St. Sava

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SAINT SAVA [SABAS], ARCHBISHOP OF THE SERBS

Sava was born in 1169 A.D. He was the son of Stephen [Stefan] Nemanja the Grand Zupan of the Serbs. As a young man, Sava yearned for the spiritual life for which he fled to the Holy Mountain [Mt. Athos] where he was tonsured a monk and with rare zeal lived according to the ascetical rule. Stefan Nemanja followed the example of his son and came to the Holy Mountain where he was tonsured a monk and died as Simeon, the monk. Sava obtained the independence of the Serbian Church from the [Byzantine] emperor and patriarch and became the first Archbishop of the Serbs. Together with his father, he built the Monastery Hilendar and, after that, many other monasteries, churches and schools throughout the Serbian lands. On two occasions, he made a pilgrimage to the sacred places in the Holy Land. He restored peace between his two brothers who were estranged because of a struggle for power. He restored peace between the Serbs and their neighbors. In establishing the Serbian Church, he was, through that, establishing the Serbian State and culture. He instilled peace between all the Balkan peoples and worked for the benefit of all for which he was loved and respected by all the Balkan peoples. To the Serbian people he gave a Christian soul which did not perish with the collapse of the Serbian State. Sava died in Trnovo, Bulgaria, during the reign of Emperor Asen, having become ill following the Divine Liturgy on the Feast of the Epiphany on January 12, 1236 A.D. King Vladislav translated his body to the Mileshevo Monastery from which Sinan Pasha removed it and burned it on Vracar in Belgrade, April 27, 1595 A.D.

(Source: “Prolog of Ohrid” St. Nikolaj of Zhicha)

THE EPIPHANY [THEOPHANY] OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST

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1. THE EPIPHANY [THEOPHANY] OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST

When our Lord reached thirty years from His physical birth, He began His teaching and salvific work. He Himself signified this “beginning of the beginning” by His baptism in the Jordan river. St. Cyril of Jerusalem says, ” The beginning of the world – water; the beginning of the Good News – Jordan.” At the time of the baptism of the Lord in water, that mystery was declared to the world: that mystery which was prophesied in the Old Testament; the mystery about which in ancient Egypt and India was only fabled; i.e., the mystery of the Divine Holy Trinity. The Father was revealed to the sense of hearing; the Spirit was revealed to the sense of sight, and in addition to these, the Son was revealed to the sense of touch. The Father uttered His witness about the Son, the Son was baptized in the water, and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove hovered above the water. When John the Baptist witnessed and said about Christ, “Behold, the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world”

(St. John 1:29), and when John immersed and baptized the Lord in the Jordan, the mission of Christ in the world and the path of our salvation was shown. That is to say: The Lord took upon Himself the sins of mankind and died under them [immersion] and became alive again [the coming out of the water]; and we must die as the old sinful man and become alive again as cleansed, renewed and regenerated. This is the Savior and this is the path of salvation. The Feast of the Epiphany [Theophany in Greek] is also called the Feast of Illumination. For us, the event in the Jordan river illuminates, by manifesting to us God as Trinity, consubstantial and undivided. That is one way. And, the second: everyone of us through baptism in water is illumined by this, that we become adopted by the Father of Lights through the merits of the Son and the power of the Holy Spirit.

“Everyday Saints” and other stories

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“Everyday Saints” and Other Stories, a bestselling book by Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov), abbot of Sretensky Monastery in Moscow is now available for Canadian readers in a Kindle edition at amazon.ca

The books was a book of the year in Russia last year and recently translated in english and available in US by Pokrov Publications and amazon.com.

UPCOMING SERVICES FOR THE MONTH OF JANUARY 2013

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  • Sunday, January 6 Holy Liturgy at 10 AM (Day before Christmas, Father’s Day)
  • Sunday, January 6- Vespers with the blessing of the Badnjak at 6 PM (Christmas Eve).
  • Monday, January 7- Holy Liturgy at 10 AM (Nativity of Jesus Christ-Christmas).
  • Tuesday, January 8- Holy Liturgy at 10 AM (Synaxis of The Most Holy Theotokos).
  • Wednesday, January 9- Holy Liturgy at 10 AM. (St. Stephen, Archdeacon).
  • Sunday, January 13- Holy Liturgy at 10 AM.
  • Monday, January 14- Holy Liturgy at 10 AM. (Circumcision of Our Lord, St. Basil the Great, New Year).
  • Friday, January 18- Holy Liturgy with Blessing of Water at 10 AM (Feast of the Holy Cross).
  • Saturday, January 19- Holy Liturgy with the Great Blessing of Water at 10 AM (Theophany-Epiphany-Baptism of Our Lord Jesus Christ).
  • Sunday, January 20- Holy Liturgy at 10 AM (Synaxsis of St. John, Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist).
  • Sunday, January 27- Liturgy at 10 AM (St. Sava Celebration)

In our Holy Church Holy Liturgy is served every Sunday and on great feast days (those days are written in red letters in the calendar) beginning at 10 AM.

There is an evening service in our Church every Saturday during a lent starting at 6PM.

This is a good opportunity for those preparing for a Holy Communion to have a confession.