Volume V No. 2 � Telеphone: 724-342-1198 � www.stgeorgehermitage.org � Email: frmilovan@stgeorgehermitage.org � February 2008

February 1, 2008

Dear brothers and sisters, When watching the cases of child abductions which have been reported with some frequency in recent times particularly on the 24 hour news channels one is given the impression that this sort of thing never happened before; that it’s some new phenomenon. I think the only new thing about it is that in our age we actu-ally have a channel on TV that only shows news - all day, every day - and perhaps, at times, they tend to over-dramatize things. One becomes especially suspicious when there is so much talk about a chip that will soon be implanted in humans. Once we’ve been fed all these stories of child abductions and the other dangers in the world today it makes one more naïve in thinking that perhaps implanting an electronic tracking device into our bodies is not such a bad idea. I’m hardly implying that child abduction is not a serious matter or, for that matter, that it doesn’t pose a threat. It’s very dangerous and parents need to be constantly alert, watching over the children God has bestowed to them. But can you image being the parent of Jesus and losing Him? In St. Luke’s gospel we read how “...His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover...and when they had finished the days, as they returned, the Boy Jesus lingered behind in Jerusa-lem. And Joseph and His mother did not know it” (Luke 2:41). Joseph and the Vir-gin Mary returned frantically to Jerusalem to look for the Boy Jesus and finally found him...three days later! We can only imagine their state of mind during the search. Interestingly enough the Bible doesn't say anything about their worries or anxiety during the search but only tells us afterwards, “...when they saw Him, they were amazed…”. They were amazed because they found Him in the Temple “sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions”. We’re expected to keep good care of our children not by locking them up from the world but rather showing them that, even though there are many dangers out there, the safest of all places is in the church, the securest is in the hands of God. As a child even the little Prince Rastko ran away from home. His parents were wor-ried, they didn’t know what to do. But when they discovered that he was, in fact, in the saf-est place of all, on the holy mount Athos, they too were “amazed”. Actually, little Rastko’s flight to the holy monastery, where he became Sava, started a trend for Serbian rulers after him. His father fled the throne and took the name Symeon, just as Stephan the First-Crowned became Simon, Radoslav after him became Jovan, Dragutin became Teoktist and so on. The old adage tells us that in order to love someone we need to set them free. The same applies to our children who are little now but tomorrow will chose their own paths. Ours is to instill God’s love in them so that one day when we look out into the bizarre and frightening developments of world history, the strange and dubi-ous achievements of the science of the future, we too will search for our children in all of this and will be “amazed” to find them sitting in the best place of all, the church!

(signed: Fr. Milovan)

�ews from the

Parish It’s that time of

year again - time for the St. Sava

Program! This year the feast day of

St. Sava, January 27th will fall on a Sunday. Divine Liturgy will begin at the regular time at 10am. Immediately following the service we will proceed to the hall for our annual children’s program. Once again we invite all of our parish-ioners to join us for the program and support our youngest members, our children. On Pascha it snowed and on Badnje Vece it was nearly 60 degrees! We had a wonderful turn out for both the Badnje Vece service as well as the Christmas liturgy with a full church for both services.

Congratulations go to Matthew Fa-

bian who has graduated Summa

Cum Laude from the University of Pittsburgh with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management and Economics with a minor in Accounting and Finance. He is employed by Hill, Barth and King in Hermitage as an Associate. Matthew is also an assis-tant coach at Hickory for the JV girls basketball team. If anyone would like to roll up their sleeves and help at the church we are still looking for volunteers to help

clean the church. We have a

small group of ladies that have split up and clean every other week; with only a couple more volunteers our ladies would have to clean the church only once a month. We are happy to announce that our church will host this year’s annual

Sunday of Orthodoxy service. At

the last meeting of the Clergy

Parish News/con’t Brotherhood of the Shenango Valley, held in November 2007, upon the rec-ommendation of V. Rev. Michael Po-lanichka, Fr. Milovan was elected President of the Clergy Association. Sunday of Orthodoxy this year falls on

Sunday, March 16th. More infor-

mation will be included in next month’s newsletter.

2008 Dues are due. Please remem-

ber to pay your dues on time, no later than Nov. 30th.

