Sermon Sunday March 12, 2023
Mark 2: 1 – 12.
Sins are forgiven: A Paralytic
By Fr Nicholas Karipoff
 
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
You have heard that sin is humanity’s disconnect from God. In ancient Greece, the philosophers saw God as a distant “prime mover” who winds up His created “toy” to set the cosmos operating autonomously. Medieval Latin theology internalised this view, while superficially keeping the Bible narrative, and eventually it passed it on to the emerging European scientific thought of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. St Gregory Palamas, whom we celebrate today, objected to this separation between us and God. The faith and life of the church has always been about a unified heaven and earth, soul, and body. This connection is facilitated by the energies of God, according to St Gregory. The coming of God in the flesh, in Christ, is the beginning not only of the restoration of the beauty that was there before, but a beginning of God’s transformation of the universe. A preview of this transformation was shown to the three apostles on Mt Tabor – the Holy Transfiguration.
 
Today’s Gospel story about the healing of the paralytic shows that forgiveness of sin is not something that happens in isolation and invisibly in the soul. Forgiveness like that would be shallow, legalistic, and moralistic, something like a parking ticket being torn up. It would not mean much. But sin is a disconnect from the source of life and that affects the whole person, soul, and body. This is the meaning of today’s Gospel story about the paralysed man. Christ’s forgiveness opens the soul to God’s life-giving energies. These energies then flood the body through the soul. The body is restored, the body is raised from its paralysis. Sinful humanity, and that often means us Christians as well, does not want God to be close by. It is more comfortable with a distant or even a non-existing divinity. A dead God! But Church life is about Christ in our midst. Every Liturgy there is a kiss of peace. In the earlier centuries this was practised in the body of the church itself but now it is only retained in the sanctuary among the clergy when they come up to each other and say, Christ is in our midst. He is and shall be, is the response.
 
We want Christ to be in our midst, so let us taste and see that the Lord is good, as King David writes in Psalm 33. Then we will not want to avoid Him or keep Him at a comfortable distance where He will not interfere with our much more enjoyable earthly delights! Then we will know from experience that there is no greater joy than that which is given by the light of Christ that enlightens us all.
 
 
Sermon Sunday March 19Mark 8: 34 – 9:1
The Holy Cross
By Fr Nicholas Karipoff
 
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Why does the Church bring out the Holy Cross on this third Sunday of Lent? It is because Orthodoxy is dead serious about Christ’s words when He states that the soul is worth more than the whole world. There is no greater treasure than the soul. What is the point of gaining the whole world if you are going to lose your soul? For that reason, we must be dead serious about the Lord’s words, and about the level of commitment that is needed to save the soul by following Christ.
 
I will give you some names: Bernard Arnaud, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet. You have heard some of these names and others like them. They have gained the whole world. You know what, we need to learn from them! They can teach us about commitment and energy! A Christian with real commitment to Christ can have a greater influence on the world than any of those men because their achievements are just human achievements. St Paul says, I can do anything with Christ. A dozen fisherman were able to conquer the whole world.  The apostles’ achievement is greater than that of all the rich and powerful of history because they did it through Christ.
 
What does it mean when Christ says that we have to deny ourselves. What is this self? Let me give you an image. The self is a tenacious octopus of passions that clings with its suckers and squeezes our body, soul, and spirit. This is the self that we need to deny. Why do I come up with this image of octopus? An octopus has eight tentacles. Do you know what these tentacles are? Gluttony, fornication, acquisitiveness, anger, sinful sorrow, despondency, vainglory, and pride, as the Holy Fathers list them. Eight of them. Without Christ’s cross, we cannot beat the giant octopus that uses our name. To carry our cross is to take life seriously, to take responsibility for life. It is not to think that Christ has done everything, that there is nothing more we need to do except to accept His achievements on a silver platter. It is to agree to become a warrior of Christ against our own octopus, the octopuses of the world, and their chief who of course is the prince of this world, Satan. Today the Cross is a reminder and an encouragement to us that we can do it with Christ. And we can do more than the world can because Christ said that He has defeated the world. And so, as He said, we should be cheerful because of that, even though the path of the Cross is not without its pain. Yet we can still stay cheerful and rejoice always, as the holy apostle Paul says.
 
