The Great Feast of the Nativity of our Lord was celebrated at Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral by the Cathedral clergy – Archpriest George Lapardin, Priest Simeon Nekipelov, Protodeacon Boris Evstigneev and Protodeacon Alexander Kotlaroff.

Please see below for a photoreport from both the eve and the day of the Feast.Continue Reading

Most Reverend fellow archpastors, most honorable fathers, brothers and sisters!

With profoundly heartfelt spiritual joy I greet all the faithful children of the Russian Church Abroad, spread all over the world like kernels of God’s wheat, with the great and salutary Feast of Christ’s Nativity! May the Lord send all of us this joy which saves the world. This gladness is the fruit of the struggle of faith, and stems from the triumph of the Incarnation, from God becoming man, from hearing the celestial doxology from the heavens above the city of Bethlehem.Continue Reading

With the blessing of His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion, the forty-seventh annual Youth Conference of the Australian and New Zealand (A&NZ) Diocese was held at Wisemans Ferry, a historic village on the Hawkesbury River just to the north of Sydney, from the afternoon of Tuesday December 27 until the morning of Saturday December 31. The theme of the conference was ‘Against the Tide: Maintaining our Orthodoxy in Challenging Times’Continue Reading

The Priest, having set aside the censer and bowed his head, saith to  the Deacon: 

Pray for me, my  brother and concelebrant.

Deacon:  May the Holy Spirit  come upon thee and the power of the Most High overshadow thee.Continue Reading

The Synod of Bishops, at its meeting on Friday, December 9, 2011, heard a report by the Synod Treasurer in which he discussed the maintenance and renovation of the building of the Synod of Bishops on Park Avenue in New York.

The building is magnificent, but demands enormous resources for its upkeep and constant renovation, which the Synod of Bishops does not possess. The previously-proposed projects of renovating and maintaining the building did not correspond to the needs of the Synod of Bishops.Continue Reading

The weekend of 26-27 November 2011 was the last time the Holy Kursk-Root Icon of the Mother of God was present for a service in Australia for 2011.

On Saturday 26th the Holy Icon was brought for the All-Night Vigil at the Diocesan Cathedral of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in Strathfield. The following day, Sunday 27th November, the icon was again present in the Cathedral for the the Divine Liturgy.Continue Reading

In recent years, a great many young Russian families have settled in the Hornsby Shire on Sydney’s northern fringe.  Forging strongs friendships amongst themselves, these families have also gravitated towards the parish of Saint Panteleimon in Gosford, becoming active there in parish life.

The young parents there have for some time considered the possibility of a Russian language school in the Hornsby region.  Their hopes became reality when, with the blessing of Metropolitan Hilarion, the Saint Seraphim Russian Community School commenced lessons at Mount Colah Public School on Sunday 13 November 2011.  Prior to classes beginning, Hornsby mayor Nick Berman cut the ribbon with representatives from both Russian (“Edinenie”) and English (“Bush Telegraph”) newspapers in attendance.Continue Reading

Over 25-26 November the Holy Wonderworking Kursk-Root Icon of the Mother of God was taken by plane to Brisbane by its guardian Deacon Nicholas Olhovsky. There the Icon visited the Saint Nicholas Cathedral in Kangaroo Point and the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God Church in Rocklea.Continue Reading