On March, 26, 2017, Wellington Church of Christ the Saviour will host the festival of Orthodox literature. On that day, a presentation of Orthodox books of the church library will take place after the liturgy. All welcome!
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Unction in the Russian church in Christchurch.
On March, 19, 2017 the sacrament of Unction took place in the renovated church of St.Nicholas in Christchurch. Not long before that, the inside painting works in the church were completed. Now everyone who comes to the church can see scenes from the Bible, Jesus Christ, Mother of God, and saints from the Old and New Testaments painted on its walls. The painting works were lead by archimandrite Aleksiy Rosentul from the monastery of the Transfiguration in Australia.
The sacrament of the unction was lead by archpriest Vladimir Boykov, the dean of the Russian Orthodox churches in Australia and New Zealand. Other priests that took part in the service are archpriest Valentin Basyuk (the rector of St.Nicholas church), father Alexey Popkov from Wellington, father Eugene Kulanov, deacon Vladimir Filippovich. At the beginning of the sacrament, father Alexey Popkov addressed the people with greetings, asking everyone to turn to God with a sincere prayer, casting away all worldly matters for a time. About 50 people attended the service on that day.
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Unction in the Russian church of Wellington.
On March, 12, 2017, an Unction, one of the seven sacraments of Russian Orthodox church, took place in Wellington Church of Christ the Saviour. The service started at 6 p.m., and around 40 people from different parts of the city were present.
The sacrament was held with participation of six priests:
leading priest – f. Vladimir Boykov, from Auckland
f. Alexey Popkov from Wellington
f. Eugene Kulanov, who came from Christchurch specifically for the occasion
f. Alexander Skorik, who came from Auckland,
f. Predrag, from Serbian Orthodox church in Wellington, and
f. Nikolas, from Romanian Orthodox church in Wellington
The parishioners of our church say that it is the first time so many priests held an Unction here. At the beginning of the service father Alexander Skorik greeted everyone, saying that the Great fast which goes on now is a special time for prayer, spiritual joy and spiritual growth. ‘Fasting is spiritual spring’, reminded father Alexander, adding that ‘the time of the Fast is a good time for good deeds’.
During the sacrament the priests prayed in different languages (Slavic, English, Romanian), because not all the people who gathered for the service understand the traditional church Slavonic. After the prayers, and the reading of the Holy Gospel and the Epistle, people came up to the priests for anointment. Two hours of joined prayer passed unnoticeable, and everyone went home saying prayers of gratitude to God.
Thank God for all!
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Shrove Sunday at the Church of Christ the Saviour.
On February, 26, 2017, after the Divine Liturgy the parishioners and guests of Wellington Church of Christ the Saviour were invited to take part in the celebration of Shrove Sunday and the end of Butter Week. Natalia Platova and her daughters organised and put together an amazing concert. It was hard to remain seated while the children were dancing a round dance, so many guests got up and joined them. After the dance and poems read by the children, a show of talents followed, with the participation of:
Natalia Beliaeva, who sang a few songs accompanied by guitar;
father Alexey and mother Olga, who also sang several chants with gusli and guitar;
Vladimir Bell, who won over the audience attention by singing with accordeon.
By tradition, on that day everyone asked each other’s forgiveness for all their faults, whether intentional or not.
The holiday was a success!
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A visit of the Serbian bishop Siluan to Wellington church of Christ the Saviour.
On February, 18, 2017, Serbian Orthodox bishop Siluan came on a ministerial visit to Wellington from Australia. In the evening, the bishop greeted father Alexey Popkov from Russian church of Christ the Saviour in the hall of the Serbian church of St. Savva. Father Alexey was amazed by how well the bishop spoke Russian. It turned out that he had graduated from Moscow Spiritual Academy. Father Alexey presented His Grace with a souvenir from the parishioners of the Russian church, and invited him to pay a visit to the church of Christ the Saviour.
The following evening, bishop Siluan together with the Serbian priest father Predrag and his wife mother Gordana visited the Russian church. His Grace and the priests prayed in the church, and sang tropar and kondak of the Nativity of Jesus Christ in front of the holiday icon. After an excursion around the church and Sunday school, the guests were invited into the hall, where His Grace was offered tea with Russian gingerbread, and had a conversation with the parishioners of the church. At the end of his visit, the bishop thanked everyone for their hospitality, and gave a blessing for good deeds.
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New school year of 2017-2018 in the Sunday school.
On February, 12, 2017, the new academic year started at the Sunday school of Wellington church of Christ the Saviour. After the Divine Liturgy, children had their first class where they met their teachers. After the introductory lesson, father Alexey held a special prayer service ‘On the beginning of the school year’. At the end of the prayer service, father Alexey besprinkled all the children and adults with holy water, wished them all a good school year, and asked the children to listen to their teachers, do their homework and learn well.
All-focus
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Epistle of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia on the 100th Anniversary of the Tragic Revolution in Russia and Beginning of the Godless Persecutions.
Beloved in Christ Brothers and Sisters:
This year, the entire world, especially we all, will remember the great tragedy of the 20th century which disrupted the fates of millions of people. This calamity literally touched the lives of every Russian family, wherever they may have been. We remember now the hundredth anniversary of the bloody and destructive revolution in Russia. As a result of the betrayal of the government and military leadership, the Tsar was forced to abdicate the throne, which led to unavoidable consequences: the demise of the state, the martyric death of the Tsar himself and of his Most August Family, the brutal internecine war, and the unprecedented persecution of the Orthodox Church and of faith in God in Russia.
