SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT

13 Matins 9AMSchool 9AMLiturgy 10AM

14Liturgy 9:00AMMartyrs of Sinai + Raithu (relics)

15MonthlyParish Board Meeting6:30PM

16Paraklesis6PM - 7PMClass to follow

17 18 19

20 Matins 9AMSchool 9AMLiturgy 10AM

21 22 23Paraklesis6PM - 7PMClass to follow

24 25 26

27 Matins 9AMSchool 9AMLiturgy 10AM

28 29 6PMVesperal LiturgyThree Hierarchs

30Paraklesis6PM - 7PMClass to follow

31 1 Feb. 2 9AM LiturgyPresentation of Lord in Temple

3 Matins 9AMSchool 9AMLiturgy 10AM

4 5 6Paraklesis6PM - 7PMClass to follow

7 8 9

10 Matins 9AMSchool 9AMLiturgy 10AM

11 12MonthlyParish Board Meeting6:30PM

13 Paraklesis6PM - 7PMClass to follow

14 15 16

ORTHODOX CHURCHCHRIST THE SAVIOR

1802 Pershing Ave. Rockford, Illinois 61108 - Father Jonathan Bannon Father’s Cell Phone: 815-721-4952 www.CTSRockford.org

January 13th 2019 Parish Bulletin March for Life - Chicago

THIS WEEK:Sunday January 13th Memorial offered by Steve Keriz Jr. Traveling to March for Life - Chicago following Memorial. Monday January 14th: Divine Liturgy 9:00AM Martyrs of relics we have in our altar - Fathers of Sinai and Rathui Monasteries. Tuesday January 15th: Monthly Parish Board Meeting 6:30PM Wednesday January 16th Paraklesis 6PM-7PM Class to Follow NEXT WEEK: Sunday January 20th Orthros 9AM/ Divine Liturgy 10AM / Sisterhood Meeting / Chant Class to follow Coffee Social Wednesday January 16th Paraklesis 6PM-7PM Class to Follow A LOOK AHEAD: Sunday February 10th Zacchaeus Sunday (This means Lent is coming soon)Sunday February 17th Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee (Non-Fasting Week) Lenten Triodion Begins! (Whats the Triodion? The Triodion is the season that prepares us for Great Lent. The Gospels selections on the 4 Sundays before Lent begins all set the tone and mood of Great Lent as well as the fasting requirements. Cheesefare week we use up our dairy, Meatfare week we use up our meat products so we approach the Lenten fast in a balanced and careful approach. Always talk with your Father Confessor about fasting and prayer.

ONLINE RESOURCES FROM DIOCESE:

Rockford’s New Parish Website: www.CTSRockford.org

Diocesan Website: www.acrod.org

Camp Nazareth: www.campnazareth.org

Facebook: www.facebook.com/acroddiocese

Twitter: https://twitter.com/acrodnews

You Tube: https://youtube.com/acroddiocese

American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese of North America

ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHATE OF CONSTANTINOPLE

January

PROSFORA MINISTRY: This week’s Prosfora is offered by Jolynn Ruggerio (From Chicago!) SISTERHOOD MEETING: Next Sunday! CHANT CLASS: Next Sunday!

SOUPER BOWL SUNDAY We will be Collecting Canned Goods for Carpenter's Place and donations for the IOCC on Feb. 3rd. 2018.

LOOKING FOR A DONOR: Anna, Ron and Jacob Markosky – at St. John’s Church in Ligonier (Wilpen),PA are in need of our prayers and help.    Their son, Jacob (age 33) was born with Polycystic Kidney Disease, a genetic disorder in which there is growth of multiple cysts in the kidneys.  At the age of 3, Jake had a transplant from his dad which has lasted for 30 years.  It’s now failing.  Jake’s mother, Anna, intended to be a donor, but after testing she was not found to be compatible.   They are now looking for a donor.              Any interested person may call Living Donor – Pittsburgh UPMC    (412) 864-5475 or go on-line for more information. Our diocese has invited us to explore helping the Markosky family. May God bless them!

RIVER BLESSING 6th Annual! SUNDAY January 27th 1:00PM Please bring a coffee hour food item. Tinker Swiss Cottage and Museum on the bridge behind the Cottage. Last Week: Theophany Feast! What a joy to celebrate Theophany together and on a

H O M E B L E S S I N G S E A S O N C a l l F r . J o n a t h a n t o h a v e y o u r h o m e b l e s s e d .

March for Life Chicago

River Blessing1PM

Chant Class Sisterhood Meeting

Zacchaeus Sunday

Souper BowlCanned Goods!

