FROM SCHISM TO BISHOP: How a Rebel Learned to Block
- Special Correspodent
- Dec 30, 2025
- 17 min read
St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Cathedral, Cleveland, OhioWhere History Repeats Itself - But With a Twist
THE COLD
It's December 2025, and the thermometer reads 14°F (-10°C). Most people are inside, wrapped in blankets, sipping hot coffee. But outside St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Cathedral in Cleveland, Ohio, dozens of people stand in the freezing cold. Grandmothers. Mothers. Children. Grandfathers who remember different times.
They're not there because they want to be.
They're there because they have to be.
They stand with their bodies blocking the entrance to their own church. Not to keep people out, but to keep something else from entering unopposed: Bishop Irinej Dobrijević's decisions. Decisions they believe violate everything their grandparents built. Everything the Serbian Orthodox Church is supposed to stand for.
The faithful are defending their church in the middle of America in the 21st century, just as their grandparents did in 1963.
But this time, the battle isn't about schism with Belgrade.
This time, they're defending the church from their own bishop. A bishop appointed by the very Belgrade their grandparents remained loyal to. A bishop who, they say, operates like the rebels their grandparents opposed. The irony would be poetic if it weren't so painful.
WHY CLEVELAND MATTERS
To understand what's happening outside St. Sava Cathedral today, you have to understand what happened there sixty years ago. Because Cleveland has scars. Deep ones. The kind that don't fully heal, even when everyone pretends they have.
Walk into any Serbian home in Cleveland old enough to remember 1963, and mention "the schism." Watch their faces change. Some will start talking. Others will go quiet. A few will leave the room.
Because 1963 wasn't just a disagreement. It was a civil war fought with church bylaws and legal briefs instead of guns.
When the Church Split in Two
In 1963, an administrative dispute between the Patriarch in Belgrade and Bishop Dionisije Milivojevich, the popular American bishop, tore Serbian communities across America apart. The Patriarch, under what many believed was pressure from Yugoslavia's communist government, reorganized the American-Canadian diocese and removed Bishop Dionisije from his position.
Some parishioners sided with the Patriarch in Belgrade. They believed in the canonical authority of the Mother Church, regardless of Yugoslavia's political situation. Others sided with Bishop Dionisije. They saw the Patriarch as a marionette of communists and refused to submit to what they viewed as political interference in church affairs.
In Cleveland, the newly constructed St. Sava Cathedral became ground zero. Both factions claimed it. Both held services. Both insisted they were the legitimate Serbian Orthodox Church.
For twelve years, from 1963 to 1975, lawsuits flew. Families stopped speaking. Weddings were planned around which church the couple would use. Some Serbs felt they had to choose between their faith and their friends.
Blood was spilled at those church doors. Not metaphorically. Literally.
After twelve years of legal warfare, a court settlement in 1975 gave the pro-Belgrade faction St. Sava Cathedral in Parma. The other faction received land in Broadview Heights, where they built their own St. Sava Church.
Two churches. Same name. Same city. Different futures.
The Church That Chose Belgrade
St. Sava Cathedral in Parma never wavered. Through all the chaos, all the pressure, all the accusations of communist sympathies, they remained loyal to the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Patriarch.
Their descendants are still loyal.
On April 30, 2025, they sent a letter of support to the Patriarch. They stood with Belgrade in 1963. They stand with Belgrade in 2025. But now they're asking Belgrade a question: Why did you send us a bishop who acts like the rebels we opposed?
THE BISHOP'S PAST
Here's what the older generation in Cleveland knows, even if they don't talk about it much: Young Mirko Dobrijević, who would become Bishop Irinej, didn't grow up in the pro-Belgrade church.
He grew up in the breakaway church. The schismatic church. His parents crossed over to the faction that opposed Belgrade. His father bought a house right next to the rebel church on Wallings Road. The family lived there. Worshipped there. Were part of that community.
Later, Mirko changed sides.
The older generation can surmise why. To become a bishop in the canonical Serbian Orthodox Church, you can't have a schismatic past hanging over you. So he changed sides. But did he ever really leave that rebel mentality behind? That's the question nobody in Cleveland wanted to ask. Until now.
Patriarch Pavle's Gift
In February 1992, Metropolitan Ireney, who had succeeded the late Bishop Dionisije, ended the schism in a religious ceremony in Belgrade. The Mother Church and the breakaway church were reunited under the authority of the Patriarch.
Later that year, Patriarch Pavle himself came to America and Canada. He was old by then, frail, but he traveled anyway. He visited torn communities. He conducted services in both churches. In Cleveland, he stood in both St. Sava Cathedral in Parma and St. Sava Church in Broadview Heights.
