Saint Panteleimon's is an Orthodox Christian parish of East Slavic tradition serving the New South Wales Central Coast and the northern suburbs of Sydney. Our parish includes Orthodox Christians of Russian, Ukrainian, Belarussian, and other backgrounds. We are a parish of the Australian and New Zealand Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia. The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, a self-governing part of the Russian Orthodox Church, is completely independent in pastoral, educational, administrative, management, property, and civil matters. Our parish is doctrinally Orthodox, liturgically traditional, and welcoming to all. In our services we use English, the language of this country, together with Church Slavonic, the liturgical language of the Slavic peoples. Established in 2000, our parish is one of the newest in our Diocese.
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We have services on the first and third Sundays of each month and on the preceding Saturday evenings. We also have services on some major feast-days during the week. Our current Schedule of Services can be viewed here. Our church is generally only open when we have services. Visitors are always welcome! If you would like to contact us before visiting, it is best to send an email. We check this inbox regularly and will respond to messages as soon as we can. You can also contact us in the same way to arrange baptisms and memorial services. Please note: The telephone number that has been listed on Google is a private number and messages or unknown calls to this number will not be responded to or answered.
Our parish priest, Archpriest James Carles, serves here in a voluntary capacity. He has part-time secular employment during the week and is presently undertaking full-time tertiary study. In addition to our parish, he has responsibility for Saint Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church in Newcastle and Saint Symeon of Verkhoturye Orthodox Mission on the New South Wales Mid North Coast. During study periods (in 2026, 16 February-13 June and 20 July-14 November) his pastoral availability is strictly limited to scheduled services in the three communities; individual “needs” that arise in connection with these scheduled services (e.g. confessions, molebens, and memorial services); essential parish administrative tasks; and end-of-life care and funerals. Father James is available to talk after Divine Liturgy on the Sundays when we have a service. He can also be contacted by email.
Our parish is a small one that relies on community support and the voluntary service of our clergy to make ends meet. If you find this website to be of interest or of assistance, please consider helping us. Donations may be made directly to our bank account:
St Panteleimon Russian Orthodox Community of Gosford
BSB: 032-596 Account number: 140923
May the Lord bless you!
On Saturday 31 January and Sunday 1 February we will have services for the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee, the first of the four Preparatory Sundays for Great Lent. All-night Vigil will be served at 6.00pm on Saturday and the Hours and Divine Liturgy will be served at 9.00am on Sunday. Following Divine Liturgy on Sunday there will be a memorial litia for all the departed founders, benefactors and parishioners of our church.
On Sunday 18 January and Monday 19 January we had services in honour of the Great Feast of the Baptism of the Lord (Theophany). All-night Vigil with the blessing of wheat, wine, oil and five loaves was served on Sunday evening and the Hours and the Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great with the Great Blessing of Water were served on Monday morning. At both services we were joined by friends from Newcastle, Sydney and the Central Coast. Following Divine Liturgy, many people gathered in the church hall for a festive meal.
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On Saturday 17 January and Sunday 18 January we had services for the Sunday before Theophany. Matins was served on Saturday evening and the Hours and Divine Liturgy were served on Sunday morning. As often happens at this time of year, we were joined on Sunday by dear friends holidaying on the Central Coast. Following Divine Liturgy our church vestments were changed to white in preparation for the Great Feast of the Baptism of the Lord (Theophany), and a panikhida was served for a much-loved parishioner of the early years of our Gosford parish, Nestor Petroff (+16 January 2022).
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On Tuesday 6 January and Wednesday 7 January we had services for the Great Feast of the Nativity of Christ (Christmas). All-night Vigil with the blessing of wheat, wine, oil and five loaves was served on Tuesday evening and the Hours and Divine Liturgy were served on Wednesday morning. We were joined by visitors from Newcastle, Sydney, and the New South Wales Mid North Coast, and on both days our church was full to overflowing. At Divine Liturgy a great many of the faithful received Holy Communion. In place of a sermon on Wednesday, the Nativity Epistle of Archbishop George was read aloud in English by the parish rector and in Russian by Reader Alexey Douriaguine. At the veneration of the Cross following Divine Liturgy, those present were given chocolates and Christmas crackers.
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On Saturday 3 January and Sunday 4 January we had services for the Sunday before the Nativity of Christ. All-night Vigil was served on Saturday evening and the Hours and Divine Liturgy were served on Sunday morning. At Divine Liturgy we were joined by friends from Sydney holidaying on the Central Coast. The customary prayers were offered for Orthodox unity, peace in Ukraine, and peace in the Holy Land, and many people received Holy Communion.
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2026 will be for our small parish a year of consolidation. We hope to enrich the liturgical life of our community through additional weekday services and by acquiring new icons and other items for the divine services. Although we will not have a midnight Paschal service this year, we will have many services during Great Lent and Holy Week and one late in the morning of the Sunday of Pascha itself. We will continue to make newcomers welcome and to assist all who wish to better understand and experience Orthodox Christian faith and worship. In August we hope to welcome Archbishop George on a pastoral visit in honour of our patronal feast of Saint Panteleimon, a commemoration that will fall this year on a Sunday.