Sunday! The blessing of holy water is a tradition used to mark the celebration of Christ’s baptism and a symbol of asking God to bless all of Creation as water is a symbol of life and through baptism we are made new in Christ and die to our old sinful self. Semi-Annual Meeting Feb. 17th with BBQ Dinner free of charge! Board Vice President Jonathan Zimmerman shared the idea of having a BBQ meal.

NOTE: The Semi-Annual Meeting is an opportunity to review the financial statements of the past 6 months and cover the needs of our parish with both old and new business, respectfully. To be a voting member one needs to be in sacramental good standing with the Church: Communion and Confession at least once a year. And to be in good standing with Parish Stewardship having financially assisted with the church the best as we can. Remember to write your name on the giving envelopes and thank you for your king consideration.PARISH BOOK STUDIES: Women’s Book study: Beginning to Pray By Metropolitian Anthony Bloom What to do? Purchase the book. Start reading!

Men’s Book study: Time and Despondency By Dr. Nicole Roccas. Book can be found on Ancient Faith Publishing www.ancientfaith.orgWhat to do? Purchase the book. Start reading!

C R O S S R O A D A P P L I C A T I O N S A R E AVAILABLE! Session 3: July 23 - August 2, 2019 (Chicago) Any Orthodox Christian juniors or  seniors in high school who are yearning to explore their faith please ask about this opportunity!

RIVER BLESSING 2019Sunday JANUARY 27th 20196th Annual Orthodox River Blessing Service! Where: Tinker Swiss Cottage 411 Kent Street. Rockford, IL. Park in lot and visit the bridge behind the Cottage just like last year. Ask or call ahead if you need help. Time: 1:00PM Pan-Orthodox Fellowship with refreshments to follow. We are grateful to Samantha the new Executive Director for allowing us to use the bridge and tea room again! This is a beautiful way to pull together the Orthodox communities and share our Tradition and faith with Rockford. Let’s keep going!

Have a suggestion? Do Not Wait Until the Semi-Annual on February 17th.1) Speak with Fr. Jonathan 2) Attend a monthly Board meeting

3) Share in the Suggestion box with your name.

January 3rd Stewardship Basket: December’s 3rd basket will help our Carpenter’s Place!

DIOCESE RETREATSSecond Annual Senior Citizen’s Retreat held at Camp Nazareth May 13 - 16th 2019

Keynote Speaker: His Eminence Metropolitan Gregory. Ages 55+ register at acrod.org

Family Camp at Camp Nazareth May 31 - June 2, 2019register online at campnazareth.org or call 724-662-4840

Youth Summer Camp:Camp Nazareth Week is July 28th - Aug. 3rd. more info: campnazareth.org

HOME BLESSINGS 101

1. Call your priest and schedule a visit before Feb. 17th*. 2. Set up an icon + candle on table. 3. Fr. Jonathan will bring holy water.

*Feb. 17th we begin the Lenten Triodion, a period of preparation for Great Lent. It is most appropriate to have our homes

blessed before this date.

BAPTISM / THEOPHANY 101

This week we honor the baptism of our new born King, Christ one of the Holy Trinity. This took place in the Jordan River that flows from the sea of

Galilee above pours into the Dead Sea below. Christ is the Messiah as John the Baptist taught. It is here Jesus begins His ministry with receiving the Holy Spirit sent from the Father making it possible for all of us to have God dwell in us and renew us as a new creation! A regeneration of humanity! Life for us flowed into the death much like the Jordan to the dead sea, before Christ cam

Water is an element used to clean things and it has long been viewed as a symbol of life. To enter Christ’s body “The Church” we begin with baptism. When we are baptized under water the font becomes a tomb and this symbolizes our death to our old sinful/fallen selves and we rise up out of the water clean and having put on “Christ” the font becomes “a womb” and we born again in/through Jesus Christ! We bless water to bless all of creation for this is what Christ did when He was submerged by the hand of John, God Himself blessed the waters for He is pure!

Our brains need to rest sometimes. If we go from screen to screen, phone to phone and busy event to busy event without ever letting our minds and hearts breath and be still, we will miss the small things in life where it can be easiest to see the Hand of God and hear His voice. Even in our Church services when things get quiet between hymns and prayers, be still without the need to fill the silence quickly. Our culture is so overloaded with the need to fill silence with “stuff.” Just take a breath and let’s give God our stillness.

Take Time to be Still.

