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HOLY TRINITY
SERBIAN
ORTHODOX
CHURCH
1910 Serbian Drive
St. Louis, MO 63104
314-776-3262
E-mail : [email protected]
Parish Priest :
Rev. Father Ljubomir Krstic
Father’s Phone :
815-543-6170
Board President :
Georgia Posey
Kolo President :
Sharon Wade
Choir President :
Nik Chkautovich
Sunday School Director :
Kris Chkautovich
Stewardship Committee
Chair : Nick Dopuch
Cemetery Manager :
Dragan Acamovic
Church Hall Manager :
Zoran Kurtuma
The News of the Holy Trinity
is sent out monthly. Please
contact Father Ljubomir or
the Church office with any
suggestions for future articles.
All ideas are certainly
welcome.
www.serbianchurchstlouis.org
Пут Крста - Вести Цркве Свете Тројице The Way of the Cross
Holy Trinity News
Without doubt, matter is represented in the human body in a
manner which is most puzzling, most mysterious, and most complex.
The brain: What wondrous mysteries pass between its physical and
spiritual parts! How vast is the experi-ence of the human race. In
no manner can one ever fully comprehend or grasp these mysteries.
Indeed, little of this is accessible to the human senses or
intel-lectual investigation. So it is also with the heart of man,
formed as it is entirely and solely from cosmic mysteries. So
formed, too, are every cell, every mole-cule, every atom. Everyone
and all are set on their mystical path toward God, toward the
God-Man.
Inasmuch as it was created by God, the Logos, matter possesses
this same the-ocentricity. Moreover, by His advent into our earthly
world, by His all-embracing condescension as God and Man for the
redemption of the world, the Lord Christ clearly demonstrated that
not only the soul, but matter also was created by God and for God,
and that He is God and Man; and for it, matter, He is all and
everything in the same manner as for the soul. Being cre-ated by
God, the Logos, matter is, in its innermost core, God-longing and
Christ-longing.
The most obvious proof of this is the fact that God the Word has
become Incar-nate, has become man (St. John 1:14). By His
Incarnation, matter has been magnified with Divine glory and has
entered into the grace- and virtue-bestowing, ascetic aim of
deification, or union with Christ. God has become flesh, has become
human, so that the entire man, the entire body, might be filled
with God and with His miracle-working forces and powers. In the
God-Man, the Lord Christ, and His Body, all matter has been set on
a path toward Christ —the path of deification, transfiguration,
sanctification, resurrection, and ascent to an eternal glory
surpassing that of the Cherubim. And all of this takes place and
will continue to take place through the Divine and human Body of
the Church, which is truly the God-Man Christ in the total fullness
of His Divine and Human Person, the fullness
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Thanks again for the following who supported coffee hour this
month:
11/3 - Calvin and Chrissy Vic (Michel’s Funeral Home) | 11/10 -
An anonymous sponsor on
11/17 - Lou Lausevich parastos in memory of Zivorad (30 years)
and Cveta (12 years)
11/24 - Lekich Family parastos in memory of Steve (10 years).
Memory Eternal.
We have a sponsor for Dec 8 ththen will hold our assembly
meeting on Dec 15th. The calendar is posted in
the hall way by the kitchen if you would like to sign up for
future coffee hour sponsorships.
THANK YOU :Milena Mitrovic and Ann La Clair for donating incense
to the Church!
CONGRATS:
Congratulations to Adam Chkautovich on his engagement to Carolyn
Livanos. Also, congratulations to
Dejan and Gospa Karan on their new addition. Baby Vasilije and
parents are doing great!
BAPTISMS:
Congratulations to the following new baptisms: Mila Fenelon,
daughter of John and Roxanda Fenelon
and Novak Vranic , son of Milos and Zorica Vranic.
MEMORY ETERNAL:
Our sympathy is expressed to John and Rochelle Amisch on the
passing of his father-in-law,
Lynn Abernathy. Memory Eternal.
VETERANS DAY:
On Sunday, November 10th we acknowledged Veterans Day by reading
the names of our fallen parish-
ioners and those who are still with us. Thanks to Nada Buha for
preparing zito for the parastos. As in the
past, American flags were passed to our parishioners as they
departed from church.
PATIENT UPDATE:
On December 8th we are expecting two families coming in for
surgery. One family you have met before;
Martin and his mother Violeta. I’m sure you remember Martin
coming here a year ago. After his birth,
Violeta, a single parent, carried him everywhere until Dr. Parks
performed the surgery. Our parish was so
touched to see him walk up to Father for communion with a little
help. These families also will be staying
at Ronald McDonald House; arrangements have already been made by
Fr. Ljubomir. More info to follow.
