Mailing: 24236 Oliveira Dr, Mission Viejo, CA 92691 | Services: 4949 Alton Pkwy, Irvine, CA 92604

Easter Service Calendar

Holy Friday, April 22
Royal Hours: 10:00 am – 11:00 am
Taking down from the Cross: 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm
Lamentations (Statije Plashtanica): 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Holy Saturday, April 23
Vesperal Liturgy: 10:00 am – 11:30 am
Resurrection Matins: 10:00 pm (the Greek Clergy and Faithful will continue with the Liturgy)

Easter Sunday (Vaskrs/Pascha), April 24
Paschal Divine Liturgy: 9:30 AM – 11:00 am
Agape Vespers: 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm (Together with the Greek Clergy and Faithful, followed by the Pascha picnic)


Myrrh-Streaming Mother of God Icon “Softener of Evil Hearts”

Myrrh-Streaming Mother of God Icon “Softener of Evil Hearts”

The Myrrh-Streaming Mother of God Icon “Softener of Evil Hearts” will visit our church tomorrow, December 21, 2019, between 10 AM and 6 PM.

Please, join us tomorrow for this blessed occasion!

Divine Liturgy at 10 AM and Vespers at 5 PM.


Serbian New Year 2020

Serbian New Year 2020

Serbian New Year

When? January 11, 2020 – Cocktail at 7pm, Dinner at 8pm
Where? Parish Center at 2148 Michelson Dr, Irvine, CA 92612
Music? Boban Marjanovic & The Band

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Srpska Nova Godina (2017)


2019 EuroSerb Food and Folk Fest

Venue

Lakeview Senior Center
Date: Saturday, November 2, 2019
Time: 12:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Where: 20 Lake Rd, Irvine, CA 92604

Sponsorship Opportunities

Sponsor our Festival

Vendor Opportunities

Vendors apply here.


Church Slava

The Church Board of the Serbian Orthodox Parish of Orange County invites you to its
Church Slava – The Nativity of The Most Holy Theotokos

Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos

We invite all our Southern California Faithful to participate in our celebration!

Responses will be sung by our Church Choir “Istocnik”
Banquet and Serbian music will follow

Divine Liturgy:
When: Saturday, September 21, 2019, from 10 AM to 12 PM
Where: Parish Center at 2148 Michelson Dr, Irvine, CA 92612
Clergy: Fr. Blasko Paraklis and Visiting Orthodox Clergy

Directions: Take 405 Freeway, Exit @ MacArthur Blvd. in Irvine. South on MacArthur towards John Wayne Airport. Turn left onto Michelson, pass Dupont, enter the first driveway on the right.

Banquet & Music:
When: Saturday, September 21, 2019, from 12 PM to 5 PM
Where: Parish Center at 2148 Michelson Dr, Irvine, CA 92612

[tc_event id=”8013″ title=”Add to Cart” ticket_type_title=”Ticket ” price_title=”Price ” cart_title=” ” quantity_title=”Qty ” soldout_message=”We’re sold out!” quantity=”true” type=”buynow”]Adult: 18 or older
Youth: 11 to 17
Child: 7 to 10
Free: 6 or younger

Information: Call Fr. Blasko Paraklis at (949) 702-0706 or email at OBlasko@aol.com

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STATEMENT: Regarding the Episcopal Council for North, Central and South America, the St. Sava Serbian Orthodox School of Theology,  Constitutional Matters and Draft Child Protection Policies and Procedures

STATEMENT: Regarding the Episcopal Council for North, Central and South America, the St. Sava Serbian Orthodox School of Theology,  Constitutional Matters and Draft Child Protection Policies and Procedures

To the Very Reverend and Reverend Priests and Deacons, Venerable Monastics, the Members and Parishioners of the Church-School Congregations and Mission Parishes of the Serbian Orthodox Dioceses in the United States of America

For God is not a God of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints
(1 Corinthians 14:33)