He healed. He unified. He brought peace.
People who were there remember him weeping as he prayed for the Serbian people to forgive each other. They remember how he refused to take sides, how he treated everyone with the same gentle love. How he made it clear that the schism was over, that all were welcome home, that unity was possible.
By 1995, the animosity had virtually disappeared. Both churches recognized each other as legitimate under the authority of the patriarchate. Families reunited. Friends reconciled. The nightmare was over. Patriarch Pavle gave Cleveland back its peace.
But now, thirty years later, someone is planting mines in the foundation of that peace.
Bishop Irinej Dobrijević, who grew up in the rebel church during the schism, now governs as if the schism never ended. As if blocking communication with Belgrade is normal. As if fighting with the faithful who support the Patriarch is appropriate. As if creating division is acceptable.
Instead of healing, he fights. He fights with parishioners. With priests. With Church Boards. With anyone who questions him.
This is a question for psychologists and psychiatrists: Can someone who grew up in rebellion ever truly learn obedience? Can someone who learned to oppose Belgrade ever truly serve Belgrade? Or does the rebel mindset remain, just wearing different robes?
THE PATTERN ACROSS DIOCESES
Those who have followed Bishop Irinej's career say it's been the same everywhere he goes.
New York City
At St. Sava in New York City the pattern emerged early. He clashed with the parish board. He made financial decisions that raised eyebrows. He treats money as if it were his inheritance.
The $90 million in air rights attached to the property had to be removed from his control and placed directly under the Patriarch to prevent their misuse or sale. Even in New York, people noticed: he doesn't recognize boards that question him. He fights with anyone who asks for transparency.
The Current Catastrophe
Now, in the Eastern American Diocese, the pattern has reached its fullest expression.
He inherited a diocese in 2016 with close to $5 million in reserves, operating in the black. Bishop Mitrofan Kodić had spent 25 years carefully building financial stability, establishing new parishes, translating theological works, teaching at seminary.
Nine years later, under Bishop Irinej, the diocese has $913,263 left. That's after selling Shadeland forest for $1.2 million and Marcha forest for $200,000. He should have $6.4 million. Instead, he has less than a million and operates at a deficit. Over $5.4 million lost in nine years.
Marcha Monastery, the only Serbian Orthodox women's monastery in North America with full monastic life, now has $254,887 in unpaid tax debt. Shadeland operated at a loss of $156,482.90 in 2024. The diocese itself had an operating deficit of $64,054.21.
But the financial collapse is only part of the story.
He removed Fr. Dragoslav Kosić from Cleveland with 48 hours'. He removed Fr. Zivojin Jakovljević in New York. He removed Fr. Njego in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, while the priest's wife was pregnant, leaving the family without health insurance. He removed Fr. Rajko Kosić. He removed Fr. Stefan Zaremba.
Priests who question him get sent to what parishioners call "the Johnstown Gulag" - remote assignments meant to punish, not serve.
One hundred and twenty families have filed canonical appeals with the Holy Synod in Belgrade. Six police cars showed up at St. Sava Cathedral to serve trespassing notices to mothers whose children attend Serbian school and Sunday school there.
He enjoys no respect among Serbs in America. Sadly, according to those who know, he enjoys little respect even among the majority of bishops. And yet he continues, seemingly untouchable.
THE BLOCKER AND HIS ALLIES
Bishop Irinej doesn't operate alone. He has allies. Approximately five other bishops, according to those tracking the situation, who share his approach. Together, they've taken a position that directly contradicts the official stance of the Serbian Orthodox Church. The Church's position, set by the Patriarch and Holy Synod, is clear: the Serbian Orthodox Church will not involve itself in political matters. The Church serves the spiritual needs of the faithful, not political agendas.
But Bishop Irinej and his allies publicly supported student protesters and blockaders in Serbia, inserting themselves into political controversy. Now here's where it gets interesting.
If the Holy Synod moves to remove Bishop Irinej for his canonical violations, financial mismanagement, and abuse of clergy, he has a ready-made defense: "They're removing me because I supported the students! This is political persecution! The Patriarch is against the students!" It's a clever trap. Make any disciplinary action look political. Redirect attention from the real issues. Pull the wool over everyone's eyes. Instead of talking about $5.4 million lost, talk about student protests. Instead of addressing three blocked certified letters to Belgrade, talk about political persecution. Instead of examining why 120 families filed canonical appeals, talk about supporting young people. It's misdirection. Classic misdirection. Good luck with that wool, Your Grace.
