The first in our new series of posts on Orthodox sisterhoods!
In August of 1903, Serbia had just emerged as a kingdom from 500 years of Ottoman occupation, and much of the country was still mired in poverty and underdevelopment. King Peter the Liberator, affectionately known as the “Old King”, was newly ascended to the throne. Bishop Irenej Dobrijevic writes of that time, “At this point, everything began to move forward. …He ushered in an era of progress and prosperity in most areas of life in the Kingdom.”
That same year, the Federation of the Circles of the Serbian Sisters was founded in Belgrade as an ancillary organization of the Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Eastern America. Many influential Serbian women were among the founding members of the Federation, including Nadezhda Petrovich, Delfa Ivanich, and Mabel Grujich. Together, these three women guided the Circle from its founding through many tumultuous years, as it grew into an organization that spanned the globe and impacted thousands of lives.
Nadiezhda Petrovich, internationally acclaimed as Serbia’s most famous female painter, first initiated the creation of a women’s philanthropic society. Along the way, she joined forces with Delfa Ivanich, a satirist, essayist, novelist, journalist, translator, and founder of modern rhetoric in Serbia, and the first Serbian woman to receive the coveted Florence Nightingale Medal. They were soon joined by Mabel Grujich, an American archeologist, philanthropist and volunteer Red Cross nurse in Serbia.
When World War I swept across the continent, the new Circle of Serbian Sisters was prepared to take action. Among other efforts, they organized food parcels and fundraising for needy families and Serbian soldiers, oversaw the creation of a hospital for babies (which was later turned into a field ambulance for sick and wounded Serbian soldiers), and served as field nurses on the battlefield. After the war, they built the Center of the Circle of Serbian Sisters in Belgrade, which included a boarding school for girls orphaned by the war.
As the Circle of Serbian Sisters continued to grow, they were fortunate to have the patronage of Her Majesty Queen Marija of Yugoslavia, who wholeheartedly supported the Sisters and became their Honorary Life President. Unfortunately, in 1946, the Circle was officially abolished with the rise of Communism, and Queen Marija was exiled to London. Undaunted, the Sisters continued to work with Her Majesty from her exile, and this seemingly unfortunate event spurred on the creation of many Sister communities abroad.
As early as 1911, in fact, the first Circle was organized in the United States at the St. George Serbian Orthodox Church in Cincinnati, Ohio, named after the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos, which they chose as their patronal feast. They were officially became a Federation in 1945 in the US, alongside a Federation of Serbian Sisters in Canada.
The “abolished” Circle of Serbian Sisters in Serbia was officially restored in 1990, and is now under the aegis of the local Dioceses of the Serbian Orthodox Church. They celebrate their matronal feast on the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos each year. Many Circles continue their philanthropic tradition today, both in the United States and throughout the Diaspora - including the St. Sava Summer Camp Program at the Monastery Estate of the Most Holy Theotokos in Shadeland, Pennsylvania, humanitarian aid to local communities, and assistance to the Diocese and local parishes.
For over a hundred and twenty years, the vision of these three women, along with the hundreds and thousands of those who came after them, have formed a Sisterhood that spans continents and centuries. They are living proof that incredibly powerful change can happen when Orthodox women band together and seek to meet the challenge of their own place and time with ingenuity, courage, and solidarity.
The photos, in order, show the first page of the original charter, Delfa Ivanich, Nadiezhda Petrovich, Mabel Grujich, a slava, and a recent gathering of a Sisterhood chapter.
