By Judy Masterson jmasterson@stmedianetwork.com
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| Olga Spivak of Lindenhurst kisses a candle before placing it with others she lit for the health and well-being of loved ones while at Protection of the Most Holy Mother of God, also called the New Gracanica Monastery, in Third Lake. | Ryan Pagelow~Sun- |
On Thursday and Friday, Orthodox Christians who follow the Julian calendar will celebrate Christmas. A week later, they will mark the new year.
Orthodox Christmas traditions include the decoration and display of an oak tree, the blessing and lighting of the yule log and a community Lenten meal shared on Christmas Eve.
Lake County has been home to Serbian and many other Orthodox Christians — Bulgarians. Russians, Ukrainians, old-calendar Greeks and others — for more than a century. Eastern Europeans persecuted because of their religion were drawn here in the wake of both world wars. Many were sponsored by a bishop at St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Monastery in Libertyville, the unofficial spiritual center for the Serbian Orthodox Church in North America.
Lake County is unusual in that it has two Serbian orthodox monasteries. The other is Protection of the Most Holy Mother of God, also called New Gracanica, in Third Lake, where 1,000 faithful are expected to gather for Christmas.
Toward the end of Christmas services, a young and sturdy oak, a symbol of the Christ, and decorated with crosses, icons, oranges, apples and walnuts, is blessed. Small branches from the tree and straw are distributed to the faithful before the largest branch from the tree is taken outside and burned. The branches, straw, and fire symbolize the first human effort to warm the Christ child.
At each morning and evening service at Mother of God Monastery, the Rev. Milorad Loncar will talk about the incarnation — “the Lord’s coming into the world to save the world” — and how ancient prophecies of Christ’s human birth have been fulfilled.
Loncar’s flock — about 150 regularly worship at the monastery — know this precept of their faith. But to be reminded of it feeds their spiritual hunger, improves their spiritual health, he said.
“This is really the Christ,” Loncar exhorted in a telephone interview on Tuesday.
The Orthodox Christmas points to the Christ, in ritual, in word, in gathering. It educates those who are both seasoned in the faith and those preparing to be baptized.
At St. Basil of Ostrag Church in Mettawa, worshippers will kiss each other three times in a traditional Orthodox Christmas greeting.
“The peace of God,” the greeting goes.
“Christ is born,” comes the response, followed by, “Indeed, he is born.”
“We don’t say merry Christmas,” said Anne Krosnjar, wife of the Rev. Father George Krosnjar. “We are totally focused on the meaning of the Nativity. “Christmas is a time to reflect, a time to renew our belief. Christ is born in our hearts and souls.”
Krosnjar puts up both an evergreen and an oak tree in her Libertyville home. But both are decorated with symbols of the Orthodox faith — crosses and icons.
“I tell everybody, ‘Yes, I’m celebrating Christmas on the 25th,’” Krosnjar said. “This is our 25th.”
