Protection Parish Newsletter - October/November 2011

Baptisms in Sept.-Oct: 

Joseph, Nathan, Maxim.

Weddings: 

Michael O'Callaghan-Vasilisa Koposhilov, Saviour Calleja-Marina Chernih, Nathan Harris-Alexandra Nevzorova, Dennis Popov-Laura Harmes.

Laid to rest: 

Olga Verevkin

Thanks to 

Fr Nicholas Dalinkiewicz, other clergy, parish council and sisterhood members who “held the fort” while the Rector was away in September. In addition to regular services and other activities, a number of repair and maintenance projects were completed. Hopefully, our parish newsletter will not be affected by the Rector’s absences in the future.

News

• Early October saw intense activity inside the church as scaffolding was put up for installation of the icon canvases on the upper nave western wall. Thanks to Costa Diakoumakos who donated the scaffolding and labour. He was helped by altar server Nick Mantis and others. That saved well over $2,000 in costs.
  
  The murals were installed 3-8 October. On Monday 3/10/11 Costa came to consult with the iconographer Antonina Ganin in regard to the scaffold set-up. She admitted that she had not used such a good scaffold in any of her previous projects. Tonia first laid out the eleven pieces of canvas on the floor in our hall to trim them for a perfect fit. Helpers were needed on most days, especially on Tuesday 4/10/11 when the large and smaller pieces were glued and lifted into position. Thanks to Greg Uskhopov (with son Ben) and Dima Sbarsky who washed the windows he could reach. Andrei and Varia Davidoff helped with touch up and trim work.
• A working bee was conducted on Saturday 8 October in preparation for the patronal feast. Further cleaning had to be done after the scaffolding was removed on Monday 10 October.
  
  The patronal feast was held on Friday 14 October. Vladika was still in America at that time, thus the liturgy was headed by the Dean, Fr Michael Protopopov with all the Cathedral clergy and visitors from neighbouring parishes, a total of thirteen priests and four deacons. Over three hundred people attended the liturgy and the festal moleben with procession around the church. Every available seat at the banquet tables was taken and everyone enjoyed the delicious dishes served by the sisters. $2,220 was collected when the sisters went around with the plate in support of the continuing icon mural project. The murals created excitement and interest, making people turn their heads to look at the two large festal compositions: The Nativity and the Baptism of the Lord.
• The annual fund raising event for the nuns of Bungarby was held on Sunday 23 October and raised over $19,000. Despite lower attendance close to record result was achieved. Abbess Anna told those who were present about the progress of their building works
  
  The East Brunswick Primary School held a successful trivia night fund raiser at the church hall on Friday October 31.
• The Kursk thirteenth century icon was venerated on 7 and 8 November. More will be said about these events in the December issue, when the Kursk icon is celebrated.

Coming events: 

• Sun 27th November – Holy Land fundraiser;
• December 19-31 – Teen Retreat followed by 18+ Youth Conference (see posters)

Protection Parish Newsletter - September 2011

Baptisms in August

Daria, Scarlett, Andrew

Weddings in August

Michael and Vasilisa

Laid to rest: 

Sadly, +Elizabeth (Joy) Buxton passed away suddenly. She is remembered for being an active member of the sisterhood, regular attendee at the monthly theological lectures, working bees and member of the choir. She will be greatly missed by the church community and her friends. Her deeds and actions are an example to us. Memory eternal.

Coming events:

Mission Movie Night, Friday 16 September, 7pm, at the Church Hall. Mt Athos CBS 60 Minutes and From the Little Mountain. Tickets $25 includes pizza, dessert, soft drinks, tea and coffee. Contact Fr Kyril (ascensionorthodox@gmail.com).

Helpers needed for:

• Setting up of tables for Pokrov Feast Day, Saturday 8th October: 10am
• 13th and 14th October: Kitchen
• 23rd October: Annual Nuns Night
• Contact Luba Cowall on 0411090550

News from the Annual General Meeting.

