Good Shepherd Orthodox Mission Parish in Wheelers Hill, Victoria | Church

Good Shepherd Orthodox Mission Parish

Locality: Wheelers Hill, Victoria

Phone: +61 3 9562 0229

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24.01.2022 I have often repented of having spoken, but never of having been silent. - St Arsenius the Great

23.01.2022 Saintly Heroine of the Week #2 St Kassiani (commemorated 7 September) lived in the 9th century. She was a Byzantine Abbess who was distinguished for her poetry ...and hymnography. Her most well-known hymn bears her name The Hymn of Kassiani and is chanted in Holy Week during the Bridegroom Service on Holy Tuesday Evening. It is a penitential hymn which references the biblical narrative of the sinful woman anointing Christs feet with costly oil (Luke 7). St Kassiani builds on the story by weaving it into a dialogue which depicts the woman earnestly beseeching Christs forgiveness. Hymn of St Kassiani Lord, when the woman who had fallen into many sins perceived Your divinity, she assumed the role of a myrrh-bearing woman, and lamenting brought fragrant oils to anoint You before Your burial. "Woe is me," she says. "Night for me is a frenzy without restraint, very dark and moonless, a sinful love-affair. Accept the fountains of my tears, You who draw out from the clouds the water of the sea. Take pity on me, and incline to the sighing of my heart, You who bowed the heavens by Your ineffable self-emptying. I shall cover Your unstained feet with kisses, and wipe them dry again with the locks of my hair; those feet, whose sound at twilight in Paradise echoed in Eve's ears, and she hid in fear. Who can reckon the multitude of my sins, or fathom the depths of Your judgments, O my life-saving Saviour? Do not despise me, Your servant, since without measure is Your mercy."

23.01.2022 Today April 11, is the Sunday of St. John Climacus and we commemorate; - Antipas, Bishop of Pergamum - Pharmuthios the Anchorite - Guthlac the Hermit of Crowla...nd ************ Biblical Readings - Matins Gospel Reading: John 21:14-25 - Epistle Reading: St. Paul's Letter to the Hebrews 6:13-20 - Gospel Reading: Mark 9:17-31 See more

22.01.2022 "" . ( ) . ... . . . (+ ) . ... . . 8 "" ... ... 1- ( ) . 2- (). 3- . 4- . 5- " " . 6- " " "" "" "". 7- . . . 8- 90 . ...

22.01.2022 When bad thoughts are planted in you, then cry to God: Lord, my Maker and Creator. You see that my soul is in agony from bad thoughts. Have mercy on me. Teac...h yourself to root out thoughts immediately. But when you forget and dont root them out immediately, then offer repentance. Work on this, so that you get a habit. - St. Silouan the Athonite (celebrated Sept. 24), Writings, XVII. 4,6 (Photo: The skull of St. Silouan the Athonite, St. Panteleimon Monastery, Mount Athos)

21.01.2022 21 (8 ..) - . , 4: , ,/ :/ ... ,/ , , ,// , , . #artkrasa #

21.01.2022 New video of Elder Ephraim of Arizona: "You sleep, and when you wake up: 'Lord Jesus Christ... Lord Jesus...' On the road, and everywhere. Pray all time. Then this prayer will become a sacrifice for salvation!"

21.01.2022 Birth place of Virgin Mary

20.01.2022 The beauty of orthodoxyRomanian Orthodox Church in Almeria Spain . Amen

20.01.2022 The frescoe. the fragment Italy, 13th century

20.01.2022 We want to share beauty of Orthodox world that we managed to shot. Please follow VR Pilgrim app to discover more.

19.01.2022 Our vocation is to preserve the environment as stewards and not as owners of the creation. -Patriarch Daniel #BlackSeaDay

19.01.2022 Baptismal font of the Resurrection Cathedral, built in Moscow this year.

19.01.2022 Procession with the holy relics in the Holy Monastery of Vatopediou to end the pandemic. . Procesiune cu sfintele moate în Sfânta Mnstire Vatopedu pentru încetarea pandemiei.

