The Saint Sava Serbian Orthodox Monastery and School of Theology ( sr, Манастир Светог Саве, Manastir Svetog Save) in

Libertyville, Illinois Libertyville is a village in Lake County, Illinois, United States, and a northern suburb of Chicago. It is located west of Lake Michigan on the Des Plaines River. The 2020 census population was 20,579. It is part of Libertyville Township, Lake ...

is a

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

and professional theological school in the

Serbian Orthodox Church in the USA and Canada The Serbian Orthodox Church in North and South America ( sr, Српска православна црква у Северној и Јужној Америци) is a constituent and integral part of the one and only Serbian Orthodox Church (Patria ...

. The school is a collocated facility with the monastery. The school possesses a library of 8,000 titles.

History

The monastery was founded in 1923 by Montenegrin Serb Bishop Saint Mardarije as a school for the

Serbian Orthodox Church The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodox Christian denomination, Christian churches. The majori ...

. It is unique in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

among Orthodox seminaries for being linked to and deriving its traditional Orthodox ethos from a monastery out of which it grew.

Dionisije Milivojević Dionisije Milivojević (Serbian Cyrillic: Дионисије Миливојевић; 26 July 1898 – 15 May 1979) was a Serbian Orthodox bishop who served as Bishop of America and Canada from 1939 to 1964. In his youth, he was one of the leaders ...

was appointed the bishop of the American-Canadian Diocese in 1939. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the Libertyville monastery became an American refuge for Orthodox Serbs. In 1964,

Serbian Patriarch German German ( sr-Cyrl, Герман, English equivalent: ''Herman''; 19 August 1899 – 27 August 1991) was the 43rd Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church from 1958 to 1990. He was successful in revitalizing the Serbian Orthodox Church to a cert ...

defrocked Defrocking, unfrocking, degradation, or laicization of clergy is the removal of their rights to exercise the functions of the ordained ministry. It may be grounded on criminal convictions, disciplinary problems, or disagreements over doctrine or d ...

American Bishop Dionisije Milivojević over political and administrative issues. This forced a split between the Serbian and North American branches of the church. The result was two separate North American churches—the Serbian Orthodox Church in the USA and Canada in Libertyville and the Diocese of New Gracanica – Midwestern America in nearby Third Lake. The

Illinois Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Illinois is the state supreme court, the highest court of the State of Illinois. The court's authority is granted in Article VI of the current Illinois Constitution, which provides for seven justices elected from the five ap ...

deemed that this schism was a violation of the mother church's regulations and forbade recognition of Bishop Dionisije. However, in 1976, the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

ruled that this was in violation of the

First First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

and

Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution The Fourteenth Amendment (Amendment XIV) to the United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments. Often considered as one of the most consequential amendments, it addresses citizenship rights and ...

in ''

Serbian Orthodox Diocese v. Milivojevich ''Serbian Orthodox Diocese v. Milivojevich'', 426 U.S. 696 (1976), is a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that the judicial determination of the Illinois Supreme Court violated the First Amendment and Fourteenth Amendments. ...

''.

Peter II of Yugoslavia Peter II ( sr-Cyrl, Петар II Карађорђевић, Petar II Karađorđević; 6 September 1923 – 3 November 1970) was the last king of Yugoslavia, reigning from October 1934 until his deposition in November 1945. He was the last r ...

, the last Yugoslav king, lived at the monastery after being exiled by

Josip Broz Tito Josip Broz ( sh-Cyrl, Јосип Броз, ; 7 May 1892 – 4 May 1980), commonly known as Tito (; sh-Cyrl, Тито, links=no, ), was a Yugoslav communist revolutionary and statesman, serving in various positions from 1943 until his deat ...

. He died at the church in 1970 and his will stipulated that he wished to be buried there. More than 10,000 attended his funeral. He lay there until his remains were repatriated to Serbia in 2013. There is also a

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...

on the property. The monastery is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

References

Sources

External links

Serbian Orthodox Church in the United States of America and Canada
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Sava Serbian Orthodox Monastery and Seminary Churches in Illinois Serbian Orthodox monasteries in the United States Educational institutions of the Serbian Orthodox Church Eastern Orthodox seminaries Eastern Orthodoxy in Illinois Libertyville, Illinois National Register of Historic Places in Lake County, Illinois Education in Lake County, Illinois Churches in Lake County, Illinois Buildings and structures in Lake County, Illinois Serbian-American culture in Illinois Serbian schools outside Serbia Serbian Orthodox Church in the United States

History

See also

References

Sources

External links