Victorian Council of Churches

St George Day

St George was an early Christian martyr and is venerated as a saint.

Saint George stands out among other saints and legends because he is known and revered by both Muslims and Christians. He is the patron saint of many peoples and nations even today.

Many of our VCC Member Churches celebrate Feast Days for St George and honour his life, witness and courage. 

The Orthodox Churches celebrate St George’s Feast Day on 23 April (traditionally understood to be the day of his martyrdom), but if it falls before Easter, it is celebrated on Easter Monday.

The Coptic Orthodox Church (Egypt) call St George the “Prince of Martyrs” and celebrates his feast on May 1. There is a second celebration on November 17, in honour of the first church dedicated to him.

The Russian Orthodox Church celebrates three St George Feast Days each year – April 23 (the date of his death), November 3, to commemorate the consecration of a cathedral dedicated to him in Lydda (current day Lod in Israel), and on November 26, for when a church in Kiev (now Ukraine) was dedicated to him.

Saint George’s Day in Bulgaria is a national holiday always held on 6 May. For almost half a century, the communist government banned the holiday after it came to power in 1946. The holiday was reinstated in 1993 and is again a proud day for Bulgaria. It is also known as Army Day and Bravery Day.

Saint George is also the patron saint of England and St George Day is celebrated on April 23. His cross can be found throughout England. Even though St George never visited England, his reputation spread far and wide.

The life and martyrdom of St George

Saint George (also, George of Lydda) lived in the latter part of the third century A.D. during Diocletian’s rule of the Roman Empire. He was born around 256-286 CE in Cappadocia in Minor Asia and died 23 April 303.

His father’s name was Anastasius, and his mother’s name was Theobaste. They were pious Christians from noble and wealthy families. George was raised to follow the Christian faith of his parents.

George’s father was a Roman officer, martyred for his faith, when George was 14. His mother was a Greek native originally from Lydda (Syria Palestine), known in the biblical narrative as Lod*  She and George returned there when George’s father died. She had family farmland there, and at that time it was mainly a Christian population.
(*eg in Acts 9:32, Lod was the place where the apostle Peter healed the paralytic Aeneas who had been lying paralysed for 8 years).
(*article about present day Lod and tensions post Oct 7)

At a young age, George served in the Roman army under Emperor Diocletian and was commended many times for his service to the Empire. From the rule of the Emperor Decian until 284 A.D., when Diocletian became emperor, the Church went through a period of peace and prosperity. Christians obtained important positions in the government during that time; many built churches and schools and organized the authoritative structure of the Church. Diocletian gave many of his loyal officers political positions so that he could have the military strength of his Empire on his side. After Diocletian had suppressed the barbarian tribes which were attacking the Empire and after he had secured its borders, he began to concentrate on the Empire’s internal affairs. Diocletian believed that a state religion could keep the empire united. Since paganism was the state religion, Diocletian focused his efforts toward the suppression of Christianity.

During the year 303 A.D., Diocletian summoned his aides to meet in Caesarea, a city of the Eastern Roman Empire. He held three general meetings with his aides, instructing them to persecute the Christians. St. George, since he had shown his excellence while serving in the army, was among these aides. Diocletian asked them to pledge their allegiance to this cause by making pagan sacrifices as proof of their loyalty.

All the aides pledged their loyalty except St. George, who gave all his belongings to the poor, and in front of Diocletian himself, tore the Emperor’s edict of persecution apart and professed his faith in Christ. He condemned the vanity of the idols and those who believed in them. He was resolute in standing firm in his loyalty to his Christ and his faith. For this he suffered terrible torture and was eventually beheaded.

To save George, one of his own loyal military officials, Diocletian attempted to convert him to believe in the Roman gods, and offered him land, money and slaves in exchange for offering a sacrifice to the Roman gods, and made several other offers that George refused.

Finally, the emperor, after exhausting all other options to convince George to recant his Christian faith, ordered him to be taken to prison and a boulder to be placed on his chest as a form of torture. The next morning Diocletian ordered that the prisoner be brought before him for questioning. George stood steadfast and again told Diocletain of the Christian teachings, the Godliness of the crucified Nazarene, and of his belief in the riches of the Kingdom of Heaven.

The emperor then summoned the executioners to take the saint and have him bound to the rim of a wheelset with sharp spikes. He was lacerated on the wheel of swords and required resuscitation three times, but still George did not turn from God. (Many other forms of torture are reported to have been used against George). Diocletian admired the courage of the saint and asked him to sacrifice to the gods to save himself. He refused Diocletian’s request and welcomed the chance to martyr for Christ, as his father had done.

