The celebration of Pentecost - Holy Trinity, the Patron Saint (Slava) of our church
The Celebration in the church of Holy Trinity in East Brunswick was truly magnificent, despite the mandated restrictions due to coronavirus pandemic. The clergy of Melbourne Deanery with parishioners welcomed our Vladyka at 9:45 at the church entrance.
After the initial ceremony, Vladyka has entered the temple under the Troparion “Blessed Art Thou, Christ Our Lord”, sung by the church choir.
The Episcopal Divine Liturgy, served by Bishop Siluan and aided by five priests and two deacons, has truly been the spiritual refreshment for everyone in attendance. For months now, we have been lacking the stately Liturgies; so the presence of our Bishop, and the fact we celebrated one of the most importants Church feasts, have stirred everyone’s hearts.
Our technical team, Nebojsa Stefanovich and Nikola Josevski, organised the live broadcast of the Liturgy on Youtube, so some of the parishioners could also watch in the parish hall. Our choir, lead by the director Sava Djukic, has performed exceptionally well, significantly contributing to the beauty of the Divine Liturgy.
After the Gospel reading, His Eminence Vladyka Siluan spoke an inspired sermon on the significance of this Feast. He has underlined the fact the God of Trinity, Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, is always our helper at hand, and that such help is especially needed in the times of temptation, as is the current ordeal with coronavirus. The essence of the sermon could summed as: with God’s help we are able to do anything, with Him who carries our burden and always aids us, when we ask for His assistance. Also, Vladyka has lamented on the abominable life without God, without the fountain of ’living water’, which aids in our journey to Eternity.
By the end of the Liturgy, the thanksgiving prayers from the Pentecost Vespers were given, procession around the temple performed and cake for the Slava cut. At the very end, Vladyka has addressed the faithful again with words of comfort and gratitude to God for everything. Dean of our Church, Fr Milorad Loncar, has thanked Vladyka on behalf of all the flock for his prayers and blessings.
The Circle of Serbian Sisters has prepared lunch for our estemeed guests. So all was good and well on this Feast day of ours; regrettably, the lunch for the parishioners could not be served due to current mandated attendance restrictions, due to coronavirus pandemic.
But we are hopeful that this pandemic will soon pass. We eagerly wait for the return to normal state of affairs in our state, including the regular unrestricted access to churches.
Fr Milorad Loncar, Dean
The full three and a half hour recording can be seen at the following link (check the comments for the exact time of the sermon and other important moments):