Monthly Archives: March 2020

March 22, 2020 · 12:15 pm

Word of Consolation for the Pandemic

Archimandrite Zacharias Zacharou
19 March 2020

Many people are in confusion and others panic because of the threat of the Coronavirus epidemic that spread in the whole world. I think, however, that this should not happen, for whatever God does with us, He does it out of love. The God of Christians is a good God, a God of mercy and loving kindness, ‘Who loveth mankind’. God created us out of His goodness in order to share His life and even His glory with us. When we fell into sin, He allowed death to enter our life again out of goodness, so that we may not become immortal in our wickedness, but to seek for a way of salvation. Continue reading →

Comments Off on Word of Consolation for the Pandemic

Filed under Readings

March 22, 2020 · 11:58 am

A MESSAGE FROM FR ELIAS

A MESSAGE FROM FR ELIAS (St Haralambos, Tempestowe, Vic)

Many of us are ‘shell shocked’ over the current situation and the repercussions it’s having on our life especially on our ability to worship freely in our Churches. However perhaps this is a ‘penance’ imposed on us, out of love, by God in order to ‘jolt’ us back into reality. Continue reading →

Comments Off on A MESSAGE FROM FR ELIAS

Filed under Readings

March 22, 2020 · 11:44 am

Veneration of the Holy Cross

Third Sunday of Lent, Veneration of the Holy Cross, Mark 8: 34-38, 9:1

In any kind of difficult challenge, it’s always inspiring to know that you are half way to the end. It might be a race, a school year, or a project at work; if you’ve made it this far, you know that you can eventually reach your goal.
We are now half way through the season of Lent, and the Church calls our attention today to the great symbol of victory, the great sign of hope, our Lord’s cross. During the time of Jesus Christ’s earthly ministry, of course, no one was inspired by the cross, for it was a feared instrument of execution. No one honoured the cross and certainly no one thought that God’s Messiah would die on one. Continue reading →

Comments Off on Veneration of the Holy Cross

Filed under Great Lent, Lenten Homilies

March 22, 2020 · 11:27 am

UPDATED ENCYCLICAL FROM HIS EMINENCE ARCHBISHOP MAKARIOS

UPDATED ENCYCLICAL FROM HIS EMINENCE ARCHBISHOP MAKARIOS REGARDING THE COVID-19 (CORONA-VIRUS)

Your Graces, beloved fathers and beloved children,

With pain of soul, but at the same time, with a sense of pastoral responsibility on a sensitive matter which concerns public health, I communicate to you that, due to the extraordinary measures that the Federal Government of Australia took to restrict the spread of the Coronavirus, we are compelled to suspend public worship in our Churches. Continue reading →

Comments Off on UPDATED ENCYCLICAL FROM HIS EMINENCE ARCHBISHOP MAKARIOS

Filed under Great Lent, Readings

March 19, 2020 · 10:29 am

Sermon in English for 2nd Sunday of Lent (Sunday of St Gregory Palamas)

Comments Off on Sermon in English for 2nd Sunday of Lent (Sunday of St Gregory Palamas)

Filed under Videos

March 19, 2020 · 10:18 am

Overcoming Paralysis Through Humble Repentance

2nd Sunday of Lent, St Gregory Palamas, Mark 2: 1-12

Imagine how you would react if you went to the doctor to be cured of a disease and were told in response “Your sins are forgiven.” You would probably look for another physician pretty quickly. We seek medical care in order to regain our health, not to be forgiven for wrongs we have done. How sad, then, when we approach Christ wanting only forgiveness without the healing of our souls. Continue reading →

Comments Off on Overcoming Paralysis Through Humble Repentance

Filed under Sunday Homilies

March 19, 2020 · 10:11 am

The Will of God…

~ Words of the Church Fathers ~

No good thing can be brought to completion by our own efforts, but by the power and will of God. However, God demands effort on our part to conform to His will.
+ Saints Barsanuphius and John

Someone asked “Where is God?” – “Where you have left Him.”
If we turn to Him and follow Him He is with us and in us.
+ Bishop Paulos, Satista

If a man listens to God, then God listens to him.
+ Abba Moses

“But I say to you,” the Lord says, “love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, pray for those who persecute you.” Why did he command these things? So that he might free you from hatred, sadness, anger and grudges, and might grant you the greatest possession of all, perfect love, which is impossible to possess except by the one who loves all equally in imitation of God.
+ St Maximus the Confessor

Comments Off on The Will of God…

Filed under Wisdom of the Church Fathers

March 8, 2020 · 1:18 pm

Sunday of Orthodoxy

John 1: 43-51

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. In the 8th and 9th century, for more than one hundred years, the Church of Christ was troubled by the persecution of the Iconoclasts (those who hated Icons), beginning in the reign of Leo III (d. 741) and ending in the reign of Theophilus (d. 842). Continue reading →

Comments Off on Sunday of Orthodoxy

Filed under Great Lent, Readings, Sunday Homilies

March 8, 2020 · 1:02 pm

That Secret Things Might be Revealed…

~ Words of the Church Fathers ~

All images reveal and make perceptible those things which are hidden. For example, a man does not have immediate knowledge of invisible things, since the soul is veiled by the body. Nor can man have immediate knowledge of things which are distant from each other or separated by place, because he himself is limited by place and time.

Therefore the icon was devised that he might advance in knowledge, and that secret things might be revealed and made perceptible. Therefore, icons are a source of profit, help, and salvation for all, since they make things so obviously manifest, enabling us to perceive hidden things. Thus, we are encouraged to desire and imitate what is good and to shun and hate what is evil.

St John of Damascus

Comments Off on That Secret Things Might be Revealed…

Filed under Readings, Wisdom of the Church Fathers

March 8, 2020 · 12:57 pm

Sermon in English for Sunday of Orthodoxy

Please note: For clearer audio quality, listen with earphones

Comments Off on Sermon in English for Sunday of Orthodoxy

Filed under Sunday Homilies, Videos