With the blessings of His Eminence Metropolitan Basilios, The ACOY Committee of Victoria held its last Spiritual Day Retreat for its high school-aged youth members. The central theme of the day was on the Theotokos. ACOY Victoria hosted four great clergy speakers who contributed to the day’s festivities at St George Cathedral, Thornbury.
The day began with Fr George Mattar presenting an ‘Introduction to the life of the Theotokos’ and finishing with a Q&A session. Then the youth were put into three groups and in rotation completed 3 workshops. This included ‘Feast Days’ by Sub Dcn Clovis Haddad, ‘Iconography’ by Fr Jack Lutfi and ‘Services to the Theotokos’ by Fr Dcn Ignatius Hanna. The day ended beautifully with a Paraklesis service to the Mother of God led by the clergy and choir.
ACOY Victoria finished off November with their final ACOY Acts of the year with a volleyball competition. The ACOY Acts Champions trophy was presented to the parish with the most points from the last two years. There were in attendance approximately 50 youth members who were split up into 7 teams, competing in knock-out rounds until the finals.
While teams were not playing, they were set the task of completing puzzles. It was great to see great teamwork amongst all who attended. The night was filled with fun, competition, refreshments and sportsmanship.
After an intense battle, all the points were calculated and saw 4th place go to St Paul’s, 3rd go to St Nicolas’, 2nd go to St Mary’s and 1st place went to St George’s.
With God’s grace and His Eminence’s blessing, we look forward to the final event of the year a retreat to the Antiochian Village in Goulbourne and an exciting year ahead.
