On Sunday, November 21, 2021, the Saratoga parish celebrated the patron saint of our parish, the Holy Archangel Michael. As every year we were honored by the visit and blessing of His Grace Bishop Maxim, our Diocesan Bishop, who arrived on Saturday, November 20, in the afternoon. His Grace came with the Diocesan Deacon Vladan Radovanovic and they were hosted by our esteemed parish members Marko and Žana Duchich.

In the afternoon his Grace attended the opening of the exhibition of his first paintings in America. Fr. Vidoslav Vujasin the parish priest in Saratoga and council member Mihailo Vrcelj greeted all and opened the exhibition. The exhibition theme was “Paradox, Revelation, and Surprise” and with more than twenty paintings the visitors were able to see Bishop Maxim’s personal testimony to the art. Bishop Maxim displayed his skilled artwork to the Saratoga parishioners who were delighted to spend time with him and to learn more about his artwork. To the opening we were pleased to welcome our dear Fr. Marko Bojovic and Deacon Dragan Stojanovic with their wives bringing us the blessing of St. Sebastian from Jackson, CA. Fr. Marko and Deacon Dragan served the Vesper service with the blessing and prayerful attendance of His Grace and the faithful parishioners.

On Sunday morning the Episcopal Dean, Fr. Vasilije Cvijanovic with his wife Protinica Sretenka from Moraga and Fr. Djurica Gordic from San Francisco arrived to welcome our beloved Bishop Maxim together with Fr. Vidoslav the host, Deacon Vladan, and many parishioners with children. The Hierarchal Divine Liturgy was very beautiful and joyous with a great number of parishioners from the whole Bay Area and among them Protinica Ljiljana Bunjevic from San Francisco, Mirko Golubovic the President of the First Serbian Benevolent Society from San Francisco, and Ron Radakovich from Moraga. It was the first bigger event since the pandemic started and it was precious and wonderful seeing each other again after a long time. The Choir under the direction of Lazo Mihajlovic sang beautifully the responses to the Liturgy. His Grace Bishop Maxim gave an inspiring sermon to the gospel account about the Rich man and Lazarus pointing out that the gaps and divisions which men create between each other are hard to overcome and can even last in eternal life. We need Christ in our lives to get over separations and to be unified in Him.

The Slava bread was blessed by His Grace in the presence of the Slava Kum’s followed by a beautiful singing performance of our lovely Sunday school children led by Gordana Mihajlovich.
After the service, we had a delicious lunch under the tent outside with live music performed by Nena & Goca! Everyone enjoyed the beautiful sunny day, the fellowship, and the nice ambiance. We thank all who helped to make this Slava very special!
It was truly a joyous celebration and we are looking forward to the next Archpastoral visit of His Grace Bishop Maxim.
We pray for the protection of our St. Archangel Michael and all Heavenly Bodiless powers!

Very Rev. Protopresbyter Vidoslav Vujasin