UPCOMING EVENTS, ANNOUNCEMENTS
St. Basil of Ostrog Serbian Orthodox Church 27450 N. Bradley Rd . Mettawa – Lake Forest , Illinois 60045 –5104
Email: ([email protected]) www.stbasilchurch.org Parish Priest: V. Rev. Stavrophor Djuro Krosnjar - [email protected] (847) 477-1531 cell
Trustee Chairman (President): Michael Kosanovich Circle of Serbian Sisters: Richelle Arandjelovic
Choir Director: Nada Savatic Coordinators: Church School: Vasilija Vojcanin; Folklore: Slobodanka Vranjes
St. Varnava Men’s Club: Vladimir Rokvic; Bookstore: Diana Potkonjak and Paul Saniuk Facilities Contact: Matija Peyakovic and Nikola Gabr ic; Weekly Email: Zoran Mihajlovic
Serbian School: Jelena Visnjevac, Svjetlana Masic and Dunja Vla
Blessings are Gifts FROM God.
Stewardship is our Gift TO God. WE CANNOT OUT-
GIVE GOD! Stewardship is a leg-acy of personal sup-port to maintain a
church for today and tomorrow.
STEWARDSHIP FORMS FOR 2015 ARE AVAILABLE
**********************************
WALK THE WALK FOR IOCC
Saturday, October 3, 2015
St. Andrew Greek Orthodox Church
5649 N. Sheridan Rd,
Chicago, IL.
Registration: 8:00 AM
Walk/Run Begins: 9:00 AM
Breakfast: following the race
Register at: iocc.org/chicago
Adult $20.00; Children 12 and
under: $10.00
Day of Race: $25.00
TROPARION OF THE RESURRECTION - Tone 7:
Thou didst destroy death by Thy Cross, Thou didst open Paradise to the thief. Thou didst change the lamentation of the Myrrh-bearers, and Thou didst command Thine Apostles to proclaim that Thou didst arise, O Christ God, and grandest to the world great mercy TROPARION OF THE FORE-FEAST - Tone 4:
Mary, the divine Maiden, is born unto us today from the root of Jesse and the loins of David; and all things rejoice and are made new through joy. Rejoice together, O heaven and earth! Praise her, ye lands of the nations! Joachim maketh glad, and Anna holdeth festival, crying aloud: A barren woman giveth birth to the Theotokos, the Nourisher of our Life! TROPARION OF ST. BASIL OF OSTROG - Tone 4:
From your youth you gave yourself entirely to the Lord, remaining in prayer, labor and fasting, O God-bearing Father. Because you were an example of virtues and good works to your flock, seeing your good work, God established you as a pastor and good hierarch of His Church. And after your repose, He kept your body incor-rupt, O Holy Basil. Therefore, with boldness pray to Christ God to save our souls. TROPARION OF MARTYR SOZON - Tone 4:
In his suffering, O Lord, Thy martyr Sozon received an imperishable crown from Thee, our God; for, possessed of Thy might, he cast down the tormentors and crushed the feeble audacity of the demons. By the supplications save Thou our souls. Kontakion of the Resurrection - Tone 7:
No longer will the dominion of death be able to keep men captive; for Christ hath descended, demolishing and destroying the powers thereof. Hades is bound; the Prophets rejoice with one voice, saying: A Savior hath come for them that have faith. Come forth, ye faithful, for the Resurrection. Kontakion of St. Basil of Ostrog - Tone 8:
Even as a youth, you served the Lord, O Wise one, belaboring your body with prayer and vigil. Because you were shown to be a precious vessel of the Holy Spirit, He established you as a pastor of His Church which you tended well. And as such, you departed to the Lord whom you loved. We pray to you to remember us who keep your memory with faith, that all may shout unto you: Rejoice, O most honorable Basil. GLORY… Kontakion of Martyr Sozon - Tone 2:
Assembling today, with a loud voice let us praise Sozon, the true and divinely wise martyr, the skilled athlete of piety, the initiate of the mysteries of grace, the most generous bestower of healings: for he entreateth Christ God in behalf of us all.. BOTH… Kontakion of the Fore-feast - Tone 3:
Today Mary, the Virgin and Theotokos, the boundless chamber of the heavenly Bridegroom, is born! From a barren woman, by the counsel of God, the chariot of the Word is rightly adorned; for she was foretold as the divine portal and Mother of life.
