A Tribute to Serbian Mothers

By Vesna Kutlesic

A "Srpska Majka (Serbian Mother)," "Domacica (Homemaker)" "Gospodja (Noble Lady)" are all honorable titles that accent important aspects of being a Serbian mother.  In a traditional Serbian home you will often find embroidery, starched doilies, tidy rooms, a vegetable garden, fruit preserves, fresh bread, stuffed cabbage, roasted lamb, cheese strudel, and a barrel of cabbage fermenting in the garage. The traditional Serbian mother assures that all of her family's needs are met, and acts as the manager of several generations of family relationships.  She assures that extended family members are allocated their due respect, and she values the relatives of the father of her children as she does her own.  A Serbian mother teaches her children from the time they are born the importance of their community of relatives, godparents, friends, neighbors, and strangers they have yet to meet.  She teaches her children the importance of the reputation of their family, and that it is imperative that kindness and generosity be extended to others.

Traditional Serbian mothers take very seriously the spiritual life of their family, and assure that God and Orthodox Christian traditions are honored.  She monitors closely the "Red Letter" Holy Days on the church calendar, when the family should hold a vegetarian fast, say special prayers, and not complete chores around the house that take the focus away from prayer.  There is always an awareness of the link between God,  nature, and the cycle of life, and remembering recent relatives and earlier ancestors that passed away.  Serbian mothers prepare their homes for weeks before their family's "slava" or Patron Saint Day, and ensure that the feast their guests encounter leaves them well-fed for at least several days.

A Serbian mother is continually planning and preparing for the various stages of her children's lives.  From the time her children are born, a Serbian mother works towards collecting a dowry for each child, and giving all the resources she can gather for her children to have a good life and to succeed.  Some may think that Serbian mothers mettle too much. However, their absence for an extended period makes everyone keenly aware, of all the treats and comforts they seamlessly keep in steady supply.  Serbian mothers also eagerly await becoming grandmothers, knitting outfits for their grandchildren, and often being willing to babysit on short notice.  There is enough room and love for every new soul that joins the family. When you find yourself in a Serbian home and feel embraced and welcome, you can be sure that a Serbian mother made it so.

О ПОНАШАЊУ ЖЕНА У ХРАМУ БОЖИЈЕМ

У Српској православној цркви сасвим је замрзло Свето Предање о понашању жена у храму. Српске жене, Хришћанке, не знају да је грех и молити се Богу непокривене главе, а камоли долазити у храм Божији и још се причешћивати тако!

Међутим, то жене целог света знају. Ко је имао прилике да иде у Русију и њихове цркве, могао је у то да се увери. И на свим фотографијама руских часописа, може се видети мноштво жена покривених глава, како стоје на црквеним зборовима или на богослужењима. Такође и деца, девојчице — повезане су марамама, када су у храму Божијем. И жене других вероисповести покривају обавезно своје главе при уласку у храм! Оно што не знају наши Хришћани и Хришћанке, па ни богослови — знају жене протестантске вероисповести!

www.Библиотека Свети Наум

"I (name and surname), swear by Almighty God and with my honor that I will as an Orthodox Christian, obey, respect, fulfill, protect and defend the Holy Canons, laws, traditions, regulations, order of the holy Orthodox Church and my Diocesan Bishop, and I will, as a member of the Executive Board of the Circle of Serbian Sisters of St. Elijah Serbian Orthodox Cathedral in Merrillville, IN, I will regularly and devotedly fulfill all duties and obligations, prescribed by the Constitution, Uniform Rules and General Regulations of the Serbian Orthodox Church in North and South America, as well as the regulations Addendum to the Uniform Rules to govern the Church-School Congregation, so help me God."

General Regulations, for the Serbian Orthodox Church in North and South America; Oaths, Article 7

Archbishop Vikenty urges women to spend their time on prayer instead of make-up

Yekaterinburg, Febrary 1, Interfax – Archbishop Vikenty of Yekaterinburg and Verkhniaya Tura urged women to renounce cosmetics and stick to natural beauty.

'The Lord makes us beautiful, and we deform ourselves, we make freaks of ourselves. It is fraud and false understanding of beauty. It is just fashion. Look at eight or nine year-old girls. Why make them up? They are beautiful like angels! We spoil people with cosmetics,' the archbishop stated in a live broadcast at the Soyuz TV channel and on air of the Voskreseniye radio.

According to him, eye shadows today 'are really frightful and make beautiful people ugly, but for some reasons they think it is beautiful.'

'It's a scorn to natural beauty given by the Lord. We want to be more beautiful than God created us,' the archbishop said as quoted by informational publications department of the Yekaterinburg diocese.

The archbishop noted that the true beauty 'goes from the soul, transforms the body making it lightful and spiritual.' According to him, it is a beauty 'the saints strived to achieve.'

'It's necessary to seek spiritual beauty and receive physical beauty from the Lord through this spiritual beauty. It is hard work. But make up and cosmetics also take effort. Poor women spent a lot of time sitting before the mirror and making up. They are smudging and making up to look beautiful as they think. But in fact it isn't better than natural beauty,' the archbishop stated.

If this time was given to prayer and repentance, he further said, 'then their beauty would be natural and everything would shine.'

Pentecost - Trinity Sunday
The Reading is from John 7:37-52; 8:12

On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and proclaimed, "If any one thirst, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, 'Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.'" Now this he said about the Spirit, which those who believed in him were to receive; for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

When they heard these words, some of the people said, "This is really the prophet." Others said, "This is the Christ." But some said, "Is the Christ to come from Galilee? Has not the scripture said that the Christ is descended from David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?" So there was a division among the people over him. Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.

The officers then went back to the chief priest and Pharisees, who said to them, "Why did you not bring him?" The officers answered, "No man ever spoke like this man!" The Pharisees answered them, "Are you led astray, you also? Have any of the authorities or of the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd, who do not know the law, are accursed." Nikodemos, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, "Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?" They replied, "Are you from Galilee too? Search and you will see that no prophet is to rise from Galilee." Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."