Our parish of Holy Trinity, the cathedral church in Melbourne, celebrated its slava - the patron saint feast - today at Pentecost.
Unfortunately, not all the parishioners were able to attend due to state imposed pandemic measures; however, a significant number of the faithful attended the Divine Liturgy service, and the slava lunch afterwards.
The serving clergy were Fr Petar Damnjanovic, Fr Milorad Loncar, Fr Vladislav Sipovac and Protodeacon Miodrag Tomic. As is the case for every Sunday service, our choir, led by the choirmaster Sava Djukic, vivaciously contributed to the service of this Feast. Fr Vladislav held the instructive homily about the importance of this Feast as the birthday celebration of our Orthodox Church.
The host this year has been the president of the Church Council, brother Petar Damnjanac with his family. Brother Zoran Erovic committed himself and his family as hosts for next year.
After the traditional procession around the temple, the Slava Cake was cut, and the Kneeling Prayers of the Vespers of Holy Pentecost were performed. All the faithful who attended the Divine Liturgy were able to attend the lunch expertly organised by our Circle of Serbian Sisters and their President, Mrs Cvija Glogovac.
Fr Borislav Petrovic from the temple of St George in St Albans has also joined us. During the lunch, Fr Milorad Loncar has greeted our guests, sending the regards of our Bishop Siluan, who was not able to attend our slava this year.
Fr Milorad then invited Fr Bora to toast all the present. Fr Bora has expertly obliged, stressing the importance of Holy Pentecost in our lives.
The overall impression is that the slava has been celebrated in prayerful and pleasant atmosphere. The most important point is that our Lord frequently puts all the matters in order in a special manner.
That is to say: before the slave, we were deliberating whether to introduce a system of reservations due to pandemic measures; in what manner that should be done, as it was possible that a larger number of people would show up, putting us in the awkward position to instruct the people where to sit, аsk them not to linger, etc. - and therefore to potentially offend someone, God forbid.
It transpired that exactly the number of people allowed to enter the church hall actually showed up and no pandemic limits were exceeded. It reminds us to continue praying to God, so we remain confident in His help at all times.