V. Rev. Stavrophor Djuro Krosnjar - Home (847) 680-1117 Cell (847) 477-1531 H. Fax (847) 680-1127 [email protected] - Church Phone (847) 247-0077 - Church FX (847) 247-0088
S T . B A S I L O F O S T R O G S E R B I A N O R T H O D O X C H U R C H www . s e r b i a n c a t h e d r a l . o r g
EYE ON SCRIPTURE
We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For He says: In an ac-ceptable time I have hear you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you. Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. We give no offence in anything, that our ministry may not be blamed, but in all things we commend ourselves as minis-ters of God: in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in dis-tresses, in stripes, in imprison-ments, in fasting; by purity, by knowledge, longsuffering..
2 Cor. (6, 6-10)
Tone 7:
Epistle: 2 Cor. (6, 1–10)
Gospel: Mt. (25, 14-30)
16th Sunday after Pentecost
Holy martyr Sozon; (Sunday before Exaltation)
(Fore-feast of the Nativity of Theotokos)
Saturday and Pre-Feast Vespers 5:00 P.M.
~Next Sunday~
Divine Liturgy at 10:00 A.M.
Orthodox Study Bible
Here is an authentic apos-
tle! His life demonstrates
the paradox of God’s
strength of God’s strength
working in human weak-
ness, of renouncing the
world in order to master
it.
The day of salvation is
now, always the present
moment in the period be-
fore Christ’s return.
This passage is read
on days com-
memorating fe-
male martyrs...
St. Basil of Ostrog
Serbian Orthodox Church 27450 N. Bradley Rd, Mettawa - Lake Forest, IL. 60045-5104
SERBIAN ORTHODOX UNITY AND SPIRITUAL GROWTH
IN THE NEW MILLENNIUM
STS. JOACHIM AND ANNA
Sts. Joachim and Anna took Mary, at the age of three, to the temple to be dedi-cated to the service of the Lord, and presented her to the priest Zechariahs. The parents then, after offering up her sacrifice, left the Virgin with other maidens in the apartments of the temple to be brought up therein. St. Joachim was of the tribe of Judah, and a descendent of King David. St. Anna was the daughter of Matthan the priest, of the tribe of Levi as was Aaron the High Priest. Matthan had three daughters: Mary, Zoia and Anna. Mary was
married in Bethlehem and bore Salome; Zoia was also married in Bethlehem and bore Eliza-beth, the mother of St. John the Forerunner; and Anna was married in Nazareth to Joachim, and in old age gave birth to the Theotokos. Sts. Joachim and Anna had been married for fifty years, and were barren. They lived devoutly and quietly, using only a third of their income for themselves and giving a third to the poor and a third to the Temple. Joachim had done this since he was 15-years-old, and God multiplied his flocks, so the couple was well provided for. They longed for a child but remained childless into their old age. When they were in Jerusalem to offer sacrifice to God, the High Priest, Issachar, upbraided Joachim, “You are not worthy to offer sacrifice with those childless hands.” Others who had children jostled Joachim, thrusting him back as unworthy. In despair, he consulted the genealogical records of the tribes of Israel and discovered every righteous man in the nation had been blessed with children, except him. This caused the aged saint great grief, and he and his wife left with heavy hearts. Then the two of them gave themselves to prayer to God that He would work in them the wonder that He had worked in Abraham and Sarah, and give them a child to comfort their old age. St. Joachim took his flock and went to a high mountain, refusing to return home in shame. Meanwhile, St. Anna prayed in her garden. God sent the Archangel Gabriel to each of them, who gave them tidings of the birth of “a daughter most blessed, by whom all the nations of the earth will be blessed, and through whom will come the salvation of the world.” Each promised to have their child raised in the temple as a holy vessel of God. The archangel told St. Joachim to return home, where he would find his wife waiting for him in the city gate. St. Anna was told to wait at the gate. When they was one another, they embraced, and this image is the traditional icon of their feast. St. Anna conceived shortly thereafter and gave birth to the Blessed Virgin.
tainly were not expecting to have a child at their age. They were very old, certainly past the age of bearing children. They were not expecting a child in return for their faith-fulness. And what happens? A miracle! These two elderly Jews come together and Anna is found to be pregnant. We cannot out-give God. We can try and try, but God will always out-give us. Joachim and Anna gave out of their love for God, with the intent to just give and simply because God was their beloved. Then God gives back, and gives in such a way that it makes their years of sacrifice look feeble.
