A great man is one who collects knowledge the way a bee collects honey and uses it to help people overcome the difficulties they endure - hunger, ignorance and disease!
- Nikola Tesla

Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.
- Franklin Roosevelt

While their territory has been devastated and their homes despoiled, the spirit of the Serbian people has not been broken.
- Woodrow Wilson

Serbs of the Apollo Space Program Honored

On the 50th anniversary of the first lunar landing of the Apollo 11 mission, the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade is organizing a series of briefings and presentations by Mr. David Vuich. Mr. Vuich is one of the seven Serbs – affectionately known as the “Serbo 7” – who helped develop the Apollo Space Program.

The “Serbo 7” Apollo Spacecraft Launch Team was comprised of Milojko “Mike” Vucelic (Director, Systems Engineering) of Garesnica, Slavonija, Danilo Bojic (Engineer, Stress Analysis) of Lipovo near Kolasin, Paul Duich (Engineer, Data Analysis) of Centerville, Iowa whose family emigrated from Mrkopolje in Lika, Milos Surbatovich (Mechanical Engineer, Docking Systems) of Niksic, Peter Galovich (Engineer, Systems Design Hudson) of Wyoming whose family emigrated from Lika, Slavoljub “Sam” Vuich (Engineer, Electronics Systems RDT&E) of Fenj in Banat, and David Vuich (Program-Project Management) of Midland, Pennsylvania, whose family hailed from Okucani, Slavonija.

Mr. Vuich is the last living member of the “Serbo 7.” He will be travelling to Belgrade, in the latter half of July, where over the course of several days he will speak to both the public and experts in Serbia about the contributions of American-Serbian scientists, engineers, and management executives to the development of the Apollo space program.

Mr. Vuich is a lifelong member of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Starting in his town of birth, Midland, PA where he served as an altar boy in the church, Mr. Vuich treasures his Orthodox faith and Serbian heritage to this day. The Serbian Orthodox Church of St. Luke in Washington, D.C. is proud to have him as one of our distinguished parishioners.

As we join in the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo monumental achievement in carrying out the first lunar landing, we wish Mr. Vuich many more fruitful years! To the other members of the Serbian Apollo team, may God rest their souls and may their memory be eternal!


Source: Eastern American Diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church


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Bishop Damaskin (Grdanički)

The vacant episcopal post of the American-Canadian Diocese was filled on June 22, 1938 at the Regular Session of the Holy Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Elected as its second Diocesan Hierarch was Bishop Dr. Damaskin (Grdanicki) of Mukachevo and Priashevo.

Bishop Damaskin was born in Leskovac in 1892. He graduated from the nine year St. Sava Seminary in Belgrade, while simultaneously attending the Belgrade Music School. After finishing the Seminary, he taught music at the First High School in Kragujevac. Received into the monastic order at Rakovica Monastery by Archimandrite Platon, later martyred as Bishop of Banja Luka, he studied at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy where he received a Master's Degree in Theology in 1917. He then went to Freiburg, Switzerland where he obtained a Ph.D. in Philosophy.

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Publishing

In the Mirror

A Collection of Iconographic Essays and Illustrations

By Fr. Stamatis Skliris

The Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Western America is pleased to announce the publication of an outstanding book by Fr. Stamatis Skliris, a disciple of the great twentieth-century theologians Archimandrite Justin Popovich and Bishop Athanasius Yevtich. Fr. Stamatis is a parish priest in Athens and is renowned as an iconographer and as a writer and lecturer on Byzantine iconography.

In the Mirror is the second of a planned collection of works of contemporary theologians. It is an anthology of Fr. Stamatis’ articles which have appeared in Greek and Serbian. In it, he combines adherence to the teachings of the Church Fathers with a vibrant expression of faith through the experience of Christ in the Church. The book is adorned with more than 200 striking icons and illustrations by Fr. Stamatis.

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