Bishop Arsenije of Nis marked on 31 August 2019 with the Holy Hierarchal Liturgy a jubilee – five years since the consecration for Bishop of Moravica, Vicar of the Serbian Patriarch, in Cathedral Church in Nis.
Bishop Arsenije concelebrated the Divine Liturgy with Archimandrites Rafailo (Golusin), Damaskin (Grabez) and Serafim (Misic) and many other priests of the Diocese.
Bishop Arsenije was born on March 10, 1978, in Vrsac, as Milomir Glavcic. He finished primary school in his birthplace in 1993, and, upon the blessing of the then Bishop Hrizostom (Stolic) of Banat, attended the Seminary of Saint Sava in Belgrade and graduated in 1998. Upon the blessing of Bishop Hrizostom, he attended the Faculty of Orthodox Theology in Belgrade. During his studies, he attended twice the Puskin Institute in Moscow to improve his Russian in 1999 and 2000.
In 2002 Bishop Hrizostom appointed him secretary of the Diocesan Ecclesiastic Board and treasurer of the Diocese of Banat. He held this position until September 2004. Upon the suggestion of his spiritual father Bishop Hrizostom, he became cleric in the Diocese of Zica where he was appointed secretary of the Bishop in July 2005. Simultaneously he began preparing for monastic life as a novice in the monastery of Zica. In September 2005 he graduated from the Faculty of the Orthodox Theology in Belgrade.
He served as secretary of the Bishop of Zica until October 2006, when, upon the blessing of the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church, he attended postgraduate studies in Greece. At the Faculty of the Orthodox Theology of the Aristotle University in Thessalonica he attended master studies in the Department of Liturgical Theology.
During these studies, he was ordained a monk in the monastery of Studenica on 1 August 2007 and got the monastic name Arsenije. On the feast day of Prophet Elijah in the same year, he was ordained a hierodeacon by Bishop Hrizostom of Zica in the monastery of Studenica. Two weeks later, on the feast day of the Translation of Relics of Archdeacon Stephen, Bishop Hrizostom ordained him a hieromonk in the monastery of Zica on August 15. Thereafter, he continued his studies in Thessalonica, and the next year he became Archimandrite in the monastery of Studenica, on the feast day of Venerable Anastasia of Serbia, on July 5. He defended his master’s thesis, titled “Typicon of Saint Nikodim, the Serbian Archbishop” on November 29, 2012.
After the consecration of a new Diocesan Palace in Kraljevo, on 15 May 2011, along with Bishop Hrizostom of Zica, he left monastery of Zica and settled down in Kraljevo. He remained with his spiritual father until his repose on December 18, 2012. In February 2014, at the suggestion of the Administrator of the Diocese of Zica, Bishop Jovan of Sumadia, he was granted the blessing of the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Serbian Church to undertake doctoral studies at the Faculty of Orthodox Theology of the University of Aristotle in Thessalonica.
During the spring session of the Holy Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church, 23 May 2014 he was elected Bishop of Toplica, Vicar Bishop of Patriarch Irinej. He was consecrated as Bishop on 31 August 2014 in the Cathedral Church of Holy Archangel Michael in Belgrade. At this annual regular May session of the Holy Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church, he was elected Diocesan Bishop of Nis. The enthronement of Bishop Arsenije took place at the Holy Hierarchal Liturgy at Cathedral Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles in Nis on August 13, 2017.
SOURCE: Serbian Orthodox Church
