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P A V L E
By the Grace of God, Archbishop of Pec,
Metropolitan of Belgrade-Karlovci and Serbian Patriarch
 His Holiness Patriarch Pavle was born on September 11, 1914, in the village of Kucanci, Slavonia (present-day Croatia). He completed high school in Belgrade, Theological Seminary in Sarajevo (present day Bosnia-Hercegovina), and graduated from the Theological Faculty, which at that time was part of the University of Belgrade. He spent World War II in the Monastery of the Holy Trinity at Ovcar in western Serbia, as a refugee and displaced person from the Fascist “Independent State of Croatia.” At Holy Trinity Monastery, he taught theology to the children of other refugees. At the Monastery of Blagovestenje in 1948, he was tonsured a monk. From 1955 until 1957, he did postgraduate studies in Athens, Greece. On May 29, 1957, he was elected Bishop of Raska and Prizren (primarily the Kosovo-Metohija Region). After the late Serbian Patriarch German fell ill, in November 1990, Pavle was elected as the 44th Serbian Patriarch. He was enthroned on December 2, 1990, at the Saborna (Cathedral) Church in Belgrade, and on May 22, 1994 on the traditional throne of the Serbian Patriarchs at the Patriarchal Monastery in Pec (the Kosovo-Metohija Region)
“The Church has been preaching the following words of Jesus Christ for the last 2000 years: ‘What good is it if a man gains the whole world and yet loses his soul.’ Could these worldly goods make up for his soul? This was precisely the advice which Mother Jevrosima gave to her son Marko: “Don't you, my son, speak falsely to please others, but speak in keeping with God's ways’. Therefore, our Orthodox faith has taught us to be and remain humans always, never brutes. There is nothing which would make us resort to retribution, as brutes do, for crimes committed against us.
When I was in Austria a few years ago at the celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the Church of Saint Sava in Vienna, an article was published that morning in a Viennese newspaper in which the author claimed that I had come to Vienna to "deceive the world", that it was the Serbs who were to blame for (the then ongoing) war (in Bosnia-Hercegovina) and that I had called on the Serbs to fight the war against everybody else in order to preserve a greater Serbia. So I reacted to this insinuation at a meeting where there were both Austrians and Serbs: ‘If the cost of creating a greater Serbia required that crimes be committed, I would never accept that. Let such a Greater Serbia disappear from the face of the earth. If a small Serbia is to be created by crimes being committed, then I would not accept that either. Let this small Serbia also vanish into thin air. Even if the last Serb were to try to preserve himself by committing crimes and if I were that last Serb, I would not accept that either. Let us vanish as a nation, but let us always act as it befits humans’.
According to the Christ's teaching there is no interest, be it either sacred, familial, national or personal, to commit crimes as retribution for crimes committed against us. When we defend ourselves, we should fight as it befits humans. For us the most important thing is to act like true Christians since Jesus Christ says: ‘Hereby I send you like sheep among the wolves’. We should indeed be true humans. In every time and in every society there will be people who would ridicule and mock you, who would take advantage of you and place obstacles in your path. Christ is not sending us forth so that wolves could tear us apart, but to show to the wolves by means of our faith and actions what it means to be the Lamb of God.
On the other hand, there is a danger that the lamb among the wolves might come to the conclusion that it could not survive as a lamb, but only as a wolf, so it could sharpen its teeth, learn to howl, turn its hoofs into claws and become a wolf itself. This is not why Jesus Christ is sending us among the wolves. Ttherefore, He gives us the solution: ‘Hereby I send you like sheep among the wolves. Be wise like snakes and gentle like doves.’ And this means that wisdom will preserve us from wolves tearing us apart, and kindness will prevent us from turning into wolves.
In other words, we should develop our intellectual abilities without limit, but under the condition of developing our goodness and kindness at the same time, since our mind is like an internal eye helping us perceive what other living beings cannot possibly see. A mind is cold and sometimes it cuts through the heart. Goodness is warm, but blind. When you unite and develop simultaneously both our mind and our goodness, then you become a true human. Children, this is what it is all about. You can see for yourselves where materialistic one-sidedness leads, this present-day pursuit of pleasure. You can judge by your friends and relatives - how many children in elementary schools take drugs? You must have a mind and logic and develop them like a snake. The snake knows that if you cut off its tail it will grow again, so the snake protects its head - the head is what matters. While other creatures fight against each other for food, doves never fight among themselves for food."
C H R I S T O P H E R
By the Grace of God,
Serbian Orthodox Metropolitan of Midwestern America
“In the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen”
THIS CHURCH is being founded in honor of St. Basil of Ostrog in the City of Mettawa/Lake Forest, Illinois, United States of America, during the Administration of the Honorable William J. Clinton, President of the United States of America; during the Patriarchate of His Holiness PATRIARCH PAVLE of the Serbian Orthodox Church; and during the Episcopacy of His Eminence, the Most Reverend CHRISTOPHER, Metropolitan of the Serbian Orthodox Metropolitanate of Midwestern America; during the pastorate of the Very Reverend Protopresbyter-Stavrophor Milan Savich and during the term of office of the Trusteeship of the Serbian Orthodox Parish of St. Basil headed by the Parish Priest and following members: Ljubisa Milicich, Mila Ochishnic Burmeister, Elena Clymer, Nikola Djuric, Mile Fostar, Sam Pajich, Theodore Potkonjak Jr., and Sava Vojcanin, on this 23rd day of October in the Year of our Lord 1999.
The Serbian Orthodox PARISH of St. Basil of Ostrog was established upon the petition of a group of Serbian Orthodox Christians from the area as a newly founded Parish by charter issued by His Eminence Metropolitan Christopher No. 894 of November 24th, 1997.
This Temple, School and Hall, located at 27450 North Bradley Road, Lake Forest/Mettawa, Illinois, was purchased from the Baptist community “Church of the Redeemer” with funds contributed by the parishioners of the Church, and loans obtained and approved by the Metropolitanate authorities, and use of the assets of the former Parish and Church/School Congregation of St. Nicholas in Waukegan, Illinois by decision of the Metropoltanate Council. The Parishioners of the former St. Nicholas Parish have been attached to the St. Basil Parish.
The Blessing and setting of the Cornerstone of this church was held on the day of Consecration of the Church on Saturday, October 23rd, 1999, with His Eminence the Most Reverend Metropolitan CHRISTOPHER officiating.
“O LORD OUR GOD, WHO dist plant Thy Churches and Thine Altars in all the earth, we humbly pray Thee, receive the works of our hands as living testimony of our love and faith in Thee and make this Church Thy Holy Dwelling Place. Bless it and fill it with Thine Divine Grace that it may always be a citadel of our Orthodox Faith and a dispensary of salvation for all our people; illuminate it with They Heavenly Light that it may, as a shining beacon, guide this country in every prosperity, spiritual well-being and peace and grant that we may always glorify and praise Thine All-Holy Name, the Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.”
This FOUNDING CHARTER was read, signed and placed in the Cornerstone of this Church during the Office of the Consecration of a church, on this 23rd day of October, in the Year of our Lord, 1999. E.No. 730/99
Christopher,
Metropolitan of Midwestern America
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