The memory of Saint Nicholas, Archbishop of Myra in Lycia, the Miracle-worker, was celebrated with ecclesiastical splendour in Sydney. The epicentre of the feast day was the Church of Saint Nicholas in the suburb of Marrickville, where the Festal Divine Liturgy was presided over by His Eminence Archbishop Makarios of Australia, who had previously officiated at the Matins Service. Also present in concelebration were Their Graces, Bishop Iakovos of Miletoupolis and Bishop Christodoulos of Magnesia, with the participation of the Chancellor of the Holy Archdiocese, Archimandrite of the Ecumenical Throne Christophoros Krikelis, and a number of priests from the city of Sydney, while praying from the Holy Altar was His Eminence Metropolitan Seraphim of Sevasteia.
During his inspired sermon, before the large congregation, the Archbishop focused first on the popularity that Saint Nicholas had acquired as Bishop, even though he did what was necessary for the salvation of people and not necessarily what was pleasing. “He did nothing different from what God does,” he noted and explained: “Many times we ask for things and God does not give them to us. And we get upset, and sometimes we even complain and oppose God. We think that He is deaf to our requests, forgetting that even God’s silence is an answer. And above all, we forget that all of God’s answers aim at only one event, our spiritual benefit and our salvation. If God determines that what we ask for will not lead us to His Kingdom, then He will not give it to us. And He will not give it to us, because God gives what is necessary. And there is nothing greater than the Kingdom of Heaven. For this reason it is important that Saint Nicholas was a popular figure. He managed to be loved by people and by his flock, even though he did what was useful and necessary for their salvation.
Then, Archbishop Makarios focused his attention on the unwavering struggle of the honoured Saint for the truth. “The entire course and life of the Church is to testify to the truth,” he reminded, while countering that “the devil hates the truth, and tries to slander it, distort it and deceive humankind.” “The entire life of Saint Nicholas,” he emphasised, “was a testimony and a struggle for the truth and against the slander of the truth, which the devil constantly attempts.”
At this point, he observed that in our days the described purpose of the devil finds more fertile ground for success compared to earlier times. This is because the modern person “gives too much weight to ‘appearing’ rather than ‘being’, which facilitates the work of the devil.” “That is why our own witness is important, to defend the truth,” the Archbishop concluded, adding that “the truth sets us free, as the Apostle Paul said, and reality is what leads to light and life.”
Concluding his homily, His Eminence paternally urged the faithful who had gathered in church to continue and intensify their spiritual preparation in light of the great feast of Christmas, through fasting, prayer, almsgiving and their participation in the holy services and sacraments of the Church. “Just as we prepare our home and decorate it, in the same way we should prepare our soul to welcome the great event of the Birth of our Lord,” he emphasised. “To welcome it not externally and ostensibly, as we said before,” he added, “because ‘appearing’ is not the truth. But to welcome it empirically, experientially. To feel what the birth and incarnation of Christ means and what it means that God becomes human in order to make humankind God.”