19.01.2022 The key to spiritual life is the discipline of the mind. - Elder Teofil Prian

17.01.2022 PHOTO GALLERY of Sinai and ST. KATHERINE'S MONASTERY A Message from Studion Ministries: We want to share with you the breathtaking beauty of Sinai. It is our h...ope to visually document as much of the holy places of Sinai as we are able, and to offer our very best images here. All the photography on..." saintkosmas.org/november-25/photography See more

17.01.2022 Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Please read every word of this and SHARE with as many Orthodox Christians as you can, these are very important words for the fai...thful. This is a letter published earlier today on the Serbian Orthodox Metropolitanate of Australia and New Zealand SOC page just before. ____________________________________________________________ HIS GRACE BISHOP SILUANS PASTORAL EPISTLE TO HIS SPIRITUAL CHILDREN IN VICTORIA Most Venerable monastics, God-loving clergy and beloved faithful, my dear spiritual children of our St Sava (Svetosavska) Church in Melbourne and throughout the state of Victoria. Following with great attention, and partaking as archpastor in spirit and prayer the trials you have been going through in recent weeks and months in isolation from your Holy Churches, from your families and loved ones, deprived of much-needed support in combating the challenges you are faced with, it is my intention as spiritual father, to my abilities, by way of this pastoral epistle, to offer my support, to encourage and strengthen you, to share with you the burden of the cross you carry. Life on earth, as the great Vladika Rade asserts, is often a bitter glass of bile that seeks a glass of honey, which is somehow easiest to drink when it is mixed. The current year will most probably be remembered as the year that brought with it tremendous social changes. The year which revealed the inner spirit of the society we live in, which brought to the surface the most noble and the ugliest in humanity. From the clear sky of our hectic "certainty" of everyday work and obligations, a dark cloud appeared bringing with it not rain, but fear, uncertainty and panic; a world of face masks, isolation, restricted movement and curfew; charges and arrests. Churches were shut down by state decree as being "non-essential institutions", schools were closed, jobs lost, mental illnesses skyrocketed, and many lives were lost. In this darkness, more spiritual than material, in which a paralysis of the spirit occurred in a greater part of the population for a deeper perspective and analysis of things, as Orthodox Christians we found ourselves before a test of faith. Our regular life rhythm, including the liturgical one, has changed abruptly, everything has stopped without announcement and time for preparation. Faced with these challenges, we hurried to where the Holy Apostles, Church Fathers and Holy Martyrs, as well as our Holy Ancestors led us by way of their example, towards Christ, with our knees on the ground and our gaze lifted up towards Heaven. Even today, although only the state of Victoria, among other states and territories of Australia is under such severe (never before seen) restrictive measures and circumstances, we should not lose hope and weaken in spirit, but hold fast to Christ, to our Only True support, consolation, hope, Way and Life. Physically separated from our Holy Churches, not by our decree or will, but by the laws of the mighty of this world, we should remember the words of the Holy Apostle Paul that call us to persevere in prayer, addressing the Lord at all times (Eph. 6:18), remembering that we are temples of the Spirit Holy (1 Cor. 6:19), to put on the whole armor of God so that we may be able to sustain ourselves in the fight against the cunning of the devil, for our war is not against blood and flesh, but against the principalities and authorities of the lord of darkness in this world, against the spirits of wickedness in heaven (Eph. 6: 11-12). The Holy Apostles of Christ bore many wounds on their bodies for the sake of Christ (2 Cor. 5: 8-12), however, they left us an example to have every joy