With due ecclesiastical splendour, the memory of the Saint Haralambos the Hieromartyr was celebrated on Monday, 10 February 2025, at the Church of Saint Haralambos in the town of Tuggerah on the Central Coast region of New South Wales, and was presided over by His Eminence Archbishop Makarios of Australia, who was joined in participation by numerous parishioners and pilgrims.
His Eminence, at the end of the Divine Liturgy, spoke about the honoured Saint with great reverence, referring to his life and virtues, and placing particular emphasis on his martyrdom. He emphasised, among other things, that he came with boldness before the prefect of Magnesia Lucianos, a persecutor of Christians, and confessed his faith in Christ without the fear of death. Pointing out that death is a natural and certain event for all people, he urged the faithful not only not to face it with fear, but also to prepare themselves spiritually for the transition to the afterlife, eternal life. “It is human to fear change,” he acknowledged, but pointed out that the Church and its Saints, like Saint Haralambos, teach us that “we have no lasting city here, but we seek the one to come.”
The Archbishop also mentioned Saints Baptius and Porphyrios, who were among the soldiers ordered to torture Saint Haralambos. “No matter how ferocious the feelings a person may have, they still have a conscience,” he observed and pointed out: “Everyone had a conscience, but these two listened to what their conscience told them. We often do not listen and continue to live our own way. These two soldiers listened to the voice of their conscience, which told them that this man was a saint. For his face shone with joy. This was the message that the two soldiers received, and they believed in Christ and were martyred too.”
Focusing, moreover, on the radiance that shone forth from the martyr Haralambos, His Eminence underlined: “He understood that the moment was approaching when he would go to find the one he loved all his life. And that was Christ. That is why he shone with joy and thus gave the best sermon. Without saying anything, he managed to make two non-believers martyrs and saints of the Church. We see, therefore, how great the power of our life is, our example, that which is emitted from the face of humankind.”
The homily of Archbishop Makarios concluded with feast day paternal wishes to all the parishioners of the Church of Saint Haralambos, and to the pilgrims, as well as due praise for the Parish Priest, Fr. Anastasios Kalogerakis, for the successful organisation of the holy feast day and, more generally, for his diligent ministry.
