by Deborah (Malacky) Belonick
As we approach the New Year, our seminary community remembers our alumni/ae and trustees who have departed this life in 2010. Memory Eternal!
Most recently, Protojerej-Stavrofor Milan Savich, 90, fell asleep in the Lord on November 27, 2010 in Chicago. He was preceded in death by his devoted wife of 51 years, Protinica Constance (nee Vuckovich) in 2004. He was the loving father of Mileva (also a SVOTS alum), Jovan, Marya, Natalie, and George.
Father Milan was born in Arilje, Serbia to Slavko and Mileva (Ocokoljic) Savich. His mother Mileva was the sister of His Grace Bishop Firmilian (Ocokoljic) of Blessed Memory. Fr. Milan obtained his early education in Arilje, Belgrade, and Kraljevo.
He received his initial theological education at the Serbian Orthodox Seminary in Bitolj, where he was sent by his diocesan bishop, Bishop Nikolaj (Velimirovic), who later was canonized a saint. The Bitolj Seminary was a magnificent center of Orthodox learning at that time. In addition to St. Nikolaj and many other scholars, among the teachers there were then Archimandrite and now St. John (Maksimovic); then Archimandrite and now St. Justin (Popovic); then Hieromonk Vasilije (Kostic), later Bishop Vasilije of Zica; then lay theologian Jovan Velimirovic, later Bishop Jovan of Sabac and Valjevo.
In 1948, Fr. Milan won a scholarship to study at Dorchester College, near Oxford, England. In 1950, he came to the United States, where he completed his education at St. Vladimir’s Seminary and Columbia University in New York.
Also departed to be with the Lord in 2010, were:
Resa Ellison, choir director at St. Mary Cathedral, Minneapolis, MN, +January 3, 2010.
Archpriest Milorad Milosevich, retired rector of St. Luke Church, McLean, VA, +June 22, 2010.
His Eminence Christopher [Kovacevich], metropolitan of the Midwestern American Diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church in the United States and Canada, +August 18, 2010
His Grace Tikhon (Stepanov), bishop of Archangelsk and Kholmogory, Russia, +October 19, 2010.
We also remember His Grace Boris (Geeza), bishop of Chicago and Midwest, on the tenth-year anniversary of his death, December 30, 2000.