Sermon Sunday March 26, 2023
Mark 9:17-31
St John of the Ladder
By Fr Nicholas Karipoff
 
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Today the Lord tells His apostles - and us - that human beings can only be freed from demonic influence through and prayer and fasting. The Church each year, on this fourth Sunday of Lent, remembers St John of the Ladder, who was the abbot of Sinai. He was a great teacher of prayer and fasting in all their many aspects. His book, The Ladder, is an indication of the way to freedom, spiritual freedom; to the Kingdom of God within us. The Desert Fathers’ tradition begins two or three centuries before the time of St John who lived in the second half of the sixth century and his writings reflect much of that spiritual culture. In his book, St John also talks about a phenomenon which was only given a name in later centuries; hesychia. This term speaks about the inner stillness of the soul.
 
While total demonic possession is very rare, the demons are great masters of temptation and provocation. They activate the tentacles of this octopus that I was talking about last Sunday - the eight passions, represented by the eight tentacles. This image describes an individual, but a collective model of these passions is an image of the sea. Patristic writers teach that our spiritual life is the sea of life which is within us and within other people. This sea can be either calm or it can be rough because of the passions. The turbulence of the passions energises the waves of the sea of life. Picture to yourself Peter drowning in the waves. It is a very good example.
 
The Ladder of St John and many other patristic texts, teach us how to not only survive these storms, but to subdue them within us. Collectively the Church can calm the destructive waves in the world around us. I would like to give some Lenten suggestions of what we can do to obtain a measure of peace and stillness within ourselves. These include minimising exposure to the news. Everybody wants to watch the news religiously. What for? You will find out the important things anyway. Why bring this chaotic energy into your soul during Lent? Another suggestion is to minimise excursions of curiosity online. That brings a lot of chaos into the soul. Minimise chaotic energies of worldly passion reaching us through things like loud music, loud and boisterous conversations, even with friends. Also, excessive laughter brought about by food, drink, and chaotic company, which is inappropriate during Lent. There is, after all, such a thing as sensory overload. Psychologists will tell you this. When people come from places without any civilisation and get thrown into somewhere like Manhattan with all the bright lights, they can go mad, literally, because of so much of these chaotic energies. We are also not unaffected. We think we are used to it, but we are not. It still affects us. Sensory overload causes anxiety and depression. You can test it for yourself.
 
On a collective level, here is something for the benefit not just of our inner spiritual life, but for the world. Something to bring peace and calm to the world, especially considering what is happening now in Ukraine with so much bloodshed, cruelty, suffering and destruction. I would like to suggest we set up a system where we will collectively read the Psalter every hour of every day until Easter. If you are interested to take on the commitment of reading one kathisma at a certain time each day let me know.
 
God bless you all, and let us continue Lent creatively, understanding what spiritual life is.
 
Kathisma reading for peace in Ukraine.We are collectively reading the Psalter each day until Holy Wednesday (April 12), to pray for peace in Ukraine. Individuals and families have nominated the hour they will read a kathisma (one portion of the psalter) which takes about fifteen minutes, so that there is continual reading of the psalter over the twenty-four-hour period. Are you interested in participating?
Text Fr Nicholas on 0418 546 911 and nominate a time you can commit to for reading a kathisma each day.
 

Please join our head sister Luba Cowall in a fun, family-friendly afternoon.
Get schooled in the art of cookie decoration, and take home a delicious bag of gingerbread to share with loved ones this festive season!
Saturday 17 December, starting at 1pm
at the church hall, Holy Protection Cathedral, East Brunswick (1-7 Albion St)

$20 with proceeds going to the church, bookings essential
call Luba on 0411 090 550

Parish Fete
Saturday November 12,
2pm – 5pmHoly Protection Cathedral invites you to a social parish afternoon this Saturday, with activities for children, food and a few bargains on offer.  (BYO cash for ease!)
Come along and simply relax and enjoy the day, or if you enjoy getting involved, volunteer to help out with a stall for an hour or so, or bake something sweet or savoury (please include the list of ingredients). Contact Fr Genna to offer help or for any other queries: frgbaksheev@gmail.com 

Sermon from October 23, 2022Luke 7: 11 – 16; John 17: 1- 13
Holy Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council, Commemoration of Optina Elders
By Fr Nicholas Karipoff
 
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
In today’s Sunday reading from Luke, Christ stops the funeral possession and raises a young boy - the only son of a widow - from death to life. This miracle speaks of the Lord’s essential purpose in coming to this earth, which is the valley of the shadow of death. He comes here to give life. This concept of the division between the way of life and the way of death already existed in the culture of the Old Testament as well as in the culture of the early Church. Similarly, today’s saints in whose honour the second Gospel reading from John was read, the Holy Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical council and the elders of Optina, speak of these same two things: the way of life and the way of death.
 