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With the help of a generous bequest, we were able this year to purchase the Diocesan share of our parish centre. In addition to our regular weekend services, we had services for many of the Great Feasts, during the first and last weeks of Great Lent, and at midnight on Pascha. We had nineteen baptisms, four of adults and fifteen of children. We prayed steadfastly for Orthodox unity, peace in Ukraine, and peace in the Holy Land. We prayerfully remembered Saint Tikhon of Moscow and Saint Jonah of Hankow, two holy hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church who reposed in 1925, one hundred years ago this year. In August we welcomed Archbishop George on a visit to our parish in honour of our patronal feast of Saint Panteleimon. Late in the year we farewelled Protodeacon Martin Naef after many years of faithful service to our parish. As a token of our appreciation, Father Martin was presented with a new set of gold vestments. All the news from 2025 can be read here. Glory be to God for all things!
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On Saturday 20 December and Sunday 21 December we had services for the Twenty-Eighth Sunday after Pentecost and in honour of Saint Patapius of Thebes (+7th Cent. AD). All-night Vigil was served on Saturday evening and the Hours and Divine Liturgy were served on Sunday morning. At Divine Liturgy the customary prayers were offered for Orthodox unity, peace in Ukraine, and peace in the Holy Land. Many people received Holy Communion, amongst whom was the newly-baptised handmaiden of God Anastasia. These were our final services for 2025.
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On Thursday 18 December and Friday 19 December we had services in honour of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker, archbishop of Myra in Lycia (+342 AD). All-night Vigil was served on Thursday evening and the Hours and Divine Liturgy were served on Friday morning. At both services we were joined by friends from Newcastle. A brief moleben to Saint Nicholas was served at the end of Divine Liturgy on Friday.
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On Saturday 6 December and Sunday 7 December we had services for the Twenty-Sixth Sunday after Pentecost, for the Afterfeast of the Entry of the Mother of God into the Temple, and in honour of Great Martyr Catherine of Alexandria (+c. 305 AD) and Great Martyr Mercurius of Caesarea (+3rd Cent. AD). All-night Vigil was served on Saturday evening and the Hours and Divine Liturgy were served on Sunday morning. For the first time since Pascha 2025, we were joined for Divine Liturgy by Protodeacon Martin Naef. At the end of the service, our parish rector congratulated Father Martin on his appointment as second protodeacon at Saints Peter and Paul Diocesan Cathedral in Strathfield and thanked him for his long and faithful service to the parish. As a token of gratitude from the parish, he was presented with a gold set of new protodeacon’s vestments: an embroidered sticharion, double orarion and cuffs. 'Many Years' was then sung for Father Martin, his Matushka Tatiana, and for our long-serving Parish Council member Katherine Marcotrigiano who was celebrating her name-day. Following the service, a festive lunch was served in Father Martin’s honour.
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On Wednesday 3 December and Thursday 4 December we had services for the Great Feast of the Entry of the Mother of God into the Temple. All-night Vigil with the blessing of wheat, wine, oil and five loaves was served on Wednesday evening and the Hours and Divine Liturgy were served on Thursday morning. Our church was beautifully vested in blue. At Divine Liturgy prayers were offered for Orthodox unity, peace in Ukraine, and peace in the Holy Land. Following Divine Liturgy on Thursday a light memorial meal was served in memory of our parishioner, Tatiana Elgin-Borodin (+ 5 December 2014).
"For every Christian, the feast of the Nativity of Christ is beloved and joyful. Throughout the world on this day, people remember the Star of Bethlehem and the manger, the shepherds and angels, the Mother of God and Righteous Joseph the Betrothed, while the Orthodox celebrate, confessing the cornerstone of faith—the Incarnation of Christ, the manifestation of God in the flesh (1 Timothy 3:16). Out of His greatest love, the Lord descended to be born of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, uniting fallen humanity with God through Himself. "The Word became flesh so that we might be renewed and divinized in Him," says St. Athanasius the Great." Metropolitan Nicholas’s Epistle is available in full in English here and in Russian here.
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"Once again we hear the message of the angelic host, God’s messengers to mankind, as they announce the glad tidings of the Birth of Christ our Saviour, Emmanuel, Who has become incarnate in order to free mankind from the bondage of sin... Let us hearken to their angelic message, and let us make every effort to worship and glorify God every day of our lives. In this way we will bear witness to the presence of Christ in our hearts, Who was incarnate for our salvation." Archbishop George’s Epistle is available in full in English here and in Russian here.
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The November 2025 issue of “Word of the Church” (“Церковное Слово”), the official journal of the Australian-New Zealand Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, is now available in our parishes. This is the third and final issue (#3-4) for 2025. Content includes a report on the Twenty-First Diocesan Assembly; the text of the Diocesan Assembly Resolution; an obituary of Archpriest Alexander Skorik; a report on and an extensive photo gallery of the consecration of a new church in Dandenong, Victoria, dedicated to Saint John of Kronstadt; a report on the Diocesan Liturgical Music Conference; and more. Copies are $5.00.