11/10 –62
Average: 95.25
11/3 - 107 11/17 - 91 11/24 - 121
November Church Attendance
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As we are trying to streamline information about church times,
events and info
regarding inclimate weather, we now have a mass text option.
It’s free for who ever wants to join!
Text the word:
SERBIANCHURCHSTLOUIS to 855-534-4872
D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 9
Dear Brothers & Sisters,
As this December issue of the bulletin will arrive on the heels
of your Thanksgiving celebration, I hope you all
had a fabulous Thanksgiving spent with family and friends.
December is an important month at Holy Trinity. I invite you all
to our annual meeting which will be held on
Sunday, December 15th. At this meeting, the stewards are asked
to help guide the direction of our parish with
their support, ideas, and participation on decisions that affect
the future of our community. This year’s meeting
will focus heavily on a report on the status and condition of
our facilities, both the church and hall, and recom-
mendations for how we should be caring for the maintenance of
both. I encourage you to attend to learn more
and be a part of our future!
Finally, thanks to all of you for your support of Holy Trinity
and the executive board this year. A special
thanks goes to the board with whom I’ve had the pleasure and
honor to work this year. I am in awe of the de-
votion and dedication of Father Ljubomir and the executive
board. Their never-wavering commitment is an
inspiration!
While we are still a little over a month away from our Christmas
season, I invite all of you to join us on
Badnje Vece, Christmas Day and our annual Christmas banquet on
Sunday, January 12th.
Yours In Christ, Georgia Posey - Holy Trinity Church Board
President
New Church Texting Feature
Jam Available
We have a few dozen jars of jam left:
$4 for a small jar
$6 for a large jar
We are expecting their popular peppers and
some honey soon but we need to move the
jam first. They are on a cart inside of the
church hall. Stop by to pick up a couple be-
fore they are gone!
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“that fills all in all” (Ephesians 1:23). Through its Divine and
human existence in the Church, the human body, as matter, as
substance, is sanctified by the Holy Spirit and in this way
participates in the life of the Trinity. Matter thus attains its
transcendent, divine meaning and goal, its eternal blessedness and
its immortal joy in the God-Man.
The holiness of the Saints—both the holiness of their souls and
of their bodies—derives from their zealous grace- and
virtue-bestowing lives in the Body of the Church of Christ, of the
God-Man. In this sense, holiness completely envelopes the human
person—the entire soul and body and all that enters into the
mystical composition of the human body. The holiness of the Saints
does not hold forth only in their souls, but it necessarily extends
to their bodies; so it is that both the body and the soul of a
saint are sanctified. Thus we, in piously venerating the Saints,
also venerate the entire person, in this manner not separating the
holy soul from the holy body. Our pious vener-ation of the Saints’
relics is a natural part of our pious respect for and prayerful
entreaty to the Saints. All of this constitutes one indivisible
ascetic act, just as the soul and body constitute the single,
indivisible person of the Saint. Clearly, during his life on the
earth, the Saint, by a continuous and singular grace- and
virtue-bestowing syn-ergy of soul and body, attains to the
sanctification of his person, filling both the soul and body with
the grace of the Holy Spirit and so transforming them into vessels
of the holy mysteries and holy virtues. It is completely natu-ral,
again, to show pious reverence both to the former and to the
latter, both to soul and body, both of them holy vessels of God’s
grace. When the charismatic power of Christ issues forth, it makes
Grace-filled all the constituent parts of the human person and the
person in his entirety. By unceasing enactment of the ascetic
efforts set forth in the Gospels, Saints gradually fill themselves
with the Holy Spirit, so that their sacred bodies, according to the
word of the holy Apostle, become temples of the Holy Spirit (I
Corinthians 6:19; 3:17), Christ dwelling by faith in their hearts
(Ephesians 3:17) and by fruitful love also fulfilling the
commandments of God the Father. Establishing themselves in the Holy
Spirit through grace-bestowing ascetic labors, the Saints
participate in the life of the Trini-ty, becoming sons of the Holy
Trinity, temples of the Living God (II Corinthians 6:16); their
whole lives thus flow from the Father, through the Son, in the Holy
Spirit. By piously venerating the holy relics of the Saints, the
Church reveres them as temples of the Holy Spirit, temples of the
Living God, in which God dwells by Grace even after the earthly
death of the Saints. And by His most wise and good Will, God
creates miracles in and through these relics. Moreover, the
miracles which derive from the holy relics witness also to the fact
that their pious venera-tion by the people is pleasing to God.
