Sunday Night at the Movies…
This Sunday 18th of March Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral will be featuring the latest blockbuster – Ostrov
The movie will be showing in the church hall at Strathfield commencing after the evening service (with Passia) and an introduction by Fr George.
The Cross of Christ
Professor I.M. Andreyev
“O Invincible and incomprehensible and divine power of the precious and life-giving Cross, forsake not us sinners.”
(From the order of Great Compline)
The Cross is the mighty and profound symbol of Christianity, a symbol whose meaning is inexhaustible. The eight-pointed Cross is the symbol of Orthodoxy.
Gazing upon the Cross with his mind and heart, the Christian goes deeper into that symbol and grows spiritually.Continue Reading
A Homily on Fasting and Dispassion
Spoken at the beginning of the Great Fast by St Theodore the Studite
Brethren and fathers, the season of Lent, when compared to the whole year, may be likened to a storm-free harbour, in which all who are sailing together enjoy a spiritual calm. For the present season is one of salvation not for monks and nuns only, but also for lay people, for great and small, for rulers and ruled, for emperors and priests, for every race and for every age.Continue Reading
Service of Holy Unction in the Sydney area during Great Lent 2007
Is any among you sick, let him call for the presbyters of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed (Jas 5:14-16; see also Mk 6:13).
During the time of Great Lent, His Grace, Archbishop Hilarion, assisted by Sydney clergy, will serve the Service of Holy Unction (the Anointing of the Sick) at various parish churches.Continue Reading
Triumph of Orthodoxy
“This is the Apostolic faith, this is the faith of the Fathers,
this is the Orthodox faith – confirm this universal faith.”
Beloved brothers and sisters in the Lord, you will hear these solemn and significant words in the Rite of Orthodoxy which the Holy Church has established to be served on this day. The first week of Holy and Great Lent has ended a week of intensifled prayer and ascetical repentance. Now the Holy Church, desiring to encourage and console us, has established for us in this first week of Great Lent, on its first Sunday, a spiritual celebration, one most dear and close to our hearts – The Triumph of Orthodoxy.Continue Reading
Invitation to start of Young Adult Lecture Series
As part of an Australia-wide Diocesan initiative to meet the needs of the youth of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, an invitation is extended to all youth and young adults to attend an informal lecture (in English) to be given by His Grace Archbishop Hilarion at Holy Protection Church, Cabramatta on at 7.30pm on Thursday 1 March 2007.Continue Reading
The Synodal Youth Department Meets in New York
On February 13-14, the Synodal Youth Department convened under the chairmanship of His Grace Bishop Peter of Cleveland, Administrator of the Diocese of Chicago and Mid-America. Participating in this meeting was the Rector of St Nicholas Cathedral in Brisbaine, Australia, Protopriest Gabriel Makarov, who delivered a noteworthy lecture at the IV All-Diaspora Council; the Senior Priest of the Synodal Cathedral of Our Lady of the Sign, Protopriest Andrei Sommer; and Priest Serafim Gan, Personal Secretary of His Eminence Metropolitan Laurus, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.Continue Reading
Great Lenten Epistle of His Eminence Metropolitan Laurus, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia
Reverend Fathers, Dear in the Lord Brothers, Sisters and Children:
I send my heartfelt greetings to all of you on the arrival of the salvific period of Great Lent, the time designated for our inner self-examination. The Holy Church summons us towards this, that we purify ourselves with augmented prayers and fasting, that we illumine ourselves with the reading of spiritually-beneficial books and approach our God and Creator, our Heavenly Father and Closest Friend, Who invites us into His Kingdom, the Kingdom of Love, Peace, Mercy and Light.Continue Reading