The Growing Orthodox Mission to Port Lincoln, South Australia
For the second time in recent months, on the weekend of 5th and 6th of February 2022, His Grace Bishop Silouan of Sinope together with Fr Jeremy Krieg, CEO of the Greek Welfare Centre S.A, embarked on a missionary trip to Port Lincoln. Following a pledge after last October’s visit to come back soon, this trip was organised to again celebrate the Divine Liturgy. In line with His Grace’s preference for serving Liturgies in a community’s own premises, this Liturgy was served in the hall of the local Greek community of Port Lincoln instead of hiring a church edifice of one of the other local denominations.
An important part of the visit was to first try to get the hall into a state that was as fit as possible for divine worship. Unfortunately, the hall has suffered termite damage and needs some significant repair work in the medium term; however, with the help of some of the local community, the hall and verandah were able to be cleared out to make them conducive to public worship.
The small community of Port Lincoln responded to the opportunities and work before them. The local faithful’s enthusiasm was attested by a much larger Church attendance than previously, most of whom were there from the start of Matins (Orthros) through to the end of the Divine Liturgy. In a special touch to the service, His Grace conducted the Sacrament of Chrismation for three members of the local community – a small but significant symbol of the new leaf that has been turned. It was beautiful to see that nearly all those present were able to receive Holy Communion (for some, the first time in a very long time).
At the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy, the delegation from Adelaide was pleased to provide tea, coffee, refreshments and (most importantly) fellowship. During the ensuing discussions, it became apparent that there are other people in the area that may be interested in coming to the Church services of our Holy Orthodox Faith. Of course, the Holy Spirit blows where It wills, and only God knows how the mission to Port Lincoln will develop in years to come – but discussions such as these seem to bode well for the future of the Orthodox Church in this “Seafood Capital” city.
Finally, before starting the journey back to Adelaide, His Grace was able to bring the Holy Water of Theophany into a number of homes of the faithful and conduct a small blessing service.
In all, this was an exciting, promising and fruitful trip, and all who came from Adelaide are keen to visit again in the coming months.
