The 31st Annual Opening of the Law Term for 2012

The Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Churches in Australia (SCCOCA), under the aegis of the Episcopal Assembly of Oceania, sponsored the 31st Annual Opening of the Law Term for 2012 with a Pan-Orthodox Prayer Service held at the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Sydney on Tuesday evening, 7 February 2012. Many notable participants, including clergy and lay, legal professionals from the Inter-Orthodox community, were present to receive and pray with and for the dignitaries from the judiciary, including distinguished Supreme Court judicial officers, headed by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, The Honourable Tom Bathurst QC.

His Eminence Archbishop Stylianos of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia, President of the Episcopal Assembly of Oceania and Chairman of SCCOCA, presided over the Service of Prayer and delivered a powerful, soul-searching and deeply thought-provoking homily on the Epistle passage from Galatians 3:10-29, based on the law which was given to us as a tutor to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. Through that faith, we are no longer under a tutor; as we have become children of God in Christ Jesus. In whom there can be neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, neither male nor female; for all are one in Christ Jesus.

Also present at the Prayer Service were His Grace Bishop Irinej of the Metropolitanate of Australia and New Zealand of the Serbian Orthodox Church and His Grace Bishop Seraphim of Apollonias from the Greek Orthodox Church, together with His Excellency Mr Branko Radosevic, Consul General of Serbia in Sydney.

His Grace Bishop Irinej, in inviting Serbian-Australian legal professionals and students of law to join their co-religionists and members of the legal profession, anticipates that these gatherings will serve as a catalyst for his long-announced intention of initiating a Serbian-Australian Legal Association.

Source: www.soc.org.au