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While their territory has been devastated and their homes despoiled, the spirit of the Serbian people has not been broken.
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Serbian Church In History - Abolishment of the Patriarchate of Pec

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ABOLISHMENT OF THE PATRIARCHATE OF PEC

After the “Great Migration” of Serbs of 1690 it is possible to follow the development of the Serbian Church and national history not only within borders of the Ottoman Empire, but also in wide regions of the Austrian Empire. Popular living conditions in regions under Turkish rule, and conditions under which the Church functioned there, were even more difficult now. Population constantly decreased in numbers. Two patriarchs were compelled to flee into Austria and Turks lost all confidence in Serbian clerics. Greeks immediately exploited this adverse state of affairs. After Patriarch Arsenije IV Sakabenta migrated to Austria, the Church in Constantinople asserted pressure on the Porte to install mainly Greeks, such as Joanikije Karadza (1739-1746), as Patriarch of Pec. In the short period of time between 1752 and 1765 eight patriarchs sat on the throne of Pec, five of whom were Greek. Patriarchate debts accumulated in Constantinople and no one was willing to pay them back. Last Serbian national to be elected patriarch before abolishment of the Patriarchate of Pec was Vasilije Brkic (1763-1765, Basil Brkych). He was banished to Cyprus as an enemy of Turkish State. He was succeeded by a Greek, Kalinik II (1765-1766), who performed an unprecedented deed — he resigned his title of Patriarch of Pec and, with other five bishops, sent a petition to the Oecumenical Patriarch in Constantinople asking for the abolishment of the Patriarchate of Pec. Accumulated Patriarchate debts were quoted as the main reason for this motion. Accordingly, Patriarch of Constantinople convinced the Sultan to abolish the Patriarchate of Pec (September 11th 1766), and place its dioceses under the spiritual jurisdiction of the Church in Constantinople: “From now on even the very name of Patriarchate of Pec is to be considered abolished, and its reestablishment forbidden under any circumstances”. Same fate was to be suffered by the Archbishopric of Ohrid only a year later. This state of affairs lasted all the way through until 1920 when the dignity of a Patriarchate was restored to the Serbian Church.

Abolishment of the Patriarchate announced grave days ahead for the Serbian Church. All Serbian bishops were removed and Greek nationals brought to take their place. These newcomers were called Phanariots (after Phanar — that part of Constantinople, i.e. Istanbul, where the Oecumenical Patriarch resided together with most of the well-to-do Greek nationals in the city) and were remembered for their lack of consideration for the welfare of Serbs under their jurisdiction. Most of them did not even speak Serbian.


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People Directory

Stella Jatras

Stella Louis Jatras (nee Katsetos) from Camp Hill, PA, was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, as the fourth and youngest daughter of Louis (Leonidas) and Marina Katsetos, originally of Sparta, Greece, and later of Harrisburg and Carlisle.

Stella was quite literally a daughter of Sparta - and her father's name was Leonidas, no less. As Julia Gorin noted, she was Sparta, truly worthy of that heroic heritage. Axia!

In addition to the U.S. Department of State, her professional work included service with the U.S. Department of Defense, NASA and the Veterans Administration.

In 1953, she married George Jatras, also the offspring of Greek immigrant parents, and began a long and varied life as the wife of a career U.S. Air Force Officer.

As a career military officer's wife, Stella traveled widely and lived in several foreign countries where she not only learned about other cultures but became very knowledgeable regarding world affairs and world politics. She lived in Moscow for two years, where she worked in the Political Section of the U.S. Embassy. She also lived in Germany, Greece, and Saudi Arabia. Her travels took her to over twenty countries.

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Publishing

Christ - The Alpha and Omega

The Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Western America is pleased to announce the publication of an outstanding book 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 and a profound experience of Christ in the Church.

Christ - The Alpha and Omega is the first of a planned collection of works of contemporary Serbian theologians. It is an anthology of Bishop Athanasius' articles which have appeared in Serbian, Greek, French, English and Russian. Focusing on themes central to Christian patristic Triadology, Ecclesiology and Anthropology, the book reveals the ultimate purpose of man and the universe, and speaks of how each of us can realize this purpose within the divine-human community of the Orthodox Church. Bishop Athanasius reminds us that the God-man Jesus Christ is the Beginning and the End of all things, and that we must seek our own end, goal, and fulfillment in Him.

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