The board of the church-school municipality “St Archangel Michael” from Vancouver, Canada, has started the initiative to have our Diaspora connected with the municipalities in Kosovo and Metohija, thus helping the local Serbs through the Church. Serbian Patriarch Irinej was acquainted with this idea by vice president of that board Goran Stanisavljevic. Right after the reception in the Serbian Orthodox Church Patriarchate, he spoke to the International Radio Serbia about that one and other initiatives that were discusses with the patriarch. Our reporter Suzana Mitic has conducted the interview.
At the meeting in the Patriarchate, Stanisavljevic delivered the financial assistance, sent by members of the municipality of “St Archangel Michael” in Vancouver, and which will be passed to most endangered Serbs in Kosmet. Besides that, he informed the Patriarch about the idea of Diaspora helping the Serb communities in Kosmet.
“At issue is an idea, the initiative to establish connections between the cities or regions in the Diaspora with municipalities in Kosmet, and then organize the regular assistance. For example, each eparchy from the Diaspora would send financial and other aid once or twice a year to one of the Serb enclaves or municipalities in the Province”, specifies Goran Stanisavljevic.
Being one of the biggest ktetors of the temple of St Archangel Michael in Vancouver, Stanisavljevic has also presented to patriarch Irinej his own personal suggestion and wish to erect a small monastery in his hometown in southern Serbia. After the model of Meteora monasteries in Greece, this one would be built on a rock in the picturesque canyon of the Vucjanka River, near Leskovac, and it would stand as an attraction for everybody passing through that part of Serbia, explained our collocutor.
“I am very happy to have been received by His Holiness, despite all the obligations, and that the ideas and suggestions I presented were met positively and with affirmation”, emphasized Stanisavljevic.
The church-school municipality “St Archangel Michael” in Vancouver is part of the Canadian eparchy. According to some estimations, there are 15-20 thousand Serbian people living in the Canadian province of British Columbia, in which Vancouver is located.