BIOGRAPHY OF HIS GRACE THE HOLY BISHOP OF SREM MR. VASILIJE

His Grace the Holy Bishop of the Diocese of Srem Mr. Vasilije (Vaso Vadić) was born on December 10, 1946, in the village Opsječko, in the municipality of Čelinac, near the city Banja Luka. He grew up as the youngest, tenth child of Luka and Jovanka Vadić, virtuous and poor Orthodox Christians, who laid a solid foundation of steadfast faith and sacrificial love for the Church of Christ in the soul of the future archbishop, even in his earliest childhood. These virtues will play a decisive role in the ten-year-old boy's confrontation with a great tragedy, which painfully marked this part of his life. On Christmas Day, 1956, after a short illness, his father dies and he remains an orphan, cared for by his mother and older brothers.

After finishing elementary school in his hometown, in 1961, he went to the Gomirje monastery in Gorski Kotar, where he became a novice. He learned the alphabet of the monastic feat, under very poor material conditions, in the desolate and half-ruined sanctuary, which was built in 1602 by the monks of the Krka monastery. He stayed with his first spiritual father, abbot Miron (Mirić), until 1964, when he enrolled in the Seminary of the Holy Three Hierarchs, in the Krka monastery, with the blessing of Simeon (Zloković), the bishop of Gornji Karlovac. The following words of the Holy Apostle Paul: “Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you…and imitate their faith" (Heb. 13,7), and remembering, quite often, the good abbot Miron, Bishop Vasilije emphasizes in the conversation that he did not have a high theological education – but he was sincerely and loyal to the monastic vow, the Orthodox Church and his people. He also kept his "wonderful and good bishop Simeon" in his pleasant memory.

His spiritual growth in the Krka monastery, where he would spend the next fifteen years, was overseen by the abbot, the rector of the seminary there, Mr. Nikolaj (Mrđa), the later Metropolitan of Dabro- Bosnia. After completing his military service, on December 20, 1966, he received monastic vows, in the rank of small shima, from the bishop of Dalmatia, Stefan (Boca). The bitter and dangerous trials of the Orthodox Church at that time is also evidenced by the fact that Vasilije (Vadić) was first ordained monk, after the Second World War, in the Krka monastery. Over time, there he went through the entire ladder of monastic obedience and duties. On Christmas 1967, in Šibenik, he was ordained to the rank of hierodeacon, while he was ordained to the rank of protodeacon, with the right to wear a red belt, at the end of the fifth grade of the seminary, which he graduated with excellent success in 1971.

Bishop Stefan of Dalmatia then recommended Hierodeacon Vasilije to the Holy Synod of Bishops, and he went to the Orthodox Theological Institute of the Romanian Orthodox Church in Bucharest, where he stayed for four full years. He took all the exams at this higher educational institution in the Romanian language. After completing his studies, he returned to Krka, where he was appointed as a deputy of the seminary and where, on Vidovdan in 1976, he was ordained as a hieromonk. There he performed responsible educational duties and was a lecturer in the following subjects: Liturgy, Latin language and Biblical history. Since he formed his psychological profile precisely in this Orthodox sanctuary, he especially took care of the regular maintenance of worship and the orderly order of the monastery typical. He was promoted to the rank of syncellus in the same year, on the John the Baptist Day.

In accordance with the agreement between the Anglican and Serbian Orthodox Churches, from 1973, the Committee of the British Council of Churches awarded scholarships to local clergy during one or two years spent at one of the English colleges or universities. Fulfilling the request of the gifted priest, the Holy Synod of Bishops sent him to postgraduate studies in Oxford in 1977. Here, for example, he listened to the lectures of the famous professor Timothy Ver, the latter Archimandrite and Metropolitan Callistos of Dioclia, on the subjects History of the Christian Church and Monastic Life. While living in the silence of the Anglican monastery of Kaolifaders, syncellus Vasilije had the opportunity to master the purest English literary language, which was spoken by his Oxford professors.

