SUNDAY 11 SEPTEMBER
† Sunday Before the Exultation of the Holy Cross | Matthew 28:16-20
† St Theodora the Martyr of Alexandria
• 7.30 – 11.00am Orthros and Divine Liturgy
• 10.30 – 11.00am Sunday School for ages ranging 5 to 17 yrs.
Lessons take place in the building behind the church and begin at the time of Holy Communion until Church dismissal. Lessons are taught in a relaxed, friendly environment. Please bring your children along to learn of their rich Orthodox faith and come close to God and His Love.
• 11.00am – 12.00pm After Church each Sunday, join us in our Coffee Room.
• 3.00pm Join us in the Church Hall for an Afternoon Tea in support of the Geelong Monastery, Panagia Gorgoepikoos. Mother Kallistheni will be our special guest speaker. Continue reading
Category Archives: Readings
WEEKLY PROGRAM | 11 – 17 SEPTEMBER
Filed under Readings, Weekly Program
WEEKLY PROGRAM | 28 AUGUST – 3 SEPTEMBER
SUNDAY 28 AUGUST
† 10th Sunday of Matthew | Matthew 17:14-23
† St Moses the Ethiopian
• 7.30 – 11.00am Orthros and Divine Liturgy
• 10.30 – 11.00am Sunday School for ages ranging 5 to 17 yrs.
Lessons take place in the building behind the church and begin at the time of Holy Communion until Church dismissal. Lessons are taught in a relaxed, friendly environment. Please bring your children along to learn of their rich Orthodox faith and come close to God and His Love.
• 11.00am – 12.00pm After Church each Sunday, join us for tea & coffee in our Coffee Room. Continue reading
Filed under Readings
WEEKLY PROGRAM | 14 – 20 AUGUST
SUNDAY 14 AUGUST
† 8th Sunday of Matthew | Matthew 14: 14-22
† Holy Prophet Micah
• 7.30 – 11.00am Orthros and Divine Liturgy
• 10.30 – 11.00am Sunday School for ages ranging 5 to 17 yrs.
Lessons take place in the building behind the church and begin at the time of Holy Communion until Church dismissal. Lessons are taught in a relaxed, friendly environment. Please bring your children along to learn of their rich Orthodox faith and come close to God and His Love.
• 11.00am – 12.00pm After Church each Sunday, join us for tea & coffee in our Coffee Room.
• 5.00pm Vesper Service
This Week’s Readings:
Filed under Readings, Weekly Program
SERMON ON THE DORMITION OF THE MOST HOLY THEOTOKOS
“Magnify O my soul, the honourable Translation of the Mother of God from earth to heaven.”
(Refrain for the 9th Ode of the Canon)
Let us be happy, beloved brothers and sisters that we belong to the Holy Orthodox Church, worthily and rightly glorifying the Most Holy Sovereign Theotokos on this eminent day out of all the days of the year with special solemnity. There exists on earth many societies and entire governments that do not consider the need nor the obligation to call upon and glorify the Queen of heaven and earth, the Mother of Our Divine Lord Jesus Christ, and other saints and angels; to submissively serve Her lovingly, as the true Mother of God. Sadly in Russia nowadays we have heretics (among us) who actively dishonour the Mother of God, the saints, their icons, their relics and their festivals. O, if only they also unanimously with us glorified the worthy Queen of heaven and earth! Continue reading
Filed under Feast Days, Readings
Homily on the Dormition of the Theotokos
∼ Words from the Church Fathers ∼
“The Most Holy Mother of God prays for us ceaselessly. She is always visiting us. Whenever we turn to her in our heart, she is there. After the Lord, she is the greatest protection for mankind.
How many churches there are in the world that are dedicated to the Most Holy Mother of God! How many healing springs where people are cured of their ailments have sprung up in places where the Most Holy Theotokos appeared and blessed those springs to heal both the sick and the healthy!
She is constantly, by our side, and all too often we forget her.”