The AGM was held on August 21. Some highlights were:
Elected: Treasurer-Alex Bialocerkowski, Secretary-Nicholas Wirubov, Council members- Nicholas Rudakov, Kyril Kozulin, Ivan Bochkarev, Igor Sbarski and Inna Smith. Reserve council members- Alex Rudakov and Tamara Lefleur.
Over the year there were 48 christenings, 14 weddings and 10 laid to rest.
2 couples reached their 70th wedding anniversary.
Collingwood – plans have been submitted for permission to go ahead and redevelop the hall block.

Full details are available (contact a council member).

News from Boolarra

Olga Bursian and (often) Elizaveta Mihailovna Donetskaya live in Boolarra in the Strezlecki Ranges. Olga writes: “We are involved in a little community of Aussies who fell in love with Orthodoxy. Our mission is dedicated to the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste and we are part of the Antiochian parish of Fr Jeoff Harvey at Monash University, having liturgy once a month at Mirboo North. Gippsland is full of people who are very close to knowing God and, as converts go, they often put us to shame with their love. Thank goodness a representative of the holiest church (ours) is nearby to guide them”.

Brunswick Crosses

The current gold crosses on the Church are severely rusted (being made from mild steel). Also, the cupolas at first appeared to have deteriorated and needed to be inspected to determine the extent of the damage. A 'cherry picker' (see photo below) was hired to enable close up inspection. Thankfully the cupolas are structurally sound and will not require removal. New stainless steel crosses have been manufactured and are currently being painted prior to being gold leafed. Also, while the cherry picker was onsite we removed the flag pole from the hall roof; it was starting to jam and squeak on windy days, and has now been modified. It will be reinstalled when the new crosses are erected, hopefully by the end of October.

Trip to Cooma

Russian Ethnic Representative Council (RERC) had organised a pilgrimage to the Holy Transfiguration Monastery to celebrate their feast on Thursday 18 / Friday 19 August. Twenty one pilgrims left for the monastery on Wednesday. It rained that day and with nine kilometres to go the bus came to a steep muddy hill that it could not climb. The women passengers all disembarked and three men pushed the bus as it slowly made its way to the top. They returned safely on Sunday.

Meanwhile both Fr Nicholas's set out to conquer the 'mountain' on Thursday in a 4 wheel drive. They got 30 metres up the hill and then had to reverse to let an oncoming car pass. In the process they got bogged (see Fr Nicholas K in the driver’s seat below) and had to be towed out by the Cooma monks. From the spiritual perspective all went well.

Protection Parish Newsletter - August 2011

Baptised: 

• Semion, Artyom, Victoria, Apollinaria, Olivia 

Laid to rest: 

• +Natalia Baygar, 
• +Margarita Romanovsky

Thanks to 

• all who assisted with hosting the 6th Liturgical Music Conference including organisers, presenters, members of the Sisterhood for catering and those who billeted (or offered to billet) interstate delegates. Highlights included the massed singing of delegates during the All-Night Vigil and Divine Liturgy and the final “Icons in Sound” concert. The expertise of Fr Ivan Moody from Portugal, choirmaster Georgy Safonov and his wife Galina from Moscow added significant professionalism to the conference and we were very fortunate to have had them attend. (For a detailed article on the conference see ROCOR site and the next “Word of the Church” magazine.

Upcoming Events

• Annual General Meeting on 21st August at 12.30.
  
  Parishioners are encouraged to consider becoming fully paid members so that they can better participate in important decision making. The Church aims to be a spiritual family. Part of this process is taking responsibility for the proper functioning and expansion of services provided to members, visitors and the general public.
  
  What happens at an AGM? A standard agenda is followed from year to year. There is a presentation of reports: a. from the Rector about events and activities of the past year; b. from the Building Committee about various works and maintenance of buildings; c. from the Warden about housekeeping; d. the Treasurer responds to questions about the financial report usually sent to members in the mail beforehand and presents a proposed annual budget prepared by the Parish Council for discussion, amendments and ratification; e. there are reports from various parish organisations (e.g. the Sisterhood, book kiosk, etc) and St Elizabeth Benevolent Fund (Holy Land). In ‘General business” any current matters may be discussed. Special items may be added to the agenda as needed. Very important topics sometimes require meetings in addition to the Annual General meeting.These are called “Extraordinary general meetings”.

