Nativity of St. John the Baptist

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On Wednesday July 7, 2010 our Holy Church celebrates Nativity of St. John The Baptist. fr. Obrad will serve the Holy Liturgy starting at 10am.

Here is what about this holiday says in Prologue:

Six months before his appearance in Nazareth to the All-holy Virgin Mary, the great archangel of God, Gabriel appeared to Zacharias the high priest in the Temple at Jerusalem. Before he announced the miraculous conception to the unwed virgin [Mary], the archangel announced the miraculous conception to the childless old woman [Elizabeth]. Zacharias did not immediately believe the words of the herald of God and this is why his tongue was tied with dumbness and remained as such until eight days after the birth of John. On that day, the relatives of Zacharias and Elizabeth gathered for the young child’s circumcision and for the sake of giving him a name. When they asked the father what name he wishes to give to his son and being dumb, he wrote on a tablet: “John.” At that moment his tongue became loosed and he began to speak. The home of Zacharias was on the heights between Bethlehem and Hebron. The news of the appearance of the angel of God to Zacharias was spread throughout all of Israel, as well as of his dumbness and the loosening of his tongue at thee moment when he wrote the name “John.” The news concerning this even reached Herod. Therefore, when Herod sent soldiers to slay the children throughout Bethlehem, he directed men to the hilly dwelling place of the family of Zacharias to kill John also. However, Elizabeth promptly hid the child. Enraged, at this King Herod sent his executioners to Zacharias in the Temple to slay him (for it happened that it was Zacharias’ turn again to serve in the Temple of Jerusalem). Zacharias was slain between the court and the temple and his blood coagulated and petrified on the stone pavers and remained a perpetual witness against Herod. Elizabeth hid with the child in a cave where she died soon after. The young child John remained in the wilderness alone under the care of God and God’s angels.

St. Tzar Lazarus of Serbia and All Serbian Martyrs – Vidovdan

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On Monday, June 28, 2010 our Holy Church remembers St. Tzar Lazarus of Serbia and All Serbian Martyrs – Vidovdan.

Lazar was one of the Serbian noblemen who ruled the Serbian empire after the death of Tsar Dushan. After the death of Tsar Urosh, Patriarch Ephrem crowned Lazar as the Serbian king. Lazar sent a delegation to Constantinople with the monk Isaiah to implore the patriarch to lift [remove] the anathema from the Serbian people. He fought against the Turkish powers on several occasions. Finally, he clashed [fought] on the Field of Blackbirds [Kosovo Polje] on June 15, 1389 A.D. against the Turkish Emperor Amurat where he was beheaded. His body was translated and interred in Ravanica, his memorial church [Zaduzbina] near Cuprija and later was translated to Ravanica in Srem and from there, during the Second World War (1942) was translated to Belgrade and placed in the Cathedral Church of the Holy Archangel Michael where it rests today incorrupt and extends comfort and healing to all those who turn to him with prayer. [In 1989, on the occasion of the six-hundred year anniversary of his martyrdom, St. Lazar’s relics were again translated to the monastery of Ravanica in Cuprija]. St. Lazar restored the monasteries of Hilendar [Mt. Athos] and Gornjak. He built Ravanica and Lazarica [in Krusevac] and was a benefactor of the Russian monastery St. Pantaleon [Mt. Athos] as well as many other churches and monasteries.

Resist not Evil, Love your Enemies, New Martyr Vukasin of Klepats

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In this Sunday of All Saints, St. Theophan the Recluse teaches about True Christian Love, as we can see in New Martyr Vukasin who our Holy Serbian Orthodox Church remembers on May 29:

Friday. [Rom. 2:14–29; Matt. 5:33–41]

“But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil (Matt. 5:39); in other words, allow yourself to be a victim of human selfishness and malice. But how can one live like that? Do not worry. He who gave this commandment is our Provider and Guardian. When you desire to live like this with complete faith from your whole soul, to not resist any evil, the Lord Himself will arrange a life for you which is not only bearable, but joyful. Furthermore, resistance in fact can irritate an aggressor even more and motivate him to invent new troubles, whereas a yielding demeanour disarms him and humbles him. Thus, if you would just suffer the first onslaught of malice, people will take pity on you and leave you alone, while resistance and revenge kindle malice, which is passed on from the individual to his family, and then from generation to generation.”

Saturday. [Rom. 1:7–12; Matt. 5:42–48]

“Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you (Matt. 5:44). There is nobody on the earth without love. People love their parents and relatives, benefactors and protectors. But the feeling of love toward parents, relatives, protectors and benefactors is natural and forms unaided in the heart; that is why the Lord does not give it value. True Christian love is proved by our relationship to enemies. Not only should light and incidental annoyances not extinguish our love for others, but not even attacks and persecutions, misfortunes and deprivations, intentionally and hostilely inflicted. We must not only bless these people, but also do good to them and pray for them. See whether you have such a disposition toward your enemies, and judge by this whether you have Christian love, without which there is no salvation.”