Because the Holy Synod has access to the same documentation the faithful in Cleveland have compiled. Tax records showing $254,887 in unpaid debt. Episcopal acts showing Fr. Dragoslav removed with 48 hours' notice. Police reports showing six police cars called on peaceful parishioners. Certified mail receipts showing three letters blocked. The wool only works if people can't see through it. But in the age of documentation, everything is visible.
WORKING AGAINST HIS OWN
This isn't the first time Bishop Irinej has worked against his own church and people.
In 2010, WikiLeaks published thousands of classified U.S. State Department diplomatic cables. Hidden among them were cables from the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade, dated 2006 and 2007. They concerned the Serbian Orthodox Church's position on Kosovo during the final status negotiations. And they mentioned, repeatedly, a confidential source providing intelligence to American officials.
His name: Hieromonk Irinej Dobrijević.
"Strictly Protect Throughout"
The cable from May 31, 2006, begins with a warning that any diplomatic professional would recognize: "Strictly protect throughout."
This isn't casual language. This designates a confidential human source whose identity must be protected at all costs. Someone whose exposure would end their usefulness and potentially endanger them.
The cable reveals that Hieromonk Irinej Dobrijević "is a moderate voice within the Church and has been helpful on Kosovo."
Let's be clear about what this means: During the Kosovo final status negotiations, when Serbia faced the potential loss of its historical and spiritual heartland, when the Serbian Orthodox Church was trying to protect centuries-old monasteries and churches in Kosovo, a young Serbian Orthodox cleric was secretly providing intelligence to the American government working to separate Kosovo from Serbia.
What He Betrayed
The intelligence Bishop Irinej provided wasn't minor gossip. It was comprehensive and devastating.
He identified which bishops were "moderate" and which were "hardline," giving American officials a roadmap of who could be influenced and who would resist. He revealed confidential discussions from the Assembly of Bishops. He downplayed reports of improved atmosphere at Vienna negotiations, undermining Serbian diplomatic efforts.
But perhaps most shocking was his character assassination of the Bishop of Bačka, a senior hierarch in the Serbian Orthodox Church.
According to the cable, Irinej told American officials that the Bishop of Bačka "is often used by the Church or government as a negotiator because he is considered moderate; in reality, Irinej says, he often represents different positions to different audiences." Irinej claimed the Bishop of Bačka said "all the right things" during talks in Vienna but "reverted to a more extreme position when he returned to the company of his fellow bishops."
Whether the Bishop of Bačka was actually duplicitous or whether Irinej was slandering a colleague who disagreed with him matters less than this fact: a junior cleric was secretly undermining a senior hierarch to representatives of a
foreign power.
Following the Money
The cable also notes something else: Irinej's appointment to Australia and New Zealand would maintain "his useful connections with Orthodox diaspora groups (and their related funding sources)."
He was providing intelligence about Serbian diaspora financial networks. The very communities that support the Serbian Orthodox Church worldwide. Their funding sources. Their organizational structures. All reported to American officials.
"He Has Assured Us"
Perhaps the most damning line in the cables: "He has assured us that he will seek to remain engaged on Kosovo issues" even after being sent to Australia.
This wasn't a one-time conversation at a cocktail party. This was an ongoing intelligence relationship. And even when the Serbian Orthodox Church leadership became suspicious and sent him to the other side of the world, he promised to stay engaged.
A second cable from December 22, 2006, analyzing the Church's political role, suggests that Church leadership had indeed become suspicious. That's why he was promoted away from Belgrade to Australia. Get him out of the center of power. Put distance between him and the sensitive negotiations.
By June 2007, he had graduated from secret informant to public influencer. He became the first Serbian Orthodox Church official to publicly condition support for Kosovo on concessions, speaking to American officials at a Contact Group outreach event.
The U.S. State Department's own assessment acknowledges the price he paid for this collaboration. Even his American handlers noted that his frustrations "color his judgment" and that his characterizations of other bishops might be biased by personal disappointment.
But they kept using him anyway.
THE PATTERN REVEALED
Look at the pattern:
Belgrade, 2006-2007:He worked secretly with a foreign power against Serbian interests. He undermined church leadership. He provided intelligence on church finances and diaspora funding. He characterized those who disagreed with him as "hardliners" and obstacles. When church leadership became suspicious, he was promoted away to Australia. But he continued his agenda from that distant posting.
Cleveland, 2023-2025:He operates with apparent disregard for canonical procedures. He removes priests who resist his agenda. He presides over catastrophic financial collapse. He characterizes those who question him as troublemakers and obstacles. He blocks certified letters to the Holy Synod. He governs from a position with minimal oversight.
