ALL “PROBLEMATIC” PRIESTS OF BISHOP IRINEJ: The case in Cleveland is not the first – here is where all the rebellions broke out due to the removal of priests! (PHOTO)

The conflict of the parishioners of the Saint Sava Cathedral in Cleveland, Ohio, with Bishop Irinej, following the removal of the parish priest, Father Dragoslav Kosić, is not the first such case in the Eastern American Diocese of the SOC. Namely, from his appointment until today, Bishop Irinej has removed several priests, and each time a rebellion of the faithful would follow them.

The reasons differed from case to case.

In the opinion of the parishioners from Cleveland, the Bishop removed Father Dragoslav out of retaliation, following complaints against him and letters they sent to the Holy Synod in Belgrade. As a reminder, the final act of this drama, which Serbian Times has regularly reported on, took place on December 5th when members of the Bishop’s newly elected Church Board broke the existing lock and placed a new one on the parish home where the priest lives with his wife and four children.

This event, as well as several previous protests by the faithful in front of the church, was followed by a large police presence, which the rebelling parishioners reasonably assume was called by the new priest, Dragan Vuković, under the Bishop’s order.

The case of Father Stefan Zaremba

Before Father Dragoslav, a similar fate befell several other priests, the first of whom was Archpriest-Stavrophore Stefan Zaremba, now a former parish priest of the Saint Sava church in St. Petersburg, Florida, who is today a priest of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.

Father Stefan was, by the way, born in Cleveland, baptized and raised in the Saint Sava church in Cleveland, and his great-grandfather, Nikola Uzelac, was one of its founders. Four generations of his family are buried in the Orthodox cemetery in Cleveland.

FORCED TO LEAVE THE SOC: Father Stefan Zaremba today serves in the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia

Stefan graduated from the Faculty of Theology in Belgrade in 1987 and was ordained in 1990 exactly in the Saint Sava church in Cleveland. This was followed by 27 years of service in Serbian Orthodox churches in New Jersey, Youngwood, and Midland (Pennsylvania), until his arrival in St. Petersburg, Florida.

And then in August 2017, he suddenly received a letter from Bishop Irinej informing him that he was being transferred to Johnstown, Pennsylvania, with “the needs of the diocese” cited as the reason. He was given one month to move from one end of America to the other.

Surprised by the transfer, Father Stefan requested in writing that the Bishop give him more time and stated the reasons: His wife Svetlana was facing a serious health problem and emergency surgery at the time, and their son had just enrolled in college and started classes. They also owned a house whose sale required more than one month.

He did not receive an answer from Bishop Irinej.

-My husband begged him to postpone the transfer due to my condition and all the circumstances. He also mentioned that his three sisters live in Johnstown, that he grew up there, and therefore thought it would not be good to “be the parish priest in his own village,” but there was no answer. He waited for a week, and then he understood the Bishop’s silence as an ultimatum. And he chose to stay with me while I was ill and with his children. He asked Bishop Irinej to give him a priestly release from the SOC. We were surprised when the answer arrived only a few hours later, via email. My husband then looked for another service and received one in the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, where he serves today, says Svetlana Zaremba, the wife of Father Stefan.

She adds that their family is happy to have stayed in the place where they built their future for a long time, but also sad because they could not perform their mission in their own, Serbian church:

-We had no other choice but to leave the SOC. And that still causes us pain and suffering because we are forced to pray to God and listen to services in another language and in another church. I married a priest of the Serbian church, who was educated at the Seminary in the same generation as today’s Patriarch Porfirije and served so many years in the SOC, only to be practically driven out of it in the end. I would only like, while I am still alive, to meet Bishop Irinej somewhere sometime and ask him one thing: Why?

The case of Father Živojin Jakovljević

Serbian Times has written about the case of Father Živojin Jakovljević, the parish priest of the Saint Sava Cathedral in New York, since the first day, back in 2019, and it is interesting that this priest, after Bishop Irinej removed him for the first time, received a transfer to the same city as Father Stefan Zaremba—Johnstown in the state of Pennsylvania.

Father Živojin also lived and served in Cleveland during one period of his life, and he taught Serbian language, culture, and theology at Cleveland State University. In August 2016, after the Easter fire at the Saint Sava temple in New York, he was appointed as the dean of the temple and given the task of overseeing the reconstruction of the church from 1851.

The Saint Sava Cathedral is located in the middle of Manhattan, its most beautiful part, so interested investors, who planned to build a skyscraper on the adjacent plot, had to request “air rights” from the Saint Sava parish.

REBELLED, WON and STAYED: Živojin Jakovljević, parish priest of the Saint Sava church in New York

The rights were valued at 80 million, with the appraisal later rising to a full 100 million dollars, but in the middle of negotiations, Bishop Irinej decided to remove the Board that was leading them, which was founded by the parishioners and headed by Father Živojin, and appoint a new one and personally take over the negotiations with the investors.

That was the first reason for the rebellion of the parishioners from New York. The second arose during the reconstruction…

Experts estimated that it would cost 3.5 million dollars. From 2016 to 2020, costs exceeded 8 million dollars with only a basic metal roof installed. Parishioners protested against the waste of money, but also the fact that Bishop Irinej appointed his Australian friend Don Živković as the contractor. Prices were doubled, and payment was requested without attached receipts for materials and labor.

