Australian and New Zealand Diocese (ROCOR)

“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. (more…)

Вот и Великий пост — «время покаяния», «жительство Ангелов и спасение человеков», духовная отрада для истинно верующих душ.

Отношение к посту, в наше время особенно, есть яркое мерило церковности. Церковно настроенные христиане радуются при наступлении Великого поста, ибо спасительная стихия поста, очищающего и освящающего их души, это — их родная стихия. Люди, отошедшие от Церкви, утратившие дух подлинной церковности, как бы не замечают наступления поста, он для них словно не существует, а некоторые из них относятся к посту прямо враждебно. И таких в нынешнее время большинство. (more…)

Длится Великий пост. В наше страшное время этот святейший период церковного года имеет особое значение.

Для чего установлен Великий пост? Чтобы очистить воздержанием и молитвой человеческую душу, пробудить и возродить ее перед великим праздником Воскресения Христова и сделать ее способной принять тот отблеск подлинной вечной радости, какая подается христианам на Пасху в большей степени, чем во все прочие праздники. (more…)

Сколь велико снисхождение Божие к нам, грешным! Зная, как привязаны мы к житейским заботам, как волнует нас мысль о куске хлеба и об устройстве своего земного благосостояния, Он милостиво разрешает нам трудиться ради удовлетворения наших насущных потребностей целых шесть дней в неделю. «Шесть дней делай, — говорит Он в четвертой заповеди Своего Божественного закона, — шесть дней даю тебе на заботы о земном, — твори в течение их дела твоя, а Мне дай только один: день же седьмый — субботу — посвяти Господу Богу твоему! (см.: Исх 20, 9—10). (more…)

Tithes and Offerings

Very Rev Dr Michael Protopopov OAM
Dean of the Churches in the State of Victoria
A Lecture from the 42nd Annual Russian Orthodox Youth Conference
Adelaide, December 2006

MANY YOUNG PEOPLE, having heard the account of Our Lord overturning the tables of the money changers and driving them from the Temple in Jerusalem,[1] believe that money has no place in the life of the Church. This belief is reinforced by such quotations as: “Money is the root of all evil[2] … A rich man shall find it almost impossible to enter the Kingdom of Heaven[3] …etc.” (more…)

Have a look at the new What is Orthodoxy? section.

An Orthodox Perspective on the Da Vinci Code

Archpriest Nicholas
Lecture 10 from the 2004 Youth Conference

As Orthodox Christians, why would we bother worrying about, or even reviewing, a novel? In the 21st century, we are living in the post-Christian era. This does not mean that Society now considers Christianity redundant and outmoded, supplanted by modern philosophy and science, and even by new theology – end of story. This may well be the case, but it is not sufficient; Christianity must now be attacked and ‘proved’ wrong. How? (more…)

The Nature of the Soul

Priest David Moser
Lecture 11 from the 2004 Youth Conference

What is a soul? You know we talk a lot about the soul, but did you ever stop and try to figure out what it is we’re talking about? We talk about saving the soul, but what is it that we’re saving. Earlier we talked about some of the theories developed by psychologists that try to describe the inner workings of the person, and probably that is the closest secular description of the soul, but even psychology doesn’t fully grasp what the soul is. (more…)

Orthodox Latvia : St John of Riga

Presented by Protodeacon Basil Yakimov
Author Unknown
Lecture 8 from the 2004 Youth Conference

Janis (John) Pommer was born to a peasant family in the district of Vendzen, Latvia in 1876. He had no Russian blood, even though he later showed a great love for Russia. His great-grandfather had been one of the first to accept the Orthodox Faith in this region, and as a result he had been subjected to severe persecution.

At that time there was a great interest in Orthodoxy among the peasants of Lithlandia, thanks to the preaching which had been begun in the Latvian language. (more…)

Identity and Intimacy

Priest David Moser
Lecture 5 from the 2004 Youth Conference

About 7 times a minute in Australia, as well as in the US a great miracle occurs, a child is born. From the moment of his birth each child begins to be shaped by his interaction with the world around him. At the very beginning, the child knows nothing of the world around him and he begins to figure out what the nature of this world is. (more…)