Just four days after his arrival in Australia on 19 August 1949, seventy years ago this year, Archpriest John Lupish served the funeral of one year-old Irene Solomko. The child Irene died in an epidemic of measles and broncho-pneumonia that swept through the Greta Migrant Camp that year and was laid to rest in the Greta Cemetery.  Father John later presided at five more burials at Greta: that of another child, Vsevelod Shinilov (+1949), Larisa Klebakin (+1950), Lydia Elagin (+1956), Alexander Melnikov (+1970) and Ivan Elagin (+1977).  In 2015 it was resolved that a memorial service would be held at Greta Cemetery each year on the closest convenient Saturday to the anniversary of Irene Solomko's burial.  This year, the memorial service will be held on Saturday 24 August at 11.00am.  At the service prayers will be offered for the repose of the ever-memorable Archpriest John (+1977), his matushka Maria (+1979), and all those Orthodox Christians buried in the Greta Cemetery.  Kutiya, the sweet grain dish customarily prepared for Orthodox services for the departed, will be blessed and shared.

On the weekend of Saturday-Sunday 24-25 August we will have services for the Tenth Sunday after Pentecost, the Afterfeast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, and in honour of Martyrs Photius and Anicetus (+305-306 AD).  Matins will be served at 6.00pm on Saturday and Divine Liturgy will be served at 9.00am on Sunday.  Following Divine Liturgy on Sunday there will be a blessing of honey.

On Saturday 10 August and Sunday 11 August we had services for the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost and in honour of Martyr Callinicus of Gangra in Asia Minor (3rd-4th C.).  In his sermon at Divine Liturgy on Sunday the parish rector spoke about the integrity and the heroic endurance of Martyr Callinicus and the importance of these things in bearing witness to the Christian faith, both in ancient times and in the present day.

On Saturday 27 July and Sunday 28 July we had services for the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost and in honour of the Holy Fathers of the first six Ecumenical Councils and Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Great Prince Vladimir, enlightener of the Russian people (+AD 1015).  Serving together with the parish rector on Saturday evening was Protodeacon German Polorotov, a cleric of the Saints Cyril and Methodius Community and Saint Xenia church in Tweed Heads, NSW.  On the following morning a blessing of water was served at 8.00am in commemoration of the baptism of Rus’.  Joining Fathers James and German and presiding at Divine Liturgy was Archpriest Quentin de Castelbajac, rector of the parish of Saint John the Russian in Lyon, France.  Following the Prayer before the Amvon there was a brief moleben to Saint Vladimir, and at the dismissal the faithful were sprinkled with the holy water.

On Saturday 13 July and Sunday 14 July we had services for the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost and in honour of the Holy Unmercenary Healers Cosmas and Damian of Rome (+284 AD).  In his sermon at Divine Liturgy the parish rector spoke about the way in which Saints Cosmas and Damian, gifted physicians, had radically applied the injunction of Christ: “Freely ye have received, freely give” (Matthew 10:8).  Noting that the kindness and selfless generosity of these two brother-saints had drawn many to the Gospel, he emphasised the importance of the pursuit of holiness in the Christian life as a means of revealing the truth to those around us.

On Saturday 13 July the parish rector, Archpriest James Carles, baptised Georgie Gooda, the infant daughter of Jared Gooda and Katia Chernyshova.  Georgie, who was given the name Ksenia in baptism in honour of Blessed Ksenia of Saint Petersburg, had as her godparents her maternal grandmother Natalia Markuardt and Father James.  We warmly congratulate Jared and Katia, and pray that God will grant His newly-baptised handmaiden good health, every blessing from above, and many years!

On Saturday 6 July the Saint Naum of Ohrid Serbian Orthodox parish in Broadmeadow celebrated its patronal feast-day (or “slava”).  Saint Naum, one of the disciples of Saints Cyril and Methodius, Apostles to the Slavs, is commemorated on 3 July.  His Grace Siluan, Ruling Bishop of the Serbian Orthodox Metropolitanate of Australia and New Zealand, presided at Divine Liturgy, concelebrating with the rector of that parish, Presbyter Dalibor Pavlovic; our rector Archpriest James Carles; Presbyter Branko Bosancic, rector of Saint John the Baptist Serbian Orthodox parish in Wollongong, NSW); and Deacon Milosh Raketich.  Praying in church was Protopresbyter-Stavrophore Miodrag Peric, the Serbian Orthodox Dean of New South Wales, and many visitors from Sydney and Wollongong.  At the end of Divine Liturgy there was a threefold procession around the church with readings from the Holy Gospel and the blessing of the slavksi kolach – a special rounded loaf of bread - and of koliva.  Many gathered in the parish hall afterwards for a festive meal and a programme of spiritual and cultural items.

The July 2019 issue of “Word of the Church” (“Церковное Слово”), the official journal of the Australian-New Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, is now available in our parishes.  As usual, it contains a range of interesting articles in both Russian and English.  In Russian: “Богородице-Казанский Монастырь готовится отметить 60-летие”; “Православный Богословский Институт Святых Кирилла и Мефодия”; “Храмы и их история память о Романовых за Рубежом”; “О неприкосновенности жизни человека с момента зачатия”; and more.  In English: material concerning the twentieth anniversary of the Holy Fathers Mission in Warrnambool, Victoria; an article about the July 2019 residential school of the Saints Cyril and Methodius Orthodox Institute; an interview with Metropolitan Onuphry (Berezovsky), Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church; lives of the Orthodox Popes of Rome; and an article about why some priests can refuse to be spiritual fathers.  Copies are $5.00.

On 29 May 2019 His Grace Bishop George of Canberra advised parish rectors and monastic superiors that the Nineteenth Diocesan Assembly of the Australian-New Zealand Diocese would be convened at the Saints Peter and Paul Diocesan Cathedral in Strathfield, NSW, in November 2019.  Commencing on the evening of Thursday 14 November and concluding on the afternoon of Sunday 17 November, the Assembly will coincide with Diocesan celebrations of the thirty-fifth anniversary of Metropolitan Hilarion’s consecration to the episcopacy on 10 December 1984.  As all Diocesan clergy will be participating in the Assembly and associated commemorative activities, the only services in our Diocese on Saturday-Sunday 16-17 November will be at the Strathfield Cathedral.  Information about the Eighteenth Diocesan Assembly, held in Cabramatta in November 2016, is available here.

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 - here on the Central Coast - from 15 December - 20 December 2019.  The cost will be $425.00 per person, or $399.00 if payment is made by 30 September 2019.  For those interested, more information is available here.