Protopriest-Stavrophore Milan Krstić

Father Milan, son of Milivoje and Marica Krstić, was born on March 15, 1960, in Jagodina, and grew up in his village of Sekurić, Levač district, where he attended elementary school. In 1976, he enrolled in the Seminary of “St. Cyril and Methodius” in Prizren.

With the bishop’s blessing, on September 17, 1988, he married his future wife Sava in the Church of St. Sava on Vračar. That same year, on December 24, he was ordained as a deacon in Žiča Monastery by Bishop Stevan of Žiča, and the following day as a priest by Bishop Vasilije of Srem. After ordination and practice at Jošanica Monastery near Jagodina, the competent bishop of the Šumadija Eparchy, His Grace Dr. Sava, assigned him on January 7, 1989, to the parish in the village of Županjevac, Levač deanery. Later, on July 3, 1990, upon request, he was transferred to the Veliko Kruševica parish near Rekovac in the same deanery. After spending 2 years at that parish, he went to America, where he served a parish in New York for 4 months, and on January 16, 1993, was officially appointed by the late Metropolitan Irinej of New Gračanica to the St. George parish in Clearwater, Florida.

On March 1, 1998, he was promoted by the administrator of the New Gračanica Metropolitanate, Bishop Sava (Jurić), to protopresbyter in recognition of his dedicated work and effort in the parish. During the consecration of the new church on March 12, 2005, Metropolitan Amfilohije of Montenegro and the Littoral, as delegate of Patriarch Pavle, awarded him the rank of archpriest. Upon request, on March 12, 2006, he was transferred to the St. Demetrius parish in Windsor, Canada. The competent bishop, His Grace Longin, granted him the right to wear the pectoral cross in 2008. At the invitation of His Grace Bishop Irinej of Niš, he moved to Serbia and on August 1, 2008, was appointed to the first parish at the Church of St. Emperor Constantine and Helena, and on February 14, 2009, was officially appointed as rector of the church. He served as rector until July 26, 2012, when he departed for a parish in America.

After 4 years of service in Niš, on August 1, 2012, with the blessing of Bishop Dr. Mitrofan, he was received into the Eastern American Diocese and appointed as pastor of St. George Church in Midland, Pennsylvania.

After nearly two years spent in Midland, by decision of Bishop Dr. Mitrofan, on December 1, he was transferred to the St. Prophet Elijah parish in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania.

Due to service needs and his previous experience, considering that he would be beneficial to the new parish, on August 1, 2016, His Grace Bishop Mitrofan appointed him to the St. Simeon the Myrrh-Streaming parish in Miami.

He has three daughters: Anastasija, Jefimija, and Teodora.

Upon arriving in Florida, he found 15-20 families and immediately began searching for new families. He sent letters and notifications about events and church plans to all addresses he had collected. Meanwhile, the war in the homeland intensified, so he welcomed displaced persons, found them jobs, apartments, furniture, and means of living which they initially lacked, and helped with everything newcomers needed. He collected aid for the people in Bosnia. He organized church school, helped revive folklore and the football club, started a Serbian radio program which he hosted for the next 10 years, established a website in 1998, during the bombing of Serbia organized and led protests for all 78 days, organized social and religious life that all took place in and around the church. At one period, he baptized groups of young people who had missed doing so earlier. He launched a “weekly bulletin” published in Serbian with partially English text and in Russian (due to about twenty Russian families who joined the Serbian church). He also published a monthly “parish voice” and a semi-annual magazine “Orthodox believer.” He established a library with Serbian books of over 1,500 titles. He obtained 40 computers from the city to provide computer literacy to interested parishioners. With the help of his eldest daughter Anastasija, he started the church choir St. Roman the Melodist. With parishioners, he began construction of the church, launched various campaigns to raise funds, and completed it in 2005. Upon leaving the parish in 2006, he left behind organized religious and social life and around 360 active families.

Moving to Canada, with his daughter Anastasija, he organized a church choir, a Serbian school that began operating at the public school, gathered families who had distanced themselves from the church or had never approached it, so in two and a half years, the parish tripled in size. He launched a website, weekly bulletin, and annual magazine. Meanwhile, he initiated a campaign for church renovation and painting, made plans and estimates, and in a short time collected a third of the money for that work. After his departure, the priest who came to that parish continued and completed the initiated idea.

At the invitation of Bishop Irinej of Niš, and with the blessing of his Bishop Longin, he moved to the Niš Eparchy and on August 1, 2008, received the first parish at the Church of St. Emperor Constantine and Helena in Niš.

After 6 months, on February 14, 2009, by order of the bishop, he assumed the duties of church rector, which he held until his departure from the eparchy. Upon arriving at the parish, he launched the church website, and upon assuming the rector position, he renewed with the brotherhood the long-started weekly bulletin, which he edited for the next 177 issues.

The church choir began work and regular rehearsals under the leadership of Mrs. Danijela Barać.

The memorial church, whose construction was financed by the city and whose work had stopped for an extended period, continued with planned work, so the church was plastered inside, underfloor heating was installed, floors were covered with granite, the church was equipped with the most modern sound equipment, exterior wall covering with marble began, and a new marble iconostasis with icons painted in Byzantine style was installed in the church.

Below the church, the rector equipped the priestly office with computers for each priest, and the iconostasis that had been placed in the hall that served as a baptistery and winter church was moved to the room below the altar, which was intended for that purpose. He equipped the hall with tables and chairs for 120 people, as well as all other equipment to serve that number of people during slava celebrations.

He equipped the auxiliary room with complete inventory where all this could be stored. The hall became a gathering place for people after the Divine Liturgy, and every Wednesday after the Akathist, lectures (spiritual conversations) were held in the hall.

Upon arriving at the Midland parish, he redesigned the weekly and quarterly newsletter Lazarica, launched a website, and seeing that the church had no sound system, he installed a new sound system, as well as in the hall below the church, where he also installed video and audio systems.

In Aliquippa, he also redesigned the weekly and periodic newsletter “Voice of the Prophet” and created a new website.