Saint George had the divine zeal in his heart and delivered himself to death, a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God (c.f. Romans 12,1), paying heed to Saint Paul’s words: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil. 1,21). That is the reason why Saint George became an imitator and communicant of Christ’s passion. “He that abideth in me, and I in him” (John 15,5).

After praying to God, it is reported he heard a voice from heaven say, “Do not fear, George, I am with you.” With the help of Christ, the spiked wheel had had no effect on George. When he appeared before Diocletian, not only was he unharmed, but an angelic aura had settled about him. Suddenly, two officers of the Roman army, Anatolios, and Protoeon appeared before Diocletian with two thousand soldiers. They admitted their belief in Christ and Dioceletain had them all executed.

On April 23, 303 A.D., George was decapitated. His relics were transferred by Christians to their homeland, Lydda, and there he was buried. Christians went to his resting place to honour George as a martyr.

A witness of George’s suffering convinced Empress Alexandra of Rome to become a Christian as well – and she joined George in martyrdom.

When piety shone upon Constantine the Great, Saint Helen visited to the Holy Land and erected a magnificent Basilica abbove the tomb of Saint George. The consecration of that Church was held on November 3.

St George was canonised in AD 494 by Pope Gelasius, who claimed he was one of those ‘whose names are justly revered among men but whose acts are known only to God’.

During the Middle Ages, people believed that St George was one of the ‘Fourteen Holy Helpers’ – a group of saints who could help during epidemic diseases. St George’s protection was invoked against several nasty diseases, many fatal and with infectious causes, including the Plague and leprosy.

(Not sure about the dragon though…)

The tomb where the relics of the St George were laid is now located in an Orthodox church dedicated to him. The first church was built in the 6th century. The temple was destroyed several times and was restored in its present form with donations from Russia. The consecration of the restored temple took place on November 3, 1872, the anniversary of the day when it was first consecrated. The Russian Church remembers and celebrates this event in the Menaion, in honour of the churches built and dedicated to Saint George in Russia.

References
Various sources including Wikipedia and Saint George Antiochian Orthdodox Church, St George Catholic Church and Coptic Crew.

Planet vs. Plastics unites students, parents, businesses, governments, churches, unions, individuals, and NGOs in an unwavering commitment to call for the end of plastics for the sake of human and planetary health, demanding a 60% reduction in the production of plastics by 2040 and an ultimate goal of building a plastic-free future for generations to come.

To goals to achieve a 60% reduction by 2040 need to be:

(1) promoting widespread public awareness of the damage done by plastic to human, animal, and all biodiversity’s health and demanding more research be conducted on its health implications, including the release of any and all information regarding its effects to the public;

(2) rapidly phasing out all single use plastics by 2030 and achieving this phase out commitment in the United Nations Treaty on Plastic Pollution in 2024;

(3) demanding policies ending the scourge of fast fashion and the vast amount of plastic it produces and uses; and

(4) investing in innovative technologies and materials to build a plastic-free world.

“The word environment means what surrounds you. Now plastics do more than surround us;  we have become the product itself- it flows through our blood stream, adheres to our internal organs, and carries with it heavy metals known to cause cancer and disease. Now this once-thought amazing and useful product has become something else, and our health and that of all other living creatures hangs in the balance,” said Kathleen Rogers (President of EARTHDAY.ORG)

“The Planet vs. Plastics campaign is a call to arms, a demand that we act now to end the scourge of plastics and safeguard the health of every living being upon our planet.”

Plastics extend beyond an imminent environmental issue; they present a grave threat to human health as alarming as climate change. As plastics break down into microplastics, they release toxic chemicals into our food and water sources and circulate through the air we breathe. Plastic production now has grown to more than 380 million tons per year. More plastic has been produced in the last ten years than in the entire 20th century, and the industry plans to grow explosively for the indefinite future.

“All this plastic was produced by a petrochemical industry with an abysmal record of toxic emissions, spills, and explosions,” said Denis Hayes, Chair Emeritus of EARTHDAY.ORG. “Plastics are produced in polluting facilities that somehow seem to always be located in the poorest neighborhoods. Some plastics are lethal when combusted; other plastics transmit hormone-disrupting chemicals; and all plastics can starve birds and suffocate sea life. At every stage of their life cycles, from the oil well to the town dump, plastics are a dangerous blight.”

More than 500 billion plastic bags—one million bags per minute—were produced worldwide last year. Many plastic bags have a working life of a few minutes, followed by an afterlife of centuries. Even after plastics disintegrate, they remain as microplastics, minute particles permeating every niche of life on the planet.

