Recordings of the Divine Liturgy and the Rite of Orthodoxy from the Sunday of Orthodoxy celebrated at Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral by His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion and cathedral clergy are available below.Continue Reading
Deacon Adrian Augustus was ordained to the Holy Priesthood by His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion during the Divine Liturgy celebrated on the first Sunday of Great Lent, the Sunday of Orthodoxy, at Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral, Strathfield, Sydney, Australia.
Priest Adrian will serve at the Church of the Archangel Michael in Blacktown.
Nativity of our Lord – All Night Vigil:
Nativity Epistle of His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion
of Eastern America and New York,
First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia
To the archpastors and brethren, the most honorable fathers, & all the Orthodox children of the Russian Diaspora, beloved in the Lord!
Seeing man perishing, whom He had created
with His own hands, the Creator, bowing
down the heavens, descendeth, and taketh on
the whole of human nature through the pure
Virgin, becoming truly incarnate, in that He
is all-glorious”
(Canon I of Christmas Matins, Ode I,
troparion 2, composed by St. Cosmas of Maiuma)
To the archpastors and brethren, the most honorable fathers,
& all the Orthodox children of the Russian Diaspora,
beloved in the Lord!
With these words of the Nativity Canon, so great in their profundity, we glorify Christ the Savior Who has now been born of the Virgin. Profound and substantial are the divine services in honor of this great feast, the Nativity of Christ. The words of its hymns and prayers are imbued with the glad tidings of the redemption of the human race, of the incomprehensible and glorious event of the divine Incarnation, which is revealed as the Savior’s great loving-kindness toward us sinners!
Christ is now born of the Virgin, so that, having taken upon Himself human nature, He might bring an end to the cruel power of the tormenter of souls, the devil; for only a God Who had become man could deliver us from it. The Master of creation, Whom the angels and the whole world He created obey, lies humbly, wrapped in swaddling clothes, and forgives our offenses, calling us all to a life renewed!Continue Reading
