Today, in numerous temples and monasteries of the Serbian Orthodox Church in the diaspora, from America and Canada, across the Caribbean, to Europe and Australia, the most joyous Christian holiday, the feast of the Nativity of Christ, Christmas, was celebrated.
It all began yesterday evening, on Christmas Eve, with a divine service and the lighting of the Yule log, and in some places with fireworks, and continued this morning with Christmas liturgies and the communion of the faithful.
The churches were full, sometimes not large enough to accommodate all those who wanted to attend, and what is particularly pleasing is the large number of children and young people.
In the Church of St. Stephen of Dečani in Chicago, the service was led by Father Aleksandar Petrović, who honored the parishioners who attended the liturgy with kind and wise words, among them the famous NBA basketball player Nikola Vučević, the star of the Chicago Bulls (see photos in the gallery below).
In the Chicago suburb of Lyons, our countrymen celebrated Christmas for the first time in their new, large shrine, the Church of St. Nicholas. The service was led by the parish priest, Fr. Nemanja Tešić, who previously, with his parishioners, had traveled a long way, even to another state, Wisconsin, to cut down Yule logs at a temperature of minus 16 degrees and provide them for his parishioners, which you can read about HERE!
It was also merry in the new church on Christmas Eve, when, after the lighting of the Yule log and the Lenten supper, a traditional Serbian folk dance was performed…
Those who spent Christmas Eve and morning in the Cathedral of the Resurrection in Chicago also had a wonderful Christmas experience, where the services were led by priests Darko Trifunović, Nikolaj Kostur, and Dobrivoje Milunović, and were attended by a full church of the faithful, with whom they later lit Yule logs and held a solemn Christmas liturgy in the morning.
It was warm around the hearts of our people in cold Chicago, but also a little further south in sunny Florida, where numerous parishioners of the Church of St. Simeon in Miami celebrated the holidays.
The service was led by the priest and parish priest of the church, Milan Krstić, and you can see in the photo gallery how it looked.
Thousands of kilometers away, in the German city of Stuttgart, the church dedicated to the assembly of Serbian saints was also packed with the faithful, among whom were three generations of emigrants and many young people.
The liturgy was served by the priests of the temple, led by Protopriest Stavrophor Borisav Simić.
Author: Antonije Kovačević Photo: Anđelija Kovačević (Štutgart)
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