AUSTRALIAN-NEW ZEALAND DIOCESE: 9 July 2025
Archpriest John Weir reposes in the Lord

On 9 July, 2025, with heavy hearts and prayer, the clergy and laity of the Diocese of Australia and New Zealand and friends bade farewell to a remarkable person — a kind, warm-hearted, and responsive pastor, Archpriest John Weir.

St Nicholas Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Brisbane, Australia, suffered an irreplaceable loss: a warrior of the faith, spiritual father, and mentor, to whom many parishioners opened their hearts.

Fr John was born in 1969 in Brisbane. In 2004, he was ordained as a deacon, and in 2007 — to the rank of priest by the Archbishop Hilarion of Sydney and Australia-New Zealand, and commenced his pastoral ministry at the parish of the Meeting of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God in Rochedale (Brisbane).

From 2009 to 2010, he was the Rector of the Annunciation Church in Brisbane. He subsequently served at St Nicholas Cathedral and at the Church of the Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God. Since 2019, he has been the second priest of St Nicholas Cathedral in Brisbane. In 2021, he was elevated to the rank of archpriest. He served the Lord until the last day of his life, performing divine services, hearing confessions, comforting, and giving guidance. On June 24, 2025, at the age of 56, he departed to the Lord from a sudden heart attack.

The editors of the diocesan publication Unity [Edineniye] express their deepest condolences to Matushka Marina, daughters Lydia and Alexandra, son-in-law Nectarios, granddaughter Martha, as well as to all relatives, friends, and spiritual children of Father John. This loss was not only for the family but for the entire Russian Orthodox diaspora of Queensland.

Lyudmila Larkina
"Unity"