2008 Dates to Remember

• May 4th Church Slava • June 8th Chetnik Picnic • June 22nd Church Picnic • July 19th Golf Scramble • August 10th Chetnik Picnic

• The list of 2007 parish dona-tions will be published in next month’s newsletter.

• An informative Parish Quar-terly Meeting will be held on

Sunday March 23, 2008.

• We remember all of our sick and shut-ins: Bertha, Milos, Djuro, Milica, Johanna, Ika, Stella, Mara

NOTICE TO ALL NOTICE TO ALL NOTICE TO ALL NOTICE TO ALL

PARISHIONERS:PARISHIONERS:PARISHIONERS:PARISHIONERS:

As most parishioners already know we have

opened our social center to catering events

through a caterer. Since catering events such

as weddings are planned in advance we unfor-

tunately cannot know if those dates will inter-

fere with other doings. All dates are final. For

example, when planning a dacha after a fu-

neral please see with Valerie Backo to make

sure the date is open. Thank you for your un-

derstanding.

Building Fund: We have collected $5,999 so far in

our building fund. Thank you for you donations and support.

• Sam and Angie Lazich donated

$100 for Christmas.

• The Kolo Sestara, the Circle of

Serbian Sisters, donated $500

for Christmas

• Vojislav Ilic Choir donated $100

for Christmas

• Dot Hillman donated $50 in

memory of Eli Danatich

• Mirjana Milosevic Brockett from

Atlanta donated $50 towards the

Fresco Fund for the health of her family.

• MORE CORRECTIO�S:

In the last issue of our newsletter we mistakenly omitted the donation

made by Kata Ivanovich of two

beautiful, silk flower arrangements in front of the altar. Under “fish fry sponsors” instead of John Kasich it should have read

George Kusich. We apologize for

this oversight.

As of January 2008 we have in

Our Fresco Fund:

$12,040.80

FEBRUARY 2008 / VOLUME V NUMBER 2 Page 2

“There I go - still writing ‘B.C.’ on all my checks.”

Ritual of the Slava Kolach and

the Children’s Program immediately following.

Slava luncheon afterwards.

Светосавски Програм

у недељу 27. јануара

St. Sava Slava and

Children’s Program

Sunday, January 27th

FEBRUARY 2008 / VOLUME V NUMBER 2 Page 3

Награђени Светосавски рад Јована Скенџића , ученика IV разреда Гимназије Јован Јовановић – Змај у

Новом Саду

Сенка! Дуга, велика и густа као јесења магла надвила се над Србијом, као давно бачено проклетство које ни током векова не јењава. И наизглед нема светла; чини се да увек је био мрак и да црни облаци никад неће нестати... Али чак и из најтамнијег облака каткад снажна муња бљесне и прецепи небо; муња краткотрајна, али окрепљујућа; муња језива, али пуна наде... Муња Светог Саве која одјекује и вапајем својим опомиње: „Мајко! Србијо! Плачеш ли? Тужиш ли над завађеном браћом, над крицима народа српског?! Чујеш ли плач и шкргут зуба са поља Косова?!“ Али нема одговора. Муња одјекује над планинама и брдима, рекама и језерима, али Србија не чује. Не чује паклени пламен који брише српске светиње и руши српске домове. Душмани ликују, а Србија ћути; гласа не даје. Оглушује се о Савина завештања, заборавља његове задужбине, чупа своје корење и губи душу. Губи душу зарад чега? Зарад нове културе? Зарад новог живота? Нема српске културе без вере и Светосавља, без цркава и манастира, без духовне снаге и слободе... Где је сада српска слобода толико пута извојевана? Често су Србију спутавали пипцима хоботнице и ломили јој крила. Поробљавали су је и силом народу веру узимали... Али, Србија је увек као неприметна птица у ниском лету побеђивала певајући: „Ускликнимо с љубављу Светитељу Сави!“ Управо нас је Светосавље одржало; одржало и ојачало! Успевала је Србија и испод снажне, црне, петовековне пошасти да бивствује уз молитву свом просветитељу. Спаливши Светитељеве мошти, крвници су само још више подстакли народ да верује и да се нада гледајући у дим и пепео као у будућност. У свакој залуталој варници видели су Савин лик, и свака искра им се заривала у срце, горела јачином ломаче и преносила се са генерације на генерацију. Тиња и сада та искра у нама самима, само је треба пронаћи, издвојити и не дозволити јој да се угаси. Увек ће њена топлина грејати срца и шаптати: „Чувај се, чедо моје слатко, да не изађеш из неког мога завета. Да, ако човек и цео свет добије, а душу своју изгуби, која је корист?“ Зато чувај се, Србине, блага овоземаљских! Чувај се наизглед ситних греха! Окрени се Богу и тамо тражи снагу! Снагу духа, снагу вере! Јер култура управо из вере потиче. И зато тражити нешто безначајно испод бљештавог покривача, а пропустити нешто истински вредно испод скромне простирке?! Немојмо тражити наизглед лак пут, јер тај пут је често трновит. Путем вере, наде и љубави корачао је Свети Сава крчивши нам пролаз. Пролаз ка новом, бољем животу; ка изсласку из паганства и празноверја; ка бољем сутра. Следимо ли ми тај пут праведности и културног и духовног богатства? Не! Ми тражимо неки нови, бољи, универзалнији...а таквог пута нема. Заборављајући корене, негирајући традицију ми затиремо наш пут истине. Наша култура и наша младост попут утви златокрилих одлећу из ове вечне зиме и траже плаветније небо и бљештавије Сунце пред којима би развиле своја крила. Спречи, Србијо, последњи лет, чувај их над окриљем твога неба; под топлином твога Сунца. Патила си много, Србијо! Патила си и плакала! Али сада растерај сенке, раскини окове и погледај, Србијо, у небо плаво! Пронађи руку Светог Саве, и дозволи да те води путем праведности. Путем праведности и истине. �

