New Approaches to Youth Events
2026-05-05
Each year, a dedicated group of volunteers has put in a huge amount of time and energy to organise two main events:
- The Teen Retreat for 13-17 year olds
- The Syezd for 18-29 year olds
Teen Retreat 2025 in Geelong
2025-12-31
Day one in Geelong kicked off with registration and a Mexican themed dinner, followed by a Moleben in the church. The night continued with fun games and getting to know each other before finishing with evening prayers and heading off to the accommodation, the perfect start to the retreat
Day 2 was filled with engaging workshops, lectures, shared meals and socialising. In the afternoon there was choir rehearsal and confession before coming together for a beautiful Vigil service in the evening.
Day 3 brought the rain but with a Beautiful liturgy, surprise visit from the Tsar, Q&A, winner of 1526 Jelly Beans, workshops, “Palka”, table tennis and a surprise visit from “Bindi”.Continue Reading
Invitation to the 2022 Australian and New Zealand Diocese Teen Retreat
2022-11-30
With the blessing of His Grace George, Bishop of Sydney, Australia and New Zealand, the Teen Retreat in 2022 will be held in Melbourne, Victoria.Continue Reading
The 8th Teen Retreat of the Australian and New Zealand Diocese
2019-01-01
The 2018 Teen Retreat saw almost 60 high school students, from parishes around Australia, travel to Stanwell Tops, south of Sydney, from 16-21 December – the eighth in a series of successful Teen Retreats hosted by different cities of our Diocese.
The highlight of the first day saw the Teen Retreat receiving the Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God as it travelled around the country. A moleben was served in its presence to open the retreat, followed by venerating the icon and a talk from Bishop George of Canberra on the history of the icon. This proved to be a wonderful beginning to the Retreat, followed by Icebreaker games run by Helen Alalikin. As always, it didn’t take long to feel as if the Retreaters had long known each other.Continue Reading
The Kursk-Root Icon of the Mother of God arrived in Australia
2018-12-18
On Friday, 14 December 2018, His Grace Bishop George of Canberra brought the holy Kursk-root Icon of the Mother of God from New York to the Australian and New Zealand Diocese. At 10am the faithful of Sydney parishes greeted the holy icon at the Diocesan Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul in Strathfield where a moleben was served.
On Saturday, 15 December 2018 and Sunday, 16 December 2018, the holy icon was present at Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral Strathfield for the services which were led by His Grace Bishop George. Co-serving with His Grace were the cathedral clergy protopriest George Lapardin, priest Michael Storozhev and protodeacon Alexander Kotlaroff.Continue Reading
Australian and New Zealand 7th Annual Russian Orthodox Teen Retreat
2018-01-03
Forty five teenagers aged 13-17 travelled from all over Australia to attend the 7th Annual Russian Orthodox Teen Retreat held this year from December 17-22 at Stanwell Tops Conference Centre.
Hosted this year by the Sydney Parishes, the retreat was also attended by local and visiting clergy, guest speakers and supervisors.Continue Reading
The 6th Diocesan Teen Retreat Concluded
2016-12-27
From 19-23 December, 2016, the Diocesan Teen Retreat was held on the Sunshine Coast in southeast Queensland, with the blessing of Metropolitan Hilarion.
The organising committee, successively headed by Priest John Weir and Priest Andrew Smith, had selected the Sunshine Coast Recreation Centre as the place for just over 50 teens, travelling from near and far, to draw closer to God and develop connections that will last a lifetime. When planning, the successful balance of spiritual with social was maintained – the mornings had talks and discussions from invited guests, the afternoons had organised outdoor activities, while the evenings had enjoyable indoor activities and free time for socialising.Continue Reading