Orthodox Journey

"Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!". Today, our Church celebrates Palm Sunday, the day that our Lord triumphantly entered Jerusalem.

In this podcast, Fr George Liangas, Parish Priest at St Nectarios Greek Orthodox Church, explains the importance of this feast and what it means to us.

On the Fifth Sunday of Great Lent, our Church commemorates St Mary of Egypt.

St Mary is a true model of repentance - an example of the extreme actions that are sometimes necessary for us to flee from sin and embrace our calling as children of God. Her life teaches us to accept responsibility for our sins, and challenges us to take the appropriate action.

In this podcast, we are introduced us to the life of this great saint, and guided in applying the lessons from her in our daily life.

On the Fourth Sunday of Great Lent, our Church commemorates St John of the Ladder. St John is famous for writing "The Ladder of Divine Ascent", one of the most well-known spiritual texts in Orthodox Christianity.

In this podcast, Fr Dimitri Kokkinos, Parish Priest at St Ioannis Greek Orthodox Church, provides a short commentary on this book together with moving extracts from various sections, including the parts on Renunciation (Step 1), Obedience (Step 4), Remembrance of Wrongs (Step 9) and Chastity (Step 15).

On the Third Sunday of Lent, our Church commemorates the Life-Giving Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the Gospel reading of the day, the Lord says "If anyone wishes to come after me; let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me".

What does this mean in our day-to-day life? How can we deny ourselves? What does it mean to take up our cross? This podcast discusses these questions and more.

On the Second Sunday of Lent, our Church celebrates St Gregory Palamas, the great 14th century theologian. St Gregory was a monk on Mt Athos and subsequently Archbishop of Thessaloniki, where he defended Orthodoxy from a number of heresies. 

This podcast discuss his life and the impact he had on Church theology and history.

Today marks the 200th anniversary of the Greek War of Independence. It is also the feast of the Annunciation of the Theotokos, when the Theotokos was told that she would give birth to Christ. Commenting on these events is Fr Anastasios Bozikis, priest at the parish of St Nektarios in Wollongong and Lecturer in Church History at St Andrew's Greek Orthodox Theological College.

This podcast discusses some of the messages taken from the Epistle and Gospel readings of the first Sunday of Great Lent, the Sunday of Orthodoxy. These include the reality that all who recognise Christ as Lord will endure hardships and struggles, and the importance of showing the courage of the martyrs in our journey to persevere and overcome our old selves.

To start the Journey to Pascha for 2021, we sit down with Dr John Psarommatis, president of the Greek Orthodox Christian Society. In this podcast, Dr John explains how to approach the Lenten period and the opportunities that this time in the Church calendar presents.

In his studies in Athens, Saint Basil the Great was said to only know two roads - from home to the University and from home to the Church. In this podcast, we can better learn how to prioritise Christ through St Basil's life and writings.