Memorable day at the North Melbourne Cathedral Parish

There were no empty places at the 9:30 Liturgy. Professor Wolodymyr Holovko led the very beautiful choir in the responses.

Bishop Peter in his homily echoed the words of Philip in the Sunday’s Gospel “Come and see”. He underlined that the Eparchy was preparing for the Eparchial Sobor on 25th April. He reminded the parishioners that their calling was to witness the person of Christ so that all could be an icon of the living Christ who lives in us.

It was also the Sunday of Orthodoxy. In the year 787, an ecumenical council was held which defeated iconoclasm and restored the use of icons in our church. To remember this, the parish children had a special prayer service which was led by Fr. Brian Kelty and Sr. Lukia. They carried icons around the church to signify their importance in our faith. The icon writing class for 2015 presented their work of 2014 and had them blessed. Sr. Maria led this class which will start work on new icons on Wednesday 4th March.

After liturgy all the parishioners gathered on the church steps to make a video to send out to the world with the message that we want the Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savcenko freed from a Russian jail. Her name is the only one mentioned in the Minsk Peace Accord but she is still in jail.

Immediately after the outside event all the parishioners moved into the Joseph Slipyj hall to celebrate the 150th anniversary of one of Ukraine’s more famous composers, Mykhailo Verbytsky. He was a very prolific composer of church and secular music. He is best known for composing the Ukrainian National Anthem which was first sung 150 years ago.

The North Melbourne parish is a very vibrant parish.

Source: catholicukes.org.au