The Seventh Ecumenical Council defended the veneration of icons against the iconoclasts. They pointed out that the Church believes in the reality of the incarnation of the Son of God, the Word becoming flesh, and so the Son of God in Jesus Christ was visible and tangible here on Earth. Therefore, our iconography emphasises our belief in the reality of the incarnation. Faith weakens and dissipates in those who fight against the image like the iconoclasts did. We confirm that Christ is Emmanuel: God with Us. And His divine humanity conducts that divine humanity to us, and we are sanctified and deified by it.
 
The Optina Elders were a dynasty of prophets. Prophets are known in the Old Testament, and appeared in the early Church, and the Church has continued to have prophets right through the centuries. This dynasty of elders in Russia lasted about a hundred years from the early 19th century to early 20th century. The Optina Elders also spoke both to individuals and collectively about the way of life and the way of death. In their instructions, they warn to not die spiritually. There is a rich treasury of books about the Elders, and their writings inspire us to follow them. Orthodox culture is rich in books which we need to read. Otherwise, it is like having a treasure chest and never bothering to open it.
 
The young boy of today’s Gospel reading was raised from the dead when Christ came up and touched the bier in which he was being carried in the funeral procession. To rise and live with Christ, we need to stay in touch with Him. We say in the Lord’s Prayer, Give us this day our daily bread. As I explained recently in our fortnightly Gospel studies, the word “bread” should more precisely be translated as “essential bread”. It speaks about the Eucharist. This is the bread that makes us alive. Let us not stay away from the Church because this is where we get sanctification. This is where we receive the essential bread of life that gives us divine life. Let us not choose that life of the body which inevitably will end. We need to begin living eternal life now. There is no point thinking we Christians can live life how we want now and expect eternal life at the end. Eternal life must start now. We must be in touch with this eternal life, otherwise it will just burn out within us. Unfortunately, in the last few years the whole culture of covid has made people complacent about coming to church. For those of you at home watching this transmission on Youtube, you should be here! This is where it happens! Eternal life is not going to happen over live-streaming! That’s the deal, Brothers and Sisters. If we begin to live eternal life now it continues, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
 

 
Sermon from Sunday October 16.
Luke 6:31-36 The Golden Rule
By Fr Nicholas Karipoff
 
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
The Gospel passage that we just heard begins with the golden rule, the altruistic principle which is the principle of treating others as one wants to be treated. The Lord Jesus Christ, though, turns it around to present it positively; instead of saying “Do not do unto others, as you would not have them do unto you”, he says Do to others as you would have them do to you. Instead of saying to stop doing bad things, He says, Do good. Be an initiator of goodness and love in the world. And the beginning of this passage is the key to today’s reading. It’s the key to all real Christianity. We should remind ourselves of these words as often as possible.
 
Take for instance, the life of St Paul, the great apostle. He was shipwrecked. He was stoned and left for dead. He received 39 lashes, five times. Can you even imagine what that would be like? Jim Caviezel, during the filming of The Passion of Christ, was accidentally hit once and lost consciousness. St Paul received five times 39 lashes! And yet, his letters are full of joy, because a real Christian gives. A real Christian is a shining star that gives joyously from the heart. A real Christian doesn’t moan and groan. A real Christian begins prayer with praise to the Lord and thanking God, then asking forgiveness for our sins, and only at the end asking things from God. We often work the other way! We often think prayer is about asking for things. But a Christian is not a black hole that sucks everything in. A Christian is not an emotional vampire! But we often behave like that! We want to suck blood out of our neighbours.
 
Christians are children of God; this is what this passage is saying to us. The Lord is trying to teach us to give and not to expect anything in return, just as God gives to everyone, he gives to the good, bad and the ugly! We have come to the Eucharist.  The Eucharist teaches us this attitude to life. Think about what the word eucharist means – it means thanksgiving. We come to thank God. But more than that, we come to receive grace from God. The first part of the Liturgy, including the sermon, is about learning. The second part is about receiving God’s energy, His grace that allows us to be like Him. His grace transforms us so that we give without even noticing that we give. This is the response from the righteous, from the sheep in Christ’s picture of the Last Judgement. The righteous are terribly surprised when he tells them that you have done this or that. They say, What have we done, we’ve done nothing, just behaving normally! That’s eucharistic life. This is what we absorb here in this holy temple of God, His grace to transform us so that we can go out into the world, to our families, and not to behave like people who do not know God. So, Brothers and Sisters, as St Paul says to Thessalonian: rejoice always, pray without ceasing. For this is the will of God, in Jesus Christ, for you.
 

