Australian and New Zealand Diocese (ROCOR)

5th Sunday of Pascha – Sunday of the Samaritan Woman

Homily From “The One Thing Needful,” Sermons of Archbishop Andrei (Rymarenko)

Today, we Orthodox Christians are still on the Mount of Olives. The after-feast of the Ascension is going on; but these are already the last days. In another two or three days we will have to descend the Mount of Olives. And today, Sunday, a question arises for us Orthodox Christians: to where?

As if in answer to this question, the Holy Church at the same time opens the doors for us and says: The Tree of Life of Paradise is already restored the Eucharist, the Body and Blood of Christ. For each of us the doors are open: come and see, take and receive. Here is that great dogma which was revealed by the Lord in the restoration of that great thing which was lost by Adam – the Tree of Life. “Whoso eateth My Flesh, and drinketh My Blood hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day” (Jn. 6:54). He who eats the Flesh and drinks the Blood of Christ has life eternal, but…

Here the Holy Church defines this “but” for us. What is this “but”? The doors are open. The Eucharist is prepared. The Holy Church is prepared to receive each of us in the Divine Lit-urgy. But for this, it is necessary for us to be prepared. What does this “preparation” consist of? This day, the day we call the Sunday of the Holy Fathers, gives us the answer. Here begins the establishment of rules which a Christian must follow in order to receive the New Testament Tree of Life the Body and Blood of Christ which will give life to man. (more…)

7th Sunday of Pascha – The Holy Fathers

VESPERS

Genesis 14:14-20

14 And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan. 15 And he divided himself against them, he and his servants, by night, and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus. 16 And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people. 17 And the king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer, and of the kings that were with him, at the valley of Shaveh, which is the king’s dale. 18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God. 19 And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth: 20 And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all. (more…)

В Оренбург прибыла делегация из Австралии: митрофорный протоиерей Михаил Протопопов, профессор Мельбурнского университета и благочинный южных штатов Австралийско-Новозеландской епархии, также  председатель Русского благотворительного общества и настоятель основанного оренбургскими казаками храма Святителя Николая Чудотворца в городе Брисбене протоиерей Гавриил Макаров в сопровождении товарища атамана Центрального войскового казачьего общества казачьего полковника Валерия Анненко.

Священники с Зеленого континента привезли в Оренбург икону Великомученика Георгия Победоносца, которую передал в родные края оренбургский казак – сын белого офицера Дмитрий Речкалов ( сейчас атаман австралийской Сводно-Казачьей станицы в Новом Южном Уэльсе), сообщает ИА REGNUM Новости. (more…)

The Ascension of the Lord

Homily From “The One Thing Needful,” Sermons of Archbishop Andrei (Rymarenko)

“While He blessed them, He was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. And they worshipped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy”…with great joy … “and were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God” (Lk. 24:51-3).

If, during the course of six weeks, the Holy Church has been teaching us to preserve this peace which Christ granted on the first day of His Resurrection, saying: “Peace be unto you” (Jn. 20:19), then now this feeling of peace should fill our hearts. You see, this feeling of peace appears in all of us as an expectation of joy. People search for some kind of rest, some kind of com-fort. For this they travel from place to place in order to find peace. And yet this peace is within them, only in an unrevealed state. Peace is that gift which the Lord gave to us, that peace which keeps a person in a kind of unearthly state of joy. This is what the Holy Church has been teach-ing us during the six weeks of Easter: to be close to Christ, to preserve this peace, protect our-selves from those things which, entering our heart, might disturb this peace. (more…)

Our Lord’s Ascension – 40 days after Pascha

VESPERS

Isaiah 2:2-3

2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. 3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. (more…)

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Christ is Risen!

Important Announcement!

Metropolitan Hilarion will be presiding over the Apodosis of Pascha service, at the Archbishop’s Chapel, Croydon.

The Paschal Matins will be sung in English immediately followed by the Divine Liturgy (also according to the Paschal Typica).

It will be held Tuesday May 26, commencing at 11.30 pm.

The service is expected to conclude at approx. 1.30am, following which light refreshments will be offered in the church hall. Please be mindful of our neighbours and keep street noise down to a bare minimum.

Please forward this to your friends and colleagues in our community.

The patrons of the Archbishop’s chapel, Croydon

18 Chelmsford Ave, Croydon
For further information: 0418 458 363 – Archpriest Michael Boikov

6th Sunday of Pascha – Sunday of the Blind Man

Homily From “The One Thing Needful,” Sermons of Archbishop Andrei (Rymarenko)

Last Sunday, the Sunday of the Samaritan woman, the Holy Church told us how Christ raises a person from an earthly, carnal state of mind to the state in which a human being thirsts to worship God and pray to Him. You see, the Samaritan woman came to the well for physical water which satisfies only earthly thirst. But when Christ revealed her sins to her, and she ran to Him in repentance, then in her awakened spiritual thirst, the thirst for Living Water springing up into everlasting life, the thirst for communion with God, her first question was about prayer: where one should worship God, how to pray. Now today’s Gospel gives us a model for prayer. (more…)