On Saturday 24 January and Sunday 25 January we will have services for the Thirty-Third Sunday after Pentecost.  In 2026, this will be the Sunday after Theophany, Zaccheus Sunday, and the day of commeoration of Virgin-Martyr Tatiana of Rome (+ 226 AD) and Saint Sava I, Archbishop of Serbia (+1237 AD).  Matins will be served at 6.00pm on Saturday and the Hours and Divine Liturgy with the Great Blessing of Water will be served from 9.00am on Sunday.  Following the blessing of water a brief moleben of thanksgiving will be served for the work of the former Theophany parish (est.1994) in Mayfield, Newcastle, the remaining members of which joined our parish seventeen years ago, in 2009.  Eternal memory will also be sung for the departed founders and benefactors of that parish.

On Saturday 10 January and Sunday 11 January we had services for the Thirty-First Sunday after Pentecost, which this year was also the Sunday after the Nativity of Christ.  Matins was served on Saturday evening and the Hours and Divine Liturgy were served on Sunday morning.  At Divine Liturgy prayers were offered for the unity of the Orthodox Church, peace in Ukraine, and peace in the Holy Land.  Following the services on Sunday a group of our parishioners and friends gathered in the church hall for a festive meal and a visit from Father Christmas. 

In 2026 our major focus will be commencing work on improvements to the church and grounds, beginning with our outside toilet facilities.  Although we have the funds to complete the first stage, we will also be working on raising funds to make the entire project possible.  We plan to repaint the interior of our church and reorganise the icons.  In April we will have a midnight Paschal service for the first time since 2024, and later that month, God willing, we will celebrate the marriage of a young couple active in parish life.  During the course of the year, we will begin planning celebrations in 2027 to mark the seventy-fifth anniversary of the foundation of our parish in 1952.  In the second half of the year we hope to welcome Archbishop George on a pastoral visit and look forward to the tonsure at that time of another new reader for service in our parish. 

Our services were well-attended this year and we continued to receive many newcomers.  We had seven baptisms, four of adults and three of children.  We also had one wedding, that of a young couple baptised earlier in the year.  In the course of the year, we undertook important work to repair the church roof, replace the aging tiles, and paint the cupolas and crosses.  We prayed steadfastly for the unity of the Orthodox Church, peace in Ukraine, and peace in the Holy Land.  We prayerfully remembered Saint Tikhon of Moscow and Saint Jonah of Hankow, two holy hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church who reposed in 1925, one hundred years ago this year.  In May we welcomed Archbishop George on a visit to our parish in honour of our patronal feast of Saint Nicholas.  James Savage was tonsured a reader, the first time that a new reader had been tonsured in our parish since 2009.  At our Annual General Meeting in November, long-serving Parish Council members Lucea Szabunia (2012-2025) and Dean Crawford (2015-2025) retired.  They were replaced by Reader James Savage and Cyprian Minns.  We received a generous donation of $90,000 towards improvements to our church and grounds.  Late in the year, a Development Application was lodged with Newcastle City Council for this work.  When completed, it will substantially enhance our outside toilet facilities, improve access to our church and hall, and refashion our church porches.  All the news from 2025 can be read here.  Glory be to God for all things!

On Saturday 27 December and Sunday 28 December we had services for the Twenty-Ninth Sunday after Pentecost, which this year was the Sunday of the Holy Forefathers.  Matins was served on Saturday evening and the Hours and Divine Liturgy were served on Sunday morning. At Divine Liturgy we were joined by many visitors and the customary prayers were offered for the unity of the Orthodox Church, peace in Ukraine, and peace in the Holy Land.  These were our final services for 2025.

On the evening of Wednesday 17 December, the Parish Council met by videoconference.  This was the first meeting of the Parish Council elected at the Annual General Meeting in November 2025.  Olga Bogacheva and Irene Lupish were reappointed Treasurer and head of the Ladies’ Auxiliary respectively, Reader James Savage was appointed parish Secretary, and Cyprian Minns was appointed Risk and Safety Officer.  The minutes of the October 2025 meeting were ratified, and the customary reports were presented by the parish rector, the Warden, the Treasurer, and the head of the Ladies’ Auxiliary.  An update was given on the lodgement of the Development Application for our planned parish improvements, and arrangements were made for the parish celebration of the Nativity of Christ on Sunday 11 January.  The Parish Council will meet next on Wednesday 28 January 2026

On Saturday 13 December and Sunday 14 December we had services for the Twenty-Seventh Sunday after Pentecost and in honour of the Prophet Nahum.  Matins was served on Saturday evening and the Hours and Divine Liturgy were served on Sunday morning.  At Divine Liturgy our small church was full to overflowing.  Prayers were offered for the unity of the Orthodox Church, peace in Ukraine, and peace in the Holy Land, and a great many people received Holy Communion.  Following the Sunday services, Seraphim Orthodox Shop held a successful Christmas Pop-Up Market in our church hall.

"Once again we hear the message of the angelic host, God’s messengers to mankind, as they announce the glad tidings of the Birth of Christ our Saviour, Emmanuel, Who has become incarnate in order to free mankind from the bondage of sin... Let us hearken to their angelic message, and let us make every effort to worship and glorify God every day of our lives. In this way we will bear witness to the presence of Christ in our hearts, Who was incarnate for our salvation."   Archbishop George’s Epistle is available in full in English here and in Russian here.

"For every Christian, the feast of the Nativity of Christ is beloved and joyful. Throughout the world on this day, people remember the Star of Bethlehem and the manger, the shepherds and angels, the Mother of God and Righteous Joseph the Betrothed, while the Orthodox celebrate, confessing the cornerstone of faith—the Incarnation of Christ, the manifestation of God in the flesh (1 Timothy 3:16). Out of His greatest love, the Lord descended to be born of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, uniting fallen humanity with God through Himself. "The Word became flesh so that we might be renewed and divinized in Him," says St. Athanasius the Great."  Metropolitan Nicholas’s Epistle is available in full in English here and in Russian here.

The November 2025 issue of “Word of the Church” (“Церковное Слово”), the official journal of the Australian-New Zealand Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, is now available in our parishes. This is the third and final issue (#3-4) for 2025.  Content includes a report on the Twenty-First Diocesan Assembly; the text of the Diocesan Assembly Resolution; an obituary of Archpriest Alexander Skorik; a report on and an extensive photo gallery of the consecration of a new church in Dandenong, Victoria, dedicated to Saint John of Kronstadt; a report on the Diocesan Liturgical Music Conference; and more.  Copies are $5.00.