Father Živojin, as the head of the temple, together with his parishioners, demanded clarification on where so much money was going and where the receipts for the works were.

The parishioners stood by their priest and Bishop Irinej was forced to negotiate, eventually signing a Memorandum recognizing the legally elected Administration and Father Živojin as the head of the temple.

The fact that the late Patriarch Irinej personally protected Father Živojin also contributed to the reconciliation; the parishioners dropped prepared lawsuits for the sake of “peace in the house.”

However, the following year, 2020, Bishop Irinej refused to recognize the results of the election for the new Executive Board. The reason, it is assumed, was that the people from that Board supported Father Živojin, who continued to demand that the documentation regarding the renovation costs—which cost more than 8 million dollars—be handed over to him. The dispute ended with Bishop Irinej sending Father Živojin a notice of transfer. To the aforementioned Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

The reason was again “the needs of the service.”

This enraged the parishioners, who started an online petition and daily protests in front of Bishop Irinej’s residence in New Rochelle. Over 30 vehicles in a column, car horns, banners reading “Save the SOC,” “We are all Father Živojin,” etc. The protests spread to Cleveland, where Father Živojin served before going to New York.

Father Živojin was eventually returned to work. But that did not last long…

After a few months, Bishop Irinej removed Father Živojin for the second time and appointed a replacement, Father Milan Dragović. Father Živojin and his parishioners continued to fight, resulting in the Decision of the Holy Synod of the SOC dated December 21, 2021, by which the Saint Sava parish in New York was entrusted to the spiritual care and management of the Serbian Patriarch Porfirije, who was welcomed and hosted at the airport during his last stay in New York by Father Živojin, and not Bishop Irinej, as would be expected by custom and service rules.

The head of this cathedral temple is still Father Živojin Jakovljević, but the Saint Sava church has not yet received its final occupancy permit, so services are held at a reduced capacity.

The case of priest Rajko Kosić

Father Rajko Kosić, who served for 20 years at the Holy Trinity church in Pittsburgh, received a transfer decree in September 2020, according to which he had a deadline of one month to move and take over the parish at the Church of the Resurrection of Christ in Steubenville, Ohio.

In October of the same year, he was replaced as parish priest by priest Đorđe Veselinović, and data from the local land registry of Washington County show that Veselinović bought a house in Pittsburgh as early as August 27 of the same year—therefore, before Father Rajko even received the notice of transfer.

THE BISHOP’S RECKONING WITH THE FAMILY? Father Rajko Kosić is the uncle of priest Dragoslav

The logical conclusion is that Bishop Irinej obviously knew months earlier that he would remove Father Rajko, for whom he already had a replacement prepared.

And then Father Rajko was given only a month to pack his 20 years of life, sell his house, and move with his family to another American state.

To conclude this story, it is worth mentioning that Father Rajko Kosić is the uncle of Father Dragoslav Kosić, the removed priest of the Saint Sava Cathedral in Cleveland (Parma).

The case of Father Njegoš Perković Saint Elijah, Aliquippa, Pennsylvania → Fled to Canada

The young priest Njegoš Perković was ordained only recently, and those who know him testify that he entered the service with great energy and love for the Church. His first service was assigned to the Saint Elijah parish in Aliquippa (Pennsylvania) in 2024.

He served for less than one year.

First, in July 2024, he received a letter from Bishop Irinej, specifically the Eastern American Diocese, in which he was accused of “bad behavior.” The letter, however, was not documented with arguments or evidence. There were no written complaints from parishioners, nor witnesses who were ready to testify.

At the time he received the letter with accusations, Father Njegoš’s wife, Protinica Sara, was in the hospital in Banja Luka, where she was fighting life-threatening allergies.

A meeting was organized between Father Njegoš and Bishop Irinej. It seemed that things would settle down, but they did not. Instead, the Bishop continued to exert pressure.

Members of the parish board loyal to Irinej began entering the parish home at their own will, not respecting the father’s privacy, letting him know he was no longer wanted, which resembles the current situation in the Saint Sava church in Cleveland.

By the end of August 2024, Father Njegoš was relieved of his duties as parish priest, again under the famous reason: “The needs of the Church.”

Shortly after that, he was hospitalized – he had emergency surgery on his appendix! Doctors stated that the urgent need for surgery followed the great stress he endured.

The same month, Father Njegoš and his wife found out they were expecting their first child. And now they had to find a solution within 25 days, as the Bishop did not offer him a position in another diocese.

SOUGHT SALVATION IN CANADA: Father Njegoš with his wife Sara (in the middle)

This also violated Canonical Church Law, because a bishop cannot remove a priest without assigning another parish, except in the case of a canonical reason, a court process, if there are accusations, and none of that happened.

Father Njegoš was left without a parish, without an apartment, without income, and without health insurance, with a pregnant wife.

Finally, he requested permission from Bishop Irinej to leave for the Canadian Diocese. The permission was issued in a summary procedure, just like to Father Stefan Zaremba.

Father Njegoš received a place from the Canadian Bishop Mitrofan at the Saint Sava church in Edmonton, in the Canadian province of Alberta, where their daughter was born, and where he now serves with success.

Author: Antonije Kovačević (part of blog St.Sava Parish News) Photo: Handout