when we fall into various temptations, knowing that the temptation of our faith builds patience, cleanses and perfects us (James 2-4). As Christians through all ages, we are likewise today called to be a light in this fallen world, a world that is spiraling into a great darkness of hopelessness. This is because ungodliness (antitheism) logically leads to hopelessness. The world has all but ceased to look towards the heavens, it has fixed its gaze to the earth. For a long time now, modern man has been living a horizontal life, having lost his vertical relationship with Heaven - with God. In his wanderings he continues to look for solutions to his problems exclusively in his own abilities and strengths, resulting in dissatisfaction and despondency of the spirit. We need to remember that Christ is our Victory, our joy in every sorrow, even this one. He is our Way through the stormy sea of this life, our Truth and Life. Being in isolation, it is important to remember that we are never alone. Christ, along with His Most Holy Mother, our Patron Saints, our Guardian Angels and all the Saints of the Church are with us. Likewise, as members of the One Body of Christ the Holy Church, we are always united with one another through the grace of the Holy Spirit working in us, through prayer, the holy Virtues and Sacraments and the Most Holy Liturgical Oblation. It is now, in the midst of all these trials, that we as Orthodox Christians are called to witness to those around us, to show the world, that we have a firm foothold and unshakable hope in the One who has overcome the infernal triad of death, sin, and the devil - to manifest the salvific and victorious life in Christ our God and Saviour. Whenever it is difficult for us, we should kneel before our icons and open our hearts in tearful prayer to God. In this way all our burdens will be removed, and we will be refreshed in spirit, strengthening our faith and hope. God is the source of all consolation, it is for us to cry out to Him, entreating Him on our behalf and on behalf of those many enslaved around us - Lord God forgive us and help us! Have mercy on us! O Lord, do not look upon our weaknesses and sins, but come to our aid, for you are our hope, our refuge and consolation! The temptation we are faced with will eventually come to an end. The important thing is how will we come out from it. This cloud - the crisis that has overshadowed the world, has been given to us as an opportunity to re-examine ourselves, to deeply evaluate our lives, our actions, our relationship with God and our neighbors, with our faith and the Holy Church. Concluding my humble epistle addressed to you, the beloved Church of God in Victoria, I want to praise and thank all the clergy of our Melbourne Deanery for their tireless work, solicitude and unreserved self-giving for their flock in these days of great tribulation for the Church of Christ. May the Lord accept this sacrifice that you have made as a most fragrant offering. I also greet and praise all our Church committees and auxiliary organizations of our Church communities and Missionary parishes across Victoria, who continue faithfully and diligently, in these extraordinary circumstances, to do everything in their power for the preservation of our Holy Sanctuaries. May the Lord bless you all abundantly for your love and sacrifices made for His Holy Church. I also greet our most venerable monastics, thanking you for your prayers for the deliverance and salvation of the Flock of Christ and the good of the world. May God grant you the strength to faithfully and honourably live out your Angelic calling to the very end. I greet all of you my beloved faithful, my eparchiots in Christ our Lord. May Christ grant you His consolation, may He bless you abundantly with strength and joy, that you may faithfully and fervently serve him to the very end. Regretting that I am not able to visit you in person and share with you the burden you carry because of the closed borders and restrictive measures that are in force, although physically separated, I am always with you in prayer and thought. With Christs blessings and much love, + Bp. Siluan