FEBRUARY 2008 / VOLUME V NUMBER 2 Page 4

Above: Our children visiting Mara Backo

„Начинимо и ми у нашој души и нашем срцу, у

нашој породици и нашој деци олтар Богу Вечноме,

како бисмо се и ми могли наћи на Олтару и у

Литургији Светога Саве у Царству Небеском, а то

ћемо постићи једино ако и ми са децом нашом ,

будемо увек на Светој Литургији у нашим

храмовима. И баш зато је и Свети Сава: „подизао

цркве, манастире, школе и учио људе да се Богу

моле“.

Владика Јован шамадијски «Let us also make in our souls and in our hearts, and

in our families and in our children an altar to God

eternal, so that we might find ourselves on the Altar

and in the Liturgy of St. Sava in the Heavenly King-

dom; we will only achieve this if we are always at the

Divine Liturgy in our churches with our children. It is

exactly for this reason that St. Sava “built churches,

monasteries, schools and taught people to love God.”

Bishop Jovan of Šumadija

____________________________________ Right: Children visiting Milica Raketic

We plan on making other visits. If you would like us to visit please let Fr. Milovan know. Thank you.

The Bells of St. George

A Church School Project

The Little Bells of St. George is the Children’s Page of our newsletter published by our children for our children.

Lesson #4Lesson #4Lesson #4Lesson #4

Let’s learn some more words. The Serbian word IMATI means “to have”.

Imam - I have Imaš - You have (sg.) Ima - He / she / it has Imamo - We have Imate - You have (pl.) Imaju - They have

The negative form of that word is NEMATI meaning “to not have”

Nemam - I don't have Nemaš - You don't have (sg.) Nema - He / she / it doesn't have Nemamo - We don't have Nemate - You don't have (pl.) Nemaju - They don't have So far we’ve learned to very important verbs: BITI (to be) and IMATI (to have) and their negative counterparts. When someone says in Serbian “biti ili ne biti” we should

No. 4

FEBRUARY 2008 / VOLUME V NUMBER 2 Page 6

Taken from the WORD Magazine of the Antiochian Archdiocese of North America, January 2008

Page 7 FEBRUARY 2008 / VOLUME V NUMBER 2

he fame and authority of St. Sava among Serbian people is

unrivaled by any other Serbian historical personality. Serbian

culture is rich in heroes and saints, yet none of them is so

popular or so influential among Serbs as St. Sava. He has

endowed the Serbian Orthodox and the Serbian nation with the spirit and

identity, which proved to be the vital force and indispensable for their

preservation throughout their martyr-like history. Orthodoxy, the authentic form

of Christianity, as well as the independent, national, Serbian Orthodox Church

became a reality among the Serbs as a result of the missionary efforts of St.

