Русская Версия

Introduction

Welcome to the website of the St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Canberra. The cathedral parish is part of the Australian Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church (Abroad). We hope that your visit will be of benefit.

The dean of the cathedral is Archpriest Alexander Morozow.

For general enquiries please email enquiry@stjohnthebaptist.org.au. For information and enquiries about hiring the parish hall, please see the contact page.

Our parish website also has web pages in Russian with different content.

Updates Related to COVID-19

The announcement on 14 September that lockdown in the ACT will now continue until Friday 15 October means that regrettably we are still unable to conduct regular church services until further notice. We will update our website as soon as there is greater clarity on when we can expect to exit this extended lockdown and resume our regular services.

While we cannot open the church for regular worship, there is some limited scope to meet the spiritual needs of our flock that are of an urgent nature. This is similar to the situation that we were in last year during lockdown. Should you feel that your needs are indeed of a spiritually urgent nature, I would ask that you contact me directly on 0411 165 925 to discuss your individual circumstances. Please note that we are very conscious of the need to ensure that the number of people that are in church at any one time is minimised. In effect this will mean limiting attendance in church for urgent needs to just one household at any given time or to individuals (and their carers where this is necessary).

We are pleased to advise worshipers at our church that when not in lockdown, the introduction of the Check in CBR application allows us to have up to 50 attendees at services. This is conditional on those attending initially downloading the app onto their phones and then checking in their attendance at the candle stall each time they come to a service. Please be aware that for those worshipers who cannot sign in electronically themselves, the candle stall duty staff will need to do this on your behalf using their own phones.

This means that for normal Sunday services, people wishing to attend are not required to advise me of their intention beforehand. However, if for some reason we look like exceeding our capacity limit on a particular day, please be aware that you may be asked to wait outside the church until we can accommodate you.

Father Alexander

To help us overcome the financial impact that the pandemic has had on our finances, we ask you to consider a regular monthly financial contribution to our parish. Contributions directly into our parish bank account is the easiest way to make your donation. Our bank account details are as follows:

BSB: 032719
Account: 602930

Other updates for the parish community and communications from the parish clergy will be published here. Please check back regularly.

Schedule of Upcoming Services

All regular services have been suspended due to lockdown until further notice.

Services

Visitors are always welcome at our services. The All Night Vigil is celebrated beginning at 5 PM on Saturday evenings and the Divine Liturgy at 9 AM on Sunday mornings. Confessions are heard during the Vigil service. The principal language of the services is Church Slavonic. Some English is used in the Divine Liturgies and usually somewhat more during the All Night Vigils. The parish church is located at:

1 Matina St
Narrabundah ACT 2604 (map)

For updates to the service schedule and other parish events, follow us (@stjohn_baptist) on Twitter or on Facebook.

Parish Life

Weekly Reading and Discussion Group

An informal reading group/discussion on the Apostolic Fathers, which is a collection of letters and documents from the second generation of Christians, and provides insights into the structure, worship, and preaching of the church immediately after the ministry of the apostles. There will be a brief introduction to each letter but mostly discussion driven by what the group finds interesting. They are all short pieces and easy to read, not heavy theology. It will provide a core for us to gather in fellowship and learn about the history of the church together, and a chance to stay connected in these difficult times.

For more information, please contact Subdeacon Irenaeus (Ryan) Strickler, email rwstrickler@gmail.com.

• Date and time: Each Sunday at 5 pm
• Zoom meeting 886 7979 2853, password EySXu0

Readings:

• Sunday 5 September 2021: The Epistle of St. Ignatius of Antioch to St. Polycarp of Smyrna
• Sunday 12 September 2021: The Epistle of St. Ignatius of Antioch to St. Polycarp of Smyrna

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