The feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord was celebrated in Thomastown, Melbourne with Archbishop Makarios emphasising the joy associated in attaining communion with Jesus Christ.
Archbishop Makarios officiated the official service yesterday at the Church of the Transfiguration of Our Lord and was joined by Bishops Evmenios of Chora and Kyriakos of Melbourne, clergy from the Dioceses of Chora and Melbourne, including the Senior Priest of the Church, Father George Frangos.
Among the attendees was the Consul General of Greece in Melbourne, Dimitra Georgantzoglou.
At the end of the festive Divine Liturgy, Archbishop Makarios addressed the large congregation, speaking on the feelings experienced by the three disciples who were present at the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor.
He focused particularly on the feeling of joy, which was expressed in the words of Peter: “Lord, it is good for us to here” (Matthew 17:4). This, he explained, was the spiritual joy offered by communion with the true God.
Archbishop Makarios then contrasted this joy with the temporary and superficial joys that modern-day people derive from material things, passions and sins.
“Today, we seek joy but we knock on the wrong door,” he said.
“The joys we have are false,” he added, noting that ultimately the emotion that dominates the life of modern people “is not joy, which comes and goes, but disappointment.”
He urged all to seek the true, lasting and irreplaceable experience of joy, which is found in communion with Christ, conveying this would mean freedom from every inclination toward sin.
“When man attains full communion with Christ, all other joys of the world are nothing before Him,” he said.
“If you want to be freed from your mistakes, passions, weaknesses, and sins, then there is only one way: to love Christ, to put Christ in your heart and to fill your existence with Christ. If you love Christ, the joy that will come from this loving relationship will be so strong and so intense that no sin will touch you.”
Archbishop Makarios concluded his speech by expressing his gratitude to the Senior Priest, Father George, for his pastoral work in the Church of the Transfiguration of Our Lord, while asking the members of the parish to support him in his ministry and to continue to walk together, with love and unity.
