Author: Aleksandar Cvijetinovic

My Dear Parishioners,

With the blessing of His Grace Bishop Dr. Mitrofan of the Canadian Diocese, I have been appointed as your Parish priest to serve God, the Serbian people and all people of good will. For the past 13 years I have faithfully and devotedly served at the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul Parish in Oakville. I look forward to the opportunity to pastorally and loyally serve you and your families, with God’s and your help, honourably, godly and patriotically as hitherto. The priestly rank and vocation are exalted, but nothing good can be done without God and without the support of St. Sava’s people. Therefore, I ask you to pray to God for me and to receive me as your closest spiritual relation, just as I have you in my heart and in my prayers, since I have wholeheartedly accepted the instruction to serve at your St. Archangel Gabriel’s Church and I sincerely want to help our Parish and community grow and advance.

I am coming to you on the eve of the most joyous Christian holiday: Christmas – the Birth of Christ. The beginning of everything that is good and right are faith and prayer, good deeds and the Holy Mysteries. Hence I summon you all to come, especially in the coming festive days, in great numbers to our Church and take active part in our worship, preparations for and celebration of the upcoming Holidays. Through active participation in the Church life at the current Church as well as in the one we plan to build, we spiritually build ourselves and our families, since the spiritual foundation is the most important and most fruitful thing in our lives. The blessings we receive in the House of God we carry with ourselves in our souls, into our homes and families. It is for these blessings that we serve at our Church, and with my whole being I will work withtogether you to make our Church a source of pride, joy, spiritual support and eternal salvation.

Rejoicing to our upcoming encounters, communion, accord and progress, I greet you all with the most joyous Christian greeting –

CHRIST IS BORN! – TRULY HE IS BORN!

Archpriest Zlatibor Đurašević

• Great Lent is for all believers, not just clergy and monastics.
• Great Lent is time for serious consideration of the soul.
• Great Lent summons all believers to actively participate.
• Great Lent is an experience resulting in beneficial joy.
• Great Lent requires participation of the heart and mind.
• Great Lent entails continued discipline of the body.
• Great Lent gives structure to daily Christian life.
• Great Lent affects believers’ hearts, souls and bodies.
• Great Lent arrives each year for believers’ benefit.
• Great Lent is a recurring part of the each Liturgical Year.
• Great Lent has been deemed of continued value.
• Great Lent emphasizes the importance of repentance.
• Great Lent sets forth examples of repentance.
• Great Lent has specific defined liturgical services.
• Great Lent includes practices of prayer and fasting.
• Great Lent encourages believers to practice almsgiving.
• Great Lent offers instruction to attentive believers.
• Great Lent addresses the continuing hunger of the soul.
• Great Lent provides regular spiritual nourishment.
• Great Lent inspires drawing closer to Jesus Christ.
• Great Lent asks believers to refrain from sin.
• Great Lent calls believers to better lives in Christ.
• Great Lent directs hearts and minds to God’s Kingdom.
• Great Lent remembers the believers departed this life.
• Great Lent gives liturgical attention to the Mother of God.
• Great Lent directs believers away from sinful practices.
• Great Lent offers new beginnings in the life in Christ.
• Great Lent is an investment in the Kingdom of
• Great Lent helps those who have sinned to be forgiven.
• Great Lent is a time for serious confession of sins.
• Great Lent motivates personal change for the better.
• Great Lent is an inexhaustible source of learning.
• Great Lent enables believers to begin anew in Jesus Christ.