The New Testament raised the human body to the sublime and
divine heights, endowing it with a glory which the Cherubim and
Seraphim do not possess. The Good News of the New Testament
concerning the body—the signifi-cance and goal of the human body—is
that, together with the soul, it achieves and inherits immortal
life in Divine eternity. The Lord Christ has come to deify, to make
Christ-like, the entire man, that is, the soul and body, and this
by the resurrection, insuring thereby victory over death and
eternal life. No one ever elevated the human body as did the Lord
Christ by His bodily resurrection, the ascension of His body into
heaven, and its eternal ses-sion at the right hand of God the
Father. In this way, the Resurrected Christ extended the promise of
resurrection to the nature of the human body—”having made for all
flesh a path to eternal life.” Thus man now knows that the body is
created for eternity through union with the God-Man and that his
divine work on earth is to struggle, with the soul, for eternal
life; to struggle, with all those means that convey grace and
virtue, to make himself grace-filled, fulfilled by Divine grace,
and created anew as the temple of the Holy Spirit, the temple of
the Living God.
The eternal good news of Holy Revelation about sacred relics and
their pious veneration is proved, and is continu-ally being proved,
by Holy Tradition from Apostolic times to the present day.
Innumerable are the sacred relics of the holy Chosen Ones of God
throughout the Orthodox world. Their miracles are innumerable. The
pious venera-tion of these relics by Orthodox Christians is
everywhere to be found. And without doubt this is because the holy
relics, through their miracles, incite the Orthodox toward their
pious veneration. From the very beginning, in Ap-ostolic times,
Christians piously preserved the honored relics of the Holy
Forerunner and the holy Apostles, so that these could be preserved
even for us. As well, during the times of persecution the sacred
remains of the bodies of the holy Martyrs were taken away by
Christians and hidden in their homes. From that time until now, the
sacred relics of the holy Chosen Ones of God have, by their
miracles, poured forth the immortal joy of our faith into the
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hearts of Orthodox Christians. The proofs concerning this are
countless. We shall cite only several.
The universal faith of the Church concerning the pious
veneration of holy relics was confirmed by the God-bearing Fathers
of the Seventh Ecumenical Synod in its decrees: “Our Lord Jesus
Christ granted to us the relics of Saints as a salvation-bearing
source which pours forth varied benefits on the infirm.
Consequently, those who presume to abandon the relics of the
Martyrs: if they be hierarchs, let them be de-posed; if however
monastics or laymen, let them merely be excommunicated.” That a
pious veneration of the ho-ly relics is a constituent part of the
salvation rendered by the God-Man is also evidenced by the
following facts: from the depths of sacred antiquity, churches were
built on the graves and relics of Saints, and the holy Liturgy is
performed only on antimensia, in which are placed parts of the holy
relics. Moreover, the divine service books, especially the Menaion,
are replete with prayers and hymns which refer to the pious
veneration of holy relics.
All in all, the mystery of holy relics is at the heart of the
universal mystery of the New Testament: the incarnation of God. The
full mystery of the human body is explained by the incarnation, the
embodiment of God in the God-Man, the Lord Jesus Christ. For this
reason, then, the Gospel message concerning the body: “The body for
the Lord, and the Lord for the body” (I Corinthians 6:13). And
through a human body also the entire creation, all of matter,
received its divine significance, the universal meaning of the
God-Man. By man, who is sanctified in the Church by the holy
mysteries and the holy virtues, the creation and even matter are
sanctified, united to Christ. There accrues to this also a joy—the
myrrh-streaming property of many relics. This wonder of myrrh has
been given to the holy relics in order to indicate that Christians
are truly “a sweet-savour of Christ unto God” (II Corin-thians
2:15), sweet-smelling to God and to heaven. The truth of the Gospel
is that the sin of man is a foul odor before God and every sin
pleases the devil. Through the holy mysteries and holy virtues,
Christians become “a sweet-savour of Christ unto God.” For this
reason, then, the holy relics of the Saints pour forth myrrh.
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Happy Thanksgiving to all!
We hope everyone ate well or almost everyone. What a day for
post to start. We have begun the
Lenten season preparing for Bozic. Our Kolo will be having our
annual meeting soon; more info to
follow to members. Our banquet will be held the second Sunday of
January. Again, more info ex-
pected at a later date.