Sunday October 9, 2022
Luke 5:1-11; John 19:25-27,21:24-25
By Fr Nicholas Karipoff, (given at Vladimir Icon Parish, Queensland)
 
Brothers and Sisters, today we have two readings; the Sunday reading in Luke about the miraculous catch of fish, and the second was for the saint celebrated today, the Holy Evangelist, St John the Theologian. Both those readings speak about love. In actual fact, the great twentieth century Serbian theologian, Fr Justin Popovich, said the whole Gospel can be summed up in one word, love. And this is what both readings were about today. The miraculous catch described in the first reading is an image of the future catch of 153 fish, reported by St John towards the end of his gospel. In the Greco Roman world of ancient times there was a tradition that there were 153 nations in the world. The miraculous catch is a symbol that the apostles would draw all nations into their nets.
 
Today, though, I would like to focus more on the second reading and today’s saint, St John the Evangelist. His symbol is the eagle; each gospel writer has his own symbol. These symbols have come from the vision of Ezekiel, explained in the first chapter of Ezekiel. St John is the eagle because the eagle flies high and sees very far, representing him as a theologian with extraordinary vision. How it possible to gain that vision? It is possible through love. But to attain it, we first need purification. St John gave his whole life to Christ from the age of eighteen, and we might ask, surely this is enough for him to be purified? But he, like the Mother of God, is subjected or allowed by God to suffer the sword piercing his heart. These were the words said to the Mother of God by the elder Simeon, when she brough Christ to the temple on the fortieth day after his birth. The same thing happened to John as he was standing by the cross, looking at his beloved teacher and he was in deep shock, sorrow, and pain. It was not only his love for his teacher that was being subjected to the sword, but also his dream. He, as a Jew of those times, shared the culture that the messiah would be the earthly king, the King of Israel and Israel would rule the whole world. All of that was falling apart as he watched his bleeding teacher die on the cross.
 
Why was that pain necessary? It was necessary to achieve an even greater degree of purity because blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. This is the vision we are talking about, the vision of the eagle which comes from the purification of the heart. When we get rid of all the stuff that clutters our heart, that is so dear to us, then we make room for God’s grace and power. And then one of the great paradoxes of Christian faith comes to fruition; as the Lord Christ said to St Paul, my strength in perfected in weakness and love is indeed fragile and vulnerable. But at the same time, it cannot be powerful without being vulnerable and fragile because it is taking that risk and is having that courage to face the unknown, despite the risk of getting hurt. This is the way God wins, Christ wins, and He catches His flock into His nets. We need that clarity of vision that the eagle, like the great evangelist St John. St John gives us so much knowledge about God and about what love is. We need this especially because we are living in the times when the devil has such scope of action and attack, such complexity of temptation. Without this vision, everything around is contradictory and confusing. Human wisdom cannot give us this clarity and vision, because human wisdom works on the intellect, which is basically like a computer that calculates, like a game of chess. But we need to see, not calculate. The devil can beat us at this chess game any time. It is only if we are given the vision, akin to the vision of the eagle, that we can win. So, Brothers and Sisters, this is the lesson that is given today through the life and writings of the great evangelist, St John.Sermon from October 23, 2022Luke 7: 11 – 16; John 17: 1- 13
Holy Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council, Commemoration of Optina Elders
By Fr Nicholas Karipoff
 
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
In today’s Sunday reading from Luke, Christ stops the funeral possession and raises a young boy - the only son of a widow - from death to life. This miracle speaks of the Lord’s essential purpose in coming to this earth, which is the valley of the shadow of death. He comes here to give life. This concept of the division between the way of life and the way of death already existed in the culture of the Old Testament as well as in the culture of the early Church. Similarly, today’s saints in whose honour the second Gospel reading from John was read, the Holy Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical council and the elders of Optina, speak of these same two things: the way of life and the way of death.
 
The Seventh Ecumenical Council defended the veneration of icons against the iconoclasts. They pointed out that the Church believes in the reality of the incarnation of the Son of God, the Word becoming flesh, and so the Son of God in Jesus Christ was visible and tangible here on Earth. Therefore, our iconography emphasises our belief in the reality of the incarnation. Faith weakens and dissipates in those who fight against the image like the iconoclasts did. We confirm that Christ is Emmanuel: God with Us. And His divine humanity conducts that divine humanity to us, and we are sanctified and deified by it.
 
