Our next services will be Matins at 6.00pm on Saturday 26 August and Divine Liturgy at 9.00am on Sunday 27 August, the Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost, the day of commemoration of the Prophet Micah, and the Forfeast of the Dormition.  In accordance with a resolution of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, Divine Liturgy will be followed by a moleben to the canonised participants in the 1917-18 Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church and a memorial litia for the other participants.  The Council, a momentous event in the life of the Russian Orthodox Church that culminated in the restoration of the Patriarchate and the enthronement of Patriarch Tikhon (Belavin), opened in the Dormition Cathedral on the day of the feast in 1917.  Following these services an Epistle of Patriarch Kyrill on the occasion of the centenary of the Council will be read aloud.

On 6 June 2017 His Grace Bishop George announced that a reliquary containing relics of the New Martyrs of Russia will, in this year of the centenary of the Russian Revolution and the beginning of persecution by the godless authorities, visit parishes, monasteries and missions of our Diocese.  The reliquary will visit New South Wales parishes during July and August.  UPDATE, 17 July 2017: God willing, the relics will visit our parish on 18-19 August, being present for veneration during All-night Vigil and Divine Liturgy on the Great Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord.  Further information will be posted soon about the saints whose relics are enshrined in the reliquary.

Our June 2017 parish newsletter was published on 23 July 2017.  It includes parish news for June-July, information about the month ahead, details of the forthcoming Russian Orthodox Sacred Music Conference, and more.  To read it click here.  Copies are available in church and will be distributed by post during the week beginning 24 July 2017.

On Saturday 22 July and Sunday 23 July we had services for the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost and in honour of Venerable Anthony of the Kiev Caves (+1073 AD), the founder of Russian monasticism.  At Divine Liturgy the customary Prayer for Ukraine was read.  In his sermon the parish rector spoke about the life and monastic struggle of Venerable Anthony, the continuing importance of the monastic life, and the opportunities to practice humility and obedience when living in the world.  It being a sunny winter day, the parish children played soccer together in the churchyard following the service.

On Saturday 8 July and Sunday 9 July we had services for the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost and in honour of the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God, one of the great spiritual treasures of the Russian Orthodox Church.  Traditionally understood to be the work of the Apostle Luke, the icon was kept in Constantinople for many centuries before coming to Russia in the 1300s.  Taken to the United States in 1949, it was triumphantly returned to the Tikhvin Monastery in Russia’s north in 2004.  After serving a brief moleben before a copy of the icon at the end of Divine Liturgy on Sunday, the parish rector spoke about its history and the experience of Christian people receiving answer to prayers offered before it.  At the end of the service prayers of blessing were read over new incense received from the Saint Elizabeth Skete in Mohawk, New York.

An article about Orthodox Christianity entitled 'Feasts and fasts: the Eastern Orthodox Church', appeared in the July 2017 edition of Aurora, the magazine of the Catholic Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle.  Written by our parish rector at the invitation of Aurora's editor, the article briefly summarises the history, beliefs and spiritual life of the Orthodox Church.  The article can be read here.

The August 2017 issue of the official journal of the Australian-New Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia is now available in our parishes.  In addition to Epistle of the Council of Bishops of ROCOR in both Russian and English, there is a range of interesting articles in both languages.  In Russian: "На восстановление единства Русской Церкве была воля Божия"; "К 100-летию Февральской буржуазно-демократической революции"; "Успение Пресвятой Богородицы" and more.  In English: "Bishop George of Canberra visits the Eastern American Diocese"; "The opening of the relics of our Father among the Saints Mardarije, first Serbian bishop of America and Canada", "The Life of Saint Mardarije of Libertyville (+1935)"; and more.  Copies are $5.00.

From Wednesday 27 September until Monday 2 October this year, a Russian Orthodox Sacred Music Conference will be held in Brisbane.  Organised by the Diocesan Liturgical Music Committee, the conference programme will include lectures from eminent guest speakers including Archpriest Andre Papkov from Chicago, USA, intensive choral workshops and rehearsals at Saint Seraphim’s church and Saint Nicholas Cathedral, common meals, and a hierarchical All-night Vigil and Divine Liturgy at the church of Our Lady of Vladimir.  The cost – not including accommodation – will be $200.00 per person and $150.00 for students, with discounts available for early registration.  Details of accommodation packages will be made available in due course.  See also: https://www.facebook.com/ROCSingersANZ/ 

A group of young families working under the auspices of the Intercession of the Holy Virgin parish in Cabramatta, NSW, is again organising a camp for Russian and other Orthodox children and young people aged 8-17 to be held in Toukley, NSW - to be held not far from us on the Central Coast - from 10 December - 16 December 2017.  The cost will be $399.00 per person.  For those interested, more information is available here.

Under the leadership of Sophia Mikhailovna Boikov, the Sydney-based Russo-Chinese Orthodox Mission is raising funds for the construction of a church in Shonoktui, a small village in the Borzinsky district of the Zabaykalsky Krai.  The Zabaykalsky Krai, or Transbaikal Territory, is a federal subject of Russia that shares borders with China and Mongolia.  The church is to be dedicated to Saint Nicholas, the wonderworker of Myra in Lycia, and will be within the Chita Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church.  The building project has the blessing of the Diocesan authorities in Russia and the collection of funds in this Diocese has the blessing of Metropolitan Hilarion and Bishop George.   In July 2016 a cross was blessed at the site on which the church will be constructed.   Donations can be made at the candle-desk in our church, or by direct deposit to the account of the Russo-Chinese Orthodox Mission (Commonwealth Bank of Australia BSB 062-130 ACN 10484933).  This is a worthy project – please give generously!