Archbishop Hilarion of Sydney, Australia and New Zealand Performs Divine Liturgy at the Skete of St John the Forerunner

On September 11, the day of the Beheading of St John the Baptist, Archbishop Hilarion of Sydney, Australia and New Zealand visited the Skete of St John the Forerunner in Kentlyn (near Sydney), where he officiated at Divine Liturgy along with the skete’s prior, Hieromonk Joachim and the monastery’s clergy. At the end of Liturgy, a pannikhida was served to the Orthodox leaders and soldiers of blessed memory, after which the clergy and worshipers headed for a cave where the late member of the skete, Monk Gurii (+1992) loved to pray in solitude. Fr Gurii had a colossal library of literature pertaining to the Jesus Prayer. Here they performed a moleben to St John the Baptist. Protopriest Rostislav Gan (+1975) of blessed memory, the spiritual father of the skete and of the sisters of the nearby Our Lady of Kazan Convent, also loved to pray in Fr Gurii’s cave.