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Orthodox Churches
in Cape Town,
George, Port Elizabeth,
East London, Robertson, Durban, Bloemfontein
& WelkomOrthodox Centre
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Latest Updates:
Metropolitan Church of Saints Raphael, Nicholas & Irene
Church Entrance: 14 Balintore Road, RondeboschServices for January 2019
Saturday 19th @ 9 am
Divine Liturgy in English,
officiated by Archimandrite Fr Zacharias Van Wyk
officiated by Fr Danil Logovoy
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Details of the services at the Cathedral of Saint George in Cape Town for January 2019 are available here.
Details of the services at the Church of the Dormition of the Mother of God in Port Elizabeth for December 2018 are available here
Details of the services at the Church of Saint George in East London
Details of the services at the Church of the Holy Trinity and Church of Saints Nicholas, Andrew and Gerasimos in Durban
Details of the services at the Church of the Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel (Taxiarches) in George
Visit the Digital Chant Stand to find the texts (in English and Greek) for the Church’s services.
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Recent blog posts
- March 2019- Programme of the Holy Services
- February 2019 – Programme
- THE CHRISTMAS KARAVAKI 2018
- His Holiness Irinej Bulović Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church visits Cape Town on OXI Day 2018
- St Mamma’s Day at the Metropolis of Good Hope-Cape Town, South Africa, Sunday 2 September 2018.
- Feast Day celebrations of Saints Cyril and Methodius – May 2018
- Celebrations in George – Church of the Holy Archangels, George, Southern Cape
- Service of the Veneration of the Cross – Church of St Mary of Egypt, Monastery of St John the Baptist, Robertson, Western Cape
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Today’s readings & saints
The Fear of God
The disciples were “astounded” at what had taken place, and Saint Luke tells us that the Apostle Peter fell on his knees before Christ saying, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” We see here something of the awe and amazement that occurs from realizing that we are in the presence of God. But Jesus responds, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will be catching men.”
The fear of God can be a difficult concept for us to understand today. After all, we believe that God is love and God can hardly want us to be afraid of Him. But there is also another – positive – kind of fear of God that we see in this Gospel passage. We hear this repeated in the prayers of the Church, notably when the priest calls out in the Liturgy inviting us to receive Holy Communion: “With fear of God, with faith and love, draw near.”
This positive sense of fear is something like amazement, awe, or wonder. It is the awareness that we are confronted with something totally outside our normal frame of reference, which we can neither domesticate nor control. And it makes us aware of our own smallness and sinfulness, in contrast to the inexpressible Holiness of God.
This encounter with the Living God is at the heart of the Church’s life. Yet it is often all-too-easy for us to take God for granted and lose this awareness of His greatness. This is why the Fathers of the Church teach that the fear of the Lord is something that we need to cultivate and guard, being careful that we never take God’s gifts for granted.