In 1909, Peter Arkadievich Stolypin declared: “Give the government 20 years of peace, internal and external, and you will not recognize the Russia of today!” Alas, the Russian Prime Minister was only to live another two years. He was killed in the presence of his Sovereign in a theater in Kiev in 1911.
The fact that Russia was making enormous strides forward was recognized far beyond the borders of our Fatherland, even so far as the United States of America. In November, 1914, the magazine National Geographic published a noteworthy issue devoted to Russia. Social and economic analyses of the day showed that by the date targeted by Stolypin, all key economic indicators would show that Russia would have achieved unstoppable growth. The only thing that hindered it was a revolution organized and supported by the Western nations. Our Fatherland was not given even 20 days of peace. It is important to note that the constant denigration of Russia on the part of “Western civilization” we see today existed a hundred years ago and, in fact, much earlier. The world despised the Russian Empire, the heir to Holy Orthodox Rus. Neither adherence to the duty to Russia’s allies, nor the unceasing readiness for cooperation by the Russian Tsars could change that. The renowned British statesman, Lord Palmerston, succinctly stated: “How difficult life is in the world when no one is at war with Russia.” He was referring to the mid-19th century, but sadly it went unheeded.
In the beginning of the 20th century, St Makary (Nevsky), Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomensk, cautioned: “We are now experiencing times of trouble. Russia has survived periods of tribulation, but they were never as dangerous as today. Then, everyone was for God, everyone wished to know His will, but today it is different. Then they supported the Tsar. Today that has changed. Today we hear blasphemy against God and plots against His anointed one…”
The educated classes in Russia, raised in so-called “Westernizing” traditions, pushed Russia with almost suicidal relentlessness into the abyss, pushing the Russian people in every way possible to reject their faith, their Tsar and their Fatherland. One cannot help but remember the words of the Psalmist David: “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God” (Psalms 14:1).
But even in the darkest times of persecution, the Lord did not abandon His people. Thus, this year we mark another no-less-important 100th anniversary-the restoration of the Patriarchate in Russia. This happened precisely when an intercessor and sufferer for the entire Russian Church was especially needed. The enthronement of St Tikhon, Patriarch of All Russia and Confessor, took place on November 21/December 4, 1917, in the Uspensky Cathedral in Moscow’s Kremlin, on the feast day of the Entrance into the Temple of the Most-Holy Mother of God. But even before, on the very day of the abdication of the Anointed of God, Tsar Nikolai Alexandrovich, March 2/15, 1917, the miraculous “Sovereign” Icon of the Mother of God was revealed to our people as a sign that the Most-Pure Queen would not abandon her care for the suffering Russian land, which from days of old was known as the House of the Most-Holy Mother of God.
Even now, when in the words of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, “The Lord replaced wrath with mercy towards Russia,” all Russian people are Divinely granted the opportunity of returning to their Orthodox Christian roots. We must now make sense of our history and understand the reasons why Russia fell into such terrible tribulation. One of the reasons for those tragic times was the apostasy and neglect of faith in Christ, and the rejection of the Divinely-ordained government. We must not under any circumstances justify the actions of those responsible for the deadly revolution. A symbol of reconciliation of the Russian nation with the Lord would be to rid Red Square of the remains of the main persecutor and executioner of the 20th century, and the destruction of monuments to him. They are all symbols of catastrophe, tragedy, and of the destruction of our God-given Sovereignty. The same applies to the cities, oblasts and streets which are deprived of their original historic names.
During those times of troubles, the Russian Church Abroad always deemed it her sacred duty to express the full truth about Russian history, which was impossible to do in the Fatherland. Now we must, first of all, remind the Russian people of the path of the Cross of the New Martyrs. This is not a political matter, as some might insist, but a matter of spiritual conscience. Truly, we must know to the fullest extent possible the history of the podvig of the Holy New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia. Then, we hope, every Russian person will follow the commands of his own conscience and come to the conclusion that in his God-preserved nation, there is no place for the symbols of the godless state and the names of militant atheists.
Ten years ago, during the great consecration of the church in Butovo Square, Metropolitan Laurus of blessed memory, addressing all those in attendance, said, “The land here is abundantly soaked in the blood of the martyrs, and it is planted with their bones; may it be as an altar unto Christ our God. A prophet said long ago about the persecutors of the Church of Christ: ‘I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree. Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found’ (Psalms 37:35-36). May their memory be wiped away in the hearts of men, and the Church of Christ established forever in the Russian land!”
We call upon our entire flock, and upon all Orthodox Russian people, in the Fatherland and in the diaspora: preserve as the apple of your eye the gift the Lord has given us-the holy and saving Orthodox Christian faith, remember always the words of Christ: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). Amen.
With love in Christ,
+ HILARION,
Metropolitan of Eastern America and New York,
First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.
+ MARK,
Archbishop of Berlin and Germany.
+ KYRILL,
Archbishop of San Francisco and Western America,
Secretary of the Synod of Bishops.
+ GABRIEL,
Archbishop of Montreal and Canada.
+ PETER,
Archbishop of Chicago and Mid-America.
+ NICHOLAS,
Bishop of Manhattan,
Deputy Secretary of the Synod of Bishops.
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