Saint Panteleimon's is an Orthodox Christian parish of East Slavic tradition serving the New South Wales Central Coast and the northern suburbs of Sydney. Our parish includes Orthodox Christians of Russian, Ukrainian, Belarussian, and other backgrounds. We are a parish of the Australian and New Zealand Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia. The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, a self-governing part of the Russian Orthodox Church, is completely independent in pastoral, educational, administrative, management, property, and civil matters. Our parish is doctrinally Orthodox, liturgically traditional, and welcoming to all. In our services we use English, the language of this country, together with Church Slavonic, the liturgical language of the Slavic peoples. Established in 2000, our parish is one of the newest in our Diocese.
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We have services on the first and third Sundays of each month and on the preceding Saturday evenings. We also have services on some major feast-days during the week. Our current Schedule of Services can be viewed here. Our church is generally only open when we have services. Visitors are always welcome! If you would like to contact us before visiting, it is best to send an email. We check this inbox regularly and will respond to messages as soon as we can. You can also contact us in the same way to arrange baptisms and memorial services. Please note: The telephone number that has been listed on Google is a private number and messages or unknown calls to this number will not be responded to or answered.
Our parish priest, Archpriest James Carles, serves here in a voluntary capacity. He has part-time secular employment during the week and is presently undertaking full-time tertiary study. In addition to our parish, he has responsibility for Saint Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church in Newcastle and Saint Symeon of Verkhoturye Orthodox Mission on the New South Wales Mid North Coast. During study periods (in 2026, 16 February-13 June and 20 July-14 November) his pastoral availability is strictly limited to scheduled services in the three communities; individual “needs” that arise in connection with these scheduled services (e.g. confessions, molebens, and memorial services); essential parish administrative tasks; and end-of-life care and funerals. Father James is available to talk after Divine Liturgy on the Sundays when we have a service. He can also be contacted by email.
Our parish is a small one that relies on community support and the voluntary service of our clergy to make ends meet. If you find this website to be of interest or of assistance, please consider helping us. Donations may be made directly to our bank account:
St Panteleimon Russian Orthodox Community of Gosford
BSB: 032-596 Account number: 140923
May the Lord bless you!
On Saturday 14 February and Sunday 15 February we will have services for Meatfare Sunday, the third of the four Preparatory Sundays for Great Lent, and for the Great Feast of the Meeting of the Lord . All-night Vigil with the blessing of wheat, wine, oil and five loaves will be served at 6.00pm on Saturday evening and the Hours and Divine Liturgy will be served from 9.00am on Sunday morning. As Saturday 14 February is a day of commemoration of the departed, All-night Vigil on Saturday evening will be preceded by a general panikhida at 5.00pm. Those attending the panikhida may, as an act of kindness in memory of their departed ones, bring non-perishable foods to be passed to a local charitable organisation for relief of the homeless. The services on Sunday will be preceded by a blessing of water at 8.00am. In accordance with the custom of many Australian parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, there will be a blessing of fruit at the end of Divine Liturgy together with the traditional Orthodox blessing of candles. Following Divine Liturgy there will be a memorial litia for four ever-memorable clergymen of our Diocese: Archbishop Paul (Pavlov) (+15 February 1995), Archpriest Nicholas Grant (+14 February 1995), Protodeacon Vasily Hadarin (+13 February 2021), and Protodeacon Constantine Moshegov (+ 30 January 2022, ordained deacon 15 February 2007). A busy weekend for our parish!
On Saturday 31 January and Sunday 1 February we had services for the Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee, the first of the four Preparatory Sundays for Great Lent. All-night Vigil was served on Saturday evening and the Hours and Divine Liturgy were served on Sunday morning. At Divine Liturgy the customary prayers were offered for Orthodox unity, peace in Ukraine, and peace in the Holy Land. Following the service on Sunday a memorial litia was served for all the departed founders, benefactors and parishioners of our church, customarily remembered by us in prayer together on the weekend closest to the day of commemoration of Blessed Xenia of Saint Petersburg, the heavenly protector of our parish Ladies' Auxiliary.
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On Sunday 18 January and Monday 19 January we had services in honour of the Great Feast of the Baptism of the Lord (Theophany). All-night Vigil with the blessing of wheat, wine, oil and five loaves was served on Sunday evening and the Hours and the Divine Liturgy of Saint Basil the Great with the Great Blessing of Water were served on Monday morning. At both services we were joined by friends from Newcastle, Sydney and the Central Coast. Following Divine Liturgy, many people gathered in the church hall for a festive meal.