The Optina Elders were a dynasty of prophets. Prophets are known in the Old Testament, and appeared in the early Church, and the Church has continued to have prophets right through the centuries. This dynasty of elders in Russia lasted about a hundred years from the early 19th century to early 20th century. The Optina Elders also spoke both to individuals and collectively about the way of life and the way of death. In their instructions, they warn to not die spiritually. There is a rich treasury of books about the Elders, and their writings inspire us to follow them. Orthodox culture is rich in books which we need to read. Otherwise, it is like having a treasure chest and never bothering to open it.
 
The young boy of today’s Gospel reading was raised from the dead when Christ came up and touched the bier in which he was being carried in the funeral procession. To rise and live with Christ, we need to stay in touch with Him. We say in the Lord’s Prayer, Give us this day our daily bread. As I explained recently in our fortnightly Gospel studies, the word “bread” should more precisely be translated as “essential bread”. It speaks about the Eucharist. This is the bread that makes us alive. Let us not stay away from the Church because this is where we get sanctification. This is where we receive the essential bread of life that gives us divine life. Let us not choose that life of the body which inevitably will end. We need to begin living eternal life now. There is no point thinking we Christians can live life how we want now and expect eternal life at the end. Eternal life must start now. We must be in touch with this eternal life, otherwise it will just burn out within us. Unfortunately, in the last few years the whole culture of covid has made people complacent about coming to church. For those of you at home watching this transmission on Youtube, you should be here! This is where it happens! Eternal life is not going to happen over live-streaming! That’s the deal, Brothers and Sisters. If we begin to live eternal life now it continues, now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
 

 
Sermon from Sunday October 16.
Luke 6:31-36 The Golden Rule
By Fr Nicholas Karipoff
 
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
The Gospel passage that we just heard begins with the golden rule, the altruistic principle which is the principle of treating others as one wants to be treated. The Lord Jesus Christ, though, turns it around to present it positively; instead of saying “Do not do unto others, as you would not have them do unto you”, he says Do to others as you would have them do to you. Instead of saying to stop doing bad things, He says, Do good. Be an initiator of goodness and love in the world. And the beginning of this passage is the key to today’s reading. It’s the key to all real Christianity. We should remind ourselves of these words as often as possible.
 
Take for instance, the life of St Paul, the great apostle. He was shipwrecked. He was stoned and left for dead. He received 39 lashes, five times. Can you even imagine what that would be like? Jim Caviezel, during the filming of The Passion of Christ, was accidentally hit once and lost consciousness. St Paul received five times 39 lashes! And yet, his letters are full of joy, because a real Christian gives. A real Christian is a shining star that gives joyously from the heart. A real Christian doesn’t moan and groan. A real Christian begins prayer with praise to the Lord and thanking God, then asking forgiveness for our sins, and only at the end asking things from God. We often work the other way! We often think prayer is about asking for things. But a Christian is not a black hole that sucks everything in. A Christian is not an emotional vampire! But we often behave like that! We want to suck blood out of our neighbours.
 
Christians are children of God; this is what this passage is saying to us. The Lord is trying to teach us to give and not to expect anything in return, just as God gives to everyone, he gives to the good, bad and the ugly! We have come to the Eucharist.  The Eucharist teaches us this attitude to life. Think about what the word eucharist means – it means thanksgiving. We come to thank God. But more than that, we come to receive grace from God. The first part of the Liturgy, including the sermon, is about learning. The second part is about receiving God’s energy, His grace that allows us to be like Him. His grace transforms us so that we give without even noticing that we give. This is the response from the righteous, from the sheep in Christ’s picture of the Last Judgement. The righteous are terribly surprised when he tells them that you have done this or that. They say, What have we done, we’ve done nothing, just behaving normally! That’s eucharistic life. This is what we absorb here in this holy temple of God, His grace to transform us so that we can go out into the world, to our families, and not to behave like people who do not know God. So, Brothers and Sisters, as St Paul says to Thessalonian: rejoice always, pray without ceasing. For this is the will of God, in Jesus Christ, for you.
 

