JOIN US ON PALM SUNDAY, APRIL 28TH FOR THIS FUNDRAISER TO HELP OUR DEAR ST. SAVA MONASTERY CAMP!  EVERY SUMMER, CHILDREN HAVE LOVED THIS CAMP FOR MANY GENERATIONS!  PLEASE ENJOY THE BRIEF VIDEO THAT SHOW HIGHLIGHTS OF PAST CAMP YEARS!

EASY TO ORDER! JUST CLICK UNDER "GOODS & SERVICES" ON OUR WEBSITE!

Mom will love the gift of Serbian Cuisine! Many wonderful recipes!

The Sunday of Forgiveness is the last Sunday prior to the commencement of the Great Lent. On the Sunday of Forgiveness focus is placed and it accentuates our need for forgiveness. Focus is placed on the exile of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, an event that shows us how far we have fallen in sin and separated ourselves from God. At the onset of the Great Lent and a period of intense fasting, this Sunday reminds us of our need for God’s forgiveness and guides our hearts, minds, and spiritual efforts on returning to Him in repentance.

This Sunday’s Holy Gospel is special and emphasizes forgiveness. Before we enter the Lenten fast, we are reminded that there can be no true fast, no genuine repentance, no reconciliation with God, unless we are at the same time reconciled with one another.

“If you forgive men their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you” (vv. 14-15).

Therefore, the first break through this fortress of sin is forgiveness—the return to unity, solidarity, and love. To forgive is to put between me and my “enemy” the radiant forgiveness of God Himself. To forgive is to reject the hopeless “dead-ends” of human relations and to refer them to Christ. Forgiveness is truly a “breakthrough” of the Kingdom into this sinful and fallen world.

FORGIVE!

THE GREAT LENT IS NEAR...

On Saturday, December 1, 2012 our St. George Serbian Orthodox Church School held its annual Advent Workshop.  Our children BEAUTIFULLY sang the entire Divine Liturgy under the direction of Tijana Samardzija.  This was truly a blessed Liturgy to partake in and to hear our little St. George voices in our church.  The church school children received holy Confession and Communion together.  As all can see, our children are learning and participating!  After Liturgy, Prota Dobrivoje held an altar boy workshop explaining how important their participation is during the Divine Liturgy.  Throughout the afternoon children enjoyed a lenten lunch, religious classes, children's choir Christmas selections, and Christmas crafts.  Prota Dobrivoje also held a teen religious class.  The Church School would like to give a special thank you to Peter Katic for donating the glass jars for our crafts. The Christmas lent has begun and it is a time of prayer, fasting, almsgiving, confessing of our sins and partaking in the Holy Sacrament of Communion. HAVE A VERY BLESSED ADVENT!

Thank you to Zeljko Kostadinovic for this recording.  Enjoy!

The Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God Monastery in New Carlisle, IN celebrated their slava last Friday, September 21st.  Many of our St. George parishioners were able to make the trip and join the sisterhood to celebrate the Monastery slava.  Our kolo organized a van and many of our parishioners enjoyed making the trip together.  Our church president, Ray Vukas, was kind enough to be the driver for the day and make sure that all arrived safely.  Hierarchical Divine Liturgy was served together with many other clergy from our Diocese.  Faithful from all over gathered and it is always nice to visit the monastery.

On Sunday, September 16th, our St. George Kolo celebrated their Krsna Slava, The Nativity of the Most Holy Mother of God.  It was also the first day of Church School and Folklore.  We had many faithful people and many children attend Divine Liturgy. Thank you to Bosiljka Raic, who brings a fresh vase of flowers for the altar table every Sunday. Prota Dobrivoje served in beautiful new red vestments that were donated in memory of kolo sister Dorothy Kovan.  Prota Dobrivoje led the children in a prayer for the opening of a new Church School year and sprinkled them with holy water and dismissed them for religious classes.  A memorial service was held to remember departed Kolo Sisters. Following Liturgy, everyone gathered in our church hall for the blessing of the slava kolac and enjoyed the slava luncheon. This year's kuma for the kolo slava was Sava Trivunovic who greeted all the guests together with her son Dragan Trivunovic.  Tijana Samardzija was the Mistress of Ceremonies for the slava program.  Prota Dobrivoje, our kolo president, Mara Dobrijevich, our Church Board President, Ray Vukas all greeted guests and thanked them for coming to celebrate with the kolo. They also thanked the kolo for their continued dedication.  We would like to thank the parents for bringing their children to Church School!  A new season of folklore also started and we have a nice group of children who will be dancing this year.  Livija Kesic brought her American Girl doll with a Narodna Nosnja made to fit!  Cute!  We had a full day here at St. George last Sunday!  Ziveli!

We had a wonderful turnout for our St. George picnic on Sunday, September 9th.  The bocce ball tournament was a great success with many participants and the winners were even presented with trophies.  Everyone enjoyed the music, food, and outdoor activities.  A big thank you goes to our chairmen Jovica Tica and Radoslav Paravinja who put a lot of effort planning the picnic activities. There were many who came to  help and as always their help is appreciated.

