On Saturday 26 January and Sunday 27 January we had services for the Thirty-Fifth Sunday after Pentecost and the Leavetaking of the Great Feast of the Baptism of the Lord.  Matins on Saturday evening was served by Father Dionysios Halim and Protodeacon German Polorotoff, a cleric of the Saints Cyril and Methodius Community in Tweed Heads, NSW.  On Sunday morning our parish rector Archpriest James Carles presided at Divine Liturgy for the first time since November 2018, concelebrating together with Fathers Dionysios and German.  At the Prayer before the Amvon a brief moleben of thanksgiving was served in recognition of the work of the former Theophany parish of the Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) (1994-2009), and following the dismissal prayers were offered for the living and departed founders, benefactors and parishioners of that church.  At the conclusion of the service our parish rector thanked Father Dionysios for his work in the parish and his personal support over the previous two months, presenting him with a copy of the parish icon of the Mother of God, “Protectress of Newcastle”.  A festive meal was then held in to church hall in honour of the parish rector’s fiftieth birthday.