Please keep all our sisters who cannot be with us on a regular
basis in your thoughts and prayers.
Wishing all a happy and healthy season!
In Christ,
Your Kolo Board
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Ниједан гријех није Христос силније изобличавао од лицемјерја,
хипокризије (грч. – претварање, претворство,
лицемјерство). Заиста, ниједан гријех тако очигледно не
пројављује демонско посуновраћење човјекове
личности, као што то чини лицемјерје. Док друга сагрешења потичу
или од неког несвјесног покрета пале
природе, или од зле навике, или од страсти које човјеком
овладавају, лицемјерје је увијек свјесно, прорачунато
пристајање на зло и на неки начин „предумишљај“ многих других
зала која њиме започињу и њиме се крунишу.
Лицемјерје је гријех против истине и искрености и зато се увијек
скрива иза лажи или полуистина. Оно је гријех
људи који живе и дјелају иза леђа других, хранећи се клеветама,
оговарањима и подозрењима. Зато оговарачи
и клеветници никада не говоре лицем у лице, јер лице човјека је
– о томе смо већ говорили – увијек суд нама и
суд над нама.
“Чувајте се квасца фарисејскога, а то је лицемјерје” (Лк. 12,1),
говорио је Господ својим ученицима. Јер „то мало
квасца све тијесто укисели.“ Човјек покретан лицемјерјем увијек
се креће у мочварним и тамним дубинама
људске природе, газећи тако достојанство и своје и других. Зато
лицемјерје неријетко води ка најтежим
гријесима.
Лицемјеран човјек је неспособан и неспреман да своје лице, дакле
– своје биће, пружи и окрене свецијело,
безрезервно, ка лицу другог. Увијек прорачунато, увијек мјерено
и „кројено“ према сопственој скривеној
намјери, његово лице је – безлична маска. Зато је лицемјерје не
само дволично већ, у својој удаљености од
Онога у Чијој свјетлости видимо свјетлост, увијек помрачено,
тамно и потпуно безлично. Дволичност, коначно,
води у безизлазност, јер сам носилац те маске кад-тад ће морати
себи да постави питање: ко је он уствари?
Лицемјерје, без сумње, своју храну тражи на њивама лажи. Ава
Доротеј, велики наставник духовног живота,
говорио је да лаж није само и једино изговорена неистина, и да
се, осим у ријечи, може лагати и мишљу, али и
животом. Треба знати да ниједно зло, ниједна неистина, чак ни
сам ђаво који је “отац лажи“, не могу преварити
човјека уколико не узму лик врлине. И Апостол Павле говори у
Светом Писму да се „и сам ђаво претвара у
анђела свјетлости (2Кор. 11,14). Наш велики писац и мислилац Иво
Андрић, човјек сложеног живота али свакако
богатог искуства написао је: „Кад видиш овако човјека сувише
сигурна у себе и у оно што каже, хитра и слатка на
ријечи, који ти нуди што му не тражиш, одобрава што кажеш а
остаје при ономе што је намислио, знај да је
бестидник и бездушник, и клони га се колико можеш.“
Најочигледнија пројава лицемјерја, не само у ово наше
вријеме већ и у сва времена, јесте људска склоност оговарању,
тј. Лажном свједочењу на ближње своје у
њиховом одсуству. То тако очигледно одсуство љубави помрачује и
трује не само оне који то (не)дјело творе,
већ и оне који су пасивни слушаоци, који се ћутањем саглашавају
и наслађују. И тада и тако страдају
многи, и многи трпе штету.
Ова очигледна помраченост израз је једне суштинске духовне
неслободе, (настављено на страници 8)
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јер слобода је својство личности, дакле својство онога ко своје
лице огледа
у лицу другога, јасно и искрено. Бјежање од лица другога, тј.
скривање од сопственог одраза на њему,
пројављује велико духовно сиромаштво. Човјек који гази Лик
Божији у ономе кога клевеће, увијек је човјек
скучен и тјескобан, затворен у сопственом малом свијету
самообмане; то је човјек за кога Апостол Павле са
правом каже: “Вама није тијесно у нама, него вам је тијесно у
срцима вашим“ (2Кор. 6,12). То је човјек тужан и
злокобно мрачан; то је биће без радости.