Beloved Clerics, Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

It has come to our attention that misinformation continues to circulate on the Internet, related to the Church Assembly-Sabor which was held in July 2019. Out of our pastoral love and concern for our faithful Clergy and Laity, ever mindful of the Scriptural adage, you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free (John 8:32), we state the following to liberate you of your doubt:

The Episcopal Council for North, Central and South America

● First, as we clearly set forth in the “Statement” that we issued on August 1, 2019 (https://serborth.org/news_190805_1), the Episcopal Council of the Serbian Orthodox Church for North, Central and South America continues to exist and is comprised of the following Bishops: Longin of New Gracanica-Midwestern American, Mitrophan of Canada, Maxim of Western America, Irinej of Eastern America, and Kirilo of Buenos Aires and South-Central America. Any suggestion that the Bishops of Canada and South America have been excluded from this Episcopal Council is simply false.

The St. Sava Serbian Orthodox School of Theology

● Second, among its many functions, this five-member Episcopal Council is also in charge of and continues to supervise the work of the St. Sava Serbian Orthodox School of Theology (Libertyville-Third Lake). At the recent Church Assembly-Sabor held in July 2019, a report regarding the St. Sava School of Theology was presented and discussed at length (https://serborth.org/news_190728_1). The report included mention of some improvements to the overall life of the School, such as the establishment of a Trusteeship Council to assist the Dean in administrative and financial matters.

Further study on all matters concerning the School, including its compliance with the laws and regulations of the State of Illinois, its accreditation and future, will be done by the above-described five-member Episcopal Council in coordination/tandem with the Holy Synod of Bishops in Belgrade. The Holy Synod may send a Commission to evaluate the School. In preparation for the visit of the Commission, the Episcopal Council is consulting educational, legal, financial and other relevant experts to objectively assess the School without any pre-conceived agenda, so that the Episcopal Council can make authoritative recommendations to the Holy Synod.

Constitutional Matters

● Third, with respect to our current and long-standing (not new!) Constitution and related governing documents, we once again ask you, our dear spiritual children, to carefully read our Statement issued on August 1 (https://serborth.org/news_190805_1), which explains the arrondation (limitation in territorial scope) of the existing Constitution to only the territory of the USA (decided by the Holy Assembly of Bishops at its meeting in May 2018) and how this territorial arrondation of the Constitution resulted in the changing of our constitutional title, which now reflects the de facto reality of the actual territorial jurisdiction of this document, the United States of America.

We again want to remind everyone that the holy canons of our Church leave certain decisions to the Bishops alone. One of those decisions is changes to the territory of a diocese. Only a diocesan bishop can propose a territorial change to his diocese and only the Holy Assembly of Bishops can allow and approve any changes. We remind everyone of the recent territorial changes which occurred in 2009, when final administrative unity was achieved. Diocesan boundaries were changed (e.g. the Metropolitanate of Chicago and Libertyville was created and then abolished), and all of these changes were done by the Bishops and these changes then automatically became part of our Constitution. Those territorial changes were not done by a vote at the Church Assembly—Sabor, but were proposed by the affected Bishops and were then approved by decisions of the Holy Assembly of Bishops. That is exactly what has taken place regarding our Constitution and related governing documents.

Draft Child Protection Policies and Procedures

● Fourth, at the recent Church Assembly—Sabor in July 2019, there was an educational safety presentation for Clergy and Laity on the current liability issues facing all religious organizations in the USA, including our three USA Dioceses. The focus of the presentation was on child protection policies and procedures that are being developed and implemented by many religious organizations and denominations, as a direct response to new State and Federal legislation, regulations and caselaw concerning child sexual molestation and abuse claims. The Episcopal Council has been working with insurance and legal experts in enhancing our current Diocesan policies and procedures.

