th, 2022.

The annual festivities in Jackson, California, this 2022nd year of our Lord’s goodness did not fall short of being graceful as ever. On Tuesday evening, Akathist to Saint Sebastian was read by protopresbyters Dane Popović of the Holy Assumption parish in Fair Oaks and Peter Perekrestov of the Holy Virgin Cathedral of San Francisco, together with the parish priest and deacon. The guest priests came with their wives and a decent number of people for a weekday eve participated. After venerating the saint’s holy relics and being anointed with the oil from the vigil lamp above them, the celebrants went to the parish hall for a delicious dinner, prepared by Larry Angier, and fellowship.

The next morning, on the feast of Saint Sebastian of San Francisco and Jackson, we were blessed with a beautiful sunny day. For the rest of the week, the weather was cold and rainy, but on this day the Lord found yet another way to show us how favored and beloved his saint is. We were also blessed by the presence of one more protopresbyter from Saint Sebastian’s home town of San Francisco, Father Djurica Gordić of the Serbian Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist, as well as Fr Elijah Drake, a former Anglican priest and missionary in China and now the parish priest of Saint John of Shanghai and San Francisco missionary parish in Lodi. According to the will of the older clergy, the host priest presided the Divine Liturgy, assisted by two deacons: the parish deacon, Dragan Stojanović, ordained on that day eight years ago, and Deacon Seraphim Torruella of the Holy Ascension parish in Sacramento. There were three families that brought their bread and wheat to be blessed for their Slava: of Miloš Mike Rice, of Lazar Larry Angier, and of Deacon Seraphim. Namely, he called and asked if he could adopt this blessed Serbian tradition, since he and his wife love it. Saint Sebastian was instrumental for the two of them becoming Orthodox Christian, though of Spanish and Italian descents, respectively, so they even chose to be married in Jackson’s church by their parish priest a few years ago. This was their very first Slava and everybody wished them and their posterity many more. At the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy, their parish priest, protopresbyter Paul Volmensky (who also adopted this blessed tradition, choosing Holy King Lazar of Kosovo as his family’s patron saint) arrived as soon as his pastoral responsibilities allowed him. Romanian parents brought again their son Sebastian, who is growing into a big boy.

After two earlier big events in Jackson this year, the Diocesan Assembly and the Argonaut Mine Disaster Centennial, these festivities at the conclusion of the year were not promoted or advertised anywhere except through the parish emailing list. Yet, Saint Sebastian, the great missionary as he was and is, gentle and unimposing, has his ways of calling people to his church and feast. Although it was Wednesday, a work day, the church and later the hall was full with over seventy people, of Native American, South American, African, Asian and European descent, of all races and ethnic backgrounds. It was especially interesting to speak with a lady who is an Orthodox Christian from Great Britain, as well as with a young man who is an Orthodox Christian from China. Again and again we were able to witness that only our Lord, Redeemer and Savior Jesus Christ is able to unite and make one the people that are different in so many worldly aspects. It was a special treat to see again an American family from Modesto, who had visited us about a year ago. At that time, being tired of heated political fights in the midst of the pandemic, they started considering leaving America for one year. As they were researching on internet what a peaceful country they could possibly go to, of all the places on the face of the earth they somehow came up with Serbia. They loved the photos and videos of Serbia’s nature, loved reading about our culture and people’s hospitality. As they were doing their online research, providentially our Saint Sava Serbian Orthodox church in Jackson popped up on their screen. Until then, they had never heard of the Orthodox Christian faith. They decided to come and maybe learn more about their desired destination. Thus, the first American born Orthodox Christian monk and priest welcomed them at their first visit to an Orthodox Christian church. We gave them a tour and spent a very pleasant time together. It was obvious that what they saw and experienced had a profound impact on them. A year later, they came to Jackson again, for Saint Sebastian’s feast, to tell us that upon return to their home in Modesto they found an Antiochian Orthodox parish and started attending their services. They realized that what attracted them to Serbia was the culture based upon the Orthodox faith and that they found the much-needed peace and harmony in that parish community. Coming to Jackson they wanted to express gratitude to Saint Sebastian for introducing them to this ancient and holy faith and then asked if he could become their family’s patron. They should be chrismated in their parish on January 5th, God willing. The grace of the Lord was tangibly and irresistibly flowing everywhere around us, and the gathered people stayed for a long time, enjoying it. It was partly due to an excellent hospitality and meal provided by the Rice family.

