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Visit of His Grace Bishop IRINEJ to St. Nicholas Serbian Orthodox Church in Steelton |
 On Tuesday, November 25, 2008, Fr. Srboljub Jockovich and the stewards of the St. Nicholas Serbian Orthodox Church of Steelton/Oberlin, Pennsylvania, with the blessings of His Grace Bishop Mitrophan of Eastern America, were pleased and blessed to welcome His Grace Irinej, Serbian Orthodox Bishop of Australia and New Zealand, to evening vespers. (His Grace, IRINEJ, greets old friends and offers his blessings to them at St. Nicholas Serbian Orthodox Church in Steelton, Pennsylvania on November 25, 2008. He was present for Vesper services and to make an appeal on behalf of IOCC projects in Kosovo.) Nearly 75 people were present to greet His Grace on his first visit to St. Nicholas Church since his elevation to bishop. Bishop Irinej has been visiting Orthodox Christian churches in major cities across the United States at the invitation of the International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC) to raise money for humanitarian projects in Kosovo. The much smaller St. Nicholas community felt especially blessed to be included on His Grace’s busy itinerary.
As His Grace entered the Church, Fr. Srboljub stood in front of the altar to greet him while the SSS Marinkovich Choir sang Dostojno jest (It is truly meet). Many parishioners were moved to tears as Bishop Irinej made his way up the center aisle to the altar. We have warm memories of prior visits, beginning when His Grace was a seminarian at St. Vladimir’s Seminary and later, when he was a hieromonk and the keynote speaker at our 95th Anniversary Slava (Patronal Feast). We followed his career when he was on the IOCC staff and as he directed the Office of External Affairs for the Serbian Orthodox Church in Washington, DC. We were pleased to know he was elevated to archimandrite during his tenure as consultant on international and interchurch affairs to the Serbian Orthodox Church’s Holy Synod of Bishops in Belgrade. His consecration as Bishop in July 2006 and subsequent enthronment as Serbian Orthodox Bishop of Australia and New Zealand was met with great joy in our parish. This was Bishop Irinej’s first visit to our community since he became bishop and we welcomed this opportunity to express our deep respect for him, our pride in his fulfilling career and humble love for him and his mission.
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