Northcote: Saturday of Lazarus at the Parish of Saint Andrew the Apostle in Sunshine

On Saturday, 27 April 2024, His Grace Bishop Evmenios of Kerasounta, Archiepiscopal Vicar of Northcote, visited the Parish-Community of Saint Andrew the Apostle in the suburb of Sunshine in Melbourne.

His Grace officiated during the Matins Service and presided over the Divine Liturgy on the occasion of the feast of the Resurrection of Lazarus, the Friend of Christ.

At the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy, after conveying to the congregation the wishes and blessings of His Eminence Archbishop Makarios of Australia, His Grace spoke about the event that is commemorated on this particular day by our Church, emphasising the importance of the feast day for the everyday life of the modern person.

His Grace particularly focused on the reference from the Gospel passage which mentioned that Christ wept when he saw the tomb of Lazarus. He pointed out that it was not simply an expression of human sorrow, as it happens when we lose a loved one, but he wept because at that moment in the face of Lazarus he saw the condition of humanity in general, that is, the fall and distance of human kind from God and heaven.