The methods change. The mentality remains.
When Serbia and the Serbian Orthodox Church needed unity during the Kosovo negotiations, he was working with those who sought to divide.
When Serbian diaspora communities needed protection, he was providing intelligence on their funding to foreign powers.
When the Bishop of Bačka needed the loyalty of a younger colleague, he got character assassination delivered to foreign officials instead.
And now, when Cleveland and the faithful need transparency and canonical governance, they get blocked communications, removed priests, and six police cars.
Two decades. Two continents. One pattern.
Working against his own.
THE IRONY OF HISTORY
The people standing outside St. Sava Cathedral in December 2025 are descendants of those who stood in those same spots in 1963.
But the positions have reversed in the most painful way imaginable.
In 1963, their grandparents stood at those doors defending their loyalty to Belgrade. They were the pro-Patriarch faction. The ones who refused to join the schism. The ones who said, "We stand with the Mother Church, no matter what."
They sent their children to Serbian school to learn the language and culture. They passed down stories of the old country. They raised their grandchildren to love the Serbian Orthodox Church and respect the Patriarch.
And now, those grandchildren stand at the same doors. Still loyal to Belgrade. Still supporting the Patriarch. Still refusing to join rebellion. But this time, they're defending the Church from a bishop appointed by Belgrade.
A bishop who grew up in the schismatic church their grandparents opposed.
A bishop who worked as an intelligence source for foreign powers during Kosovo.
A bishop who undermined his own fellow bishops to American officials.
A bishop who blocks their letters to the very Belgrade they remain loyal to.
The grandparents fought schismatics who opposed Belgrade.The grandchildren fight a schismatic-bishop sent by Belgrade.
The doors are the same. Loyalty is the same. The sacrifice is the same. Only the enemy has changed sides.
CULTURAL GARDEN: THE IRONY IN STONE
There's one more piece to this story. A quieter piece, but somehow the most painful.
In Cleveland's Rockefeller Park stand the Cleveland Cultural Gardens, a series of landscaped gardens honoring the city's immigrant communities. Thirty-five gardens in all, each representing a different culture.
The Serbian Cultural Garden was dedicated on October 5, 2008. It features a central plaza with a symbolic cube bearing the Serbian crest. Around it, a pebble mosaic path reproduces mosaics from Hilandar Monastery and the Patriarchate of Peć.
And in the center of the plaza, inscribed in stone for all to see, is the Serbian motto:
"SAMO SLOGA SRBINA SPAŠAVA."
"Only Unity Saves the Serbs."
The effort to create this garden was led by Alex Macheski, who was then President and Publisher of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland's major newspaper. It took years of work. Fundraising. Design. Community organizing. In 2009, Serbian President Boris Tadić came to Cleveland for the dedication of an icon of St. Sava in the garden.
It was a moment of pride for Cleveland's Serbian community. A permanent testament to their heritage in the heart of the city.
"Only Unity Saves the Serbs."
And now, in 2025, less than twenty years after that motto was carved in stone, a Serbian Orthodox bishop is destroying the unity it celebrates.
Patriarch Pavle spent the 1990s traveling, healing, unifying. He made it possible for Serbs in Cleveland to walk through both St. Sava churches without shame. He brought them together. Bishop Irinej has spent nine years dividing them again. The motto in the Cultural Garden still reads "Only Unity Saves the Serbs." But six blocks away, at St. Sava Cathedral, unity is dying.
One hundred and twenty families in canonical appeal. Six police cars. Mothers and children banned from their church. Priests removed without proper notice. Five and a half million dollars lost.
The Cultural Garden's motto is carved in stone. Bishop Irinej's legacy is carved in pain.
THE QUESTIONS NOBODY WANTS TO ASK
There are questions that need answers. Questions the Holy Synod should be asking. Questions that have been avoided for too long.
Has Bishop Irinej ever disclosed to the Holy Synod in Belgrade his service as a U.S. State Department intelligence source during the Kosovo negotiations? Did church leadership know they were appointing someone who had worked with foreign powers against Serbian interests?
Did he provide intelligence to U.S. officials about Serbian Orthodox diaspora funding networks in America after being appointed to the Eastern American Diocese? Are those same funding sources he once reported on now suffering under his financial mismanagement?
Does his demonstrated willingness to work with foreign powers against Serbian church and national interests disqualify him from serving as a bishop? Can someone who informed on his own church to foreign officials be trusted with its pastoral care?