Sunday October 9, 2022
Luke 5:1-11; John 19:25-27,21:24-25
By Fr Nicholas Karipoff, (given at Vladimir Icon Parish, Queensland)
 
Brothers and Sisters, today we have two readings; the Sunday reading in Luke about the miraculous catch of fish, and the second was for the saint celebrated today, the Holy Evangelist, St John the Theologian. Both those readings speak about love. In actual fact, the great twentieth century Serbian theologian, Fr Justin Popovich, said the whole Gospel can be summed up in one word, love. And this is what both readings were about today. The miraculous catch described in the first reading is an image of the future catch of 153 fish, reported by St John towards the end of his gospel. In the Greco Roman world of ancient times there was a tradition that there were 153 nations in the world. The miraculous catch is a symbol that the apostles would draw all nations into their nets.
 
Today, though, I would like to focus more on the second reading and today’s saint, St John the Evangelist. His symbol is the eagle; each gospel writer has his own symbol. These symbols have come from the vision of Ezekiel, explained in the first chapter of Ezekiel. St John is the eagle because the eagle flies high and sees very far, representing him as a theologian with extraordinary vision. How it possible to gain that vision? It is possible through love. But to attain it, we first need purification. St John gave his whole life to Christ from the age of eighteen, and we might ask, surely this is enough for him to be purified? But he, like the Mother of God, is subjected or allowed by God to suffer the sword piercing his heart. These were the words said to the Mother of God by the elder Simeon, when she brought Christ to the temple on the fortieth day after his birth. The same thing happened to John as he was standing by the cross, looking at his beloved teacher and he was in deep shock, sorrow, and pain. It was not only his love for his teacher that was being subjected to the sword, but also his dream. He, as a Jew of those times, shared the culture that the messiah would be the earthly king, the King of Israel and Israel would rule the whole world. All of that was falling apart as he watched his bleeding teacher die on the cross.
 
Why was that pain necessary? It was necessary to achieve an even greater degree of purity because blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. This is the vision we are talking about, the vision of the eagle which comes from the purification of the heart. When we get rid of all the stuff that clutters our heart, that is so dear to us, then we make room for God’s grace and power. And then one of the great paradoxes of Christian faith comes to fruition; as the Lord Christ said to St Paul, my strength in perfected in weakness and love is indeed fragile and vulnerable. But at the same time, it cannot be powerful without being vulnerable and fragile because it is taking that risk and is having that courage to face the unknown, despite the risk of getting hurt. This is the way God wins, Christ wins, and He catches His flock into His nets. We need that clarity of vision that the eagle, like the great evangelist St John. St John gives us so much knowledge about God and about what love is. We need this especially because we are living in the times when the devil has such scope of action and attack, such complexity of temptation. Without this vision, everything around is contradictory and confusing. Human wisdom cannot give us this clarity and vision, because human wisdom works on the intellect, which is basically like a computer that calculates, like a game of chess. But we need to see, not calculate. The devil can beat us at this chess game any time. It is only if we are given the vision, akin to the vision of the eagle, that we can win. So, Brothers and Sisters, this is the lesson that is given today through the life and writings of the great evangelist, St John.

Dormition icon, Christ holds the soul (portrayed as an infant child) of his Most Holy Mother, the Apostles, hierarchs and angels are gathered around her. Her earthly death is her day of birth in the heavenly realm. 


Sermon from Sunday September 4, 2022Matt 19: 16 – 26 Riches and the Kingdom
By Fr Nicholas Karipoff
 
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
The rich young man came out to the Lord Jesus Christ and asked Him, what good thing must I do to have eternal life? And interestingly, the Lord responds to him rather differently. He says if you want to enter life – not eternal life – keep the commandments. Subsequent conversation shows that the young man was seriously self-deluded. He thought that he was close to perfection. In His answer to this young man, Christ goes into maximalist mode and tells him that if wants to be perfect, then he should sell everything, give it to the poor and follow Him. Christ wanted to show the man that he was deceiving himself. His first question to Christ was basically, what is the minimum that I need to do to have eternal life? Clearly, he wanted to enjoy his wealth and all the good things of this life as well as ensuring that he did not miss out on the life after life. He wanted a win-win situation! This is why Christ replies to his first question by saying what he needs to do to enter into life. Eternal life does not happen if we do not enter into life now. Eternal life must begin now, resurrection is now. It is a different quality of life to the way that the world sees it. But the young man wanted to enjoy the worldly life without making any sacrifices, without wanting to change himself or adjust to the way of life that Christ wants.
 