100 billion plastic beverage containers were sold last year in the United States. That’s more than 300 bottles per inhabitant. A few of them will be converted into park benches; none of them will be made into new plastic bottles and 95% of all plastics in the US won’t be recycled at all. Even the 5% of plastics being recycled are “downcycling” to inferior products or shipped to poorer countries for “recycling”, leaving the demand for virgin plastic undiminished.

People seldom think of water when they think of plastics. But making a plastic water bottle requires six times as much water as the bottle itself contains.

The fast fashion industry annually produces over 100 billion garments. Overproduction and overconsumption have transformed the industry, leading to the disposability of fashion. People now buy 60% more clothing than 15 years ago, but each item is kept for only half as long.

Approximately 85% of garments end up in landfills or incinerators, with only 1% being recycled. Nearly 70% of clothing is made from crude oil, resulting in the release of dangerous microfibers when washed and continued contribution to long-term pollution in landfills.

Social injustice and fashion are directly intertwined, with exploitative working conditions, low wages, and widespread child labor. For far too long, the industry has relied on a fractured supply chain and an almost total lack of governmental regulation.

To learn more about Planet vs. Plastics and join the movement for a plastic-free future, please visit: https://www.earthday.org/earth-day-2024/.

(edited from Earth Day 2024 website)

John 21:1-19

In this week’s text, Jesus appears to the disciples yet a third time, but significantly this time they are no longer fearfully hiding in the house. Rather, they are on the lake fishing. Simon Peter had returned to his life as a fisherman, and six of the other disciples decided that they would join him.

But when the fearful disciples try to return to their former lives, they find that their old patterns no longer work. Despite being on the boat and fishing throughout the night, John tells us, the disciples had “caught nothing.” Their old patterns no longer work for them, and they finish a long night tired and emptyhanded. It is an image not only of failure but also of scarcity. If they can catch nothing, how will the disciples feed themselves? How will they make a future for themselves?

It is at this point in John’s narrative that Jesus appears, telling them to “cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some [fish]” (21:6). It is not that the disciples are bad fishermen (it is difficult to imagine that they had not even tried the other side of the boat) but rather that Jesus has miraculously provided fish for them. According to John, the failed patterns of the old life are transformed by the miraculous presence of the risen Jesus, in whose presence the fruitless toil of the long night yields to nets overflowing with abundance. It is the presence of the risen Christ that makes the difference.

Yet the story also introduces a critical complication into the narrative, which is that the disciples seem to find it nearly impossible to recognize Jesus when they encounter him in the world. This theme appears repeatedly in the Gospels. Only when Jesus multiplies the fish do the disciples begin to understand who he is. This detail is important, as it reminds us of the earlier times that Jesus has procured fish for hungry people, notably in the story of Jesus feeding of the 5,000, which occurs in all of the Gospels (Matthew 14:13-21; Mark 6:30-44; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:1-15). Jesus’s capacity to feed the hungry is fundamental to his identity, not only in his earthly ministry but also in his resurrected existence. The connection is so clear that John (“the disciple whom Jesus loved”) immediately recognizes him. “It is the Lord!” he shouts. Peter, too, recognizes him, leaping into the water and swimming to meet him.

Yet the other disciples continue to struggle with recognizing Jesus. When they finally row to shore, Jesus has started a campfire and is already cooking some fish of his own, along with some bread. But Jesus does not simply feed them with food that he himself has brought, instead turning the gathering into a community meal. “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught,” he tells them. Together they make a meal for one another, of bread and fish, those that Jesus brought and those that the disciples caught. We imagine them together forming a little community of abundance as the toil-filled night yielding to the morning’s dawn. It is in that moment that the rest of the disciples recognize him (21:12).

If even his own closest disciples struggle to recognize him, how much more so must our faith communities offer unmistakable signs of Christ’s presence for those who are yet struggling in the night. Holding out possibilities of new life to those trapped fearfully in the failed patterns of the past .Sharing what we have with those in need, even if it is only a few fish and some bread, and inviting others to do the same. The disciples recognize Christ when he creates communities of abundance in the midst of scarcity. Our task is to do the same.

Adapted from a reflection by Robert Williamson Jr.

No doubt we are all shocked by the number of women who have died violently this year. In particular, the Ballarat region is grieving the tragic deaths of three women who have allegedly died at the hands of men – Samantha Murphy, Rebecca Young and Hannah McGuire.

According to the research group, Counting Dead Women Australia, 64 women were killed in violent incidents in 2023.