They conceive the Ever-
Vir-
gin Mary.
They bear the greatest gift of God to man-kind - the "New Eve". What then occurs? Joachim and Anna attempt to out-give God again, and give up their only child, this pure girl, to God, to live in the temple. We then need to ask, "How did God out-give Joachim and Anna in this?" We no longer hear of any great blessing re-ceived, although we can be sure that they received their blessings. But what was the blessing that was greater than giving up their only child, the Virgin Mary? The gift did not come until a number of years later, when the Archangel Gabriel came to the Virgin Mary and announced the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. The gift which God gave was His only Son, Jesus Christ, the fulfillment of all sacrifice and love.
Nativity of Theotokos
On this coming Monday, Sep-tember 21th, we celebrate the feast of the Nativity of the Theotokos. This feast is the joy of the barren. This is the feast of the husband and wife. We see the icon of a faithful husband and wife living to-gether in that holy union of matrimony. These two faith-ful servants of the most-high God were ridiculed by the Jewish people because in that culture to be a barren couple is a terrible curse. It was fre-quently said that if a family were childless it was because of their sinfulness and that the barrenness was a punishment for sin. Children were the way that the family was remem-bered to God; it was by their children, as was the tradition and is also our Orthodox tra-dition, that God remembers us and we have life even though we may be dead. Therefore if families could not bear chil-dren the family would die, for the husband and wife would have no one to remember them. The beloved forebears of God were scorned by their own people even though they were one of the most pious couples in all Israel. As a re-sult, they lived a life of trial and persecution. Our apocryphal tradition says that an angel appeared to Anna and announced that she would conceive and bear a daughter who would be na-
med Mary. Anna, of course, received the word and told her husband, after which they came together and did bear a child, the Ever-virgin Mary. Again the barren gives birth in order to bring about the salvation of the fallen human race! It is the barren that are the portals through which God's salvation history is wrought. When we offer our faithful-ness because we hope to recei-ve something in return, this is not a real offering, this is not a real sacrifice. Sacrifices are consumed by fire on the altar of God, and nothing is given back. Sts. Joachim and Anna made their offerings and lived faithfully before God with-out
any idea of a "deal", of hoping to get something in return from God. When our hearts are in this state of giving, the Lord will bless us, but we must not base our faith and sacrifice on returns. We see this same principle in Genesis, when Abraham is told to sacrifice his only son. Abraham would have done it if God did not stop him. We see God proving the faith of the patriarch and then stops him from killing his son. Our sacri-fice is simply the pouring out of our love for God, without the desire to get something back, just as Abraham and as Saints Joachim and Anna. We may ask, how did Joachim and Anna make this sacrifice? They were faithful at the temple and bore their cross of barren-ness. They offered their lives as faithful Jews, without any ex-pectation of return. They cer-
This contest of sorts, is not about receiving greater and greater gifts, by trading our blood in for money; God is not operating a blood drive. No. This contest is about love. We give to God because we love Him and God gives to us be-cause He loves us. When we see Joachim and Anna in their marriage, and then bearing the struggles of life together, offering their love to God together, and receiving their blessing together, let us strive for this same spirit of unity. In the respective commu-nities in which we live, be it in our family, our church commu-nity, or in our monastic com-munities, we need to live in this fashion, in this deep unity of spirit. We must give our offer-ings in this unified spirit of love for God. We must give to God in unity and love for love's sake. Let us not desire a return for our sacrifice, but love God alone. If God blesses us and gives back doubly, let us re-joice and give thanks, in that same unity and love. It is in this spirit that God worked His divine economy in bringing forth the Mother of God. Truly we will be blessed if we have this spirit, by our Lady, and by our good God. As we receive the portal of God's incarnation on the feast of Her nativity, let us offer our love and gifts to Her who gave birth to love - Jesus Christ - the greatest gift to creation. Let us give God glory and thanksgiving for counting us worthy to receive His most pure Mother on the day of her Nativity, and also give back our very lives to Him. What more can we give if not the very ex-istence, the very life, which we have been blessed to receive? The Lord says, He who loses his life for My sake will find it (Matt 10:39), that is - Life. Therefore let us offer our ve-ry lives to God as our gifts to Him, for this is the greatest gift we can offer.