17.01.2022 Shes looking after us. More Spacious than the Heavens at the Monastery Church.

16.01.2022 My Christ, whatever your love dictates, it is sufficient for me to live within your Love. St Porphyrios https://throughthegraceofgodorthodoxchristianity.wordpress.

14.01.2022 Today we join His Grace Bishop Silvester Kisitu in celebration of his birthday. Happy Birthday your Grace and may you live for many more years as you continue, by the grace of God, to guide us as our spiritual leader.

14.01.2022 St Gerasimos is commemorated twice a year, on August 16 (the day of his repose) and October 20 (the uncovering of his holy relics).

13.01.2022 Don't be discouraged and impatient, wanting everything to be according to your will at the moment. Pray to God with a cheerful heart and wait, leaving everyth...ing to the will of God. Wait patiently, do not try to fulfill all your wishes, because not every wish of yours is good, nor are all intentions useful. And what is in accordance with the will of God, you can know only by long waiting and fervent prayer. What is in accordance with the will of God, He will give, and He will hurry, and if it is not good for you, He will prevent it from happening in the way He knows, He will not allow it to be realized (for your benefit). Whether it is given to you or not, accept everything with gratitude, in meekness of heart. /St Demetrius of Rostov.

13.01.2022 GODS NEWS vs. OUR 24/7 NEWS-CYCLE (Monday, September 21) Your Nativity, O Virgin Theotokos, / Has proclaimed joy to the whole universe! / The Sun of Righteous...ness, Christ our God, / Has shone from You! / Having annulled the curse ( ), / He bestowed blessing. / Having destroyed death ( ), He has granted us eternal Life. (Troparion-hymn of the feast of The Nativity of the Theotokos) The birth of a baby-girl to an elderly and heretofore childless, Jewish couple, Joachim and Anna, over 2,000 years ago in a small village called Nazareth, did proclaim joy to the whole universe. But at the time it happened, few people heard about it. Nor did those few who did hear about it, at that time, understand what a universe-changing, death-destroying joy and blessing the birth of this little girl was, who was to become the Blessed Among Women and Mother of Our God. Unlike the news that almost-instantly reaches us in our 24/7 news-cycle, the good news that God has proclaimed to us throughout the centuries, and continues to proclaim to us, like the joy of the birth of our inimitable Lady, the Most Holy Theotokos, is often far more slow to reach us. Why? Because we need to be ready to receive it; to have the ears to hear it. In fact even we, believing Christians, who have heard many times about the birth of the Theotokos, might not experience this historical fact as a source of joy and blessing. Thats why the Church invites us wholeheartedly to celebrate it, year after year, on the great feast of the Nativity of the Theotokos, (celebrated today on the Older Calendar), not just like another historical fact or bit of information to file away in the mental database of our theological educations, no. We are rather invited to partake of it, like of a source of joy and blessing, in the liturgical and sacramental celebration of the Church. And we grow, year after year, as we walk our cross-carrying journeys, in our capacity to open up to, and receive, the joy and blessing of the Feast, more and more. Thank You, God, for leading us gradually, by the hand of our beautiful Tradition, into the mysteries of Your good news, year after year, even while we choose to overwhelm ourselves with the Too Much Information of our 24/7 news-cycle, the joys and sorrows of which we just dont have the time to process. Nonetheless, thanks to Tradition, I can allow myself to rejoice, and to be blessed, by just one little factoid of Salvation History, the birth of Your Mother in Nazareth. By the prayers of the Theotokos, Saviour, save us! #orthodoxchurch # # (If you missed it this weekend, watch my all-NEW interview with Fr. Cyril Hovorun, about "Hierarchy" in the Church: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wJ4hcQ42J0.)

12.01.2022 St Irene Orthodox mission and orphanage kids receiving Holy Communion in our humble church (Classroom). Https://www.stireneorthodoxmission.org

11.01.2022 If you want to be known to God, do all that you can to remain unknown to men. Theognostos, Philokalia 2

10.01.2022 Tronos Byzantine Choir led by Archdeacon Mihail Buca offers to Saint Demetrios the New, Protector of Bucharest, "sacrifice of praisethe fruit of lips that openly profess his name."

10.01.2022 Nothing is more praised or loved by God like a gentle, humble and grateful soul. - St John Chrysostom

09.01.2022 You claim you love God... do you love your neighbor..? Don't love your neighbor..? You don't love God.

08.01.2022 The Epistle of St James is written by ‘James, Brother of the Lord’, who was the first Bishop of Jerusalem, commemorated on October 23.