За онога ко лицемјерно живи други је увијек препрека, пријетња,
опасност, а никада брат, никада саставни дио
његовог бића, никада сапутник и сапатник на путу спасења. Такав
у себи нема благодати Божије која нам даје
живот, јер Бог је истина а лицемјерје је живот у лажи. Оно је
духовни кукавичлук, који се скрива иза подозрења
или ласкања. Оно је суштинско окретање леђа животу и одбијање да
се живот прихвати као што јесте:
сапостојање, сарадња, смирено свједочење Истине хођењем у
свјетлости Лица Божијег а прије свега радост и
нада на живот вјечни.
Лицемјерје, као зла и злокобна наклоност душе, за своје
најубојитије оружје има управо ријеч људску. Оно што
би требало да је орган словесности, боголикости, посебности
човјекове спрам све творевине, тако постаје орган
и оруђе злобе, лукавства и сваке лажи. У Светом Писму стоји:
“Ако неко у ријечи не гријеши, тај је савршен
човјек, моћан је зауздати и све тијело” (Јак. 3,2). Заиста је
језик “мала ватра, а како велике ствари запали”(Јак.
3,5). А још у старозавјетно вријеме, премудри цар Соломон је
говорио: „Покривају непријатељство усне праве, а
који износе оговарања најнеразумнији су. У многом причању нећеш
избјећи гријех, а чувајући уста своја бићеш
разуман“ (Прем. Сол. 10.гл.).
Лажљива уста и живот лицемјеран огледало су унутрашње
помрачености човјекове, јер уста увијек говоре “од
сувишка срца.” Такав човјек показује дубоку подвојеност и
разореност своје личности. Не може се сопствени
идентитет градити на поништењу тј. негирању личности другога, а
нарочито не на прљању лица другог.
Напротив, други је темељ на коме тај идентитет треба градити.
Вријеме у коме живимо све отвореније
пројављује очигледну девалвацију духовних и уопште животних
вриједности. Све чешће постављају се пред нас
циљеви који то нипошто не би смјели бити. Човјек је све
навикнутији да живи сам, немајући притом свијест о
томе да је такав живот – притајено лагано умирање. Дуго
промовисани индивидуализам показује се као велики
промашај, или као успјешно изведен пројекат пун туге која води у
смрт.
Потребно је оживјети и непрекидно оживљавати у себи свијест о
томе да једино мјерило нашег живота, дјелања
и свих наших односа треба да је Христос, Који је Пут, Истина и
Живот. Побунити се против лажи у себи и око
себе, и живјети и ходити у истини. Размислити о ријечима
надахнутог јеванђелиста који говори: “Ако ли у
свјетлости ходимо, као што је Он Сам у свјетлости, имамо
заједницу једни са другима” (Јн. 1,6-7). Једино тако, не
заборављајући ову небопарну, громку ријеч Спаситељеву: “Чувајте
се квасца фарисејског, а то је лицемјерје”,
можемо стећи наду да ће на нама, иако смо људи који у свијету
живе и гријеше, починути Цар Небесни,
Утјешитељ, Дух Истине Који ће нас очистити од сваке нечистоте и
спасити душе наше.
Епископ Григорије (Дурић)
(настављено са странице 7)
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D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 9
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Holy Trinity Serbian Orthodox Church 2019 Calendar /
Kалендар
December / Децембар
D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 9
Sunday 1
10:00 a.m. Divine Liturgy Света Литургија
Tuesday 3
5:00 p.m. Vespers Вечерње
Wednesday 4
10:00 a.m. Divine Liturgy - The entry in the temple of the Most
Holy Theothokos Света Литургија- Ваведење
Saturday 7
4.30 p.m. Vespers Вечерње
Sunday 8
10:00 a.m. Divine Liturgy Света Литургија
Saturday 14
4.30 p.m. Vespers Вечерње
Sunday 15
10:00 a.m. Divine Liturgy Света Литургија 12:00 p.m. Annual
Assembly – Годишња скупштина
Wednesday 18
5:00 p.m. Vespers Вечерње
Thursday 19
10:00 a.m. Divine Liturgy - St. Nicholas Света Литургија -Свети
Никола 12:30 p.m. Nativity Play / вертеп
Saturday 21
4.30 p.m. Vespers Вечерње
Sunday 22
10:00 a.m. Divine Liturgy - Memorial Service for Benefactors
Света Литургија - Парастос за добротворе
Saturday 28
4:30 p.m. Vespers Вечерње
Sunday
29
10:00 a.m. Divine Liturgy Света Литургија