We received many greetings that day. A man who works as a truck driver here in America, sent us photos from his church and home in Serbia, where he celebrated once again Saint Sebastian with his family as his second, special Slava. The same did again a young lawyer from Zemun with his family. Metropolitan Joanikije of Montenegro and the Littoral served Divine Liturgy in Savina Monastery (where they have a portion of Saint Sebastian’s relics and a big, beautiful icon of him), in Herceg Novi, Jacskon’s sister city. A few months ago, we received a phone call from an American family whose son is interested in moving to Herceg Novi, since he works from home, and they inquired about the life in Herceg Novi after they found online that our cities are related. Saint Sebastian’s family in the Old Country informed us that their request to establish a humanitarian foundation with the name of Saint Sebastian of Jackson was granted by the Holy Synod of our Patriarchate, upon Bishop Maxim’s approval. In addition, a modest but beautiful sculpture—monument of Saint Sebastian is being prepared by a renowned artist to eventually beautify one of the central squares of Herceg Novi. Earlier this year, we received the first draft of the script for a feature film about Jackson and Saint Sebastian, written by a distinguished playwright. We were also informed that the divine services were performed at our Saint Stephen’s Cathedral in Alhambra, at the Saint Nicholas Orthodox Church (OCA) in Portland, Oregon, at the All Saints of North America Orthodox Church (OCA) in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and at the Saint Sebastian and Mardarije Chapel, established in 2015 and attached to the Holy Apostles Bartholomew and Barnabas Church in Rakovica, near Belgrade, Serbia.

Our Bishop Maxim was able to join us on Friday evening, after serving a funeral in Los Angeles. On Saturday, we first had a joint management committee meeting at the Saint Sava Mission. On the eve of the feast of the Presentation of the Most Holy Mother God to the Temple, Vespers was served at the church, with sounds of heavy rain coming from outside and of a beautiful, medieval Serbian chant that Vladika used for this special occasion. The Vespers was followed by dinner with dear guests from Los Angeles and Sacramento, a treat of the Wier family.

Sunday morning started with dark clouds, heavy rain and birds flying around the church dome. The nave was again filled with people. The new hierarchical staff, made out of wood by the local artist Paul “Skip” Sharp, who also made the reliquary for Saint Sebastian’s relics and many other beautiful wooden items in our church, was presented to our Bishop. Before the Divine Liturgy started and after the Bishop vested, four dedicated and reliable men were tonsured readers: Richard Broderson, Mihailo “Michael” Tarbat, Solomon “Robert” Tingley and Miloš “Michael” Rice. Then Pavlos “Paul, PJ” Karnaze, who had served as a reader for seven years, was made a subdeacon. The Divine Liturgy started and all these men were assisting the Bishop and two protopresbyters who served with him, William “Bill” Wier of Fair Oaks and Stevan Tumbas of Jackson, both retired, together with the parish priest and deacon.

As we were receiving grace upon grace from Christ’s fullness (Jn 1:16), on this holy and festive day when our church was consecrated 128 years ago, at the Small Entrance our Deacon Dragan was elevated to the protodeaconate. He has served God’s Holy Church his whole life—a child of immigrants from the former Yugoslavia, late father Dragutin from Vranje, Serbia, and mother Marica from Rakovica village (Dubica County, under Kozara) in Bosnia (who now lives in Florida), a 6-year-old wounded survivor of the infamous WW2 Jasenovac concentration camp (but her father Djuro and her six uncles—two from the father’s and four from the mother’s side—were murdered), he was born in East Liverpool, Ohio, and raised in Midland, Pennsylvania, at Saint George Serbian Orthodox church. Later, he moved to Texas, first to Freeport and then to Houston, worked as an electrical engineer and served as the president of the parish council of the newly established parish of Saint Sava in Houston. He met there and married a very gracious lady of British descent, Victoria, at the second oldest Serbian parish in North America, Saint Constantine and Helen in Galveston. They raised two children, Nicholas and Christina. While the children were still growing, they moved to Jackson, California, about twenty years ago. One of the main reasons Protodeacon Dragan was willing to accept the job offer in Jackson was our historic church. In Jackson he served as a reader and parish council president, and then was ordained a deacon in 2014 on the day of the repose of Saint Sebastian. Although he still works for the local electrical company, he has been very diligent, devout and obedient in his diaconal service. In addition to his liturgical responsibilities, he makes prosphora for weekday liturgies, he is the parish financial secretary and he serves with our Bishop whenever and wherever he serves in the region: Carson City, Jackson, Fresno, Sacramento, Moraga, Saratoga… Bishop Maxim added that Protodeacon Dragan is a man full of love and grace, who serves with a beautiful voice and confidence. Upon reading of the prayer, he inherited late Protodeacon Triva’s beautiful blue orarion made in Australia, and Father Bill, once a protodeacon himself, presented to him his beautiful red orarion.

The Holy Communion line almost felt unending, offering to us a glimpse of the Age to Come. One kolač and žito was blessed for the Diocesan KSS and Saint Sebastian Press and the other for the Parish Founders and Parish Brotherhood, with popadija Biljana Bojović being the kuma of the former and reader Miloš Rice, the Saint Sebastian Brotherhood President, being the kum of the latter. As we were exiting the church, the abundance of the grace of God removed even the rainy clouds and blessed us with a beautiful, calm, sunny afternoon. The traditional Bokeljski Bakalar meal was prepared by Marko and Audrie Petricevich, guided by the 94-year-old Danica Milosovich. During the delicious meal and joyous fellowship Protodeacon Dragan, asked by the Bishop to offer a few words, thanked everybody saying that the essential aspect of our Church, our way of life and the constituent of our identity—synodality, has been reaffirmed before our eyes by the virtue of different charismata being granted to us. Thanks be to our Patrons for these wonderful and grace-filled festivities and glory be to our good and loving God for all things!