Worldly life is about self-love, self-interest. Eternal life is about the love of God and to love your neighbour as yourself. That means if my neighbour hurts, I hurt. I feel the pain of my neighbour. That is the commandment, that is what Christ says. Real life is about being a conductor of love from God, to connect with God and to connect with your fellow human being.
 
We cannot allow ourselves to be deluded like that young man. We do not love God yet. We cannot seriously say we love God. We do not. We often do not even have fear of God which is the beginning of spiritual growth; as Proverbs say, The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. How do we begin? Let us occasionally take time out from our fun and enjoyment of the good life to notice Christ Who is like that man from the parable, Lazarus. Christ, like the beggar, knocks on the door of our heart. Are we going to notice it, or are we just going to keep having a good time?
 
One example of how we can stop deceiving ourselves is something that has opened up very recently in covid. We can deceive ourselves by thinking I can stay at home and watch live-streaming, I don’t have to come to church. That is deceiving yourself. It is the mode of thinking of today’s rich young man. But Christ’s words should wake us up.
 

Dormition of the Mother of God, Sunday August 28, 2022A short homily by Fr Mark Woloszyn
 
The feast of Transfiguration is celebrated in the middle of Dormition lent, and the two events are linked. In Transfiguration we see Christ, as both God and man, shine brighter than the sun on top of Mount Tabor. This is a glimpse of the Resurrection and Grace of God. And this same Jesus who shone brighter than the sun on Mt. Tabor, dwelt in the womb of the Theotokos and transformed her life completely. So too, this same Jesus who shone brighter than the sun on Mt Tabor, knocks on the door of our hearts and seeks to dwell in us. He offers himself to us in Holy Communion, to change our lives completely. So now, we turn to celebrate the life and Dormition of the Mother of God, and we ask for her strong prayers, help and protection so that He who shone brighter than the sun on Mt Tabor and dwelt in Her womb, would come and dwell in us, and change our lives completely.
 
 

 Patronal Feast of Holy Protection (Pokrov) CathedralHoly Protection of the Mother of God, Friday October 14, 2022
 
After two years of our Patronal Feast falling during covid lockdowns, we are finally able to celebrate again as a parish. The Feast of Pokrov falls this year on a Friday, and the Liturgy will be followed by a parish lunch in the hall.
 
The following Sunday, October 16, will be an afternoon in appreciation of all the donors who have contributed to the building and decorating of our magnificent Cathedral. The rector Fr Nicholas Karipoff will give a short tour and talk of the interior iconography which was finished in July 2021 by NSW iconographer and artist, Antonina Ganin This was thanks to a massive fundraising push in 2018, that saw us raise the goal of $100,000 in just six weeks! After the Cathedral tour, we will be having refreshments in the hall, with a short performance of Russian music and dance.
 
Make a note of these dates; more details to come shortly.
 Parish AGM October 2, 12:30pm, in the hall.Now is a good time to become a member or renew your membership. As a member you will be able to vote in the elections or be nominated for a role in the Parish Council.
 
You can renew your membership online at https://www.pokrov.com.au/donate.html or at the candle kiosk on Sundays. If you’re not sure whether your membership is up for renewal or not, contact pokrovsecretary@icloud.com.
To apply for membership, fill out a form at the candle kiosk, or email the secretary at pokrovsecretary@icloud.com

Sermon from June 12, 2022
The Feast of Pentecost John 7: 37 -52
By Fr Nicholas Karipoff
 
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Pentecost was and is to this day a powerful breath of life from our one God, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, sends the Holy Spirit from the Father to the people of God, to the Church. On this day, over two thousand years ago, this mighty Breath of Life was felt in the powerful sound of wind, seen as tongues of fire, and heard in the charismatic words of Apostle Peter. It energised the Church then and continues now to bring thousands of people into the Trinitarian life of unity and love.
 
As I was thinking about what I would say today, two examples of this living Breath of Life came to mind. I recently heard a talk between two Englishmen, a former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, and a writer based in Ireland, Paul Kingsnorth.  Paul used to write on environmental topics and he’s also a poet. Their conversation is titled Conversion, Culture and the Cross.  [Find it here on Youtube].  Paul shared the story of his conversion to Orthodoxy. Rowan Williams knows a lot about Orthodoxy on an intellectual level and has been drawn to it since his 20s, although he hasn’t become Orthodox. Paul explains his journey to becoming Orthodox in very straightforward language. He came from atheism and went through Zen Buddhism and even Wicca. He said that basically the Lord grabbed him by the hand and led him to where he needed to come. He was looking for a tangible manifestation of God in life, not just intellectual talk about Him which Christianity can slide into. Intellectual talk alone is not Church life.
 
