Crkvenac, Svilajnac, Serbia, June 20, 2024
Photo: synod.com
A delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, led by its First Hierarch His Eminence Metropolitan Nicholas, visited several Serbian Orthodox monasteries this week, including the holy habitation where a young St. John (Maximovitch) was tonsured into monasticism.
The ROCOR delegation, which includes several other hierarchs and especially the wonderworking Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God, has been visiting Serbia since last week. The hierarchs participated in the annual Ascension day cross procession in Belgrade.
On June 17, the delegation visited Žiča monastery, home to the relics of St. Nikolai (Velimirović), followed by the famous Studenica Monastery, where the Divine Liturgy was celebrated the next day, reports the ROCOR press service.
They then visited the Manasija and Miljkov monasteries. In the latter, Met. Nicholas and the delegation, including the wonderworking Kursk Root Icon were solemnly greeted.
Local clergy then celebrated Vespers with an akathist in the crowded monastery church.
At the end of the service, Met. Nicholas addressed the faithful, noting that Miljkov monastery was the place where the Holy Hierarch and Wonderworker St. John (Maximovitch) of Shanghai and San Francisco was tonsured into monasticism in 1926.
The monastery, dedicated to the Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple, was actually home to a number of future Russian hierarchs. As Met. Nicholas noted, Archbishop Tikhon (Troitsky), Archbishop Anthony (Sinkevich), Archbishop Anthony (Medvedev), Archbishop Anthony (Bartoshevich), and Bishop Leonty (Bartoshevich) were all tonsured at the same monastery.
Met. Nicholas then offered the abbess of the convent an embroidered case that once adorned the Kursk Root Icon.
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