In our modern secular society it is often difficult for us to practice even the most elementary Christianity. How, then, can we not marvel at one who not only overcame the seductions of the world, but completely dedicated himself to Christ and persevered through even the most difficult circumstances? Truly, such persons shall rest in the company of the saints, and it is from the quiet virtues of such as Bishop Sava of Edmonton that we can learn to please the Prince of Peace, Christ our Lord.
 Vladika Sava of Edmonton |
In our modern secular society it is often difficult for us to practice even the most elementary Christianity. How, then, can we not marvel at one who not only overcame the seductions of the world, but completely dedicated himself to Christ and persevered through even the most difficult circumstances? Truly, such persons shall rest in the company of the saints, and it is from the quiet virtues of such as Bishop Sava of Edmonton that we can learn to please the Prince of Peace, Christ our Lord.
Bishop Sava (Saracevic) was born on February 22, 1902, in the Serbian city of Ljutavic, near Beograd. A good student, he finished high school in the city of Cacak-Kragujevac, and entered the department of Law at the University of Beograd. Excelling his colleagues, he was appointed judge in the cities of Trelog, Cacak, Gnjilane, and Beograd. Worldly success, however, could not satisfy his soul, and in the intervals between his duties as a judge he pursued a program of studies in the Department of Theology at the University of Beograd.
In the anarchy and unrest that followed the Second World War, undoubtedly a target for the Communists as an educated Christian and member of the old regime, the future Bishop decided to emigrate and arrived in Buenos Aires in early 1948. Shortly after his arrival in South America, he decided to join Bishop Leonty in Paraguay, and went to the monastery that the latter had established there.
Seeking to put his talents in the service of the heavenly King, the former judge of men left the glitter of earthly society for the company of angels, abandoning forever his high secular rank for the yet higher calling of the monastic life. Bishop Leonty tonsured him a monk, and in the same year raised him to the deaconate on the feast of the Annunciation. From Paraguay he returned to Buenos Aires, where Archbishop Panteleimon of Argentina and Buenos Aires ordained him a priest on the Dormition of the Mother of God, August 15, 1949. He was assigned to the Holy Resurrection Cathedral in Buenos Aires, and served there for more than six years.
In December of 1956, Bishop Athanasius of Argentina assigned him to the care of the flock of Holy Protection Church in Temperley, where he served until his departure for New York in August, 1958.
By decree of the Synod of Bishops, this good pastor and worthy candidate was consecrated bishop of Edmonton, vicar bishop of the Canadian Diocese under Archbishop Vitaly of Montreal, the future Metropolitan of the Russian Orthodox Church in Exile. Bishop Sava was consecrated in the Synodal Church in New York City on September 15, 1958.
Though Bishop of an isolated and distant region, he was an active and influential hieararch. From the pages of Orthodox Russia, Bishop Savva called the Russian people to awareness of their faith, and warned them of the apocalyptic times and the danger of losing the Holy Orthodox Faith through negligence and carelessness. In his first years as a bishop, he called for the formation of “Brotherhoods of Spiritual Renewal” to revivify the spirit of Holy Russia. In his later yea\nrs he called all to pray and redouble their prayers for suffering Russia. Though the turbulent and difficult conditions of life for the Russian emigration dampened the prospects for any great immediate response, Bishop Sava preserved through his appeals a candle of hope for the future resurrection of the Russian land.
The Serbs embraced St. Vladimir’s as their parish and Bishop Sava as their wise and beloved pastor. Vladika always had time to visit and counsel Serbs, and he was always welcome in Serb homes for the Slava or as a guest, and performed many weddings, baptisms and funerals. Those who knew him will always remember the twinkle in his eye when he spoke, and the true contentment and enjoyment he had being with his flock.
Bishop Sava recognized that Christ is the salvation of mankind and did not keep Orthodoxy as a secret treasure for Slavic peoples alone, but worked for the salvation of new converts as well. He maintained a wide correspondence with English-speaking converts across Canada and the United States.
Bishop Sava must have perceived that only true sanctity and holiness could rekindle the Orthodox Christian spirit after the turbulent disruption of the emigration. He knew Archbishop John of San Francisco very well, and recognized the qualities of saintliness in this holy bishop. Following the death of Archbishop John, he was determined to proclaim his virtues and sanctity, and to this end he undertook the holy labour that he is primarily remembered for – that is, he worked for the glorification of St. John, Wonderworker of Shanghai and San Francisco. In Orthodox Russia he pointed out that it was a Serbian, Bishop Nikolaj Velimirovic, who largely motivated the glorification of St. John of Kronstadt by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. Through his labours and dedication to St. John of Shanghai and San Francisco, Bishop Sava accomplished a similar wonder after his death, when St. John the Wonderworker was glorified on the 2nd of July, 1994.
In a letter to his friend in Buenos Aires two weeks before his death, Bishop Sava, among other things, wrote: “As for me, glory be to God, I am living quietly. I would not want to change my situation. For St. Gregory the Theologian wrote: ‘For those who leave thrones do not lose God, but they shall have a See above, which is much higher and more secure than these Sees below.” Bishop Sava reposed in the Lord on the feast-day of St. Anthony the Great, January 30th, 1973, after serving as a Bishop for fifteen years.
Memory Eternal!
Sources:
The Necrology of Bishop Sava, Arcbishop Athanasius of Argentina. Published in Nasha Strana, Buenos Aires, no. 1198, Feb. 6, 1973.
Blessed John the Wonderker, St. Herman of Alaska Brotherhood: Platina, 1987.