Icons of Jackson's St. Sava Church

Book Synopsis: As St. Sava celebrates its 125th year and as the First Serbian Orthodox Church in the Western Hemisphere, it's time to take a snapshot of this historic building. St. Sava Church has become a symbol of Jackson, Amador County, California. People of every faith recognize the familiar white church surrounded by tombstones as they descend the grade into the city. It is both a familiar scene and comforting to the soul.

However, during its first century, the scene within this little white church was simple and stark. The walls and ceilings were white and without form. For its 100th anniversary, icons, hand written over gold leaf by a Russian iconographer were added, upgrading the artwork from the original canvas and paper icons that served the church for many years. This gave a clearer depiction of the saints represented. But within months of the 100th, a priest lamented that St. Sava seemed incomplete, that something was missing from the inside.

Thus a seed was planted into the minds of the parish and the next milestone for this well-loved and historic church would grow. That idea became a labor of patience, love, and faith. Starting in 1995, an iconographer was hired. His name is Miloje Milinkovic, and he was just completing the iconography of nearby Dormition of the Theotokos Church in Fair Oaks near Sacramento. Would he like to create the artwork at St. Sava? And he did.

On a sunny day in November 1995, with the support of the parish's board and the blessing of then Bishop Jovan of the Serbian Church, Western American Diocese, a small group climbed the steps to enter this little church. Prayers were chanted, Bishop Jovan blessed it all. So started the painting of the icons which would grow little-by-little over the next 13 years. The last icon and inscriptions were written in November 2008. The following spring in the following year, Bishop Jovan's successor, Bishop Maxim, lead a Hierarchal Divine Liturgy to formally bless the works.

In 2015, a council of Serbian Orthodox Bishops met in Belgrade. After many years of petitions and miracles attributed to him, it was announced that Archimandrite Father Davovich, first American Born Orthodox Priest and founder of St. Sava Church, was to be elevated to sainthood. In 2007, his relics were transferred from Serbia where he reposed in 1940 and brought to be honored within the walls of St. Sava Jackson, the church he founded in 1894. St. Sebastian's glorification became another milestone of this historic parish. Pilgrims from California, the U.S., Europe, Serbia, Africa, South America came through its doors to venerate the relics of the new St. Sebastian.

2019 marks two important milestones in St. Sava's history. The church celebrates its 125th year as the autocephalous Serbian Orthodox Church celebrates 800 years since St. Sava, first Archbishop of Serbia, was granted independence from the main Orthodox Church then in Nicaea in 1219. This small book is both a snapshot of history and a tribute to the founders, their descendants, and the stewards and faithful that make up the church today with faith and thanks to the diaspora who came to a new land and established this, the first Serbian Orthodox Church in Jackson, Amador County, USA.