In England, he was also elected Bishop of Australia and New Zealand, at the regular May session of the Holy Synod of Bishops, in 1978. Having received the unexpected news, he returned to his monastery again, where, until his ordination, he performed the usual obediences, “like any other monk”. The ordination of the newly elected Hierarch was performed by Serbian Patriarch German (Đorić), in the presence of several archbishops, clergy and many faithful people, on September 2, 1978. The next day, bright and sunny September 3rd, he moved with a procession from the palace of the Serbian Patriarchate to the Belgrade Cathedral, where he was ordained at the Holy Bishopric Liturgy, which was served by the Serbian Patriarch German and the bishops: Stefan from Žica (Boca) and Domentijan from Vranje (Pavlović ). On that solemn occasion, according to the old custom of the Eastern Church, Serbian Patriarch German addressed him with instructive words:

“It was God’s will that the Holy Council of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church chose you and sent you to distant Australia to save the souls of our Orthodox brothers there, so that they too feel and be convinced that the Mother Serbian Church has not forgotten them, that they are cared for and taken care of, just like for his children, Orthodox Serbs in the old Fatherland. Our Church has always made sure to send Bishops and the best priests to the most difficult places. Go there, dear Bishop, to preserve and teach our people not to forget their old homeland, the graves of their famous ancestors, our monasteries, customs from the old region, Easter, Christmas and to preserve the faith of their ancestors and their language and all that is holy and congratulations to our famous ancestors. I hand over to you, dear brother Bishop Vasilije, this scepter, a symbol of episcopal authority, a symbol of governance, a symbol of service and a symbol of learning. Receive it and make sure that in that distant land you answer all your duties and obligations in a worthy way, to the joy of all of us here on earth, to the joy of the angels in Heaven, and to the greatest joy of the Risen Christ the Savior.”

His Grace the Bishop of Srem Mr. Vasilije was at the head of the Eparchy of Australia-New Zealand for eight years (1978 ̶ 1986), as its second hierarch, after the administration of Bishop Nikolaj (Mrđe). Upon arrival in Australia, the young Archbishop remains affected and deeply disappointed by the deep division of the Serbian community. The malicious antagonisms that destroyed the spiritual peace of this eparchy were rooted in the opposing ideological and political beliefs of their ancestors, as the bishop later noted: “All the old hatreds and traumas were transferred by our Serbs to the new soil and there, like poisonous hemlock, they planted. We build the monastery of St. Sava in Elaine, the schismatics immediately build another in spite, also St. Sava in Cambera.” With inexhaustible energy and resolute dedication to his mission, he goes around and gathers our people, scattered across the vast expanse of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa; teaches, advises, organizes church-school communities, around which believers gather, ordains young priests and arranges the construction of temples and public halls. In order to somehow counter the further progress of the already entrenched national “discord”, he convened the Assembly of Serbian Youth, at which lectures were given by the most distinguished intellectuals, theologians and archimandrites. In this way, the “Zaplotnja chetnik-partisan disputes” of the fathers and grandfathers of his eparchy were slowly marginalized, and he accompanied this complex and quite unusual social phenomenon with the following words:

“While other nations use historical memory to achieve unity, we Serbs seem to use historical forgetting.” What kind of irony?”

Over time, the rich fruits of the great efforts of the Australian clergy to cultivate Orthodox conciliarness have blossomed. Today, there are about one million Orthodox souls living in Australia. The Orthodox Faculty of Theology in Sydney and the Conference of Orthodox Churches were also founded. The biggest Orthodox manifestation on this continent is “Orthodox Week”, when the faithful bring icons from their homes, which are carried in a procession around the temple, followed by young men and women in colorful national costumes, under the national flags of Russia, Serbia, Greece, Syria, Romania, Bulgaria…

Bishop Vasilije's stay in "beautiful and very rich Australia", where he enjoyed the warm hospitality of that distant country, resulted in the construction of the Saint Sava Monastery – "from the ground", as well as new temples, halls and parish houses. Together with his clergy and a small number of monks, he tried to establish close and friendly relations with all local Orthodox Churches, especially with the Greek Orthodox Church and its first hierarch, Archbishop Stilian. He also maintained cordial contacts with representatives of the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches. He traveled thousands of kilometers and attended countless festivals, visiting his flock and reminding them of the faith of their ancestors, folk customs and rich traditions. In this way, he vigorously opposed the destructive, assimilation processes, which condemned their cultural and national identity to complete disappearance, "in the sea of Protestantism or the seductive, spiritual desert of modern civilization."

By the decision of the Holy Synod of Bishops dated May 23, 1986, the Australian-New Zealand Bishop His Grace Mr. Vasilije was appointed Archbishop of the Eparchy of Srem, with headquarters in Sremski Karlovci. On June 15, 1986, he was inducted into the throne of the Bishop of Srem, in the Cathedral Church of Saint Nicholas, by the hand of the then administrator of the diocese, Bishop Stefan from Žiča, from whom he received the monastic tonsure in the Krka monastery and all other ordinations. After the joyous welcome, which was prepared for him by his new eparchies, the bishop finds the diocese devastated, with gaping, neglected, war wounds. For the past decades, the mere preservation of eparchial structures and existing religious buildings, seriously threatened by unrestrained, Bolshevik hostility, represented a truly heroic feat, carried out on their feeble shoulders by his blessed predecessors, bishops Nikanor, Makarije and Andrej. However, on the site of the Fruška Gora monasteries, there were still terrifying, indeed ghostly ruins. Monumental church buildings, raised and sanctified for centuries by the prayers and tears of Orthodox Serbs, which were not completely destroyed under the fascist occupation, were occupied by inappropriate secular institutions in a communist state, completely insensitive to the religious needs of its population.

