Biography of new-elected Bishop of Toplica Archimandrite Arsenije (Glavcic)

Church of Serbia – July 2014

The new-elected Bishop of Toplica Arseny (Glavcic), Vicar Bishop of His Holiness Patriarch Irinej, was born on March 10, 1978 in Vrsac, as Milomir Glavcic.

He finished primary school in his birthplace in 1993, and from there, upon the blessing of the then Bishop Hrizostom (Stolic) of Banat, attended the Seminary of Saint Sava in Belgrade and finished it successfully in 1998. Upon the blessing of Bishop Hrizostom, he immatriculated 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 was received as cleric in the Diocese of Zica where he was appointed Secretary of the Bishop in July 2005. Simultaneously he began with preparations for monastic life being a novice in the monastery of Zica. In September 2005 he graduated from the Faculty of the Orthodox Theology in Belgrade.

He functioned 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 immatriculated master studies, Department of Liturgical Theology.

During these studies he was ordained a monk in the monastery of Studenica on 1 August 2007 and got monastic name Arseny. 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 with his studies in Thessalonica, and the next year he was promoted as Archimandrite in the monastery of Studenica, on the feast day of Venerable Anastasia of Serbia, on July 5th. He defended his Master’s thesis on the subject “Typicon of Saint Nikodim, the Serbian Archbishop” on 29 November 2012 with an excellent grade.

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 18 December 2012. In February 2014, at the suggestion of the Administrator of the Diocese of Zica, His Grace Bishop Jovan of Sumadia, he was granted blessing of the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Serbian Church to undertake his doctoral studies at the Faculty of Orthodox Theology of the University of Aristotle in Thessalonica.

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