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Sts. Mardarije & Sebastian
Hand-Painted Icons Now Available!
 

 


Dear Beloved in Christ,

 

I greet you in the love and joy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as I write to share news of the new icon of the Holy Enlighteners and Apostles of our Church, the newly canonized Saint Sebastian of San Francisco and Jackson and Saint Mardarije of Chicago and Libertyville. 

The liturgical glorification of these two new American Saints and the spiritually edifying events that followed on that beautiful day of the canonization in early September, has truly touched the hearts and lives of many and has created an awareness of the important significance of the proclamation of new saints in America and the world.

We, as Orthodox Christians, now offer prayers to these holy and venerable Saints, so that they might intercede on our behalf.  Through God's Grace we have received this great blessing and have now been given the gift of beautifully hand-painted icons to help us in our prayers and remind us of the inspiring and exemplary lives of these two ordinary missionaries of our time, who led extraordinary lives.

Our Diocese has commissioned the writing of these beautifully hand-painted icons which are now available to all of our Churches and Orthodox faithful. The Icon is written in Serbia in Byzantine Style on solid wood (30" x 40" x 1"), and can be purchased for $400, plus shipping and handling, and tax were applicable.

If you would like to order this holy icon of the Venerable Sts. Mardarije and Sebastian for your home or your church, or for a loved one or a friend, please call 626-289-9061, email sebastianpressorders@gmail.com, or order online through Sebastian Press at westsrbdio.org/en/sebastian-press/icons.

May Saint Sebastian pray to the Lord whom he served with his whole heart, to grant us his last spoken wish: The Kingdom of Heaven without end!

 

 

With brotherly love and esteem in Christ,
Bishop MAXIM 

 

 

 

 

The life of St. Sebastian of Jackson

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Category: Hagiography

The life of St. Sebastian of Jackson

(1863-1940)

This apostle of North America was the first American born Orthodox priest. His parents, Ilija and Jelena Dabovic, were the first recorded immigrants on the West Coast. They lived in San Francisco, operated a small shop, and were blessed with seven children. St. Sebastian was their fourth child who at baptism received name John. He was born on June 21, 1863. His ministry in the Church started at early age. After he finished high school he served his parish as a reader and teacher. Before he was sent to Russia, he spent time in Sitka, Alaska, assisted with parish ministries at St. Archangel Michael Cathedral. After three years of study at the St. Petersburg and Kiev Theological Academies, John was tonsured a monk and received monastic name Sebastian in 1887.

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The life of St. Mardarije of Libertyville

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Category: Hagiography

The life of St. Mardarije of Libertyville

(1889-1935)

Born in village of Kornet, Ljesani County, in Montenegro, on November 2, 1889, to pious parents Petar and Jela Uskokovic, he was baptized in his village church dedicated to St. George and received his baptismal name Ivan. His mother was from the well-known Bozovic family. Both of his parents were well respected in their community holding the office of leadership and particularly his father was a captain of their clan.

Considering his parents’ status, young Ivan was sent to further his education, first in Rijeka Crnojevic, Cetinje, and then in Belgrade, Serbia. While in Belgrade, young Ivan advanced his childhood desire to serve God and the Church, and so from there he headed to monastery Studenica where after a short period of novice life he gets tonsured to monasticism having received the name Mardarije. With the decision of the Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church, now young hierodeacon Mardarije is sent to Russia where he spent twelve years (1905-1917)

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Holiness: A Forgotten Vision?

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Category: Hagiography

Holiness: A Forgotten Vision?

By the Rev. Metropolitan of Pergamon John (Zizioulas)

The term “saint” or “sanctity” (holiness) is something entirely irrelevant and foreign to our time, and to the civilization and the quests of contemporary Man. Which parents nowadays have the ambition of making their children “saints”?  Which of our schools and educational programs cultivate sanctity or present it as a vision and as a model?  The “successful” person of our time, as well as the ideal of contemporary education and our civilization is not in the least the “good and benevolent” person of classical times. Instead, it is the one who can achieve wealth, comforts and social emergence – this is what parents want of their children, this is what our educational systems chiefly aspire to, this is what the mass media cultivate, and this is the dream of the majority of our young generation.
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To the Glory of God the Father

 

sts mardarije sebastianTHE LIVES OF SAINT MARDARIJE OF LIBERTYVILLE AND SAINT SEBASTIAN OF JACKSON - And their selected writings

This book contains the lives of the two new Saints of the Church who were granted to the North American continent through the Serbian Orthodox Church. The main incentive for publishing this hagiographical work comes from the desire to refresh the memory on these Christ-like people. Bishop Mardarije Uskokovic and Arhimandrite Sebastian Dabovich were the best examples of servant leadership (Matthew 20:27-28), in our recent history in the USA.

