A Bishop Comes Home: Bishop Irinej Returns to Saint Sava Cathedral

There is something quietly powerful about a homecoming that requires no explanation.

On the Sunday of the Veneration of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross, March 15, 2026, His Grace Bishop Irinej of Washington-New York and Eastern America returned to the Saint Sava Serbian Orthodox Cathedral in Parma, Ohio. He returned not as a visitor, but as a shepherd to a place that shaped him, and that he, in turn, has continued to shape.

Bishop Irinej was born in Cleveland. He completed his elementary and secondary education here. And on January 27, 1995, he was ordained a hieromonk at this very cathedral, at the hands of Metropolitan Christopher of Midwestern America. The walls of Saint Sava have known him since before he bore the episcopal staff. When he stands at the altar in Parma, he is standing where his own journey in ordained ministry began.

That history lends a particular weight to a visit like this one. It is not a formality. It is not an administrative obligation. When the Bishop serves the hierarchical Divine Liturgy in this cathedral, the faithful are witnessing something the Orthodox tradition has always understood: the bishop is not merely an administrator, but the living icon of apostolic continuity in the local church. His presence completes the Eucharistic assembly. Where the bishop is, there is the fullness of the Church.

Yesterday, that fullness was visible.

The cathedral was filled with faithful parishioners, families, and children who gathered not out of obligation, but out of love for the liturgical life of the Church. The hierarchical Divine Liturgy was served with solemnity and beauty befitting the midpoint of Great Lent, when the Cross is placed before the faithful as a source of strength and encouragement for the journey ahead toward Pascha.

Concelebrating with His Grace were the Episcopal Deputy, the Very Reverend Protopresbyter-Stavrophor Fr. Rade Merick; the Cleveland Dean, the Very Reverend Protopresbyter Fr. Milan Pajić; the Venerable Protosyngellos Fr. Nektarije Tešanović; the parish priest, Fr. Dragan Vuković; and the Reverend Presbyter Fr. Sreten Stanojević. Also present was the Most Venerable Mother Paraskeva, Abbess of New Marcha Monastery, whose presence among the faithful of Saint Sava reflects the living bond between the parish and the monastic community of the Diocese.

The group photograph taken after the Liturgy tells its own story. Generations of Serbian Orthodox Christians, from grandparents to toddlers, standing together in a cathedral whose iconography, stained glass, and frescoes bear witness to nearly a century of faith in this community. A photograph of a parish, gathered around its bishop, in the middle of Great Lent, doing what the Church has always done.

Following the Divine Liturgy, the parish community gathered in the hall for a communal meal prepared with care by the Circle of Serbian Sisters. The head table, with clergy and the Abbess seated together, reflected the organic unity of the Church's life: episcopal oversight, pastoral care, monastic witness, and lay hospitality, all present and all necessary.

Bishop Irinej addressed the faithful, and his sermon spoke to the meaning of the Cross not as a symbol of defeat but as the instrument of victory, the sign through which death itself was conquered. Through the sin of humankind, who ate of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, the Tree of Life was removed from Paradise and death entered the world. But on Golgotha, the Tree of the Cross became the new Tree of Life, through which life was restored to all. The Bishop traced this arc of salvation from Eden to Golgotha to the empty Tomb, the arc that stands at the very heart of the Orthodox faith. It was a message that carried particular resonance at the midpoint of Great Lent, as the faithful prepare to walk the final steps toward Pascha.

What matters most about a visit like this is what it demonstrates: that Saint Sava Cathedral in Cleveland is a living, functioning parish of the Serbian Orthodox Church, under the canonical authority of its diocesan bishop, served by its appointed priest, supported by its faithful people, and moving forward.

The Lenten journey continues. Pascha is four weeks away. And the community of Saint Sava walks toward the Resurrection together, strengthened by the Cross, guided by their shepherd, and rooted in the faith that has sustained this parish since its founding.

May the power of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross protect the faithful of Saint Sava, and may the Lord grant His Grace Bishop Irinej health, strength, and many blessed years.

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Na mnoga ljeta, Vladiko!