In the Orthodox tradition it is customary during Great Lent to have a General Service of Anointing with Oil – the sacrament of Holy Unction – for the healing of soul and body.  In this service there are seven readings from the Apostol, seven readings from the Holy Gospel, seven prayers, and the faithful are - if there are sufficient clergy present - anointed seven times with the oil that is blessed and sanctified during the service.  The practice of anointing with oil for spiritual and physical healing is referred to by the Apostle James: "Is anyone among you sick?  Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.  And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up.  And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven" (James 5:14-15).  This year our parish will have this service at 7.00pm on Thursday 27 March.  Note: As Holy Unction is a sacrament, only baptised Orthodox Christians may be anointed at this service.

On Sunday 30 March 2025, the Fourth Sunday of Great Lent, our parish rector will be visiting Saint Symeon of Verkhoturye Orthodox Mission on the NSW Mid North Coast.  The Hours and Divine Liturgy will be served at Wauchope Community Arts Hall, 2/10 Oxley Lane, Wauchope, from 9.00am.  As Saturday 29 March will be a day of commemoration of the departed, Divine Liturgy on Sunday will be followed by a litia for the departed.  All are welcome - please bring a plate of Lenten (i.e. vegan) food to share following the services! 

On Saturday 5 April we will have a church clean-up beginning at 8.00am. This will be the major clean-up that we customarily have before Pascha each year.  All the furnishings will be removed from the church for washing and polishing and all the icons and service items will be cleaned.  We will have lunch together at around midday. Please join us and help, even if only for an hour or two!  There is a great deal to be done, and it will be nice to have the church looking bright and clean for Annunciation, Holy Week, and Pascha.

On Saturday 5 April and Sunday 6 April we will have services for the Fifth Sunday of Great Lent and in honour of Saint Mary of Egypt.   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.  The regular Sunday services will be preceded by the Lesser Blessing of Water at 8.00am and followed by a moleben to Saint Tikhon the Confessor, Patriarch of Moscow and Enlightener of North America (+7 April 1925).

On Sunday 6 April and Monday 7 April we will have services for the Great Feast of the Annunciation of the Mother of God.  All-night Vigil with the blessing of wheat, wine, oil and five loaves will be served at 6.00pm on Sunday, and the Hours, Typika, Vespers and Divine Liturgy will be served at 9.00am on Monday.

On Saturday 15 March and Sunday 16 March we had services for the Second Sunday of Great Lent and in honour of Saint Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessalonica (+1359 AD).  Matins was served on Saturday evening and the Hours and Divine Liturgy were served on Sunday morning.  Our church was beautifully decorated with flowers donated by the family of the late Nina Lichman (+17 February 2025).  As Saturday 15 March was a day of commemoration of the departed, Matins was preceded by a general panikhida.   As an act of kindness in memory of their departed ones, those attending the panikhida brought non-perishable foods to be passed to a local charitable organisation for relief of the homeless.  At Divine Liturgy on Sunday the parish rector was assisted by Protodeacon Martin Naef and prayers were offered for peace in Ukraine.  We were joined by friends from Sydney and Newcastle.  At the end of Divine Liturgy prayers of blessing were read over a new black set of priest’s vestments that will be used for the first time during Holy Week this year.

On the first four evenings of the First Week of Great Lent (3-6 March), Great Compline with the reading of the Great Canon of Saint Andrew of Crete was served.  The odes of the Great Canon were read by the parish rector alternatively in Church Slavonic and English.  During Great Compline many of those present participated in the reading and singing in both languages.

Our Parish Council is pleased to announce that in February 2025 we were able to secure full ownership of our parish centre.  By way of background, late in 2003 our Russian Orthodox community on the New South Wales Central Coast resolved to purchase a small industrial unit in West Gosford as a temporary parish centre.  Our community was then still newly-formed – the very first services were held here in November 2000, just three years earlier.  We reasoned at the time that a commercial property could be more readily sold if we could not afford to maintain it, and that such a property would also be an investment as the parish grew and we worked towards the purchase of land and the building of a permanent church.  The unit was purchased for $200,000.  We had $25,000 in savings and were able to secure a bank loan for a further $125,000.  The remaining $50,000 came from the Diocesan Council, who like us thought that the property would be a prudent investment.  Although the bank loan was for a 15-year period, we managed to repay it in full in just six years.  We soon realised that as the purchase of land and the construction of a church and hall would be a multi-million-dollar project, the move to a permanent church would not happen quickly.  With this understanding we focused on getting the best use we could of our parish centre by adding a mezzanine floor with a choir loft, an office, a meeting room, and a vestry.  We also adorned our small church with beautiful vestments, icons, candle-stands, and eventually a hand-carved iconostasis from Russia.  Finally, in January 2025 we were in a position to make an offer for the purchase of the Diocesan share of our parish centre, now valued at $700,000.  The offer was accepted and the arrangements concluded in February 2025.  In all of this we have been assisted by generous benefactors who have trusted our vision for a welcoming Russian Orthodox parish on the Central Coast and recognised all that with God’s help we have accomplished.  Glory be to God for all things!

