Festivities at the English-speaking Parish of St Sophrony of Essex in Adelaide
With the blessing of our Father and Chief Shepherd, His Eminence Archbishop Makarios of Australia, St Sophrony Parish in Adelaide celebrated the feast day of its patron, St Sophrony of Essex, for the second year in a row. On the eve of the feast day, Wednesday 10 July 2024, His Grace Bishop Silouan of Adelaide officiated at the festal Vespers with all the Adelaide clergy, and on the feast day, Thursday 11 July 2024, His Grace presided overis the Matins and the festal Divine Liturgy. Being the first English-speaking parish within the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia, this is a notable occasion and one which was celebrated with joy by the multitude of faithful who attended the services and partook in the ensuing festivities.
The Sunday after this auspicious occasion was marked by a highly successful festive luncheon immediately following the morning’s Divine Liturgy, presided by His Grace, which was well attended, the church overflowing with faithful parishioners. Despite recent storms and overcast weather, the sun emerged propitiously for a few hours, allowing the multitude to enjoy souvlakia, hot chips and pita bread, with luscious salad and an array of baked sweets in the warm sunshine and under the beautiful trees outside our church. Our resident professional barista, one of the newly baptized converts to the Orthodox faith, kindly spent the entire event making coffees for our beloved attendees. Many supportive parishioners and committee members volunteered their time and energy to set up the event, manning the BBQ and deep fryer and serving food to the numerous faithful, young and old.
We are humbled by the generosity of the parishioners who donated food for the event, most notably the owners of BBQ Brothers Catering Co. who sacrificially donated all the souvlakia, chips, pita bread and most of the salad for this fundraising event. They gifted the parish with more food than was estimated to be required and by the grace of God, every item was sold out before the event had ended.
Moreover, BBQ Brothers Catering Co. kindly lent us use of their cooking equipment and patiently assisted volunteers in the preparation of the food. It is gestures such as these which concretely demonstrate the love of God in the hearts of the faithful Christians who our parish is privileged to serve. We pray that God will continue to bless them for their generosity and sacrifice.
The fledgling parish of St Sophrony of Essex has been incredibly well supported since its inception in January 2023 and it is apparent from the consistent attendance at the parish that there is a significant need for a dwelling in which the community can gather for fellowship and spiritually edifying activities such as Sunday School, bible study and youth events. The community are fundraising towards the construction of a hall in which to provide hospitality to our faithful and an environment in which Christ-centered friendships can continue to flourish; a venue in which our brothers and sisters in Christ can provide each other with valuable encouragement and companionship in their Christian journey.
We are grateful that every dollar raised from our feast day functions and all fundraisers organized by St Sophrony parish will be put towards the savings for our new hall. Once the hall has been built and the current toilet and kitchenette facilities are relocated into the hall dwelling, our beautiful heritage stone church can be lovingly renovated back into its original configuration, which will provide much needed space for additional parishioners to fit into the nave. May our merciful and loving God guide the parish of St Sophrony to continue to grow and spiritually flourish. Glory be to God.
