Their Royal Highnesses Crown Prince Alexander and Crown Princess Katherine started their visit in the morning to Pittsburg by meeting Djerdj Matkovic, Ambassador of the Republic of Serbia to the United States.
Then Royal couple were welcomed to Holy Trinity Cathedral in Pittsburgh where they attended Enthronement of His Grace Bishop Irinej who was proclaimed Bishop of Eastern American Diocese of the Serbian Orthodox Church.
Born in 1955, Bishop Irinej completed his elementary and secondary education in his hometown, and after attending the Cleveland Institute of Art from 1973–1975, he enrolled in St Tikhon’s Seminary in South Canaan, Pennsylvania, where he graduated with a Licentiate in Theology, with the academic distinction maxima cum laude. In 1980 he enrolled in St Vladimir’s Seminary in Yonkers, New York, and graduated in 1982 with a Master of Divinity degree, with an Honorable Mention for his master’s thesis, “Bishop Nicholai Velimirovich: A 1921 Mission to America.” Afterward, he studied at the Athens Center in 2000 and 2003, and received levels I and II certificates in contemporary Greek language.
He spent most of his professional career in the field of education, lecturing at Loyola University in Chicago, and as a member of the Faculty of Orthodox Theology in Belgrade, under the auspices of the Serbian Orthodox Church. For many years he was the co-editor of The Path of Orthodoxy, the official publication of the Serbian Orthodox Church in the United States and Canada.
Read more about Bishop Irinej’s life on the website of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Australia and New Zealand, from which biographical facts in this article were gleaned.
After visiting Pittsburgh, Their Royal Highnesses are going to Toronto, Canada, where they will be attending the Lifeline Canada annual charity event in order to collect funds to purchase pediatric ultrasounds.