08.01.2022 From the wisdom of our mission's saintly patron sealed too by means of many other later sacrifices. (Saint Gregory the Theologian; poem concerning his own lif...e, verse 1604; trans. Carolinne White, 1996) This line completes the poetic sentence begun in the verses discussed just above. It also completes the idea of an earth sealed into existence by Christs blood and transformed into a paradise. The verse under consideration shows that the earth is doubly sealed. Providence, here taken in the broader sense as care for the earths environment, is the seal, and it is not a oneway divine activity. Providence answers to the principle of synergy, a principle intrinsic to divine economy. Indeed, after the first, ineffable moment of bringing chaos singularity into existence out of nothing, God worked and works synergistically throughout creations continuum. Nothing is made on a whim, ex machina, in creationistic fashion, nothing apart from the rest of the creation. All things are made of other things, with God using their natural energies in order to open new horizons of complexity. In other wordsuncreationisticallythe creation contributes to its own making. That it does by moving in the framework of Gods blueprint, continuously permeated by Gods own energies. Existence is synergy, existence is sympnoia, as the Stoics had it, God breathing together with the creation. No wonder providence itself, the protective seal of created existence, is synergy. For this is what these verses say, that the earth is sealed with streams of precious blood, since God suffered in human form, sealed too by means of many other later sacrifices. Of whose sacrifices does Gregory speak here? I am certain that in his time the memory of three centuries of imperial persecution of Christians could not have been already effaced. He speaks of the martyrs. Their blood is not only the seed from which emerged more Christians, for, as Tertullian perceived it, the blood of Christians is seed (Apology 50); their blood, as the Lords own, seals the creation into existence. Their blood has an ecosystemic energy, infusing more life into the earth, the cosmos, the universe. Gregorys perception, here, echoes the view of the Disciple, the anonymous author of Letter to Diognetus (ch. 6), that in the world, Christians are what the soul is in the body. Christians seal with their blood the worlds existence, and they do so in synergy with their Lord whose streams of precious blood water the universe. No sacrifice is meaningless. No good thought is wasted. Together with the blood of the martyrs, all our prayers continue to seal the earth for, as John Climacus points out, the energy of prayer is the support of the world (Ladder of the Divine Ascent 28). Our Gregory thought together with the saints. And looking at what he and his peers had to say about these matters, a sense of worth wakes up within uswe arent ephemeral and pointless ripples on the face of a lake, we matter. We can and we should consciously work together with our Lord, sealing the creation into existence, helping it grow, making it what it should be, a paradise. A good though for the Season of Creation. D. Costache Image: Meaningful Drops of Water My previous reflection: https://www.facebook.com//a.1851689911825/2673549082972946

06.01.2022 The miraculous icon of Panagia Vimatarissa-Holy Monastery of Vatopediou. - . Maica Domnului Vimatarissa- Sfânta Mnstire Vatopedu.

06.01.2022 On this day September 21, every year, we commemorate #Jonah the Prophet. It is on the same day that His Eminence Metropolitan Jonah Lwanga of Kampala celebrates... his Name Day. Let wish him a blessed name day and Many Years! Despota! Apolytikion of Prophet Jonah (Third Tone) To the Ninevites, thou wast a trumpet, blaring fearful threats of Heaven's judgments, at the which they repented with all their hearts; and from the sea-monster's belly didst thou foreshow the Lord's divine Resurrection to all the world. Hence, entreat Him to bring out of corruption all of us, who honour thee, O Jonah, as a friend of God. See more

04.01.2022 Nadezhda Kuzina Russia

04.01.2022 Theophanes the Greek Icon of the Mother of God Donskaya

01.01.2022 Nothing is more unpleasant than a man who is ungrateful for the good that God has done for humankind. - Patriarch Daniel

01.01.2022 MIRACLE OF THE ARCHANGEL MICHAEL On 19 September, the Church commemorates the Miracle of the Archangel Michael at Colossae (Chonae). This wondrous event happene...d at a miraculous spring in a place called Cheretopos, not far from the city of Hierapolis. In the city of Laodicia, there lived a certain man whose daughter was mute. It was revealed to him by the holy Archangel Michael that his daughter would receive the gift of speech after drinking from the water of the spring. The girl did receive healing and began to speak. In fervent gratitude for this miracle, the father built the church in honour of the holy Archangel Michael by the spring. Local people, Christians as well as pagans, began to come to the spring for healing. Many of the pagans turned from their idols and were converted to the faith in Christ. There was a certain pious man, Archippus by name, who served at that church for sixty years as a church custodian. By his preaching and by the example of his saintly life, he brought many to faith in Christ. Some pagans thought to destroy the church in order to prevent people from coming to that holy place of healing, and at the same time kill Archippus. They made a confluence of the Lykokaperos and Kufos Rivers and directed its combined flow against the church. St Archippus prayed fervently to the Archangel Michael to ward off the disaster. The Archangel Michael appeared at the church, and with a blow of his staff, opened a wide fissure in a rock. The rushing torrents of water flew into it. The church remained unharmed. Put to shame, the pagans fled in terror. St Archippus and the Christians gave thanks to God and the holy Archangel Michael for the help. The place, formerly called Colossae, from then was named Chonae, a Greek word signifying the funneling of the rivers in that place. #StElisabethConvent #minsk #obitelminsk #belarus #slavonic #orthodox #god #faith #spirituality #saints #church #praying #godbless #jesus #jesuschrist #christian