On the weekend of Saturday-Sunday 28-29 June our parish rector will be visiting Saint Symeon of Verkhoturye Orthodox Mission on the NSW Mid North Coast.  On Sunday 29 June, the Third Sunday after Pentecost and the day of commemoration of Saint Tikhon, bishop of Amathus on Cyprus (+425), the Hours and Divine Liturgy  will be served at Bellingen Neighbourhood Centre, 31 Hyde Street, Bellingen NSW 2454.  There will be a Lenten meal afterwards.  All are welcome!

On Saturday 12 July and Sunday 13 July we will have services for the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost and in honour of the Twelve Apostles: Peter, Andrew, James the son of Zebedee, his brother John, Philip, Batholomew, Thomas, Mathew, James the son of Alpheus, Jude the brother of James (also known as Thaddeus), Simon the Zealot, and Matthias.  Matins will be served at 6.00pm on Saturday and the Hours and Divine Liturgy will be served at 9.00am on Sunday.

On Saturday 14 June and Sunday 15 June we had services for the First Sunday after Pentecost, the Sunday of All Saints.  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.  As the Sunday of All Saints was in May 2008 designated the Day of Youth of the Russian Church Abroad, a brief moleben was served at the end of Divine Liturgy on Sunday for the children and youth of our parish, our Diocese, and our whole Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia.

On Monday 9 June, the Second Day of Pentecost and the Day of the Holy Spirit, the Hours and Divine Liturgy were served at the site of the Holy Trinity Monastery in Monkerai, New South Wales (NSW).  Our parish rector presided at the services.  As Monday 9 June 2025 was the King’s Birthday public holiday in NSW, approximately thirty friends of the monastery from Newcastle, the Central Coast, Sydney, and the Mid North Coast were able to be present.  At Divine Liturgy prayers were offered for the unity of the Orthodox Church, peace in Ukraine, and peace in the Holy Land, and most of those present received Holy Communion.  At the end of Divine Liturgy a brief moleben was served for the monastery founders, benefactors, and workers, and prayers of blessing were read over icon-cards depicting the Holy Monastic Fathers in whose honour the monastery chapel is dedicated.   After the services those present enjoyed a festive lunch.

On Saturday 7 June and Sunday 8 June we had services for the Great Feast of Pentecost.  All-night Vigil with the blessing of wheat, wine, oil and five loaves was served on Saturday evening, and the Hours and Divine Liturgy was served on Sunday morning.  Prior to the services our small church had been beautifully decorated with flowers and green branches in honour of the life-giving Holy Spirit.  Immediately before the evening service on Saturday, a panikhida was served for the ever-memorable Subdeacon Vitaly Lupish (+9 June 2024) in anticipation of the first anniversary of his repose.  On Sunday morning, the Hours and Divine Liturgy were followed by Vespers with the reading of the customary "kneeling prayers".  At Divine Liturgy prayers were offered for the unity of the Orthodox Church and peace in Ukraine.

On Saturday 24 May and Sunday 25 May we had services for the Sixth Sunday of Pascha, the Sunday of the Blind Man.  Matins was served on Saturday evening.  On Sunday morning, His Eminence Archbishop George of Sydney, Australia and New Zealand arrived, visiting our parish in honour of our patronal feast of the Translation of the Relics of Saint Nicholas from Myra in Lycia to Bari. Following the greeting and vesting of the archbishop, the Hours and Divine Liturgy were served.  During the Sixth Hour our parishioner and altar server James Savage was tonsured a reader.  Concelebrating with Vladyka George were the parish rector and Protodeacon Alexander Kotlaroff.  At Divine Liturgy the choir sang under the direction of Ludmila Alexandrovsky.  A moleben to Saint Nicholas was served at the end of Divine Liturgy, and a festive meal was held in the church hall afterwards.  As it was Archbishop George’s seventy-fifth bishop, at lunch he was presented with a birthday cake and flowers, and all present sang ‘Happy Birthday’ and wished him many years.

On Wednesday 21 May and Thursday 22 May we had services commemorating the Translation of the Relics of Saint Nicholas from Myra in Lycia to Bari, Italy, in 1087 AD.  This was the patronal feast-day of our church.  All-night Vigil with the blessing of wheat, wine, oil and five loaves was served on Wednesday evening and the Hours and Divine Liturgy were served on Thursday morning.  Divine Liturgy was preceded by the Lesser Blessing of Water.  As the weather was inclement and many of our parishioners had work commitments, attendance at the services was modest.  On Thursday morning the parish rector was assisted by Deacon Michal Matys.

Our Winter 2025 Schedule of Services - covering June, July and August - is now available.  Services of particular note during this period will be All-night Vigil and Divine Liturgy on Saturday-Sunday 7-8 June for the Great Feast of Pentecost and All-night Vigil and Divine Liturgy on Wednesday-Thursday 27-28 August for the Great Feast of the Dormition of the Mother of God.  A copy of the English-language Winter 2025 Schedule of Services is available here, and a copy of the Russian-language Winter 2025 Schedule of Services is available here.  Printed copies will available in church as of Wednesday 21 May.

Our parishioners and friends will be saddened to learn that as of 29 April 2025, parish cleric Deacon Michal Matys has been formally transferred to Saint George Russian Orthodox Church in Carlton, NSW.  Father Michal was ordained to the diaconate in the Carlton parish on 6 May 2017 and served there until moving to the region and beginning to serve with us in October 2021.  He was formally assigned to our parish in February 2023, the first deacon assigned here in our long history.  We plan to formally recognise Father Michal's service at a later date. 

