This site is under construction as of 26 June 2025. For the time being, information about the Mission is also available here.
Saint Symeon of Verhoturye Orthodox Mission is an outreach of the Australian and New Zealand Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR). The ROCOR, a self-governing part of the Russian Orthodox Church, is completely independent in pastoral, educational, administrative, management, property, and civil matters. Our Mission serves the Mid North Coast and Coffs Coast regions of New South Wales. At present, we have Divine Liturgy only on the fifth Sunday of the month, something that occurs around four or five times a year. In summer and winter we gather for Divine Liturgy in Coffs Harbour or Bellingen, and in autumn and spring we gather in Wauchope. At various times during the year we also have simple services without a priest. Our community consists of some Russian people and an increasing number of converts to the Orthodox Christian faith and inquirers. In the services we use English, the language of this country, together with Church Slavonic, the traditional liturgical language of the Slavic peoples. We are doctrinally Orthodox, liturgically traditional, and welcoming to all.
Our mission is a small one that relies entirely on community support and the voluntary service of our clergy. Our aim is to make available Orthodox Christian prayers, sacraments, and teaching on the Mid North Coast; acquire the material resources and experience to effectively support this activity; and, in time, to establish a parish in the region under the heavenly protection of Saint Symeon of Verkhoturye, a seventeenth century ascetic of the Ural region of Russia. Please consider helping us!
Donations may be made directly to our bank account:
Saint Symeon of Verkhoturye Orthodox Mission
BSB: 032-586 Account number: 646816
May the Lord bless you!
On Sunday 29 March 2026, the Fifth Sunday of Great Lent, the Hours and Divine Liturgy will be served from 9.00am at Wauchope Community Arts Hall, 2/10 Oxley Lane, Wauchope. All are welcome!
| 2025 - The year in review - 31/12/2025 This year, nine members of our Mission were received into Orthodoxy, six at Holy Annunciation Orthodox Church in Brisbane, QLD, and three at Saint Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church in Newcastle, NSW. Divine Liturgy was served twice in Wauchope (March and August), once in Bellingen (June), and once in Coffs Harbour (November). We had monthly public reader services in Coffs Harbour from August-December. In November we had our first Annual General Meeting and elected an expanded Mission Committee to oversee Mission life and development. We published this website and received a generous donation of $20,000 to support the work of our Mission. All the news from 2025 can be read here. Glory be to God for all things! |
| Our inaugural Annual General Meeting - 01/12/2025 On Sunday 30 November our Mission held its inaugural Annual General Meeting. The 2025 Annual Report and an overview of mission life were presented by the Mission rector and a report on the Twenty-First Diocesan Assembly was presented by parish delegate Reader James Savage. Katerina Cotten, Tatiana Tobin, Evgeniya Biryukova, Reader James Savage, Nathan Reah, Rebecca Isgrove Reah and Chantelle McKenna were elected to serve on the 2025-26 Mission Committee together with the Mission rector. |
| Services on 30 November, the Twenty-Fifth Sunday after Pentecost - 01/12/2025 On Sunday 30 November we had services for the Twenty-Fifth Sunday after Pentecost and in honour of Saint Gregory of Neo-Caesarea (+266 AD). The Hours and Divine Liturgy were served on Sunday morning at the Coffs Harbour Scout Hall with 40 people present, a great many of whom confessed and received Holy Communion. Prayers were offered for the unity of the Orthodox Church, peace in Ukraine and peace in the Holy Land. At the end of Divine Liturgy, a Certificate of Appreciation awarded in December 2024 was formally presented to Liubov Sleaford and an announcement was made concerning the inaugural Mission Annual General Meeting to be held that afternoon. Prior to the meeting, a sumptuous Lenten lunch was served. |
| Our 2025 Annual Report - 01/11/2025 Our 2025 Annual Report, including the 2024-25 Financial Statements, is now available. This is our first Annual Report. It includes some an overview of our governance arrangements and a summary of our activity and accomplishments from 2019 through until 30 June 2025. A copy of the report, which will be formally presented to our inaugural Annual General Meeting on Sunday 30 November 2025, is available here. We encourage Mission members and friends with questions or comments concerning our Annual Report to contact us. |
| Services on Sunday 31 August, the Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost - 31/08/2025 On Sunday 31 August we had services for the Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost, the Afterfeast of the Dormition of the Mother of God, and the day of commemoration of the Martyrs Florus and Laurus of Ilyria (+Second Century AD). The services were held at the Wauchope Community Arts Hall, the Mission’s Port Macquarie-Hastings region ‘home’ since April 2023. The Hours and Divine Liturgy were served on Sunday morning with approximately thirty-five people present, many of whom were attending an Orthodox service for the first time. Prayers were offered for the unity of the Orthodox Church, peace in Ukraine and peace in the Holy Land. At the end of Divine Liturgy, it was announced that the inaugural Annual General Meeting of mission members would be held on Sunday 30 November 2025. As is customary, many of those present afterwards shared a common meal. |
| Services on Sunday 29 June, the Third Sunday after Pentecost - 29/06/2025 On Sunday 29 June we had services for the Third Sunday after Pentecost and in honour of Saint Tikhon, bishop of Amathus on Cyprus (+425). The services were held at the Bellingen Neighbourhood Centre. The Hours and Divine Liturgy were served on Sunday morning with approximately thirty people present. At Divine Liturgy Protodeacon German Polorotoff of the Tweed Heads parish served together with the mission rector - this was the first time that a deacon had served in our mission. We were also joined by others from Tweed Heads, by friends from Newcastle, and by newcomers interested in the Orthodox faith. Afterwards, those present shared a common meal. |
| Services on Sunday 30 March, the Fourth Sunday in Great Lent - 30/03/2025 On Sunday 30 March we had services for the Fourth Sunday of Great Lent, the day of commemoration of Saint John of the Ladder (+649AD). The services were held at the Wauchope Community Arts Hall, the Mission’s Port Macquarie-Hastings region ‘home’ since April 2023. The Hours and Divine Liturgy were served on Sunday morning with approximately thirty people present. Prayers were offered for the unity of the Orthodox Church, peace in Ukraine and peace in the Holy Land, and many of those present confessed and received Holy Communion. As Saturday 29 March was a day of commemoration of the departed, Divine Liturgy was followed by a litia for the departed and the blessing of kutiya. As is customary, those present afterwards shared a common meal. |
"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.