Is his pattern of removing priests who resist his agenda related to the same pattern he showed in 2006-2007, when he characterized bishops who disagreed with him as "hardline" obstacles to American officials?
Does his refusal to forward canonical appeals to the Holy Synod reflect the same blocking behavior he showed when working to undermine Serbian positions during Kosovo negotiations?
And perhaps most painfully: Did the Holy Synod inadvertently appoint a former intelligence asset to govern a diocese full of the very diaspora communities he once reported on?
WHEN OBEDIENCE BECOMES SIN
The faithful at St. Sava Cathedral have been told repeatedly that they must "obey their bishop." That questioning him is rebellion. That filing canonical appeals is schismatic behavior.
But the late Patriarch Pavle, taught something different. Patriarch Pavle taught that obedience to a bishop ends when that bishop's commands contradict the Gospel, the canons, or the teachings of the Church. That blind obedience to human authority is not a virtue when that authority is being abused. He taught that the faithful have not just a right but a duty to speak truth to power. To file canonical appeals when their bishop violates church law. To defend their priests when they're being removed unjustly.
The 120 families who filed canonical appeals aren't schismatics. They're doing exactly what Patriarch Pavle taught them to do. The mothers standing outside in 14-degree weather aren't rebels. They're defending what the Patriarch died to preserve. The parishioners who sent letters to Belgrade aren't troublemakers. They're loyal children of the Serbian Orthodox Church asking their Mother Church for help. Obedience to an abusive bishop isn't virtue. It's complicity. And the faithful in Cleveland have chosen truth over complicity.
THE GREATEST BLOCKER
So here we are. The greatest blocker since the Eastern American Diocese was founded.
He blocks communication with Belgrade. Three certified letters sent to the Holy Synod, all blocked.
He blocks financial transparency. Over $5.4 million lost, no clear accounting.
He blocks canonical procedures. Thirty days' notice required for priest removal, he gives 48 hours.
He blocks parish elections. Unanimously elected president rejected, board member with documented false statements approved.
He blocks evidence. Financial Secretary offers proof of wrongdoing, he refuses to review it.
He blocks meetings. Parishioners schedule emergency meeting, he forbids it.
He blocks families. Mothers and children who've attended Serbian school for years now banned from their church.
He blocks the truth. Security cameras destroyed before sacred items go missing.
He blocks everything except lies, corruption, abuse, and retaliation.
The greatest blocker. But here's what he can't block:
He can't block the 120 families who stand together.
He can't block the documentation they've compiled.
He can't block the declassified cables that reveal his past.
He can't block the love these people have for their church.
And he can't block the truth forever.
THE FINAL IRONY
There's a certain poetry to how this story might end.
A man who grew up in the schismatic church during the rebellion of the 1960s, who later worked as an intelligence source for foreign powers during Kosovo, who now operates as a bishop with the same divisive mentality he learned in his youth, may finally be held accountable by the very institution he once informed on.
The Holy Synod he bypassed when working with American officials.
The Patriarch whose succession he discussed with U.S. State Department representatives.
The Serbian Orthodox Church he provided intelligence about to foreign powers.
They're the ones who will decide his fate.
The rebel who became a bishop may discover that the robes don't protect you when the evidence is overwhelming.
The blocker who blocked everything may find that some things can't be blocked.
And the man who worked against his own may learn that eventually, your own come for you.
FOR THE FAITHFUL
To the people standing outside St. Sava Cathedral in the cold:
Your grandparents stood at those doors in 1963, defending their loyalty to the Serbian Orthodox Church. You stand there now, defending the same loyalty. The sacrifice is the same. The love is the same. The faith is the same. You are not schismatics. You are not troublemakers. You are the most faithful children Belgrade has in America.
FOR THE HOLY SYNOD
You have before you a choice.
Continue to allow one man to destroy what Patriarch Pavle spent his life building. Or act. The evidence is overwhelming. The pattern is clear. The damage is documented. One hundred and twenty families are waiting. Cleveland's Serbian community is watching. The diaspora is asking questions.
"Only Unity Saves the Serbs."
The motto is carved in stone in Cleveland's Cultural Garden. But the unity itself is dying six blocks away. How much longer will you let it die?
Свети Саво, моли Бога за нас!
The greatest blocker blocks everything except the truth.
And the truth is standing outside in the cold, waiting for justice.
NOTE: This text was taken from the site https://borbazaveru.info/content/view/21302/47/
For detailed evidence of Bishop Dobrijević's intelligence work, see: https://borbazaveru.info/content/view/21157/47/ with full citations of declassified U.S. State Department cables from WikiLeaks.