Interested in joining the Sisterhood? - contact Luba Cowall on 0411090550

Protection Parish Newsletter - July 2011

Baptised: 

• Maxim, Rufina, Seraphim Nikolai, Tatiana, Constantina

Weddings: 

• Taissa Danilovich ~ Lewis Hutton 5/06, 
• Oleg Valioukhov ~ Elena Ponomarenko 19/06

Parish School Event

A special ceremony was held after school on Saturday 18 June. We welcomed Mr Georgi Toloraya, the Regional Director of “Russkiy Mir”, who opened a library of about 400 books donated by this Russian government organisation to the school. School children entertained the VIP guest (former Russian Consul-General in Australia) with a small stage program.

Upcoming Events

• 6th Liturgical Music Conference at Our Lady's Protection: 13 - 17 July 2011
  We are looking for parishioners who are able to provide a bed for our interstate delegates of the musicconference, from July 14 – 17. Please contact Inna Smith on 0411 039 625 or 03 9489 3989 We also need drivers to collect people and bring them to the conference each day.
• Church beautification projects: July - October
  Murals on canvas are progressing well. The first installation covering the entire western upper wall, with icons of the Nativity of the Lord and His Baptism (Theophany) is scheduled for the first week of October in time for our patronal feast of the Holy Protection (Pokrov).
• Major restoration works (regilding) of crosses and cupolas will occur in the same period. After 15 years (Feb. 1996) the gold leaf on the upper surfaces pf the cupolas has somewhat eroded from rain, dust and wind. We are replacing the original crosses with new ones made from stainless steel. Cupolas and crosses will be gilded on the ground and raised (most likely) in two sessions.
• Joy and Ivor Buxton are looking for house sitters to stay in their Blackburn home, during Fr Gabriel's Pilgrimage to the Holy Land. August 30th-September 20th. They also have two cats. 

Interested in joining the Sisterhood? - contact Luba Cowall

Protection Parish Newsletter - June 2011

Baptised: 

Svetlana, Arkady, Nikita

Weddings: 

• David Giles & Anna Pollock (6/5/11); 
• Amedeo Bartolini & Veronica Link (8/5/11)

Laid to rest: 

Valerija Johansen (+4/5/11), Xenia Degrel (+18/5/11), Irina Perekrestov (+24/5/11)

The Rector and Parish Council extend condolences to matushka Elizabeth, Tanya, Dr Helen Kouzmin and their families on the recent loss of their brother, Alexander Kouzmin (Murwillumbah, NSW) and to the Honourable Alex Chernov and other members of Perekrestov/Chernov families on the death of Irina V.Perekrestov

Upcoming Events

• Holy Trinity Parish (Collingwood) patronal feast – Sunday 12 June.
  Rector of HT Parish Fr Igor Filianovsky extends his invitation to our clergy and parishioners to attend their festivities: 10.00 am liturgy, vespers and festive lunch.
• 6th Liturgical Music Conference at Our Lady’s Protection – 13-17 July 2011
  We are looking for people to billet interstate visitors attending the choral conference. As conference delegates will be provided with lunch and dinner, we are looking for people to provide just a bed and maybe breakfast. Please let Inna Smith know if you can either accommodate 1-2 people or can drive them to the church for the conference.

Interested in joining the Sisterhood? - contact Luba Cowall on 0411090550

Protection Parish Newsletter - May 2011

Christ is Risen!

Baptised: 

Nicholas, Victoria, Phoebe, David and Artem

Laid to rest: 

Galina Petrovna Shelamov

Congratulations

...to Fr Nicholas Karipoff for 30 years of service (7/04/81) in the priesthood. May God grant him many years and good health.

The Sisterhood 

...would like to wish the clergy, Parish council, choir and parishioners a very joyous Easter. Thank you for your help and ongoing support.

Thanks to: 

• the 40 people who came and cleaned the church before Easter;
• all the rostered teams plus volunteers (especially Jill and Tania) who provided buffets during April.

If you wish to join in the making of piroshki at some time during the year, contact Luba Cowall on 0411 090 550.