And domestic and family violence is the leading cause of homelessness for women, with nearly half of those seeking homelessness assistance citing it as a reason, a report from Homelessness Australia found.

In every country and culture, gender-based violence is a tragic reality. This violence is frequently hidden, and victims are often silent, fearing stigma and further violence.

Violence against women is a widespread and serious issue in Australia. The statistics are staggeringly high:

• One in five women have experienced at least one incident of sexual violence.
• One in three women has experienced physical and/or sexual violence perpetrated by a man they know.
• One in four women has experienced emotional abuse by a partner.

This violence has deep and long-lasting impacts for those who experience it. Such violence is in stark contrast to the abundant life that God intends for us in Christ (quote from PVAW).

As Christians, and together as the Church, we are compelled by Christ’s love to challenge the attitudes, behaviours and structures that underpin violence and to work towards a future in which women and girls can live lives free from violence – and the fear of violence.

We all have a responsibility to speak out against violence, to ensure that women and men, boys and girls, are safe from rape and violence in homes, schools, work, streets – in all places in our societies.

The World Council of Churches runs a campaign, Thursdays in Black – for a world free of rape and violence. There are badges available. Rev Sharon Hollis, UCA President, is a WCC Ambassador for Thursdays in Black.

The campaign is simple but profound. Wear black on Thursdays. Wear a badge to declare you are part of the global movement resisting attitudes and practices that permit rape and violence. Show your respect for women who are resilient in the face of injustice and violence. Encourage others to join you.

[Wearing the badge always invites conversations, and spreads the word person by person by person…]

Often black has been used with negative racial connotations. In this campaign Black is used as a color of resistance and resilience.

Many churches are pro-active in offering programs and training in prevention of violence against women. An example is the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne run a Prevention of Violence Against Women (PVAW) program, to support and equip church leaders and communities to respond to and help to prevent violence against women. The Program is run in partnership with Anglicare Victoria, the Brotherhood of St Laurence, and Lifeworks. The Program Manager is Robyn Boosey and the chair of the Program’s Committee of Management is Bishop Genieve Blackwell.

Further reading: We deserve a reality in which women’s lives count, not their deaths by Lauren Coutts and Chloe Papas

(A Thursdays in Black badge can be organised for interested people)

#ThursdaysinBlack

Around the world, the right to health of millions is increasingly coming under threat.

Diseases and disasters loom large as causes of death and disability.

Conflicts are devastating lives, causing death, pain, hunger and psychological distress.

The burning of fossil fuels is simultaneously driving the climate crisis and taking away our right to breathe clean air, with indoor and outdoor air pollution claiming a life every 5 seconds.

The WHO Council on the Economics of Health for All has found that at least 140 countries recognize health as a human right in their constitution. Yet countries are not passing and putting into practice laws to ensure their populations are entitled to access health services. This underpins the fact that at least 4.5 billion people — more than half of the world’s population — were not fully covered by essential health services in 2021.

To address these types of challenges, the theme for World Health Day 2024 is ‘My health, my right’.

This year’s theme was chosen to champion the right of everyone, everywhere to have access to quality health services, education, and information, as well as safe drinking water, clean air, good nutrition, quality housing, decent working and environmental conditions, and freedom from discrimination.

Gaza
The United Nations’ human rights chief, Volker Turk, has raised alarm over the impending health and hunger crises in Gaza following prolonged Israeli military activities. He warned of the imminent risk of extensive infectious disease outbreaks and severe hunger, conditions worsened by the conflict.
The crisis is intensified by the destruction of key infrastructure. Every bakery in Gaza has shut down following Israeli air strikes, cutting off a vital food source for the already distressed populace. This critical situation underscores the deepening hardships and challenges faced by the people of Gaza in the wake of the conflict.
Food and safe water have become incredibly scarce and diseases are rife, compromising women and children’s nutrition and immunity and resulting in a surge of acute malnutrition. The situation is especially serious in the north, which has been cut off from humanitarian aid for weeks, where one in six children under the age of two is acutely malnourished.
“The Gaza Strip is poised to witness an explosion in preventable child deaths which would compound the already unbearable level of child deaths in Gaza,” said UNICEF Deputy Executive Director for Humanitarian Action and Supply Operations, Ted Chaiban. “We’ve been warning for weeks that the Gaza Strip is on the brink of a nutrition crisis. If the conflict doesn’t end now, children’s nutrition will continue to plummet, leading to preventable deaths or health issues which will affect the children of Gaza for the rest of their lives and have potential intergenerational consequences.”

Prayer service for World Health Day

A prayer for World Health Day