Bishop Vasilije Kacavenda suffered a stroke

22/9/13

BIJELJINA – Bishop Vasilije (Kacavenda), former Bishop of Zvornik and Tuzla, suffered a stroke on Thursday night, in the St. Petka monastery in a settlement near Bijeljina “Five Lakes”, where he has been living, after the Holy Assembly of Bishops, in the meeting in May, relieved him of all church duties, but not the Bishop rank. The bishop, as “Novosti” learned, was urgently transported to the Clinical Center in Belgrade.

According to sources close to him, “he is aware and out of danger, and doctors in Belgrade are taking steps to stabilize his condition as soon as possible.” Kacavenda’s friends said that the Bishop felt quite well in the last few days and weeks.

The Saturday before last, he even served in the church a mass dedicated to anniversary of 40 years of episcopal service and 60 years in Serbian Orthodox Church of Metropolitan Nikolaj Mrdja. He recently served requiem to a deceased friend in the village of Velika Obarska, near Bijeljina. He stayed in the St. Petka monastery, but he traveled, not only in Republika Srpska, but he also crossed to the right bank of Drina.

“Few days ago he visited us, we had a long conversation, he even said he was feeling his health is pretty good,” said one of Kacavenda’s friends, who was himself surprised with the news that Kacavenda suffered a stroke. “He was in a good mood, he mentioned the good reception in Metropolitan Dabar-Bosnia, especially by Metropolitan Nikolaj. He left an impression of a man who “found himself”, now in a new role, when after 35 years he is no longer the head of the Diocese of Zvornik and Tuzla, where he left a profound imprint, primarily by building more than 200 churches and monasteries in RS and BiH.”

Bishop Vasilije, after moving from the monastery of St. Vasilije Ostroski in the center of Bijeljina, to the monastery of St. Petka, which he raised in the Russian style, and was seen taking a walk around the city, talking to people and also shopping in local markets.

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