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On Saturday 17 January and Sunday 18 January we had services for the Sunday before Theophany. Matins was served on Saturday evening and the Hours and Divine Liturgy were served on Sunday morning. As often happens at this time of year, we were joined on Sunday by dear friends holidaying on the Central Coast. Following Divine Liturgy our church vestments were changed to white in preparation for the Great Feast of the Baptism of the Lord (Theophany), and a panikhida was served for a much-loved parishioner of the early years of our Gosford parish, Nestor Petroff (+16 January 2022).
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On Tuesday 6 January and Wednesday 7 January we had services for the Great Feast of the Nativity of Christ (Christmas). All-night Vigil with the blessing of wheat, wine, oil and five loaves was served on Tuesday evening and the Hours and Divine Liturgy were served on Wednesday morning. We were joined by visitors from Newcastle, Sydney, and the New South Wales Mid North Coast, and on both days our church was full to overflowing. At Divine Liturgy a great many of the faithful received Holy Communion. In place of a sermon on Wednesday, the Nativity Epistle of Archbishop George was read aloud in English by the parish rector and in Russian by Reader Alexey Douriaguine. At the veneration of the Cross following Divine Liturgy, those present were given chocolates and Christmas crackers.
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On Saturday 3 January and Sunday 4 January we had services for the Sunday before the Nativity of Christ. All-night Vigil was served on Saturday evening and the Hours and Divine Liturgy were served on Sunday morning. At Divine Liturgy we were joined by friends from Sydney holidaying on the Central Coast. The customary prayers were offered for Orthodox unity, peace in Ukraine, and peace in the Holy Land, and many people received Holy Communion.
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2026 will be for our small parish a year of consolidation. We hope to enrich the liturgical life of our community through additional weekday services and by acquiring new icons and other items for the divine services. Although we will not have a midnight Paschal service this year, we will have many services during Great Lent and Holy Week and one late in the morning of the Sunday of Pascha itself. We will continue to make newcomers welcome and to assist all who wish to better understand and experience Orthodox Christian faith and worship. In August we hope to welcome Archbishop George on a pastoral visit in honour of our patronal feast of Saint Panteleimon, a commemoration that will fall this year on a Sunday.
"For every Christian, the feast of the Nativity of Christ is beloved and joyful. Throughout the world on this day, people remember the Star of Bethlehem and the manger, the shepherds and angels, the Mother of God and Righteous Joseph the Betrothed, while the Orthodox celebrate, confessing the cornerstone of faith—the Incarnation of Christ, the manifestation of God in the flesh (1 Timothy 3:16). Out of His greatest love, the Lord descended to be born of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, uniting fallen humanity with God through Himself. "The Word became flesh so that we might be renewed and divinized in Him," says St. Athanasius the Great." Metropolitan Nicholas’s Epistle is available in full in English here and in Russian here.
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"Once again we hear the message of the angelic host, God’s messengers to mankind, as they announce the glad tidings of the Birth of Christ our Saviour, Emmanuel, Who has become incarnate in order to free mankind from the bondage of sin... Let us hearken to their angelic message, and let us make every effort to worship and glorify God every day of our lives. In this way we will bear witness to the presence of Christ in our hearts, Who was incarnate for our salvation." Archbishop George’s Epistle is available in full in English here and in Russian here.
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The November 2025 issue of “Word of the Church” (“Церковное Слово”), the official journal of the Australian-New Zealand Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, is now available in our parishes. This is the third and final issue (#3-4) for 2025. Content includes a report on the Twenty-First Diocesan Assembly; the text of the Diocesan Assembly Resolution; an obituary of Archpriest Alexander Skorik; a report on and an extensive photo gallery of the consecration of a new church in Dandenong, Victoria, dedicated to Saint John of Kronstadt; a report on the Diocesan Liturgical Music Conference; and more. Copies are $5.00.
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On Tuesday 10 March and Wednesday 11 March 2026 the clergy of the Australian-New Zealand Diocese will gather in Brisbane for their customary Great Lenten Pastoral Conference. On Tuesday the clergy will meet at Saint Nicholas Cathedral for the Rule of Preparation for Holy Communion at 5.00pm and Lenten Matins and confession at 6.00pm. On Wednesday from 8.00am the Lenten Hours, Typika and the Divine Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts will be served at the Cathedral with Archbishop George presiding and Diocesan clergy concelebrating. Those of the faithful who have the opportunity to do so are welcome to attend the services on Wednesday morning and may – if properly prepared – receive Holy Communion. Following Divine Liturgy the clergy will meet in the cathedral hall for lunch, to hear two lectures and to discuss pastoral, liturgical and administrative matters.
