The Sunday of Orthodoxy and the commemoration of the restoration of the holy icons were celebrated at the Church of the Transfiguration in Melbourne, Thomastown, according to vema.com.au.
The Archepiscopal Vicar of Northcote, Archimandrite Fr. Eumenios Vassilopoulos, presided over the Orthros and the Divine Liturgy, accompanied by the priests of the church.
Fr. Evmenios conveyed to the priests and the faithful the wishes of Archbishop Makarios of Australia, while in his sermon he emphasized the fact that our Church celebrated the triumph of Orthodoxy on the First Sunday of Lent.
Noting that nothing accidental happens in the Church, Fr. Evmenios explained that the Fathers established that holiday at the end of the first week of Lent to remind us that fasting and prayer should be practised in accordance with the tradition of the Orthodox Church and with warm faith in God.
“This reminds us that we are not all the same, but we have a purpose in life, to contribute to the plan of God’s economy for the salvation of man,” concluded Fr. Evumenios, “One struggling with courage, and another struggling silently, with prayer, with inner contemplation, with a peaceful spirit, we all have the same purpose, the testimony of faith.”
At the end of the Divine Liturgy, the procession of the holy icons took place, with the faithful, young and old, having brought icons from their home and holding them tightly in their hands.