The Archive of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina was forcibly moved into the neglected Patriarch's Palace in Sremski Karlovci, where the Croatian nazis formations (ustaše) command was located during the war, at the beginning of the communist rule. After a long and uncertain struggle, the new bishop of Srem, with the support of the leading hierarchs of the Serbian Church at the time and members of the Holy Synod of Bishops, Bishops Stefan (Boca) and Sava (Vuković), managed to finally evict this institution from the "most representative Serbian home" under the Habsburg crown . Only then could all the tragedy of the almost barbaric negligence of the management and employees of this institution, expressed in such a shameful way towards one of the most important monuments of the Sremski Karlovci Diocese, be seen. It took two years to paint over the darkened, dirty walls and repair the parquet, which, for unclear reasons, had previously been coated with processed oil intended for the maintenance of motor vehicles. With the help of people from the "Boja Sombor" company, but also with the supervision of experts from the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments, the spacious halls of the Patriarchate were cleaned and painted, so that they would resemble the former princely magnificence as convincingly as possible with their neat, refreshed appearance. Also, the severely damaged roof was reconstructed, on which twelve tons of copper was placed, and the hardworking workers, who performed this complex work impeccably, were later employed on the covering of the Saint Sava Temple in Belgrade.

The arrival of His Grace the Bishop of Srem Mr. Vasilije at the head of the Eparchy of Srem coincided with a dizzying change in political circumstances, which dominated human destinies in these areas for almost half a century. After the collapse of rigid communism, state leaders began to conduct a much more correct and benevolent dialogue with representatives of the Orthodox Church. In the coming era of mass awakening of religiosity, it became possible again to ask for the financial or other help needed to restore the blasphemous piles of stones, overgrown with weeds, to their former glory. Thus, the deserted monasteries of St. Fruška Gora finally welcomed their mitron-bearing builder, restorer and endowment. In less than ten years, since his accession to the high throne of the blessed archbishops of Sremski Karlovci, His Grace the Bishop of Srem Mr. Vasilije, starting from the ruined Šišatovac, managed to revive all the monastic families of his diocese. Together with Serbian Patriarch German, in Šišatovac, he laid down the "Charter on the Restoration of Fruška Gora Monasteries, 1987", prayerfully announcing their, in history, the most extensive and demanding, and at the same time the fastest and most successful, material and spiritual reconstruction. Today, all these monasteries have been restored and decorated, and in 2013, the construction of the last war victim, the Bešenovo monastery, began. At the same time, six new monasteries were founded and built, St. Petka in Berkasovo, St. Vasilije Ostroški in Manđelos, St. Apostle Mark in Novi Karlovci, St. Sava in Ledinci, St. Archangel Gabriel in Grabovo and Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Sremski Karlovci. Having built a new, magnificent lodging of the Rakovac monastery, as his endowment, His Grace the Bishop of Srem, Mr. Vasilije, ranked among the founders of the Fruška Gora sanctuaries.

It can be said that the restoration of monasticism even surpassed the magnificent reconstruction of priceless sacred buildings. Since the high priestship of Metropolitan Pavle (Nenadović), the families of Fruška Gora have never had more residents than is the case today, so that His Grace the Bishop of Srem Mr. Vasilije could state with satisfaction that in every shrine "there are some who open the doors forpilgrims, as well as pray for them to God", while their physical appearance is again comparable to the shining state before the Second World War, especially after the restitution of nationalized church property. In the monasteries of Srem, with a constant, arduous feat, for the salvation of the Serbian race, but also of the entire humanity, more than 188 monastic persons pray to God every day, as well as ten novices and eight nuns, 182 of whom were ordained as monks by His Grace the Bishop of Srem Mr. Vasilije. In the 1980s, a total of 46 monks and nuns lived in the whole of Srem, in 14 inhabited monasteries, including only four hieromonks. The annals of church municipalities and parishes throughout Srem are filled with records of numerous canonical visits, divine services, wise teachings of Mr. Vasilije, joyful throne-carryings and consecrations of temples and parish homes.