These enhanced policies and procedures are still in draft form and have not yet been promulgated/adopted by the Episcopal Council. During the educational safety presentation at the Sabor, mention was made that many US States, the once-sacred “Priest-Penitent Privilege” has been abolished. In plain language what that means is that, in these States, all clergy (Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, etc) are now required to immediately report any knowledge of sexual molestation of a minor, including but not limited to knowledge gained during the course of the confession. We are told that many more US States are also considering abolishing the Priest-Penitent Privilege and we expect that judicial rulings will also further eroded the Priest-Penitent privilege in child abuse situations.

The Episcopal Council is greatly troubled by the abolition/erosion of the Priest-Penitent Privilege – however, the Episcopal Council has no choice but to come to terms with this tragic change and we must develop a coherent and canonically correct Orthodox Christian response. We have invited and look forward to receiving concrete proposals from our own Serbian Orthodox clergy and laity (as well as from our sister Orthodox Christian jurisdictions and other Christian denominations which have the Holy Mystery of Confession), on how we as Serbian Orthodox Hierarchs should respond and deal with this tragic development and change to US law.

Internet “Postings” and “E-Petitions”

● Last, the unsigned and anonymous internet “postings” and “e-petitions” attacking the Episcopal Council, the Central Council and their working committees, particularly the Legal Risk and Compliance Committee, are wholly unfounded and should be ignored.

Knowing that the Church “is in the world, but it is not of this world”, we seek the expertise of many subject-matter experts in dealing with central/national, diocesan and local parish issues on a regular basis. The experts we consult are not limited to legal experts, but we also regularly work with financial, educational, insurance and other experts. Unsubstantiated, and unattributed attacks on the members of any of our expert committees is unfair and unethical, because these committees work at our request to help us protect our Dioceses, parishes, monasteries and other institutions in the USA.

With respect to the Legal Risk and Compliance Committee, we regularly ask our lawyers (who volunteer all of their time!) to identify and help develop canonically permissible responses to the risks imposed by the multiple legal systems that our Church confronts in the United States. The sole purpose of this committee is to advise the Episcopal Council and the Central Council with regard to strategies and actions that will protect the Bishops, Clergy, Laity, and assets of the Dioceses of the Serbian Orthodox Church in the United States. Rather than being attacked, we must all thank our lawyers for the countless volunteer hours they spend protecting our Church! As the Church of Christ, we are in the House of God, but the building of the House of God, which is the Church, is still in progress and continuing.

Therefore, we call on you, the faithful children of Saint Sava to:

● REFRAIN from falling victim to these deceptive and ill-intended internet “postings” and “e-petitions”, and from becoming signatories; and

● AVOID circulating or, God-forbid, signing your own name where you do not know the name of the author of an article (or a posting, or a document), or where you do not have personal knowledge of the “facts”, which are put forth, nor the intended end use of the petition, of your signature and of your contact information.

We further remind you that “petitioning” of any kind within the Holy Community of God is in direct contradiction to canons, laws, teachings and church-hierarchical structure of our Serbian Orthodox Church. Moreover, a petition is a mirror of the ethos and, in essence is a mainstay, of Protestantism and totally non-Orthodox in character. We again invite our Clergy and Laity to communicate any and all concerns, suggestions or comment on any of the issues described above directly to us, your Diocesan Bishops. As the community of the people of God in history moving on a path towards the Heavenly Kingdom, we continue to embrace that open dialogue with all.

September 7, 2019
IN LIBERTYVILLE

Your intercessors before Christ,

LONGIN, Bishop of New Gracanica-Midwestern America
MAXIM, Bishop of Western America
IRINEJ, Bishop of Eastern America

Source: https://serborth.org/news_190908_1


Fate, Fortune and God’s Will

Fate, Fortune and God’s Will

A lecture by: Michael Pravica, Ph.D. Professor of Physics University of Nevada Las Vegas

Abstract: In this talk, I will focus on the nature of probability/chance in a universe dominated by the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, Fermi-Dirac and Bose (i.e. quantum) statistics and the meaning of uniqueness as a human being/child of God. I will touch on the nature of free will via the quantum compass of the soul and how we must align our moral/spiritual compasses to the Holy Spirit to choose the ordering field of love and unity instead of the disordering field of chaos. Contrary to the behavior of ordinary particles such as electrons, God gives each of us a special uniqueness via this spiritual compass (our soul) that transcends the laws of our physical universe, and thus, each of has a unique trajectory and purpose as we seek to fulfill God’s Will.