Our St. George parish was asked to help for the Labor Day Picnic at the Gracanica Monastery last Monday, Sept 3, 2012.  We had a nice crew of workers spend the day at the monastery helping out.  A very big thank you to those who took the day to spend helping out the monastery and representing our parish. The meso looks good! Prijatno!

Dear Parents & Children,

Our St. George children gave a spectacular performance last October for our parish's 100th Anniversary!  The only video that exists of this performance was captured on Major Philip Mundweil's (son in law of Milorad & Tijana Samardzija) cell phone.  Please enjoy this video and let it remind everyone that another Church School year is approaching!  PLEASE BRING YOUR CHILDREN!  We cordially invite ALL of the children of this parish to partake in the St. George Church School program.

In the Transfiguration, the apostles see the glory of the Kingdom of God present in majesty in the person of Christ. They see that “in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,” that “in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” (Col 1:19, 2:9). They see this before the crucifixion, so that in the resurrection they might know who it is who has suffered for them, and what it is that this one, who is God, has prepared for those who love him. This is what the Church celebrates in the feast of the Transfiguration.

The blessing of grapes, as well as other fruits and vegetables on this day is the most beautiful and fitting sign of the final transfiguration of all things in Christ. It signifies the ultimate flowering and fruitfulness of all creation in the paradise of God’s unending Kingdom of Life where all will he transformed by the glory of the Lord.

Thank you to our children who made a special a effort to come and sing and especially to our girls, Anastasia Andjelic, Ana Zanza, and Krstana Milunovic, who sang the Antiphons.

Please enjoy this slide show of photos from the picnic last Sunday.  Our children had a FUN afternoon playing soccer and enjoying each other's company.  Thank  you to Ljubica Rokosz for these pictures.

Our Bishop Stefan Lastavica Church Choir proudly participated in the 71st Annual Serbian Singing Federation Choral Festival that was hosted by the St. George Serbian Singing Society of San Diego, CA. There were twelve choirs that participated in this magnificent choral weekend from all over the US & Canada. It was our honor to represent our parish and our performance selections were under the direction of Dr. Janja Katic:
Moja Rano by Slavko Jankovic
Osmi Sastav of Stare Gradske Pesme by Nikola Resanovic
Our choir members enjoyed the Serbian hospitality of San Diego and were able to also enjoy some of the beautiful southern California sights! We look forward to next year's 72nd Choral Festival during the Memorial Day weekend of  2013 that will be held near to us in neighboring Lansing, Illinois. We also plan to have our Children's Choir part of next year's festival, so mark your calendars now! Ziveli!

Divine Liturgy at begins at 9:00 a.m. immediately followed by a Vesper service where we kneel and make wreaths and crosses with the grass brought into the church, and take the wreaths back home to place on our icons.

The Feast of Holy Pentecost is celebrated each year on the fiftieth day after the Great and Holy Feast of Pascha (Easter) and ten days after the Feast of the Ascension of Christ. The Feast is always celebrated on a Sunday.

The Feast commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles on the day of Pentecost. It also celebrates the establishment of the Church through the preaching of the Apostles and the baptism of the thousands who on that day believed in the Gospel message of salvation through Jesus Christ. The Feast is also seen as the culmination of the revelation of the Holy Trinity.

Please join us on Sunday, June 3, 2012!

Our St. George Tromedja Folklore group has wrapped up another year of folklore dancing.  We are very proud of our dancers!  Our four groups had a busy year proudly dancing for our 100th Celebration, St. Sava, Church Slava, and many more festivals around the Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana area.  Our middle and senior groups even made it to Pittsburg to perform!   We had many weeks of practice and  hard work and our children deserve every praise.  Our Folklore Group hosted the End of the Year picnic last Sunday on May 20th to mark not only the end of the year for folklore, but for our Church School as well, and we were thankful for everyone's help in making the picnic a success.  Fall is just around the corner and we will once again look forward to exciting new dance year!  Please enjoy this video of our senior group performing the "Banat" dance.  We have four high school seniors graduating:  Ana Alavanja, Jelena Marcic, Bogdan Jevtic, and Nikola Tatic.  We wish them all well and success in college!

Please enjoy this video that highlights our St. George SOC Slava Celebration!

We had a nice group start bright and early last Saturday morning tackling many projects that needed to done on our St. George Church grounds. It was a very hot day, but these volunteers were able to clear away the old fence and debris around the old garden site, tend to the landscaping wearing away around the parish home, mulch the huge pile of debris near the wooded area between the parish home and old hall, pressure wash areas around the old hall, and much more. There is still a lot more that needs to be done and another clean up day will be organized for a future date. Hopefully, more of our parishioners will join us. Everyone agreed that it is a rewarding feeling when you volunteer for your church! THANK YOU AND MAY GOD BLESS YOU!

Please join us with your families for some PICNIC fun!

Please join us!

We appreciate your donations! You make still make your donations in honor of family members or in memory of a loved one!

SEE YOU THERE! HAVE A BLESSED LENT!

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GIVE THE GIFT OF "HOME-COOKING"!

PEACE FROM GOD! CHRIST IS BORN!

Video taped in HD, you are able to view in full screen. There are a total of sixteen video clips to the Church Service on Oct. 23, 2011.