On the Sunday after the Epiphany, January 12, Archbishop Makarios of Australia presided over the Divine Liturgy at the Church of the Resurrection of Christ in Kogarah, a suburb of Sydney. He was accompanied by Bishops Iakovos of Militoupolis and Christodoulos of Magnesia, who serves as Chief Secretary of the Holy Eparchial Synod of the Holy Archdiocese and Head of the Parish in Kogarah.
A large number of faithful believers attended the service, including the Consul General of Greece in Sydney, Ioannis Mallikourtis.
Analyzing the Gospel passage of the day, from the Gospel of Matthew (Matt. 4:12-17), the Archbishop noted that the first public sermon of our Lord Jesus Christ, following His baptism, centered on the exhortation to repentance.
He emphasized that this message aligned with the core of the preaching of Saint John the Forerunner and Baptist.
Referring to the many virtues of Saint John, the Archbishop focused particularly on his role as a great preacher. “Herod imprisoned him, but he did not stop preaching even in prison,” he remarked, adding, “And there, the prisoners listened to him with great joy and peace.
They found rest in their souls from what Saint John said. Even Herod descended into the dungeons of the prison and listened to his preaching ‘with pleasure,’ as the Gospel says, meaning with great enjoyment.”
Noting that Christ, by embracing the message of St. John, repeated in His first sermon the exhortation, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” the Archbishop emphasized that “repentance is the ‘key’ to the Kingdom of God.”
The Archbishop acknowledged that all people commit sins — mistakes and “failures,” as the original meaning of the word suggests — but emphasized that the Church’s focus is on recognizing these sins and repenting, meaning to change one’s way of thinking.
“What the Church wants from us, if we commit a sin, is not to remain in this state, but to rise up and seek God’s mercy,” he stressed. He further explained, “The devil’s greatest concern is not whether a person will sin, but whether they will repent.
His effort is to trap the person in darkness after sinning, to make them feel despair, lose courage, abandon hope and joy, and ultimately forfeit their destination, which is the Kingdom of Heaven. This is why Christ repeats the message of Saint John, calling us to repentance.”
In conclusion, Archbishop Makarios extended his heartfelt paternal wishes to all the members of the Parish of the Resurrection of Christ and to the faithful in attendance, on the occasion of the beginning of the new year 2025.
