Page 53 - Western Diocese Annual 2023

sibly 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 de- sired destination. Thus, the first American born Orthodox Chris- tian monk and priest welcomed them at their first visit to an Or- thodox Christian church. We gave them a tour and spent a very pleasant time together. It was ob- vious that what they saw and ex- perienced had a profound impact on them. A year later, they came to Jackson again, for Saint Sebas- tian’s feast, to tell us that upon re- turn to their home in Modesto they found an Antiochian Ortho- dox parish and started attending their services. They realized that what attracted them to Serbia was the culture based upon the Or- thodox faith and that they found the much-needed peace and har- mony in that parish community. Coming to Jackson they wanted to express gratitude to Saint Se- bastian 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 irre- sistibly flowing everywhere around us, and the gathered people stayed for a long time, enjoying it. It was partly due to an excellent hospi- tality 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 fam- ily. 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 re- ceived a phone call from an Ame- rican family whose son is inter- ested in moving to Herceg Novi, since he works from home, and they inquired about the life in Herceg Novi after they found on-
line that our cities are related. Saint Sebastian’s family in the Old Country informed us that their request to establish a humanitari- an foundation with the name of Saint Sebastian of Jackson was granted by the Holy Synod of our Patriarchate, upon Bishop Max- im’s approval. In addition, a mod- est but beautiful sculpture—mon- ument 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 Se- bastian, written by a distinguished playwright. We were also in- formed that the divine services were performed at our Saint Ste-
2023 DIOCESAN ANNUAL
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