On Saturday 1 March and Sunday 2 March we had services for the Sunday of Forgiveness.  All-night vigil was served on Saturday evening and the Hours and Divine Liturgy were served on Sunday morning.  At Divine Liturgy on Sunday the parish rector was assisted by Protodeacon Martin Naef and prayers were offered for peace in Ukraine.  Immediately after Divine Liturgy, Vespers with the rite of asking forgiveness was served.  Following the services on Sunday our Ladies’ Auxiliary served pancakes.

Our Autumn 2025 Schedule of Services - covering March, April and May - is now available in digital format.  It includes all our services for Great Lent, Holy Week and Pascha.  A copy of the English-language Autumn 2025 Schedule of Services is available here, and a copy of the Russian-language Autumn 2025 Schedule of Services is available here.  Printed copies are available in church as of the weekend of 15-16 February.

On Saturday 15 February and Sunday 16 February we had services for the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee, for the Afterfeast of the Meeting of the Lord, and in honour of Righteous Symeon the God-Receiver and Prophetess Anna (1st C. BC).  All-night Vigil was served on Saturday evening and the  Hours and Divine Liturgy were served on Sunday morning. At Divine Liturgy on Sunday the parish rector was assisted by Protodeacon Martin Naef and prayers were offered for peace in the Holy Land.  

On Friday 14 February and Saturday 15 February we had services for the Great Feast of the Meeting of the Lord.  All-night Vigil with the blessing of wheat, wine, oil and five loaves was served on Friday evening and the Hours and Divine Liturgy were served on Saturday morning.  At Divine Liturgy prayers were offered for Orthodox unity, peace in Ukraine, and peace in the Holy Land, and there was a blessing of fruit and of candles.  Following Divine Liturgy our parish rector spoke briefly about the significance of the feast-day and about four ever-memorable departed clergymen of our Diocese: Archbishop Paul (Pavlov) (+15 February 1995, thirty years ago to the day), Archpriest Nicholas Grant (+14 February 1995), Protodeacon Vasily Hadarin (+13 February 2021), and Protodeacon Constantine Moshegov (+ 30 January 2022; ordained deacon 15 February 2007, 18 years ago to the day).   A memorial litia was then served for them.  Eternal memory!

On Saturday 1 February and Sunday 2 February we had services for the Thirty-Second Sunday after Pentecost and in honour of Venerable Euthymius the Great (+473 AD).  All-night Vigil was served on Saturday evening and the Hours and  Divine Liturgy was served on Sunday morning.  At Divine Liturgy on Sunday the parish rector was assisted by Protodeacon Martin Naef and prayers were offered for peace in the Holy Land.  It being Zaccheus Sunday, the final Sunday before the period of preparation for Great Lent, the parish rector spoke in his sermon about Zaccheus as a model of repentance and about not standing in the way of others who repent.  Following Divine liturgy, a memorial litia was served following Divine Liturgy for all our departed founders, parishioners and benefactors and koliva was blessed. In accordance with parish custom, a memorial litia was served on this day as it was the Sunday closest to the commemoration of Saint Xenia of Saint Petersburg, the patron saint of our Ladies' Auxiliary.

This year, 2025, is the centenary of the repose of two great hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church:  Saint Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia (31 January 1865 - 7 April 1925, canonised 1981) and Saint Jonah, Bishop of Hankow (17 April 1888- 20 October 1925, canonised 1996).  In recognition of this significant anniversary, the Synod of Bishops of our Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia has called upon the bishops and clergy to make a particular effort to remember these two holy bishops.  To this end, they are to be commemorated at the dismissal of each Divine Liturgy up until the Great Feast of the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple (4 December, the day of the Patriarchal enthronement of Saint Tikhon in 1918) and to remember Saint Tikhon in a sermon and with a moleben on Sunday 6 April, the Fifth Sunday in Great Lent and the eve of the anniversary of his repose.  We will also serve a moleben to Saint Jonah on Sunday 19 October, the Ninenteenth Sunday after Pentecost and the eve of the anniversary of his repose.  Holy Hierarchs Tikhon and Jonah, pray to God for us!