Letter 1'

Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of New Zealand
Holy Church of the Dormition of Virgin Mary, Christchurch

Christchurch 20/6/2009
Dearest Brethren.
Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
With the Grace of God, the blessings of our Bishop of New Zealand H. E. Amphilochios and the help and permission of my home Bishop of Mytiline H. E. Iakovos, three months have already passed since my family and I came to New Zealand.
It is the love and concern of our Bishop towards our Church, towards all of you, which brought us here.
We have met and spoken with the most of you and I'm filled with joy every time I see your beloved faces during our Holy Services.
For those I've not met yet, I' m looking forward to meeting you and for that reason; I have started visiting many of you at your jobs or at your homes.
I would like us all to have unity in Christ and to strengthen our relationship with our Lord.
Therefore, we want you to have opportunities for prayer and Catechism, except of those we already have on Sundays and big Feast Days.
One of those opportunities is the service of the holy Paraklesis to Panagia, the Mother of God, who intercedes for us to her Son.
This prayer is followed by Catechism.
So all, you that are not occupied with a job are invited to come and pray together every Thursday 10.30-11.30 a.m.
For those that are working, I would like to hear from you if you are interested to make some time for an individual or a group prayer and Catechism.
Now about our beloved children and youth. Don't you think it is time to help them find their way to Christ, to help them open up their souls for Him to step in? Jesus said: “Let the children come to me.”
My wife presvitera Anastasia and I would be very happy if you could manage to find one hour every week for your children to come together to learn about the life of our Church. Our Treasure is right here! We just have to reach out to get it!
If you are interested in any of the above, please let me know. You can visit us, call us for a visit or phone us. My phone numbers are: Tel. 3554885
and 0210473894.
My e-mail address is: amphilochio@ yahoo.gr. Also, I would very much like to have your e-mail address to communicate personally with you.
With love in Christ.


Rev. Amphilochios S. Vasiltsotelis