The Sunday of Holy Pentacost

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[Acts 2:1–11; John 7:37–52; 8:12]

The economy of our salvation is accomplished! The operation of all the Persons of the Most Holy Trinity have now come into effect to accomplish it. What God the Father has willed, the Son of God fulfilled in Himself, and the Holy Spirit has now descended in order to impart it to the faithful. For our salvation is according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the Blood of Jesus Christ (I Pet. 1:2). For this sake we are baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, obliged, to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you (Matt. 28:19–20). Those who do not confess the Most Holy Trinity cannot participate in the saving action of Its Persons and thus receive salvation. Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, the Trinity one in essence and undivided, granting us confession of Itself! “O Father Almighty, and Word, and Spirit, one nature united in three Persons, transcendent and extremely divine! Into Thee have we been baptized, and Thee shall we bless throughout all ages.”

(source: St. Theophan The Recluse “Thoughts  for each day of the year”)

Commemoration Day – Saturday May 22, 2010

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Here is what St. Theophan the Recluse teaches us about commemorating prayer:

Nobody is lazy in commemorating his own parents; but it is also necessary to commemorate all Orthodox Christians, and not only on this day, but at all times, in every prayer. We ourselves will be there, and will need this prayer like a poor person needs a piece of bread and a glass of water. Remember that prayer for those who have passed away is strong through its communality, in that it comes from the entire Church. The Church breathes prayer. Just as it is in nature, when during pregnancy a mother breathes and the strength she receives from this breath passes on to the child, so also in the order of grace, the Church breathes a prayer which is shared by all, and the power of the prayer passes on to those who have passed away, held in the bosom of the Church, which is made up of the living and the dead, the militant and the triumphant. Do not be lazy—zealously commemorate all of our departed fathers and brothers whenever you pray. It will be your alms for them.

Fr. Obrad will lead the service beginning at 10am

SAINT BASIL OF OSTROG

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Above entrance to St. Basil Monastery, Bijeljina

Basil was born in Popova, a village in Hercegovina of simple and God-fearing parents. From his youth, he was filled with love for the Church of God and when he reached maturity, he entered to the Monastery of the Dormition (Assumption) of the Birth-giver of God in Trebinje and there received the monastic tonsure. As a monk, he quickly became renown because of his genuine and rare ascetical life. Saint Basil took upon himself mortification upon mortification each one heavier and more difficult than the last. Later, against his will, he was elected and consecrated bishop of Zahumlje and Skenderia. As a hierarch, he first lived in the Monastery Tvrdosh and from there, as a good shepherd, strengthened his flock in the Orthodox Faith, protecting them from the cruelty of the Turks and the cunning ways of the Latins. When Basil was exceedingly pressed by his enemies and, when Tvrdosh was destroyed by the Turks, he moved to Ostrog, where he lived an austere ascetical life, protecting his flock by his ceaseless and fervent prayer.(*) He died peacefully in the Lord in the sixteenth century, leaving behind his incorruptible relics; incorruptible and miracle-working to the present day. The miracles at the grave of St. Basil are without number. Christians and Muslims alike come before his relics and find healing of their most grave illnesses and afflictions. A great people’s assembly (pilgrimage) occurs there annually on the Feast of Pentecost.

The Unbound Word of God

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“Istocnik”, the publishing house of our Canadian Diocese, has recently published a collection of sermons titled “The Unbound Word of God”, inspired by apostolic readings in the yearly cycle of Sundays and Feast Days beginning with the Sunday of Publican and the Pharisee and ending with the Nativity.

Author of this book is Protopresbyter-Stavrophore Vasilije Tomic who has been serving in St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Church in Toronto, ON. This book is a fruit of father’s Vasilije thirty-five years of ministering to the church.
father Vasilije was also editor-in-chief of “Istocnik” (The Fountain), a quarterly magazine of the Canadian Diocese, for almost twenty years.

This valuable collection of modern orthodox sermons has been published in English and Serbian language, and you can get it in our church

St. Nicholas of Ochrid and Zhicha

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On Monday May 3, 2010 our Holy Orthodox Church remembers St. Nicholas of Ochrid and Zhicha.

Golden-mouthed preacher of the Resurrected Christ,guide of the cross-bearing Serbian people through the ages, resonant lyre of the Holy Spirit, joy and glory of priests, teacher of repentance, Bishop of the whole nation, leader of the God-praying army of Christ, O Holy Nicholai of Serbia and all Orthodoxy; with the saints in Heavenly Serbia, pray the Only Lover of mankind to grant peace and unity to our people.

Sunday of the Samaritan Woman

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[John 4:5–42]

The Samaritan’s woman fellow citizens said to her after two days with the Saviour in their midst, Now we believe not because of thy saying: for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world (John 4:42). It happens this way with everyone. At first they are called to the Lord by an external word, or as for many now, simply by birth. But when they taste in practice what it is to live in the Lord, they no longer cleave to the Lord through their external affiliation with Christian society, but through their inner union with Him. It is necessary for all who are born in Christian societies to make this a law for themselves; that is, to not limit themselves to mere external affiliation with the Lord, but to seek to unite with Him inwardly, that they may always bear witness within themselves that they are standing in the truth. Why is this necessary? It is necessary to embody within oneself the truth of Christ. The truth of Christ is a restoration of what is fallen. Thus, put off the old man, which is corrupt according to deceitful lusts, and put on the new man, which is created after God in righteousness and true holiness (cf. Eph. 4:22–24), and you will know within yourself that the Lord Jesus Christ is in truth the Saviour—not only for the world, but also for you.

(St. Theophan the Recluse “Daily readings”)