The second example is a visitor from Indonesia we had twenty years ago, Fr Daniel. Fr Daniel shared his experiences of preaching to Muslims who wanted to hear about Christ. They had great difficulty in understanding the mystery of the Holy Trinity. In speaking to them he used a model that is used in the ancient Church tradition: the Father is like the mind, the Son is the Word and the Word comes out with Breath of the Spirit. We believe in one God.   The breath of Life in the Church is what we are talking about today.
 
Those who need to see and touch in order to believe, like doubting Thomas, can go to the Holy Land because there are three public miracles that happen there every year: the Holy Fire of Great Saturday, the blessing of water in the Jordan River, and the cloud on Mt Tabor on Transfiguration. These happen every year.  If we need to see the power of God in a tangible way, we can!  But He said Himself to Thomas, more blessed are those who haven’t seen and yet believe. The Church of the apostles, martyrs, prophets and hierarchs has kept Pentecost alive for two thousand years. How? It is kept alive in the Eucharist, in the Liturgy. 
 
Let us bring the living Breath of God from the Eucharist, from the Church, from our communion of love into our family life, into our community life and let us share it with the people in the world around us, even without saying a word specifically to them. Let the living breath of God live within us. Let Him speak to those people that are ready to come into the Church just like those three thousand who converted after the words of Peter at Pentecost.

Christ is risen!
It is with great sadness that we learnt that Metropolitan Hilarion, our diocesan ruling bishop since 1996 and later, first hierarch of the the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, passed away this morning (Australian time).
​
We will serve a panikhida tonight after vespers.
Vespers at 6pm, panikhida at 6.45pm.

Memory eternal!

​  

Sermon from Sunday March 6, 2022, Forgiveness Sunday
Matthew 6:1-13 The Sermon on the Mount
by Fr Nicholas Karipoff
 
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Today is Forgiveness Sunday. Today the church remembers how Adam and Eve were expelled from paradise, because they did not seek forgiveness from God. The Gospel reading that we just heard is from the Sermon on the Mount and in this passage we hear about three things. First of all, the need to forgive our neighbour as a condition of forgiveness from God to us, which of course reverberates even in the Lord’s Prayer.  Secondly it talks about the true spiritual life, which doesn’t need to parade itself.  Thirdly, the Lord talks about our heart and where our treasure is. The spirit of forgiveness shows up who is a real follower of Christ.  We have it, or we don’t have it. We’re Christ’s or we’re not Christ’s.  The Lord’s last words and deeds from His cross were about forgiveness; his prayer to the Father, Forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing, and his forgiveness of the repentant bandit, the Good Thief. Surely these words and deeds are a testament to what is really important for Christ.  When a person does not have the spirit of forgiveness, their heart has chosen another treasure, a treasure other than God. And that treasure, of course, can be summed up as their ego and pride. They are deluded and they may even think that they are serving God and praying to God, but in fact they are serving themselves and even in their prayer they address their ego. They parade their virtues, and the result is that they create a hell for themselves. As Dostoevsky wrote, Hell is the inability to love. Let me illustrate this with a passage written in the last few days by a young parishioner of ours. 
 
I feel terror and grief every day, as the news gets worse, and levels of hatred and fear escalate. While the immediate loss of life and the destruction of ways of living occupy my thoughts, I worry about the future. The burning lava of aggressive speech is gaining traction through media and public discourse.  At a point where the pandemic should have brought us closer together and more appreciative of the preciousness of the time with our loved ones, and the importance of international cooperation and support, ties have been severed. I feel like it is now the time to come together and pray for peace to end all corrosive conflicts globally. I feel it is also time to examine the hatred and aggression in ourselves towards our fellow human brothers and sisters. Are we starting a war in our daily lives with angry thoughts, burning words or actions, that seek to destroy?  More than ever, I feel we need to extend compassion, patience, and kindness, each being a candle of peace in our surrounds.
 
That’s a touching and beautiful little passage from a young parishioner.
 
In entering Great Lent, we must commit ourselves to a merciless honesty about our inner life. What is our real treasure? It’s a big question. Are we serving God or ourselves in a multi-faceted way? Do we have the spirit of forgiveness? Are we going to become real followers of Christ? Today’s theme of forgiveness translates into transformation of life. The Gospel calls this repentance, and that’s what the next seven weeks is about as we prepare to greet the Risen Lord.
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