Thanks to Him, a candle factory was established in Sremski Karlovci and the Serbian monastery printing house was rebuilt. With the paternal care of the Bishop of Srem, Mr. Vasilij, the Sremski Karlovci Theological Seminary of Arsenije Sremac, located in the former palace of the Church and People’s Funds, was revived, in which the classrooms were completely renovated and steam heating was introduced. The buildings of the Seminary, Stefaneum, the Serbian Home (former Municipality), the candle factory and the Church Municipality (crossroads from the Patriarchal Palace) were returned to the wing of the Church. All three churches in Sremski Karlovci regained their old glory, with the restoration of the Cathedral Church of Saint Father Nicholas representing the biggest undertaking. By cooperating with prominent businessmen in Vojvodina, the bishop provided financial resources, thanks to which the poorer theologians are supported.

His Grace the Bishop of Srem Mr. Vasilije welcomed some of the largest Fruška Gora sanctuaries, i.e. the bodies of the Saints, which, after decades of exile, were finally returned to their centuries-old resting places. Thus, in his long and rich career, he experienced the unearthly honor of escorting the relics of the Holy Emperor Uroš to the restored Jazak monastery or, at least for a short time, laying the remains of the Holy Prince Lazar in Vrdnik-Ravanica, from where he escorted them to his endowment Ravanica monastery near Ćuprija. He participated in the celebration of the 1700th anniversary of the relics of Saint Theodore Tiron, held in Novi Hopovo, as well as in the celebration of half a millennium since the holy despots Branković built the Krušedol monastery. Precisely because of his efforts and love, in the monastery of Beočin, Saint Varnava Hvostan and Beočin was declared a confessor of faith.

As a devotee and connoisseur of church singing, he founded a diocesan, priestly and theological choir. Mixed choirs have been started in many church municipalities, while traditional Karlovci singing is, among other things, preserved and nurtured in the church music course, aptly named "Cornelius in memory", which is held every year in Sremski Karlovci.

In the end, the most convincing testimony about the personality of this meritorious Orthodox bishop can be represented by his gestures of deep, Christian compassion towards the unfortunate, the weak and the powerless. When, towards the end of the last century, in the year when it thundered on Saint Sava, columns of the Serbian people with the clergy – fleeing from the pogroms, storms and flashes in the Serbian Krajina – appeared on the roads in Srem, Bishop Vasilije opened wide the door of his soul, his heart and home, his Church. Looking at his poor, suffering people, a tear shone in the bishop's eye, according to many witnesses. He didn't ask too many questions, went over many answers in silence andreceived about 40 priests with their families, taking care of them in various parishes. During those apocalyptic days and months, tons of food, clothes, shoes and other necessities were collected in church municipalities and parishes, precisely for those who needed it.

Because of his conscientious administration of his diocese, after the death of Bishop Nikanor (Iličić), from 1986 to 1988, he was entrusted with the administration of the Eparchy of Bačka. For six months he also administered the Eparchy of Šabac-Valjevo, after the death of Bishop Jovan (Velimirović) in 1989. Together with the Bishop of Bačka, Dr. Irinej (Bulović), in 1991 he founded a new Eparchy of Osijek- Poland and Baranja, separating two vicarages from his bishopric, Vukovar and Osijek. By the decision of the Holy Synod of Bishops, he was placed at the head of the newly founded church enterprise "Charity", which worked within the framework of the Serbian Patriarchate in Belgrade. This establishment consisted of a patriarchal printing house, a tailor's workshop and a tourist agency, with headquarters in Belgrade, as well as a candle factory in Sremski Karlovci. Also, according to the decision of the Holy Synod of Bishops, Bishop Mr. Vasilije was entrusted with the construction of the building where the mentioned factory is located, the organization of its work and the procurement of the most modern equipment for making candles.

He visited the Holy Land twice and worshiped the shrines there, prayed in front of the relics of Saint Nektarios of Aegina in Greece, and according to him, whenever he had the opportunity, he made a pilgrimage to the Hilandar monastery, "where the history of the Serbian people is most eloquently and clearly written." As a student from Bucharest, he visited the relics of Saint Petka and other holy places of the Romanian Orthodox Church several times, leading his theologians, while he visited the temples of Moscow, Petrograd and other Russian cities with the choir of the Eparchy of Srem. Since the beginning of the happy administration of His Grace the Bishop of Srem Mr. Vasilije, in Sremsk Karlovci has been visited by the highest and most respected leaders of the Orthodox Church, among them Serbian Patriarchs German, Pavle and Irinej, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexey II, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Romanian Patriarchs Teokist and Alexandrian Peter VII .