ST. STEPHEN NEMANJA ORTHODOX CHURCH
216 Park Avenue, Bisbee, Arizona 85603
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 5666, Bisbee, Arizona 85603.
UPCOMING AT ST. STEPHEN NEMANJA
Our next Divine Liturgy is scheduled for Sunday, March 2, at 10:00 AM. This Sunday of Forgiveness ("Cheesefare" - last day for dairy before Lent begins) is the fourth of the Preparatory Sundays that lead us to the Great Lenten Fast, Holy Week, and Pascha/Easter (this year April 20 for both Orthodox and most other Christians).
In addition to our Divine Liturgy on Forgiveness Sunday, our tentative schedule for March includes a special visit of our Bishop Maxim on Saturday, March 29, the fourth “Memorial Saturday” of Lent, on which we remember the departed.
For an inspiring presentation of the Preparatory Sundays of the church year, see Metropolitan Anthony Bloom (+London 2003), “An Introduction to Lent,” which used to be widely available online. Here is one link that still works: https://comboni2000.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/f305f-ogf-2021-1-anthony-bloom-an-introduction-to-lent.pdf
HISTORY OF ST STEPHEN NEMANJA
The Serbian Orthodox presence in Bisbee goes back to the late 1880s. While some of these early immigrants went into business, most went to work in the mines. Their importance for the local economy can be seen in Bisbee’s “copper man” statue, for which a Serbian miner served as model. Many of these early immigrants became American citizens, but they retained a love for the Orthodox Christian faith of their homeland. Newspaper articles document visits by early priests for baptisms and special occasions – most notably Fr. Sebastian Dabovich, American-born son of Serbian immigrants who was canonized in 2015 as St. Sebastian of Jackson and San Francisco.