Church murals project:

Since Tonia Ganin’s visit to Melbourne at the end of March she has re-drawn all the designs according to her own exact measurements, mixed all the paints for the entire project from colour-matches of existing murals and has prepared working drawings of the western wall for transfer to canvas. Actual painting on canvas will begin very soon.

Past Events

ROCAM Community Association Ball held on 6 May was a resounding success. ROCAM advertised this as a fundraising event to help our Saturday Russian school and $3,300 was handed to the school.

Thanks, ROCAM committee – Igor, Nick and others.

Upcoming Event

Warrnambool parish feast day on June 5.

Timetable and newsletter items checked and published by the Rector, HPCathedral.

Protection Parish Newsletter - April 2011

Please note: 

Holy Unction Service is on Tuesday 12th April at 6pm.

Choir practice: 

Thursday 7 April, 7pm.

The Sisterhood 

...would like to thank Tatiana for her generous donation of produce.

Interested people who like to join the Sisterhood and work in the church please contact Luba Cowall , Head Sister on 0411 090 550 or speak to her after the church service.

Samosa flavoured piroshki have appeared on the menu. These proved popular on debut.

Thanks to Nick, Irina, Amelia, Elena, Michael, Igor, Chris, 4 more Nicks, and Al for mowing, weeding, cleaning and tidying the grounds and basement on March 26. They filled a 6 cubic meter skip within an hour.

The next church working bee will be held on Saturday 9th April at 9.30 am

for Easter preparations. All welcome to come and help prepare the inside of the church.

Wardens and treasurers conference 29/03/11.

This conference in Sydney was attended by three people from our parish: Fr Nicholas Karipoff (who presented a talk on Normal Parish by-laws), Michael Stirkul (warden) and Alek Bialocerkowski (treasurer). Talks also covered topics of financial reporting (GST, PAYG and ATO rules and expectations), risk management, insurance, police checks and working with children checks for relevant people in the Church. This conference, as well as a meeting for sisterhood workers is envisaged as a regular annual event.

Iconography: 

continuation of mural work. A special hoist was hired from Friday 25 March to enable iconographer Antonina Ganin to reach existing vault murals. She prepared a full colour reference system by matching the colour scheme on pieces of canvas.This is needed because the work will continue in her studio in NSW on canvas. Completed sections will be glued to upper walls.Tonia met with our parish council to discuss the project and to show her sketch designs for all four upper walls. The work which has now started will take two years to complete.

P.S. While we had the hoist it was used on Saturday 26 March during the working bee. Men used it to reach the vaults including the cupola drum to dust off and vacuum cob-webs: up to 17 metres above floor level

University Chaplaincy. 

Fr Kyril is the Orthodox Christian Chaplain to Melbourne University (Parkville Campus), available Thursdays 10am – 2pm, 3rd Floor Union House, and RMIT (City Campus), available Wednesdays 10am – 2pm at the Spiritual Centre. For more info please visit: ascensionorthodox.org

Weddings: 

No weddings (lent!)

Baptised: 

Maxim, Anna and Sienna (Sylvana)

Laid to rest:

Ilya Samovsky

Timetable and newsletter checked and published by the Rector, HPC

Protection Parish Newsletter - March 2011

News: 

• We were fortunate in being allocated a Sunday date (27/02/11) for the visit of the holy relic from Russia – the icon of the Mother of God “The Softener of hardened hearts”.
• New Governor of Victoria: Our community is excited about the selection of Alex Chernov to this high public office. Alex has been our parishioner for most of his life. In the 1960’s he helped the late Bishop Anthony in church services as a subdeacon. His successful legal career lead to a number of high-profile positions in the legal and educational spheres. We wish Alex Chernov blessings from God for his new public role which is to begin soon.
• Over $1800 was raised at the buffet and collection on February 20 in support of the Indonesian Orthodox Church. Thanks to all who supported this worthy cause. Vera, Nadia, Larissa, Alina, Nick, Marina, Ksana, Jonathon, Priscilla, Jim, John, Lucy and one of our local neighbours, Ruth Green, all helped prepare and serve food on the day.
• What is the pile of sand doing next to the church? The heavy rain in early February caused the Merri Creek to flood. As a precaution, a load of sand was delivered in case the water rose high enough to threaten entry to the basement below the church. Fortunately it did not get to that stage but the sand is there just in case. Thanks to Nick, Vlad, Larisa and Sergei.