PARISH PRAYER LIST: Share names with Fr. Jonathan if you have someone you would like to be prayed for. REQUESTS: Prayers for those seeking the fullness of the Faith and our parish remodeling projects be done according to God’s will. Catechumens: Julie, Nathanial, Jacob, Pamela, Timothy, Joseph, Damen LIVING: His All Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, His Grace Bishop Gregory of Nyssa, our Spiritual Fathers, J.R.(Cancer) Phyllis Schmuck, Mary Andrews, Jessica, Rev. Deacon Janke and Nina, Fr. Mark Lowery, Jacob, Yvonne, Lamont, Lidia, Jamie, Sarah Sherry’s 33rd Military Police Battalion, Father Daniel Mathewson and Matushka Gail, Kira Wiederholtz, Tony, Victor, Roger, John, Amy Stokes, Lawrence, (Colleen: young person with cancer for 2nd time) Glen and Kevin (Cancer), Maria, Lidia, Mark(Fr. Jonathan’s brother), Simon + Family in Lebanon and Shawn, Kostas and Katina, Kirk, Mary and their families, Fr. George S Zervos, Matushka Miriam Nelson, Fr. Luke Nelson, Ksenia, Carol, Erika and Anne, Marie, Sophie, Aaron, Theodora, Michael, Athanasios, Fr. Lucas., Geraldine, Carolyn.(Paula’s Sister and Cousin) Father Michael Polanichka, Matushka Gail Matthewson, Kristen Makita (Jonathan Zimmerman’s daughter) Nicholas (A gentleman in Chicago)

For the Souls of the Reposed: Newly Reposed: His Grace Bishop Athanasius Akunda. Francis J. Schmuck (Craig Warmke’s Grandfather) and Beatrice, Weira Hryszcuck, William (Bill) Johnson. (husband of Masry Johnson Friend of Parish) Edward (Paula Grady’s cousin) Soija Ageev (Natasha Wagner’s Grandma) Anna Evanisko (Pani Miloro’s mother) Trevor Larry Koss (Laura Warmke’s Grandfather), Stephen Harbachuk / Very Rev. Protopresbyter Fr. Ronald Hazuda, Fr. William George, Danny, Nicholas, Maria. Lawrence, Valerie, Scott, Mary, Pearlene, Gary, Anne.

L E N T I S C O M I N G … Let’s Get Ready Today.

Question: “How Long is Great Lent?” Answer: 40 Days? 48 Days? Longer? Great Lent is 40 days long (The amount of time Christ spent praying and fasting in the wilderness when He was tempted by the devil, the amount of time Noah spent on the Ark that God gave him and his family to stay safe from the rain and sea, ) However it is part of a larger period of time called the Lenten Triodion which helps us prepare for Great Lent. The Lenten Triodion begins with Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee (Feb 17th, 2019). That week we are not allowed to fast from meat or dairy! This is so we do not appear prideful in our fasting and prayers like the Pharisee! Do you see how balanced our Church is? She tells us “NO FASTING that week!” Then we have Meatfare Sunday where we use up all of our meat products and then a week called Cheesefare where we use up your dairy. After Those weeks it is time for Great Lent to begin. The Church eases us into the fasting season so it is not so difficult to stop eating meat and dairy when the 40 days arrive. Consider the 4 Weeks before Great Lent begins to be like stretching and a “warm up” before a Great Race. Remember Lent is not a time of great sadness and walking around hungry and sorrowful with an external appearance of fasting. Great Lent is a time to make room in our lives for Christ and the things that help us stay focused on His Hope and Love. Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving are the Church’s prescription to help us become more attentive to God and consider our lives as not our own but His and to do all for His Glory, never our own.

What a bright and amazing feast! The Jordan turned back, the voice of the Father, the Spirit as a dove and the God-man Christ standing in the waters beneath the hand of his own creation... what an incredible invitation of love and display of pure humility. We are being called to join the Lord in communion with the Father and the Spirit, "repent" is a cry to come home, our Father's kingdom is at hand. Last Sunday we celebrated this great feast!

Last Monday we had our first men’s book study of the year as we explored the classic Mountain of Silence. This book follows a sociology professor and bishop to the holy mountain Mt. Athos and Cyprus with questions and answers to the spiritual struggle with how our church equips us for success… from the Jesus Prayer to humble thinking and relying on God as our hope and strength.

Last Wednesday we had our first women’s bookstudy of the year and we explored the title Time and Despondency by Dr. Nicole Roccas. This book was a great presentation of how to overcome despondency, despair and watching the clock tick by starting to pray to God as we are and right where we are. Rather than waiting for a holier day… we simply start now. Such a good book it is now our February Men’s Book study title!

