An Orthodox community had formed in San Francisco in 1858, called the “Greek-Russian Slavonian Eastern Church and Benevolent Society.” The community consisted of Russians, Serbs, Greeks, and Syrians who had come to California in the first years of the Gold Rush. Today, the city of San Francisco, the leading financial and cultural center of Northern California and the San Francisco Bay Area, has many Orthodox Parishes. The dawn of the history of the Serbian Parish of Saint John the Baptist begins with the arrival of the late Right Reverend Father Archimandrite George Kodzic in San Francisco in February of 1919.
On November 13, 2016, His Grace Bishop Maxim served the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy in our Cathedral. After the Matins, and prior to the Divine Liturgy, Luka Erceg, dedicated parishioner and church council member was honored to receive the first degree order, by being tonsured a reader (čtec) by His Grace. The tonsuring occurred following the Great Doxology. Luka was led by Father Djurica and Deacon Vladan to the center of the solea in front of the Bishop. Following three prostrations toward the Holy Altar and one prostration before His Grace Bishop Maxim.
