Stefan Lastavica

Stefan Lastavica (Divoš, Serbia, Srem, Serbia, then part of Austria-Hungary, 14 September 1908 - Cleveland, Ohio, United States of America, 10 May 1966) was the first bishop of the newly-organized Serbian Orthodox Eparchy of Eastern America and Canada in 1963. He was a noted church music scholar among the Eastern Orthodox adherents.https://www.eserbia.org/sapeople/prosopography/1014-bishop-stefan-lastavica
==Biography==
Stevan J. Lastavica was born into a priestly family. His father Jovan was a priest in Divoš for many years. Stevan graduated from elementary school in his native village, Gymnasium of Karlovci, the Clerical High School of Saint Arsenije in Sremski Karlovci, Bogoslovija, and the Faculty of Theology of the University of Belgrade at Belgrade.
==Biography==
After graduating from the seminaries and the university, he was employed at the court of the Archbishopric of Belgrade and Karlovac, and after his ordination to the rank of deacon, he was also the secretary at the same court. He was elected secretary of the Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church of Bishops in 1951, and he did not stay in this position for long. Talented in the Serbian Orthodox Church, he was appointed voice teacher at the Bogoslovija.
In 1955 he joined the monastic order and became a priest after his wife died at the age of 47 in Belgrade. The following year, he went to Trieste to serve as parish priest. for four years. In Trieste as a parish priest, he was ordained a presbyter and promoted to the rank of archpriest. In 1960 Lastavica decided to emigrate to Windsor (Canada) as a political refugee. In early 1960 Bishop Dionisije Milivojević|Dionisije (Milivojević) of the Serbian Orthodox Diocese of North America came to loggerheads with the Serbian Orthodox Church|mother church in Belgrade and a schism ensued which resulted in lawsuits and conflicting accusations from both sideshttps://www.google.ca/books/edition/Congressional_Record/Rojp7W277M4C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Stefan+Lastavica&pg=PA9229&printsec=frontcover. On 11 May 1963, Lastavica was elected bishop of the Diocese of Eastern America and Canada after the division of the North American diocese was reorganized. He was ordained on 13 July 1963 in Aliquippa by Bishop Chrysostom of Braničevo District|Braničevo and Visarion of Banat. In July 1963 Stefan Lastavica was one of three bishops (Gregory Udicki and Firmilian Ocokoljić) appointed by the Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church|Holy Episcopal Serbian Orthodox Council (Synod) in Belgrade to lead the denomination's 74 parishes and more than 200,000 adherents in the United States of America and Canada. St. Elijah Serbian Orthodox Church in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania hosted his consecration in 1963 and his internment in 1966https://stelijahaliquippa.com/our-parish/parish-history/.
His forte was his voice (dramatic baritone) with a personal singing and musical style. Lastavica began to engage in musicology|musicological work and published Osmoglasnik (1951), a reference book for choirs. 
A few months before his death, he transferred the seat of the Diocese of Eastern America and Canada from Clairton (Pennsylvania) to Cleveland (Ohio). He was buried in the Serbian Orthodox cemetery in Aliquippa.
https://books.google.ca/books?id=dTc_AAAAIBAJ&pg=PA5&dq=%22Stefan+Lastavica%22&article_id=3664,2199339&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj0-dXv5szzAhXqYN8KHX7HAs8Q6AF6BAgEEAI#v=onepage&q=%22Stefan%20Lastavica%22&f=false
==Legacy==
* A Serbian Orthodox choir in Chicago is named after himhttps://chicagodiocese.org/news_111026_1.
Category:1908 births 
Category:1966 deaths
Category:Austro-Hungarian people