A great man is one who collects knowledge the way a bee collects honey and uses it to help people overcome the difficulties they endure - hunger, ignorance and disease!
- Nikola Tesla

Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.
- Franklin Roosevelt

While their territory has been devastated and their homes despoiled, the spirit of the Serbian people has not been broken.
- Woodrow Wilson

SA

 

People Directory

Metropolitan Irinej (Kovačević)

(1963–1998)

Milan Kovačević was born to Sreten and Kristine Kovačević on 6 September, 1914, in the village Vrnčani near Gornji Milanovac in the Kingdom of Serbia. Milan completed primary school in his village, and high school in Gornji Milanovac. After completing the course at the Teachers High School, he served as a teacher in the village Ljutovnica near Gornji Milanovac.

In 1941, during World War II, because he was at that time an army reserve officer, he was taken by the Nazis to a camp in Germany, where he remained until 1945. After the liberation, Milan went to England, where he temporarily attended a seminary in Dorchester.

In 1950, he emigrated to the USA, and he enrolled in the Saint Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in New York, and also in Columbia University.

In October, 1953, Milan entered the Serbian Orthodox Monastery of Saint Sava in Libertyville, Illinois. On 30 December, 1953, he was tonsured to be a monk by Archimandrite Firmilian (Ocokoljić), and he was given the name Irinej. On 31 December, 1953, the Monk Irinej was ordained to the Holy Diaconate in the monastery by Bishop Dionisije, while on April, 1954, the Hierodeacon Irinej was ordained to the priesthood in the monastery by Bishop Dionisije. On 31 August, 1956, the Hieromonk Irinej was elevated to the dignity of igumen (abbot).

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Publishing

The Church at Prayer

by Archimandrite Aimilianos of Simonopetra

Publisher’s note

Many readers of the addresses of Elder Aimilianos, which have been published in the five-volume series, rchimandrite Aimilianos, Spiritual Instructions and Discourses (Ormylia, 1998-2003), have frequently expressed the wish for an abridged and more accessible form of his teaching. In response, we are happy to inaugurate a new series of publications incorporating key texts from the above-mentioned collection. Other considerations have also contributed o this new project, such as the selection of specific texts which address important, contemporary questions; the need for a smaller, more reader-friendly publication format; and the necessity for editing certain passages in need of clarification, without however altering their basic meaning.

Above all, the works collected in this volume reflect the importance which the Elder consistently attached to prayer, spirituality, community life, worship, and liturgy. Thus the experientially based works "On Prayer", and "The Prayer of the Holy Mountain", which deal primarily with the Prayer of the Heart, appear first, followed by the summary addresses on "The Divine Liturgy", and "Our Church Attendance". These are in turn followed by the more socially oriented discourses on "Our Relations with Our Neighbor", and "Marriage: The Great Sacrament". Finally, the present volume closes with the sermons on "Spiritual Reading" and "The Spiritual Life", which in a simple and yet compelling manner set forth the conditions for "ascending to heaven on the wings of the Spirit".

It is our hope that The Church at Prayer will meet the purpose for which it is issued and will serve as a ready aid and support for those who desire God and eternal life in Him.