Bishop of Australia and New Zealand Siluan
Bishop Siluan with the clergy and the faithful during the service on Holy Wednesday at St. Sava Church in Greensboro
My dear spiritual children in the Risen Lord Christ, Gathered on this Easter night in our holy temples throughout Australia and New Zealand, in anticipation of the dawn of a new Day, the Day of the Lord – by which mankind sitting in darkness will see the great light (Matt. 4:15). -16), following the hymnography of our holy Church, let us purify our senses so that we may see Christ shining in the inaccessible light of the Resurrection, because he announces great joy to us! (The first song of the Easter canon).
And indeed, brothers and sisters, without the feast of the Resurrection of Christ, we could not speak of joy in this world; we would not have the gracious experience of true and imperishable joy gained by living in the risen Christ, in his holy Church.
A world without Christ, without the victory of the Resurrection, cannot be anything but a valley of weeping, fear and horror! It is enough for us to look at the world around us, and often ourselves, to get a picture of what our life would be like without the Resurrection. What consolation could we have in a world of suffering, sickness and dying? In fact, the Resurrection of Christ is the most necessary victory in the human world, it is the great sun that is born in the darkness of human life, dispelling all scarecrows, all ghosts and cruel torturers of the human spirit.
Therefore, the Holy Church in its hymnography calls the feast of the Resurrection – the Most Holy Passover, therefore, the holiest Passage and Exit from the cruelty of the fallen world – the world of the disenfranchised, the world of God’s gracious consciousness, the world of joy, consolation and life in abundance (John 10:10). .
With this truth before us, dear brothers and sisters, whenever it is difficult for us, when burdens and temptations press us, when the world tells us that there is no way out, that everything is terrible and helpless, let us turn to our Savior, who confirms that there will be trouble. in the world, as well as sorrows, but who also encourages us not to be afraid, because He has conquered the world! (John 16:33) This victory becomes ours, by living in the Church, as the Venerable Ava Justin testifies when he says: “The God-man, as the true God, had the power to save human nature from sin, death and the devil, and as a true man. – to hand over that salvation to the people in his holy Church, in his God-man body. Becoming sons of God by faith in the only begotten Son of God, the Lord Christ, men become His companions and partakers of his almighty grace (cf. Eph. 3: 6), by which they overcome every sin, every death, every devil, and gain strength to be here on earth live eternal life and for eternal life. ”
Bishop Siluan with the clergy in the Church of St. Basil of Ostrog in Langvoren on Holy Thursday
We are not surprised that the fallen world cannot see the significance of the Resurrection, because in the words of the Holy Apostle Paul – “the carnal man receiveth not that which is of God, because he is foolish, and cannot understand” (1 Cor. 2:14). .
The word about the Resurrection is a scandal for the fallen world – for people who exclusively observe and design their lives from a horizontal biological perspective. Such a man has no space for God, for heavenly values, for the categories of eternity, for his neighbor, because he has narrowed and spatially reduced himself.
That is why we should always return to God, wash our eyes with a graceful life in Christ, so that we do not remain permanently blind to the presence of God in us and the world.
On this Easter night, together with you, I would like to thank God for all that he has given us in this time of great challenges, above all that we have maintained our way, that our temples have not been emptied, but by the grace of God the increase of our visit people to the holy temples throughout our St. Sava Metropolitanate.
Our Serbian people are well aware of the motto that there is no place of worship without trouble! We are grateful to God for his care for us.
We also remember in prayer this Resurrection of our brothers and sisters in Kosovo and Metohija, who with their presence maintain lighted chandeliers on the most sacred altars of our Serbian country, from which we also draw strength and light in the diaspora.
We pray, brothers and sisters, for all those who suffer, suffer and suffer all over the world, for all those who are exposed to dangers, as well as for those who unreservedly give themselves for the good of others. May God bless everything abundantly.
We also pray that we forgive each other with the Resurrection, so that our relationships may be resurrected. This is the way of the Lord Christ, and the way of his apostle among the Serbian people – Saint Sava.
Greeting you all, my dear spiritual children, with the greeting of the victory of Christ, I wish you all an abundance of strength, joy and spiritual joy!
Christ is Risen – Truly He is Risen!
Given at the Sydney Metropolitanate, on Easter 2021, the Lord’s Summer.
The youngest ones also welcomed the bishop in front of the Church of St. Nicholas in Geelong
Canonical visit to Victoria
On the eve of Easter, Bishop Siluan of Australia and New Zealand arrived on a canonical visit to the parishes of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Victoria. On Lazarus’ Saturday, the bishop served the liturgy in the Monastery of St. Sava in Eilat, and the Vespers with the consecration of the willow in the Church of St. Nicholas in Geelong.
On Flowers, the bishop served the hierarch’s liturgy in the Church of St. George the Great Martyr in St. Albans, and on Holy Wednesday the sacred secret of the consecration of the oil in the Church of St. Sava in Greensboro.
On Holy Thursday, Bishop Siluan served the liturgy in the Church of St. Basil of Ostrog in Langvoren, and the Great Vigil on the same day in the Church of St. Stephen of Decani in Karum Downs. Last night, on Good Friday, the bishop served Vespers with the presentation of the shroud in the Church of St. Archdeacon Stephen in Keysborough.
Schedule of Easter services
Bishop Siluan will hold services in Victoria this weekend and Monday according to the following schedule:
– Holy Saturday, May 1 at 10 a.m .: Holy Hierarch’s Liturgy in the Church of St. Petka in Rockbank.
– Holy Saturday, May 1 at 11:30 pm: Easter morning at Holy Trinity Church in Brunswick.
– Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ – Easter, May 2 at 10 a.m .: Holy Hierarch’s Liturgy at Holy Trinity Church in Brunswick.
– Easter Monday, May 3 at 10 am: Visit to the parish of Saints Peter and Paul in Vodong.
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