Blessed is He that comes in the Name of the Lord!
● Wednesday, 02 March
- 07:15 - Melbourne International Airport – Arrival and Welcome
- 09:00 - St George Church, St Albans – Doxology and Reception
● Thursday, 03 March
- 18:00 - St Nicholas Church, Geelong – Vespers and Dinner
An offensive sign sprayed onto the northern wall of St George Serbian Orthodox Church in St Albans, Melbourne, was discovered early Saturday morning, 27 February 2016. The sign read "U SRBE NA VRBE U", fascist symbols used during World War II and literally implying the hanging of "Serbs on willows". The letter "U" stands for Ustashe, an ultranationalist Croatian fascist movement under whose banner multitudes of Serbs, Jews and Romani were brutally annihilated.
Serbian Orthodox Church was vandalised overnight. President of the Serbian Community and church, Miroslav Perisic cleans the graffiti from the church walls.
The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia, under the aegis of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of Oceania, hosted the 33rd Annual Opening of the Law Term for 2016 with a Pan-Orthodox Prayer Service held at the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Sydney on Tuesday evening, 16 February 2016. Many notable participants, including clergy and lay, legal professionals from the Inter-Orthodox community, were present to pray with and for dignitaries from the judiciary, including distinguished Supreme Court judicial officers, headed by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, The Honourable Tom Bathurst QC, as well as Mr John Eades, President of the New South Wales Bar Association.
Blessed is he who comes in the Name of the Lord!
With exceeding great joy we herein announce that, at the invitation of His Grace Bishop Irinej of the Metropolitanate of Australia and New Zealand, His Holiness the Archbishop of Pech, Metropolitan of Belgrade-Karlovci and Serbian Patriarch Kyr Irinej will visit the Metropolitanate of the Serbian Orthodox Church in the Fifth Continent from 2nd to 13th March 2016.
The Episcopal Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of Oceania, sponsored the Annual Opening of the Legal Year for 2016 with a Pan-Orthodox Prayer Service – Doxology held at St Eustathios Greek Orthodox Church in South Melbourne on Monday morning, 1 February 2016. Many notable participants: hierarchs, clergy and laity, legal professionals from the Orthodox community, were present to receive the dignitaries from the judiciary, including distinguished Supreme Court justices, and offer prayers for beginning of the new Legal Year.
On the Great Feast of Theophany, 19 January 2016, His Grace Bishop Irinej celebrated the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy in the Anglophonic parish of the Holy Archangel Michael in Homebush, New South Wales. Concelebrating with him was the Reverend Veselin Svorcan, Parish Priest, assisted by Deacons Aleksandar Ivanovic and Miladin Tripic.
The Serbian Orthodox Church
to her spiritual children at Christmas, 2015
+IRINEJ
By the Grace of God
Orthodox Archbishop of Pec, Metropolitan of Belgrade Karlovci and Serbian Patriarch, with all the Hierarchs of the Serbian Orthodox Church to all the clergy, monastics, and all the sons and daughters of our Holy Church: grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, with the joyous Christmas greeting:
Peace from God! Christ is Born!
"Sing to the Lord; bless His name;
Proclaim His salvation from day to day;
Declare His glory among the Gentiles,
His wonders among all peoples."
(Psalm 95 (96): 2-3)
With these words, dear brothers and sisters in Christ the Lord and our dear spiritual children, King David calls us to this Feast Day and to this festive celebration which the Lord Himself has prepared with His Birth from the Most Holy Virgin Mary in the Bethlehem cave. Two thousand years ago, the Most Holy Virgin Mary, together with the righteous Joseph, came to Bethlehem of Judea to be registered. Joseph's registering among his brothers and his kinsman served in the economy of salvation and in fulfilling the prophecy told by prophet Micah: "And you, O Bethlehem, House of Ephratha, though you are fewest in number among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to me the One to be ruler of Israel. His goings forth were from the beginning, even from everlasting." (Micah 5:1)
IRINEJ
BY THE GRACE OF GOD
BISHOP OF THE METROPOLITANATE OF
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND
THE SERBIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH
GOD'S PEACE — CHRIST IS BORN!
Most beloved Clergy and Monastics, Sons and Daughters,
Our dear Spiritual Children,
How can a womb contain Him whom nothing can contain?
How can He remain in His Father's bosom, yet rest in His mother's arms?
It is His good pleasure to accomplish this. . .
(Nativity Matinal Kathisma Hymn)
God in His Providence deigned, and it is truly according to His good will, that the birth of а child be a great source of joy. For all of us who anticipate that child, its birth evokes boundless love – tenderness – toward that newborn life! As such we celebrate the birth of Christ according to the flesh with hymns of praise and joyful songs. For His birth is the source and foundation of our salvation as He, God before all ages, is "born as a little Child". Christ is born, beloved, glorify Him!
The Historical and Spiritual Heartland of the Serbian People
Published by SEBASTIAN PRESS • BLAGO Fund • Serbica Americana