“It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us (Acts 15:28) that at the priestly Assembly of Hierarchs of the Serbian Orthodox Church, to the glory of God, Father and Son and Holy Spirit, who is glorious in His Saints, and for the spiritual good and overall progress of our local Church and the entire One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church of Christ, to add to the Synaxis of Saints Venerable Archimandrite SEBASTIAN, who glorified God with his life and works and whom the Lord has already glorified through precious signs and the reverence of all people.
Proclaiming him a holy, Christ-bearing God-pleaser of the Orthodox Church, we pray to the Lord that his witness of the Only Lover of man, and his living example of faith and love be an invitation to us all that we follow and glorify him in Christ’s Church in the divine services and through hymns of praise. This glorification bestows upon God's Church a great spiritual joy and thanksgiving to the Living Lord.
Through the prayers of our Venerable Father Sebastian, O Most Holy Trinity, our God, have mercy upon us and save us.
To the Only All-Wise God the Father, through Jesus Christ our Lord, and the Holy Spirit, be glory and majesty, power and dominion, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.”
(From the Proclamation of the Two New Saints, by the Holy Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church, May, 29/16, 2015 – AS No. 110/recording 261)

“It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us (Acts 15:28) that at the priestly Assembly of Hierarchs of the Serbian Orthodox Church, to the glory of God, Father and Son and Holy Spirit, who is glorious in His Saints, and for the spi-ritual good and overall progress of our local Church and the entire One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church of Christ, to add to the Synaxis of Saints Bishop MARDARIJE of blessed repose, who glorified God with his life and works and whom the Lord has already glorified through precious signs and the reverence of all people.
Proclaiming him a holy, Christ-bearing God-pleaser of the Orthodox Church, we pray to the Lord that his witness of the Only Lover of man, and his living example of faith and love be an invitation to us all that we follow and glorify him in Christ’s Church in the divine services and through hymns of praise. This glorification bestows upon God's Church a great spiritual joy and thanksgiving to the Living Lord.
Through the prayers of our Holy Father Mardarije, O Most Holy Trinity, our God, have mercy upon us and save us.
To the Only All-Wise God the Father, through Jesus Christ our Lord, and the Holy Spirit, be glory and majesty, power and dominion, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.”
(From the Proclamation of the Two New Saints, by the Holy Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church, May, 29/16, 2015 – AS No. 109/recording 260)

Price: $30  - PURCHASE HERE

 

 

An American Apostle



dvd sebastian

An American Apostle, St. Sebastian of San Francisco and Jackson

This DVD is an historical video presentation on the life and work of Archimandrite Sebastian Dabovic, a man referred to by St. Nicholai (Velimirovic) of Zhicha, Serbia, as "the greatest Serbian Missionar of modern times."

We encourage every Orthodox Christian family to purchase a copy of this DVD to share with their children, family, and friends so we remember the first american-born Serbian Orthodox Apostle to America, Archimandrite Sebastian Dabovic. 

An Apostle of Universal Significance
by Hieromonk Damascene

Taken from the 2007 Annual, Dedicated to the Life, Work and Legacy of Archimandirte Sebstian. 

Born during the presidency of Abraham Lincoln, Archimandrite Sebastian Dabovich has the distinction of being the first person born in the United States of America to be ordained as an Orthodox priest,1 and also the first native-born American to be tonsured as an Orthodox monk. His greatest distinction, however, lies in the tremendous apostolic, pastoral, and literary work that he accomplished during the forty-eight years of his priestly ministry. Known as the “Father of Serbian Orthodoxy in America,”2 he was responsible for the founding of the first Serbian churches in the New World. This, however, was only one part of his life’s work, for he tirelessly and zealously sought to spread the Orthodox Faith to all peoples, wherever he was called. He was an Orthodox apostle of universal significance.

Describing the vast scope of Fr. Sebastian’s missionary activity, Bishop Irinej (Dobrijevic) of Australia and New Zealand has written: “Without any outside funding or organizational support, he carried the gospel of peace from country to country…. Concentrating much of his work in the United States, he ceaselessly traveled back and forth across the American continent, using every available mode of transportation— from stagecoach to railroad to foot. His wider ministry stretched from the Aleutian Peninsula of Alaska, to Russia and Japan, to small Balkan towns on the coasts of the Black and Adriatic Seas.”3  

It is said that Fr. Sebastian baptized more people than any other Serbian priest of theWestern Hemisphere.4 St. Nicholai (Velimirovich) 5 of Zhicha, Serbia, who buried Fr. Sebastian at the Zhicha Monastery when the latter reposed there in 1940, called him “a viceless man” and fittingly designated him “the greatest Serbian missionary of modern times.”6 

 1 Alaskan-born priests were ordained before Fr. Sebastian, but this was when Alaska was still part of Russia.2 Mirko Dobrijevic (later Irinej, Bishop of Australia and New Zealand), “The First American Serbian Apostle—Archimandrite Sebastian Dabovich,” Again, vol. 16, no. 4 (December 1993), pp. 13–14.4 St. Nicholai (Velimirovich) 5 of Zhicha, Serbia, who buried Fr. Sebastian at the ZhichaMonastery when the latter reposed there in 1940, called him “a viceless man” and fittingly designated him “the greatest Serbian missionary of modern times.”6 

Price: $15 - PURCHASE HERE

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