Australian and New Zealand Diocese (ROCOR)

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…)

6th Sunday of Pascha – Sunday of the Blind Man

Kontakion, tone 4: Having the eyes of my soul blinded, I come to Thee, O Christ, like the man blind from birth, and with repentance I cry to Thee: Thou art the bright Light of those in darkness. (more…)

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Christ is Risen!

The Orthodox Church of the Holy Annunciation at 163 Park Rd Wooloongabba, with God’s help will soon begin services.

The coming Saturday (this refers to the past Saturday, 16th May – webmaster) commencing at 8:00am we will be holding a general clean up of the grounds and church building. As you can imagine as the church has not been used for several years there is a lot of work to be done. If anyone is able to come and lend a hand even for a short time it would be greatly appreciated. If you have access to items that can be used for cutting back trees etc or cleaning materials for inside the church then please also bring them along… if you have access to a ute or trailer that too would be handy to help with rubbish runs.

We hope to commence services the following weekend and as soon as I can confirm that I will post with the details but at this stage I expect we will serve Matins on Saturday the 23rd of May at 6:00pm and Liturgy at 8:00am on Sunday morning. (more…)

5th Sunday of Pascha – Sunday of the Samaritan Woman

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

“Jesus therefore, being wearied with His journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour. There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink” (Jn. 4:6-7). The Samaritan woman became filled with confusion and doubt of a purely worldly nature: How could He, a Jew, ask to drink from her, a Samaritan? The Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans. And even more, He said that if she knew Who He was, then she herself would ask drink from Him, and He would give her Living Water. How could He give her something to drink? Why, He didn’t even have anything to draw water with, and the well was deep. (more…)

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