On Saturday 19 August and Sunday 20 August we had services for the Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost, the Afterfeast of the Transfiguration, and in honour of Monk-Martyr Dometius of Persia (+363 AD).   Prior to the service on Saturday a reliquary containing portions of the relics of twenty-four New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia was brought to our church, remaining with us throughout the evening and on the following day.  Great Vespers was then served, following which there was a moleben to the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia with the reading of an akathist.  On Sunday morning Divine Liturgy was served, following which there was a further brief moleben to the saints.  In his sermon the parish rector spoke about the Orthodox Christian veneration of relics and of steadfastness of the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia in the face of bitter persecution, an important example at a time when religious freedom was under attack in Australia and other Western nations.   At the end of Divine Liturgy the parish rector announced that the 2017 Annual General Meeting of the parish would be held on Sunday 17 September.