+Elder Thaddeus, Homily on the Dormition of the Theotokos
Filed under Feast Days, Readings, Wisdom of the Church Fathers
Homily for 7th Sunday of St Matthew
Matthew 9:27-35
In the book of the Prophet Isaiah it is written that, when the Messiah comes He will cure our illnesses. “Behold, our God renders judgment, and He will render it; He will come and save us. Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall hear” (Is. 35:4-5).
In today’s divine Gospel this prophesy has been fulfilled before us. Two blind men, as Jesus Christ was passing by, “followed Him, crying out and saying, ‘Son of David, have mercy on us'” (Matth.9:27). These men were deprived of the greatest gift from God, their sight, and for many years lived in darkness. They struggled to survive by begging in the streets of their home town and were unable to see even their beloved ones. Although blind, they were not deaf. They heard about Jesus of Nazareth. They listened to the stories, which their fellow countrymen were saying, about the miracles that this young Rabbi was performing and within their hearts a great hope was building up. They listened to the loud voice, arising from the depths of their hearts, crying and saying to them: ‘He is the only One, Who can help you. He is the One, Who all nations are waiting for. He is the Son of David. He is the Messiah of Whom the Prophets have spoken about. He is the Saviour of the world, Whom God the Father has sent for the salvation of mankind. He is the true Physician of both soul and body. He is the only One Who can give you the light, because He is the Light of the world’. Continue reading
Filed under Readings, Sunday Homilies
St Paisios on Praying at Home
∼ Words from the Church Fathers ∼
Silence greatly helps in spiritual life. It is good for one to practice silence for about an hour a day: to test himself, to acknowledge his passions and to fight in order to cut them off and purify his heart. It is very good if there is a quiet room in the house which gives him the feeling of a monastic cell. There, ‘in secret’, he is able to do his spiritual maintenance, to study, and to pray. A little spiritual study done before prayer helps greatly. The soul warms up and the mind is transported to the spiritual realm. That’s why, when a person has many distractions during the day, he should rejoice if he has ten minutes for prayer, or even two minutes to read something, so as to drive away distractions.
St. Paisios the Athonite (1924-1994), from Family Life
Filed under Readings, Wisdom of the Church Fathers
WEEKLY PROGRAM | 31 JULY – 6 AUGUST
SUNDAY 31 JULY
† Sixth Sunday of Matthew | Matthew 9: 1-8
• 7.30 – 11.00am Orthros and Divine Liturgy
• 10.30 – 11.00am Sunday School for ages ranging 5 to 17 yrs.
Lessons take place in the building behind the church and begin at the time of Holy Communion until Church dismissal. Lessons are taught in a relaxed, friendly environment. Please bring your children along to learn of their rich Orthodox faith and come close to God and His Love.
• 11.00am – 12.00pm After Church each Sunday, join us for tea & coffee in our Coffee Room.
This Week’s Readings:
Filed under Readings, Weekly Program
Knowing God
∼ Words from the Church Fathers ∼
If a person wants to get an idea about the pyramids of Egypt, he must either trust those who have been in immediate proximity to the pyramids, or he must get next to them himself. There is no third option. In the same way a person can get an impression of God: he must either trust those who have stood and stand in immediate proximity to God, or he must take pains to come into such proximity himself.
– St. Nicholas of Serbia, Thoughts on Good and Evil
……………
As it is impossible to verbally describe the sweetness of honey to one who has never tasted honey, so the goodness of God cannot be clearly communicated by way of teaching if we ourselves are not able to penetrate into the goodness of the Lord by our own experience. -St. Basil the Great, Conversations on the Psalms, 29
Filed under Readings, Wisdom of the Church Fathers
Homily for the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost
Matthew 8: 28-34,9:1
It may be hard for us to relate to today’s gospel passage. We are not possessed by demons, living in a cemetery, and so frightening that no one will come near us. And probably none of us have ever seen a whole herd of pigs run off a cliff and drown in the sea. On the surface, the story of Jesus Christ casting demons out of these wretched men may seem irrelevant to us. But if we look into the narrative more deeply, and with an eye on our epistle passage from St. Paul, we will see that it speaks to us directly. Continue reading
Filed under Readings, Sunday Homilies
St Vasilios Greek Orthodox Church 