PARISH NEWS AND PHOTOS:

The Holy Monastic Fathers Slain at Sinai and Raithu. Feast Day JANUARY 14th Divine Liturgy 9:00AM

Come honor the saints whose relics we have in our altar! There were two occasions when the monks and hermits were murdered by the barbarians. The first took place in the fourth century when forty Fathers were killed at Mt. Sinai, and

thirty-nine were slain at Raithu on the same day. Mount Sinai, where the Ten Commandments had been given to Moses, was also the site of another miracle. Ammonios, an Egyptian monk, witnessed the murder of the forty holy Fathers at Sinai. He tells of how the Saracens attacked the monastery and would have killed them all, if God had not intervened. A fire appeared on the summit of the peak, and the whole mountain smoked. The barbarians were terrified, and fled, while the surviving monks thanked God for sparing them. That day, the Blemmyes (an Arab tribe) killed thirty-nine Fathers at Raithu (on the shores of the Red Sea). Igumen Paul of Raithu exhorted his monks to endure their suffering with courage and a pure heart. The second massacres occurred nearly a hundred years later, and was also recorded by an eyewitness who miraculously escaped: Saint Nilus the Faster (November 12). The Arabs permitted some of the monks run for their lives. They crossed the valley and climbed up a mountain. From this vantage point, they saw the bedouin kill the monks and ransack their cells. The Sinai and Raithu ascetics lived a particularly strict life: they spent the whole week at prayer in their cells. On Saturday they gathered for the all-night Vigil, and on Sunday they received the Holy Mysteries. Their only food was dates and water. Many of the ascetics of the desert were glorified by the gift of wonderworking: the Elders Moses, Joseph and others. Mentioned in the service to these monastic Fathers are: Isaiah, Sava, Moses and his disciple Moses, Jeremiah, Paul, Adam, Sergius, Domnus, Proclus, Hypatius, Isaac, Macarius, Mark, Benjamin, Eusebius and Elias.

A Saint for Healing of Body and Soul) The Life of St. Mardarije of Libertyville, IL Born in Kornet, Ljesani County, in Montenegro, on November 2, 1889 to Petar and Jela Uskokovic, St. Mardarije was baptized in his village church dedicated to St. George and received his baptismal name Ivan. Both of his parents were well respected in their community holding the office of leadership and particularly his father was a captain of their clan.Considering his parents’ status, young Ivan was sent to further his education, first in Rijeka Crnojevic, Montenegro, and then in Belgrade, Serbia. While in Belgrade, young Ivan decided to serve God and the Church, and so from there he went to the monastery Studenica where, after a short period of novice life, he was tonsured and received the name Mardarije. With the decision of the Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church, young hierodeacon Mardarije was sent to Russia where he spent twelve years (1905-1917) furthering his theological education and growing in wisdom. From there, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church sent him to the United States of America to organize the Serbian Orthodox Church. On December 1, 1923, Archimandrite Mardarije was appointed as administrator of the Serbian American-Canadian diocese, seated in Chicago. That year, he purchased ten acres of land in Libertyville, Illinois where later he personally built St. Sava monastery. Every day, Fr. Mardarije would ride his bicycle from Chicago to Libertyville, a Chicago suburb. At this time, Fr. Mardarije suffered from tuberculosis. Fr. Mardarije’s friends and fellow priests pressed that he should stop his feat, but Fr. Mardarije persisted to build his monastery dedicated to St. Sava. He was elected by the Holy Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church as the first bishop for the newly established diocese in America and was elevated to the rank of bishop. From then on, His Grace Bishop Mardarije, the first bishop of the Serbian Orthodox Church in North and South America, labored tirelessly in building churches, sowing Christian love, and spreading the gospel of Christ throughout his diocese. Having labored as bishop for nine years, he died peacefully on December 12, 1935, hospitalized in Ann Arbor, Michigan, while writing his last Nativity Encyclical to his beloved flock. His earthly remains were laid to rest at St. Sava monastery in Libertyville. The Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church decided in 2015 that his name should be added to the diptych of saints of the Holy Orthodox Church. St. Mardarije was canonized. When St. Mardarije was exhumed from his grave, it was discovered that he is incorrupt from his knee up. St. Mardarije was, by mistake, not buried facing East. During the exhumation, the drill incorrectly drilled through the casket. Because St. Mardarije was incorrectly buried and was only incorrupt from the knee up, no damage was made to his body. If St. Mardarije had been buried facing East, it is likely that the drill would have entered the casket through the skull. His relics can be venerated today at St. Sava Monastery in Libertyville, IL.