Dear Parishioners,
We hope you are well. First of all, having all participated in the Blessed and Apostolic visit of His Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew we always ask for his blessing and thank him for coming. We pray God always gives strength and wisdom to our Patriarch and the Holy Synod. Also, a very heartfelt thank you to His Eminence Archbishop Makarios of Australia for all his prayers, efforts and blessings to guide our Church in Australia. We hope our Holy Church continues to grow in Grace as we all try to do God’s Will and serve our fellow human beings and all of creation.
Thank God, we do have good news that the Construction Certificate for the first stage of our Development was granted on the 23rd of October 2024 after several delays! At this stage, this will mean the completion of our car park as per our Development Application and associated works. We will inform Parishioners of the start date and closure of the car park.
We thank wholeheartedly our Architects Gregory Koutoulas and Steve Pserras and all those who have contributed. We really appreciate your efforts and donations. We look forward to the continued support from all our parishioners and friends for our proposed Childcare Centre and Community Hub which is something that will benefit us all and future generations. Please give generously towards this project and consider Bequests as well please. To help with our fundraising our Annual Raffle will be out soon with amazing prizes. Please support this. Tickets will be available at Church or on request.
November brings with it the Feast day of St Stylianos, the Saint of our Church. We hope you can participate in this.
Please note the Feast day falls on a Tuesday, so we will have Great Vespers Monday night, and then, the celebration of the Feast on Sunday 1st of December where we will have stalls and our dancing groups performing, as well as a very affordable seafood lunch.
Please note the Christmas Hamper Drive for poor families starts Sunday 3 November and ends on the 15th of December as per the details on the attached flyer. Look forward to your help for those in need. Also thank you to Kosta Theocharidis from “A Touch of Kindness” for helping us participate in feeding the homeless. May God help us all in this great work.
Friday 1st of November 7pm we will have a Supplication to the Holy Wonderworking Unmercenaries Cosmas and Damien as part of our Pastoral Care Network which is especially for Medical professionals and all in a caring role. Please see the attached flyer where you can register to be part of this network also. We pray our God always inspires those in the Pastoral and Medical fields.
We have an English Liturgy on Friday 15th of November at 7pm. Hope you can come. The Youth and Adult Cafe Fellowship continues on Friday 22 November at 7pm. Please follow our “Pearls of Wisdom” interviews. Also we continue the Orthodox Cafe on Sundays after Church when our program permits. Our Sunday School and Greek School continue as normal, as do our Play Group on Thursdays and Seniors Group Tuesdays with Paraklesis to the Mother of God in Greek.
Look forward to seeing you in Services as we prepare for Christmas, New Year and Epiphany.
May God bless you all.
fr constantine
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES – If you would like to join any of our volunteer groups you can do so by speaking to Father Constantine directly or emailing – events@saintstylianos.org.au to obtain more information or register your interest. Here is some general information about current groups that support our Parish
CHURCH COMMITTEE
This group is responsible for the operations of the Church and its activities and requirements
PHILOPTOHOS
This group provides support and catering for coffee after Church and at specific Church events. It maintains general sales after Church services to raise money for the Church programs and to support families in need.
BUSY BEES
This group is responsible for maintaining the Church grounds and cleaning of the inside of the Church. This group meets on Friday mornings.
EVENTS TEAM
This group is responsible for developing the calendar of events and project managing events throughout the year. Volunteers are not expected to assist at all events but can choose how they participate based on their interest or skills
FOOD OUTREACH
This group is responsible for cooking meals to distribute to local charities once a month. Volunteers are not expected to assist each month but are notified of what is required and can volunteer as available. This group offers many opportunities from sourcing products required for preparing meals, cooking, packaging and delivery
TEACHERS
This group includes teachers required for Sunday School, Scripture at local public schools both primary and high school and our after school Greek lessons
GENERAL
There is always a need for volunteers in general. If you would like to register your interest you can be notified when we need some support. Trades are also welcome to register as there is a requirement from time to time for small repairs and maintenance.
Upcoming Events
For our Young Adults the flyer and program for the Orthodox Cafe are below. This is a great meeting place for our young people and we encourage any new people to come.
GREEK SCHOOL TEACHERS WANTED
Positions available for St Stylianos Greek School Teachers for 2024. Must have online skills.
If interested please contact Fr Constantine on 0418 51 1212.
St Stylianos Parish Charity Support
Dear Parishioners,
Hope you are well. In our endeavors to help we would like to again offer our support to those in need in these difficult times. Feel free to contact us in confidence. Together with helping our own parishioners in need we have started a new initiative to broaden our charity outreach.
NEW INITIATIVE FOR ST STYLIANOS PARISH
Our Parish Committee, Philoptochos and Youth including the Orthodox Cafe have endorsed this new initiative. We have located these two charities that we would like our Parishioners to support as part of the broader community and in conjunction with our current program. We are adding Dandelion Support Network and Women’s and Girls Emergency Centre and their details are below.
Dandelion Support Network
Where are they: Caringbah
What they do: Dandelion fills a service gap in the community service industry and is built on a partnership model, working alongside social workers and case managers to support families. They accept donations of good quality preloved and new nursery furniture and items for babies and children for families in need.
Women’s and Girl’s Emergency Centre
Where are they: Redfern
What they do: Women’s and Girls’ Emergency Centre (WAGEC) is an organisation that supports women in social isolation and domestic violence, families in crisis and advocates for social change in the community. Every night, they support 200 women and children impacted by homelessness, domestic violence and systemic disadvantage. They provide material aid, case management, biopsychosocial support, accommodation, and crisis responses. Equally they seek to address the underlying causes of gender-based violence through primary prevention activities with communities and private and public entities.
The Parish will eventually collect items for these charities. However, due to Covid 19 restrictions and lockdown we can only accept monetary donations at this stage, and we will purchase the items and deliver them to the locations. If you would like to donate money towards our charitable work, then please click on the image below and direct your donation to one of the 3 locations listed.
Thank you in advance for your support for our vulnerable and needy.
God bless you all.
Fr Constantine Varipatis
Livestreaming ofservices now available at Saint Stylianos YouTube Channel
28 October Celebrations @ St Stylianos (Photos)
Iviron monastery is one of the biggest monasteries on Mt Athos. It is an amazing monastic community and building that is set in a beautiful area of the world: the Garden of the Mother of God! It’s been made by a professional photographer who spends a lot of time at the monastery. It is very inspirational and a blessing that we have such monastics praying for us . Enjoy!
God Bless
Fr Constantine
VOLUNTEER SCRIPTURE TEACHERS NEEDED
Dear Friends,
We would like to kindly ask you to help our team of volunteer teachers to help young kids learn more about the Bible and the Orthodox Church in Public Schools.
Please look at becoming a Scripture teacher. It is not something difficult but it is a great blessing for all. In particular is would be good to be part of the “be there for me” campaign as some of our teachers are elderly and need support at this time. Please feel free to watch this video prepared by the body that coordinates Scripture in Public Schools for which we are members.
May God bless you and your family.
Fr Constantine Varipatis(can be contacted on 0418 511 212)
Consecration of our Parish by His Eminence Archbishop Makarios
