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 within 24 hours. You can also contact us in the same way to arrange baptisms and memorial services. Please don't hesitate to reach out!
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 2025, 17 February-12 July and 21 July-15 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 Friday 11 July and Saturday 12 July we will have services in honour of the Holy Glorious and All-Praised Leaders of the Apostles, Peter and Paul. All-night Vigil with the blessing of wheat, wine, oil and five loaves will be served at 6.00pm on Friday and the Hours and Divine Liturgy will be served at 9.00am on Saturday.
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On Saturday 19 July and Sunday 20 July we will have services for the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost and in honour of Venerable Thomas of Mount Maleon (10th C.) and Venerable Acacius, who is mentioned in The Ladder (6th C.). Matins (and not All-night Vigil, as originally scheduled) will be served at 6.00pm on Saturday and the Hours and Divine Liturgy will be served at 9.00am on Sunday.
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On Friday 8 August and Saturday 9 August we will have services in honour of Great Martyr Panteleimon (+305 AD), the heavenly patron of our parish. On Friday, All-night Vigil with the blessing of wheat, wine, oil and five loaves will be served at 6.00pm. On Saturday, the lesser blessing of water will be served at 8.00am, and the Hours, hierarchical Divine Liturgy and a moleben to Saint Panteleimon will be served after the greeting and vesting of Archbishop George at 9.00am. At the conclusion of the services on Saturday there will be a festive meal in the church hall for our parishioners, friends and guests. Please join us!
On Saturday 5 July and Sunday 6 July we had services for the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost and in honour of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God. All-night Vigil was served on Saturday evening and the Hours and Divine Liturgy were served on Sunday morning. At both services the parish rector served alone. On Sunday morning we were joined by friends from Newcastle and Sydney, and at Divine Liturgy prayers were offered for Orthodox unity, peace in Ukraine, and peace in the Holy Land.
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On Saturday 21 June and Sunday 22 June we had services for the Second Sunday after Pentecost, the Sunday of All Saints of Russia. All-night Vigil was served on Saturday evening and the Hours and Divine Liturgy were served on Sunday morning. Concelebrating with our parish rector at Divine Liturgy was Archpriest Alexander Morozow, the rector of Saint John the Baptist Cathedral in Canberra, visiting our parish for the baptism of his grandson, Daniel. Prayers were offered for peace in Ukraine and peace in the Holy Land. At the end of the service Father Alexander gave a sermon in both Russian and English on the commemoration of All Saints of Russia and how the path to sanctity, the path of spiritual struggle, is open to us all. Following the dismissal, Father James introduced Father Alexander and welcomed him to our parish, noting his steadfast service in the Canberra parish of more than 40 years.
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On Friday 20 June the funeral of Nikolay Sorokin was served in our church. Archpriest Boris Ignatievsky, the rector of the Protection of the Holy Virgin parish in Cabramatta, presided. Nikolay, who departed this life on 6 June, was 94 years of age. He was afterwards laid to rest at Point Clare Cemetery in the same grave as his late wife, Alexandra. We offer our heartfelt condolences to Nikolay’s daughter Elena, son-in-law Ilia, and grandson Alexey. May God grant his newly-departed servant rest with the saints and life everlasting!
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On Saturday 31 May and Sunday 1 June we had services for the Seventh Sunday of Pascha, the Sunday of the Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council. All-night Vigil was served on Saturday evening and the Hours and Divine Liturgy were served on Sunday morning. On Sunday morning, prayers were offered for Orthodox unity, peace in Ukraine, and peace in the Holy Land. In his sermon, the parish rector, noting that it was the seventeen-hundredth anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council, spoke about the work and significance of the Council.
“The history of the Church is not only academic studies of the events of the past and narratives about the affairs of bygone days, the legends of ancient times, which are like the pages of a dusty book darkened by time. In the history of the Church, the Holy Spirit lives and acts, guiding us into all truth (John 16:13). That is why the study of Church history – to which I urge all of you – helps us to better understand many phenomena in contemporary religious life, teaches us to separate the main from the secondary and to distinguish spirits (1 Cor. 12:10), comprehending the all-wise Providence of God for the Church.” Patriarch Kirill’s Epistle is available in full in Russian here. A complete English-language translation will be shared as soon as it becomes available.
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"The Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia finds it necessary to raise its voice out of bitter necessity, for we find that in a time of crisis and growing confrontation amongst nations, aspects of the Russian state and society are wandering onto an extremely dangerous path: instead of the promulgation of Christian repentance and purification, we observe in certain circles a return to a false, God-opposing ideology that prevailed in the last century. This return is fraught with harmful consequences. Should it continue, we fear that modern Russia risks being considered a dark stain amongst the nations, marked by a revival of spiritual corruption, instead of her being a radiant beacon of Orthodox Truth, which is surely the calling to which her long history of Christian piety directs her." The full text of this important statement, released by the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia on Thursday 5 June 2025, can be read in English here and in Russian here.
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The Twenty-First Diocesan Assembly of our Australian-New Zealand Diocese is to be held at Saints Peter and Paul Diocesan Cathedral in Strathfield, NSW, from the evening of Thursday 23 October until the afternoon of Sunday 26 October 2025. As all Diocesan clergy will be participating in the Assembly, the only services in our Diocese on Saturday-Sunday 25-26 October will be at the Strathfield Cathedral. A news article about the Twentieth Diocesan Assembly may be read here. A delegate from amongst the laity to join the parish rector in representing our parish at the Assembly will be chosen at a parish meeting to be convened on Sunday 17 August 2025. Further information about the parish meeting and the Twenty-First Diocesan Assembly will be made available in due course.
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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!
