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

George Vid Tomashevich

Prof. George Vid Tomashevich, Ph.D. Mar. 3, 1927 - Dec. 3, 2009. Dr. Tomashevich was of Serbian origin, born in the city of Bocin in what was then Yugoslavia. He came to the United States after World World II. He received his bachelor's degree in sociology from Roosevelt University and his master's and doctoral degrees in anthropology from the University of Chicago. He came to Buffalo in 1968 to teach anthropology at Buffalo State College and retired in 1995. A scholar of universal erudition, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at State University of New York, College at Buffalo.

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His distinguished academic career, including many books, articles and public lectures, contributed to the fields of Anthropology, Sociology, History, Philosophy, Philosophy of History, History of Philosophy and Science, Comparative Religion, Mythology, Linguistics, Folklore and Literature. Prof. Tomashevich, who was born in Vochin, former Yugoslavia, was a survivor of a concentration camp run by Croatian authorities during the Second World War. This harrowing experience stayed with him, and influenced his academic work, for the rest of his life. As a scholar and poet, he wrote movingly on universal human topics, as well as on achievements of Serbian art, history and culture.

His book The Millenniad: Humanity's Road to Maturity, was described as universal in scope, and unusually diversified in content; this work encompasses human efforts, struggles, and concerns from cosmology to sociology. Suffused with benevolent irony and, at times, sardonic humor, it depicts our species’ struggle against early ignorance, fear, and superstition, often institutionalized into powerful and controlling bodies seeking to monopolize the interpretation of the unknown. The whole work is in the form of a poem divided thematically into twelve cantos. It touches upon ancient, medieval, and modern philosophy in relation to concomitant developments in science and technology as they gradually reveal the nature of the universe, its material substance, as well as the problems of life, consciousness, and self-awareness. From the beginning, it also deals with major problems of politics, economics, morality and religion. From the subjective nature of the introductory parts, to the epilogue, the whole work is a portrayal of a modern intellectual’s immersion in, and confrontation with contemporary reality and its open questions. The Millenniad is a massive, erudite, and thought-provoking effort worthy of serious reading and critical contemplation.


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People Directory

Bishop Sava (Vuković)

(1967–1977)

Bishop Sava was born on April 13, 1930 in Senta. After graduating from secondary school he completed the St. Sava Seminary in Belgrade in 1950 and the Faculty of Orthodox Theology of the University of Belgrade in 1954. He did his postgraduate studies at the Old Catholic University in Bern, Switzerland. He obtained a Doctor of Divinity degree at the Faculty of Theology in Belgrade. His dissertation topic was “Typicon of the Archbishop Nikodim.”

He was professor at St. Sava Seminary in Belgrade prior to his election as a bishop. He received monastic vows at the Monastery “Vavedenje” (Entry of the Theotokos) in Belgrade on December 3, 1959. The monastic name he received was Sava. He was ordained hierodeacon on December 4, 1959. On June 3, 1961 he was ordained hieromonk. The Holy Bishops’ Assembly of the Serbian Orthodox Church elected him bishop on May 20, 1961 with title “vicar bishop of Moravica.” He was consecrated bishop on July 23, 1961 in the Patriarchal Cathedral in Belgrade by Patriarch German. Bishop Sava held the following positions: Professor of liturgies at the Theological College, member of the Orthodox Commission for Pan Orthodox Council, and representative of the Serbian Church for inter-confessional dialogues. The Bishops’ Assembly elected Bishop Dr. Sava on June 1, 1967 for a Bishop of the Eastern American and Canadian Diocese. He occupied this position until May 1977 when he was elected as Bishop of the diocese of Šumadija.

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Publishing

Holy Emperor Constantine and the Edict of Milan

by Bishop Athanasius (Yevtich)

In 2013 Christian world celebrates 1700 years since the day when the Providence of God spoke through the holy Emperor Constantine and freedom was given to the Christian faith. Commemorating the 1700 years since the Edict of Milan of 313, Sebastian Press of the Western American Diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church published a book by Bishop Athanasius Yevtich, Holy Emperor Constantine and the Edict of Milan. The book has 72 pages and was translated by Popadija Aleksandra Petrovich. This excellent overview of the historical circumstances that lead to the conversion of the first Christian emperor and to the publication of a document that was called "Edict of Milan", was originally published in Serbian by the Brotherhood of St. Simeon the Myrrh-gusher, Vrnjci 2013. “The Edict of Milan” is calling on civil authorities everywhere to respect the right of believers to worship freely and to express their faith publicly.

The publication of this beautiful pocket-size, full-color, English-language book, has been compiled and designed by Bishop Athanasius Yevtich, a disciple of the great twentieth-century theologian Archimandrite Justin Popovich. Bishop Athanasius' thought combines adherence to the teachings of the Church Fathers with a vibrant faith, knowledge of history, and a profound experience of Christ in the Church.

In the conclusion of the book, the author states:"The era of St. Constantine and his mother St. Helena, marks the beginning of what history refers to as Roman, Christian Empire, which was named Byzantium only in recent times in the West. In fact, this was the conception of a Christian Europe. Christian Byzantine culture had a critical effect on Europe; Europe was its heir, and then consciously forgot it. Europe inherited many Byzantine treasures, but unfortunately, also robbed and plundered many others for its own treasuries and museums – not only during the Crusades, but during colonial rule in the Byzantine lands as well. We, the Orthodox Slavs, received a great heritage of the Orthodox Christian East from Byzantium. Primarily, Christ’s Gospel, His faith and His Church, and then, among other things, the Cyrillic alphabet, too."