On Sunday, 22 March, in the evening, Archbishop Makarios of Australia visited the Parish of the Presentation of Our Lord in Coburg, Melbourne, and presided over the Fifth Lenten Vespers, and was joined by the local Bishop of Chora, Bishop Evmenios, and Their Graces Bishop Kyriakos of Melbourne and Bishop Athinagoras of Canberra. Present at the service were the Parish Priest, Fr. Leonidas Ioannou, along with a number of clergy from the Dioceses of Chora and Melbourne, while a large number of devout faithful from Coburg and the wider area were also in attendance.
At the conclusion of the Vespers, Archbishop Makarios delivered a spiritually edifying address to the congregation, inspired by The Ladder of Saint John of Sinai, and more specifically by the sixth discourse, on the remembrance of death. He observed that, particularly in modern society, where daily life is filled with obligations, concerns, and time pressures, we often forget that death is the only certain and inevitable reality in human life. He emphasised that the remembrance of death, that is, the awareness of the limits of earthly life and the prospect of passing into the life to come, can entirely transform our way of living and the priorities we set.
In conclusion, he reminded the faithful that we do not know when the hour of death will come for each of us and therefore urged them to prepare through a life of virtue and good works, so that their “passport” for the journey to God’s eternal Kingdom may be sealed by His grace.
Source: vema.com.au
