PARISH HISTORY

The parish was formed in 1952.  Services had been conducted at St Peters’ Anglican Church, Hamilton, from 1950.  From 1951, services were held in the Anglican ‘Mission Hall’ at Wallsend. The block of land on which the church and hall now stand was purchased in June 1952.  From late in 1952 until 1964, Divine Services were conducted in a small cottage especially modified for the purpose.  Construction of the current church commenced early in 1962 and was completed in 1964; Archbishop Savva consecrated the new church that same year.  The church hall was built in 1982.

The parish was served from its foundation by the ever-memorable Archpriest John Lupish.  Born in Borodichy, Belarus, in 1906, Father John undertook theological studies in the diocesan consistory at Pinsk.  He married Maria Veremejchik in 1933, was ordained deacon in 1934 and priest in 1938.  He served in parishes in present-day Belarus, Poland, and later in Germany.  In the wake of the devastating war in Europe, Father John and his family emigrated to Australia with many of their countrymen in 1949.  Upon arrival in Australia that year on the feast of the Transfiguration, he resided for some time at the Greta Migrant Camp, founding and then serving there in the Holy Protection Church from the feast of the Dormition in 1949 until the camp was closed in December 1960.  Although he continued to serve for a short time in Greta at St Mary’s Anglican Church, he served primarily in our parish from 1960, supporting his family and himself by working in various occupations including the State Dockyards, Newcastle City Council, Goninan Engineering and finally at BHP.  Father John reposed in the Lord in 1977.  His memory is dear to the parish, and Divine Liturgy is now served each year on the anniversary of his death.  Afterwards, a panikhida is served at his graveside in Sandgate Cemetery.

In almost the entire period since the death of Father John Lupish, Saint Nicholas’ has been without a resident priest assigned solely to the parish.  Visiting clergymen from Sydney for many years served in the parish on a regular, if infrequent, basis.  Amongst those clergy who served our parish are Mitred Archpriest John Stukacz, Archpriests Michael Konstantinoff, Peter Sheko, Michael Boikov, and George Lapardin, the late and ever-memorable Archpriest Nicholas Grant, and the Priests Nicholas Gan and Daniel Metlenko. 

The assignment to the parish in the early 1990s of Hieromonk Benjamin (Forbes) as full-time resident priest ended, unhappily, in a division within the parish.  The Russian Orthodox Church of the Theophany in Mayfield (another suburb of Newcastle), initially a parish of the Antiochian Orthodox Church but later received by the Moscow Patriarchate, emerged out of this division in 1994.  It was served by Hieromonk Benjamin, Priest Nicholas Gan, and finally by Priest Alexander Filchakov, a young graduate of the Moscow Theological Academy.  As time went by, the Theophany parish provided a spiritual home for many people, particularly new Russian immigrants. With the return of Father Alexander to Russia in February 2009, the Theophany parish closed and parishioners began to attend services in Wallsend.