On Saturday 10 May and Sunday 11 May we had services for the Fourth Sunday of Pascha, the Sunday of the Paralytic.  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 and peace in Ukraine.

The April 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 first issue for 2025.  Content includes the 2025 Paschal Epistle of Archbishop George in Russian and English; articles in Russian and English concerning the March 2025 Pastoral Conference of our Diocese convened at the Holy Protection Cathedral in Brunswick (Melbourne), Victoria, during Great Lent; the text in Russian and English of a paper presented at that conference by Archpriest Nicholas Karipoff, ‘The Image of the Pastor: The Bible, Vitae of the Saints and Pastoral Theology’;  announcements concerning various awards bestowed on Diocesan clergy by the Synod of Bishops and by Archbishop George; articles in Russian marking the centenary of the repose of Patriarch Tikhon; articles in Russian and English about the December 2024 Diocesan Youth Conference (“Syezd”); a colour supplement of photographs from Chersonesus (near Sevastopol, Crimea); and more.  Copies are $5.00.

A man and a woman who meet the requirements of the both the Australian Marriage Act 1961 and the Marriage Regulations 2017 (the “legal requirements”) and of the Russian Orthodox Church (the “church requirements”) may be married in our parish and other Australian parishes of our Diocese.  In conjunction with Saint Panteleimon Russian Orthodox Church, Gosford, our parish has developed a helpful summary of the legal and church requirements for marriage that includes links to important forms and other resources.  This information, which can be accessed at our Baptisms, Weddings and Funerals page, has been prepared to help our parishioners and friends when planning weddings in parishes of the Australian-New Zealand Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia. Should anyone have any questions or concerns about this information, please contact us.

In conjunction with Saint Panteleimon Russian Orthodox Church, Gosford, our parish has developed an explanation of the reasons why weddings cannot be celebrated on certain days and dates and during certain seasons.  It incorporates a list of Sundays and Fridays on which weddings can be celebrated that has now been updated to include Sundays and Fridays in 2025, 2026 and 2027.  This information, which can be accessed either here or via our Baptisms, Weddings and Funerals page, has been prepared to help our parishioners and friends when planning weddings in parishes of the Australian-New Zealand Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia. Should anyone have any questions or concerns about this information, please contact us.

“The history of the Church is not only academic studies of the events of the past and narratives about the affairs of bygone days, the legends of ancient times, which are like the pages of a dusty book darkened by time. In the history of the Church, the Holy Spirit lives and acts, guiding us into all truth (John 16:13). That is why the study of Church history – to which I urge all of you – helps us to better understand many phenomena in contemporary religious life, teaches us to separate the main from the secondary and to distinguish spirits (1 Cor. 12:10), comprehending the all-wise Providence of God for the Church.”  Patriarch Kirill’s Epistle is available in full in Russian here.  A complete English-language translation will be shared as soon as it becomes available.

"The Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia finds it necessary to raise its voice out of bitter necessity, for we find that in a time of crisis and growing confrontation amongst nations, aspects of the Russian state and society are wandering onto an extremely dangerous path: instead of the promulgation of Christian repentance and purification, we observe in certain circles a return to a false, God-opposing ideology that prevailed in the last century. This return is fraught with harmful consequences. Should it continue, we fear that modern Russia risks being considered a dark stain amongst the nations, marked by a revival of spiritual corruption, instead of her being a radiant beacon of Orthodox Truth, which is surely the calling to which her long history of Christian piety directs her."  The full text of this important statement, released by the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia on Thursday 5 June 2025, can be read in English here and in Russian here.

The Twenty-First Diocesan Assembly of our Australian-New Zealand Diocese is to be held at Saints Peter and Paul Diocesan Cathedral in Strathfield, NSW, from the evening of Thursday 23 October until the afternoon of Sunday 26 October 2025.  As all Diocesan clergy will be participating in the Assembly, the only services in our Diocese on Saturday-Sunday 25-26 October will be at the Strathfield Cathedral.  A news article about the Twentieth Diocesan Assembly may be read here.  A delegate from amongst the laity to join the parish rector in representing our parish at the Assembly will be chosen at a parish meeting to be convened on Sunday 10 August 2025.  Further information about the parish meeting and the Twenty-First Diocesan Assembly will be made available in due course.

This year, 2025, is the centenary of the repose of two great hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church:  Saint Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia (31 January 1865 - 7 April 1925, canonised 1981) and Saint Jonah, Bishop of Hankow (17 April 1888- 20 October 1925, canonised 1996).  In recognition of this significant anniversary, the Synod of Bishops of our Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia has called upon the bishops and clergy to make a particular effort to remember these two holy bishops.  To this end, they are to be commemorated at the dismissal of each Divine Liturgy up until the Great Feast of the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple (4 December, the day of the Patriarchal enthronement of Saint Tikhon in 1918) and to remember Saint Tikhon in a sermon and with a moleben on Sunday 6 April, the Fifth Sunday in Great Lent and the eve of the anniversary of his repose.  As there will not be a service in our parish on that Sunday, arrangements for a moleben to Saint Tikhon and another to Saint Jonah will be made later in the year.  Holy Hierarchs Tikhon and Jonah, pray to God for us!