Sts. Joachim and Anna made their offer-
ings and lived faithfully before God with-
out any idea of a "deal", of hoping to get
something in return from God. When our
hearts are in this state of giving, the Lord
will bless us, but we must not base our
faith and sacrifice on returns.
Lord, visit Thy ser-vants in their suffering, and grant them grace
and strength to bear their sickness with which they are afflicted; heal and save them:
Sister ANGELINA;
Milica BILBIJA; Milorad BLAGOJEVIC; Zivota BLAZIC;
Stevan BOGOJEVIC; Aleksandar BURMEISTER;
Milica CASTALDO; Petar COKIC;
Milan DAVORIJA; Danilo DEJANOVICH; Dusan DRONDIC;
Svetomir DUPOR; Ivan GAVRILOVIC;
Roxanne GETZ; Aleksandar GLISOVIC;
Daniela GOMEZ; Philip KEJZAR
Dobrila KNEZEVIC; Jadranka KOPAC; Branko KOSANOVIC;
George KOVAC; Ivan/Lesia KOSTIC;
Mara KOVACEVIC; Ray/Laura KULMALA;
Cathy LALICH; Milica MIHAJLOVIC; Slavojka MILESIC;
Milka/Milan MILICEVIC; Ron MITROVICH;
Dragica MRKALJ; Suzana NEDIC;
Boro NEDINIC: Marija NIKOLICH;
Daliborka OPACIC; Djuro/Jelena OPSENICA; Mladen PECANAC;
Natalija PETROVIC: Aleksandra RALEVICH;
Jessica SELOUNTOS; George SINNOKRAK;
Bessie STEVANOVIC; Nikola SREJOVIC; Simonida STIPANOVIC;
Nikola STOKOVIC; Zika SUBARIC;
Angie/Aco TERZIC; Fr. Rastko TRBUHOVIC
Jovan VOJCANIN; Milenko VUCKOVIC; Petar ZIVANOVIC;
ST. BASIL OF OSTROG SERBIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH
STEWARDSHIP
RETREAT
On
Sunday,
October
4th,
2015
St. Basil of Ostrog
Church will host our
Stewardship and
Ministry Sunday
event - an opportunity
to learn about and
volunteer for the
many ministries we
support.
SUNDAY
LUNCHES
With our Chef Jelica
Available weekly for
food and fellowship.
Join us following Divine Liturgy
Adults $7.00 Children $4.00
Dear Stewards and Parishioners, Another record year. This year gross income was over $111.000.00, with NET profit of $54.000.00. None of this would be possible without your dedication, financial expertise and integrity, and "can do" spirit and will. We had a record amount volunteers and work-ers, our largest number to date, and many new faces worked for the first time. We re-ceived a record amount of press coverage this year, often saying how well organized eve-rything was, what good service we provide, and what a welcoming church we are, how smoothly “Taste” runs and the exceptional quality of the food. St. Basil is a showcase of hospitality, an example of the best parts of Serbian culture for our American neighbors, and the best place to bring families. Thank you to all our guests and friends who helped..
Fr. Djuro Krosnjar with Church Board and “Taste of Serbia” committee
Dates to Remember:
September 20 - First day of Sunday School classes.
September 20 - College-bound students meeting after
liturgy
September 25 - Adult education at 6:00 pm. Instrumental music at 6:00pm
September 26 - Chicago Synergy– Igniting Stewardship 10:00am—5:00 pm.
September 27 - High School Leadership Training. CROSS DAY (Strict Fast)
October 3 - IOCC Walk/Run at 9:00am at St. Andrew Greek Church in Chicago.
October 4 - Sunday; Altar Boys workshop 12:00pm - 2:00pm.
Gift cards area available for purchase every Sunday for hundreds of your favorite stores, restaurants,
coffee places, etc. Special orders available as well. Dawn Pakaski orders cards weekly if necessary.
Cards are sold sometimes in the narthex or hall following liturgy. Thanks for your support.
Chicago Synergy
Sep. 26 10AM-5PM
‘Igniting Stewardship’
HRSOC on Red-
wood Drive
Altar Boy
Workshop
Sun, Oct. 4
Noon—2PM
Sept. 27
High School Church
School Class
Leadership and Team
Building Training
Improvе Theater
735 No Milwaukee,
Libertyville
10AM
