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 within 24 hours. You can also contact us in the same way to arrange baptisms and memorial services. Please don't hesitate to reach out!
Our parish priest, Archpriest James Carles, serves here in a voluntary capacity. He has secular employment on two days per 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 2024, 19 February-15 June and 22 July-16 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 Friday 20 September and Saturday 21 September we will have services for the Great Feast of the Nativity of the Mother of God. All-night Vigil with the blessing of wheat, wine, oil and five loaves will be served at 6.00pm on Friday and the Hours and Divine Liturgy will be served at 9.00am on Saturday.
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On Monday 26 September we will have a service for the Great Feast of the Exaltation of the life-Giving Cross of the Lord. All-night Vigil with the blessing of wheat, wine, oil and five loaves will be served at 6.00pm on Thursday and the Hours and Divine Liturgy will be served at 9.00am (not 8.00am!) on Friday.
On Saturday 14 September and Sunday 15 September we had services for the Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost and in honour of the 1992 translation of the relics of Right-believing Prince Peter and Princess Febronia, the Wonderworkers of Murom (+1228 AD). All-night Vigil was served on Saturday evening and the Hours and Divine Liturgy were served on Sunday morning. At Divine Liturgy on Sunday the parish rector was assisted by Protodeacon Martin Naef and prayers were offered for Orthodox unity, peace in the Holy Land, and peace in Ukraine. Following the Prayer before the Amvon there was a brief moleben to Saints Peter and Febronia, the heavenly patrons of family life, love and faithfulness, at which all the couples in our parish were commemorated by name.
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On Saturday 31 August and Sunday 1 September we had services for the Tenth Sunday after Pentecost, for the Afterfeast of the Dormition, and in honour of Martyr Andrew Stratelates and 2,593 soldiers with him (+284-305AD). All-night Vigil was served at on Saturday evening and the Hours and Divine Liturgy were served on Sunday morning. At both services the parish rector served alone. As is customary, prayers were offered for Orthodox unity, peace in the Holy Land, and peace in Ukraine.
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In the evening on Sunday 18 August, the Eve of the Great Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, All-night Vigil with the blessing of wheat, wine, oil and five loaves was served. Regrettably, we were unable to have the Hours and Divine Liturgy with the customary blessing of fruit on Monday 19 August as our parish rector was unavailable.
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Our Spring 2024 Schedule of Services - covering September, October and November - is now available in digital format. In addition to our regular services on the first and third Sundays of each month, during Spring 2024 we will have services for the Great Feast of the Nativity of the Mother of God on Friday-Saturday 20-21 September and for the Great Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross on Thursday-Friday 26-27 September. A copy of the English-language Spring 2024 Schedule of Services is available here, and a copy of the Russian-language Spring 2024 Schedule of Services is available here.
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On Saturday 17 August and Sunday 18 August we had services for the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost, for the Forefeast of Transfiguration, and in honour of Martyr Eusignius of Antioch (+362 AD). All-night Vigil was served on Saturday evening and the Hours and Divine Liturgy were served on Sunday morning. At Divine Liturgy on Sunday the parish rector was assisted by Protodeacon Martin Naef and prayers were offered for Orthodox unity, peace in the Holy Land, and peace in Ukraine. Following the Prayer before the Amvon there was a blessing of honey and prayers of blessing were read over a new cassock and an altar server’s sticharion. After the dismissal, the cassock and sticharion were presented to our newly-tonsured reader, Alexey Douriaguine, as a gift from the parish.
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On Thursday 8 August and Friday 9 August we had services in honour of Great Martyr Panteleimon (+305 AD), the heavenly patron of our parish. All-night Vigil with the blessing of wheat, wine, oil and five loaves was served on Thursday evening. Concelebrating with the parish rector were Priest Simon Nekipelov, rector of All Saints of Russia parish, Croydon, and Deacon Michal Matys of the Wallsend parish. The lesser blessing of water was served early on Friday morning, after which Archbishop George arrived with the wonder-working "Kursk-Root" Icon of the Mother of God. Friends from Sydney and Newcastle travelled to Gosford to venerate the icon and join in our celebrations. Following the greeting and vesting of Archbishop George the Hours were read, during which our parishioner and senior altar-server Alexey Douriaguine was tonsured a reader. Archbishop George then presided at Divine Liturgy, assisted by our parish clergy, Archpriest James Carles and Protodeacon Martin Naef, and by Deacon Michal. The choir san beautifully under the direction of Ludmilla Alexandrovsky. At the Small Entrance Father James was awarded the right to wear the jewelled pectoral cross. Following Divine Liturgy, a moleben to the Mother of God and Saint Panteleimon was served and parish awards were presented to a number of our parishioners and friends. At the conclusion of the services on Friday there was a festive meal in the church hall for those present.
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On Saturday 3 August and Sunday 4 August we had services for the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost and in honour of Holy Myrrh-bearer and Equal-to-the-Apostles Mary Magdalene (1st C.) and Hieromartyr Phocas, bishop of Sinope (+403 AD). All-night Vigil was served on Saturday evening and the Hours and Divine Liturgy were served on Sunday morning. At Divine Liturgy on Sunday prayers were offered for Orthodox unity, peace in the Holy Land, and peace in Ukraine.