Divine Liturgy:
When: June 2, 2019, 1PM (after Liturgy)
Where: Parish Center at 2148 Michelson Dr, Irvine, CA 92612

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Pascha Celebration 2019

Pascha Celebration 2019

Come and celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Serbian food and dancing.

Divine Liturgy:
When: April 28, 2019, 10 AM – 12 PM
Where: Parish Center at 2148 Michelson Dr, Irvine, CA 92612

Banquet & Music:
When: April 28, 2019, 12 PM
Where: St. Mark Antiochian Orthodox Church at 17840 Sky Park Circle, Irvine, CA 92614

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Message on the Commencement of Holy and Great Lent 2019

Message on the Commencement of Holy and Great Lent 2019

To the clergy, monastics and faithful of our God-protected Diocese

This Sunday we look to forgiveness as we enter the holy journey of Great Lent. Forgiveness is truly a “breakthrough” of the Kingdom into this fallen world. The Church gives us the gift of Great Lent so that we can find true renewal in Christ. Only a repentant heart is on the path to the return to unity and love.

As the sacred hymnography of the Church urges us, all the ascetic elements—fasting, abstinence, frugality, restriction of personal desires, intense prayer, almsgiving, and confession—are essential to the period of Great Lent. They are preconditions for our Eucharistic communion with God and movement of love, and the reunion and harmony with others. Just as the sacrifice on the Cross takes its meaning from the Resurrection, so all our Lenten effort find their fulfillment in Holy Communion.

However, for all too many today, the fast is only identified with eating certain foods and avoiding certain others. This has unfortunately annulled the other important fasts which are found in the tradition of our faith and which demonstrate the creative nature of Christian fasting. In our tradition, we find four types of fasting: a complete abstaining from food, abstaining from food until mid-afternoon; eating less in order to save money for the purpose of almsgiving, and abstaining not from food, but from one’s favorite activities. What mattered was the reason for fasting, not its duration, which was directly dependent on that reason. Also, the real meaning of fasting lay not in the type of food, but on abstinence. Unfortunately, very often, delicious and luxurious foods are welcomed by some as a form of fasting, provided they do not contain the prohibited non-lenten ingredients. With such practices, wealthy Christians are enabled to be identified as good, for they can “fast” for months on end by eating various types of expensive meals, while poorer Christians are not so, for they cannot afford such expensive cuisine.

Another quandary for our actual understanding of fasting is the reality of those who identify as vegetarians and vegans. What shall the Church subscribe to the vast number of those who never eat meat anyway? According to Church rules concerning fasting, such people already fast all the time. So, our current understanding of fasting deprives them of the possibility to be, from time to time, engaged in this common lenten initiative of the Church, because the Church already views them as fasting from particular foods all the time.

Therefore, in inviting you to the “opened arena of virtues” from our Episcopal seat, I want to encourage you this year, as you fast, to practive benevolence in the form of almsgiving. This is an opportunity to reach out to others with the very love of Christ in concrete ways as for example, almsgiving to the poor and those in need. In this case, true fasting (Lent) will become the opposite of pleonexia (greed, avarice), i.e., an inhuman approach which leads the contemporary global community into a spiritual crisis.

May His grace be with you during these celebrated seasons and feast.

Given this Day of Forgiveness March 10th, 2019 at Alhambra, California

With love and blessings in Christ,

Bishop Maxim


Serbian New Year 2019

Serbian New Year 2019

When? January 12, 2019 – Cocktail at 8pm, Dinner at 9pm
Where? St. Mark Antiochian Orthodox Church at 17840 Sky Park Cir, Irvine, CA 92614
Music? Paganini Band, Canada

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