{"id":162961,"date":"2025-02-05T08:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-05T06:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/?p=162961"},"modified":"2025-02-05T11:02:28","modified_gmt":"2025-02-05T09:02:28","slug":"when-your-priest-is-your-best-friend-father-aca-from-chicago-has-six-biological-children-and-a-hundred-more-spiritual-children-whom-he-teaches-about-life-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/when-your-priest-is-your-best-friend-father-aca-from-chicago-has-six-biological-children-and-a-hundred-more-spiritual-children-whom-he-teaches-about-life-video\/","title":{"rendered":"WHEN YOUR PRIEST IS YOUR BEST FRIEND: Father Aca from Chicago has six biological children and a hundred more spiritual children whom he teaches about life! (VIDEO)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong><em>Aleksandar Petrovi\u0107, the parish priest of St. Stephen of De\u010dani Church in <a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/tag\/chicago\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Chicago<\/a>, is no ordinary priest, as evidenced by the fact that not only Serbs pray in his church, but also those who, drawn by his words and deeds, have changed their faith and become <a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/tag\/serbian-orthodox-church\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Orthodox<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Father Aca, as he is affectionately called, is not only there when the liturgy needs to be served and the slava cake consecrated, but also when his parishioners, young and old, need advice, help, and support, so many perceive him as a psychologist in a cassock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>His church services are a feast for both the ears and the eyes, and everyone eagerly awaits the end of the liturgy, when Father Aca, according to tradition, delivers a sermon on a biblical or life topic, with a lesson and wisdom that should help his parishioners in their daily lives and the dilemmas that trouble them.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Otac-Aleksandar-Petrovic3-1024x548.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-170672\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Father Aleksandar Petrovi\u0107 is originally from the village of Latkovi\u0107 near Valjevo, and in 2003, after studying in <a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/category\/serbia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Serbia<\/a>, he came to study at the Theological Faculty in the monastery of Saint Sava near Chicago. From his marriage to his wife Zora, who was born in America, he has 6 children, who, as he proudly points out, are his greatest wealth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Otac-Aleksandar-Petrovic4-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-170674\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>But these are not the only children he takes care of, as a spiritual father\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Watch the exclusive interview with Father Aca and a report about him and his family, which was filmed in Chicago by our editor Antonije Kova\u010devi\u0107\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"KAD TI JE POP BRAT I NAJBOLJI PRIJATELJ: Otac Aca iz \u010cikaga ima \u0161estoro svoje i stotinu duhovne dece\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/GfapX7YiVAI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Author: <\/strong>Antonije Kova\u010devi\u0107\u00a0 <strong>Video:<\/strong>\u00a0Vladimir Talijan<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><em><em>For more exclusive reports and updates about the lives of Serbian and Balkan diaspora communities in America and worldwide, follow our YouTube channel Serbian News USA by clicking <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCS_ysoSEeeQwLLKUMVT2izQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\"><strong>THIS LINK<\/strong><\/a>!<\/em><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><mark style=\"background-color:#FFFFFF;color:#d21414\" class=\"has-inline-color\">MORE TOPICS:<\/mark><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/kurti-in-trouble-due-to-trumps-decision-around-130-million-in-usaid-assistance-for-pristina-frozen\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">KURTI IN TROUBLE DUE TO TRUMP\u2019S DECISION: Around $130 million in USAID assistance for Pri\u0161tina frozen!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/great-news-for-serbian-children-in-america-jasminka-petrovic-brings-her-famous-workshops-and-film-to-chicago-and-washington-video\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">GREAT NEWS FOR SERBIAN CHILDREN IN AMERICA: Jasminka Petrovi\u0107 brings her famous workshops and film to Chicago and Washington! (VIDEO)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/the-new-york-times-on-serbian-media-after-protests-in-novi-sad-rts-changed-its-tune\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">THE NEW YORK TIMES ON SERBIAN MEDIA: After protests in Novi Sad, RTS \u201cchanged Its tune\u201d!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Aleksandar Petrovi\u0107, the parish priest of St. Stephen of De\u010dani Church in Chicago, is no ordinary priest, as evidenced by the fact that not only Serbs pray in his church, but also those who, drawn by his words and deeds, have changed their faith and become Orthodox. Father Aca, as he is affectionately called, is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":162964,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[45,1778,4794,2250,2888,405,4040,4795,3731],"class_list":["post-162961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diaspora","tag-chicago","tag-cikago","tag-crkva-svetog-stefana-cikago","tag-orthodoxy","tag-otac-aleksandar-petrovic","tag-serbian-orthodox-church","tag-srbi-u-cikagu","tag-srpska-dijaspora-u-americi","tag-srpska-pravoslavna-crka","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Serbiantimes.info EN","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162961"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162961\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":163015,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162961\/revisions\/163015"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/serbiantimes.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}