Sava. It is, therefore, often referred to as „Svetosavska Crkva“ (the church of

St. Sava). It was St. Sava who effected an indissoluble unity between the

Serbs and their Orthodox religion. That unity is so fully integrated in the

national and religious consciousness of the Serbs that, among them, the term

Serbian is used as a synonym for Orthodox. Yet, although nationalism and

patriotism were characteristic features of St. Sava‘s personality, and, although,

through his influence, they became the salient features of Serbian Orthodoxy,

St. Sava was never a fanatic or chauvinist. As it has been already

mentioned, he genously supported, financially and morally, non-Serbian and

even non-Orthodox monasteries and individuals.

In view of the fact that the Serbian Orthodox Church is sometimes criticized

for its strong national tendencies, and considering the fact that there are

indeed a few individuals who erroneously speak of Svetosavlje as of a

„national religion“. Strictly speaking, St. Sava did not found any church either.

What he did is this: he made the Orthodox Church in Serbian SERBIAN, and

he made the Serbian nation ORTHODOX. Unlike some Protestant founders of

various denominations, St. Sava did not organize a religiuos sect, but only

achieved the nationalization and independance of a national, Serbian

Orthodox Church. The difference is quite important, as i may be perceived

from the following statement of St. Bishop Nikolai: „A nation cannot get very

far with nationlistic ideas alone. Nor can we Christians speak anymore of

National churches, yea - but definitely not national religions. Some people,

even in our Christian era, are confusing these two notions. In their chau-

vinistic zeal, they want to resuscitate the gods of their heathen ancestors,

imaginary as they were. For a national religion cannot be other than hea-

then.”

Seven hundred eighty-nine years of the history of the Serbian Orthodox

Church, from 1219 until the present, show that Serbs have grown seriously

committed to Christ and deeply attached to Orthodoxy. The priests and

laymen, who during five centuries of Turkish occupation and oppression

preferred death to the betrayal of Christ and Orthodoxy, have been evi-

dence of this. Those martyrs, who at any period of Serbian history, pub-

licly proclaimed their loyalty to Christ and Orthodoxy from the stakes on

which they were impaled or from the pyres at which they were immolated

or standing before firing squads, testified thereby that Orthodoxy, implanted

deeply into the national being, was valued by the Serbs even more than

their lives. The same was manifested by thousands of victims tortured and

executed during WWI for being Serbs and for being Orthodox. Finally, the

indestructibility of the bond between Serbs and Orthodoxy created by St.

Sava was also revealed by the martyrdom of seven hundred thousand

men, women and children who, between the years 1941-45, were killed

mercilessly for no other reason than for being Serbs and Orthodox and for

refusing to deny either their nationality or their religion. For, as it may be

seen, Svetosavlje is in fact loyalty to God and loyalty to one’s nation. This

is why we believe that Svetosavlje is a precious contribution to American

culture; and that is why we, the American Serbs, commemorate St. Sava

and adhere to his teaching and ideals. By cherishing his ideals and by

following his example, we enrich our own lives and we enrich the culture

and spirituality of the society of which we are an integral part. It is quite

evident to us, and we hope that it will be evident to others, that St. Sava

and Svetosavlje are indeed as relevant fro the American culture as they

The Importance of St. Sava

Place

Stamp

Here

FEBRUARY 2008

Распоред Богослужења

Schedule of Services

February 2008

Below is a list of only the ser-vices during the week. The Sunday Liturgy begins at 10am and Vespers on Saturdays and on the Eve of Feasts is at 6pm unless otherwise noted.

Tuesday, February 12 -

Synaxis of the Three Holy

Hierarchs - Света Три

Јерарха Liturgy 9am

Friday, February 15 -

The Presentation of the

Lord, Сретење Господње -

Liturgy 9am

80 S Keel Ridge Road Hermitage, PA 16148

St. George Serbian Orthodox Church

Светосавски Програм

St. Sava Program

Sunday January 27, 2008 10am Liturgy

Ritual of the Slava Kolach following liturgy.

Children’s Program with Slava luncheon in the church hall.

Above: The newly elected board was sworn in on Sunday, January 13th after the Divine Liturgy. Not pictured above are Sam Backo, Bosko Vucenovic and John Kasich.

Note: The Diocesan Annual Assembly will be held February 29th and March 1st in Monroeville. Fr. Milovan will be attending the meeting on those days.