Events:

• A concert with Cossack songs and traditional musical instruments was held on February 24.
• “Kazachiy Krug”, a group of 13 performers in Russia was represented by their musical director and three other people. They captivated the audience of over 120 people with their energy, soul and musicianship.

Coming Events:

• Great Lent services. This month’s timetable had to be published on two pages – Russian and English separately, due to the sheer number of Lenten services. Plan ahead so you can participate in at least some mid-week services.
• Youth meetings @ 6.00 pm; Theology -@ 7.00 pm at Church community centre the last Sunday of the month: 27/02/11; 27/03/11.( See next month’s newsletter for further dates).
• Group booking to see “Dr Zhivago”: if you interested in attending this musical on Thursday 19th May at 8.00 pm, please contact Inna Smith( Parish Secretary) on 0411 039 625. The group booking cost is $90 (otherwise $100) and payment needs to be made to her by Thursday 24th March.

Baptised:

Melania, John, Roman, Zlata and Christina – all infants.

Laid to rest:

• Nikolaj Willman, +10/01/11

Timetable and newsletter items checked and published by the Rector, HPCathedral.

Protection Parish Newsletter - February 2011

Thanks to:

• the 75 volunteers who cleaned and prepared the Church and hall for Christmas. This was record attendance at a parish working bee. January is a busy month because of all the festal services in the Church calendar, even though some of the other activities, such as study groups, parish school and buffet lunches stop over the school holidays.
• the Russian School parents and teachers who prepared the Christmas party (“Yolka”) and organised the children’s performances. “Tsar Saltan” play (Pushkin) was received with enthusiastic applause. Our school children performed for the first time on the new removable stage. 83 children attended with parents and relatives. Thanks to Galia Ivanenko (Sisterhood) who headed the catering effort.

News

The triennial Diocesan Assembly met in Sydney on December 26 and 27.

Representatives of the Melbourne Parish included Fr. Nicholas Karipoff, Deacon Alexander Abramoff, Alek Bialocerkowski, Luda Cowall, Kiril Kozulin, Inna Smith, Dimitri Souprounovich, Michael Stirkul and Nicholas Wirubov.

Chaired by His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion, the meeting passed many progressive proposals, including extensive additions to the “Rules for clergy”, thus bringing many facets of Church life and governance in line with the realities of the world.

Fr Nicholas Karipoff and Alek Bialocerwski were re-elected to Diocesan Council for another three years. Luba Cowall was elected reserve member for the laity.

Baptisms: 

Ten infants: Yulia, Bernice, Alexander, Andrew, Daniel, Maksim, Vincent, Adam, Leonidas and Vladimir – and one adult, John were baptised in our church in January.

Bookshop

Olga welcomes all parishioners to visit the bookshop which has been relocated to the first floor of the hall (up the stairs and to the right). It has also expanded and now has a large selection of literature, icons and crosses.

Sunday school: 

From 10.00 am every Sunday, except on Sundays with 2 liturgies (conducted in English).

Coming events:

• Sat 5 
• 9.15 am – Russian school begins
• 9.30 am – liturgy, St Xenia (not Sunday)
• Sun 6 
• 11.45 am – Back to school prayers
• Buffet, Pensioners’ club
• 1.30 pm – wedding: Vesta & Sebastien
• Sun 13 
• 1.00 pm - wedding: Alisa & Athansios
• Sun 20 
• Buffet, fundraiser for Indonesian Missions.
• Volunteers needed to help prepare (contact Inna Smith 0411 039 625);
• 1.00 pm – wedding: Svetlana & David
• Sun 27 
• 6.00 pm – Youth meeting.
• Theology groups, English and Russian: to be announced, subject to Rector’s availability

Timetable and newsletter checked and published by the Rector, HPC