Sisterhood
The church sisterhood was organised and has been in operation from the moment of the establishment of the parish, but it was originally referred to as the "ladies' committee". Care of the beauty of the church, vestments, upkeep of Priests' Vestry, embroidery of church vestments, the making of cassock and riassa for their priests, the organisation of charitable activities of the parish, the preparation of meals and management of facilities pertaining to this were all placed in the care of the sisters.
The sisters also had good intentions in the field of spiritual education of parishioners and laymen. In 1988, as part of the celebrations of 1000 th anniversary of the Christening of Russia, an exhibition of applied art was planned in a gallery of the city of Melbourne . The sisterhood responded to the invitation to take part in the exhibition under the initiative of Antonina Innokent'evna Kichakov. They decided to present the whole vestment set of the priest. The idea of the embroidery of stole was borrowed by the sisters from an exhibit of stole of the ХIV - XVII centuries, which is located in the St Sirgius Holy-Trinity Monastery (Troitse-Sergiev Monastery), but the other part of the priest vestment was designed by Lydia Ivanovna Antonova. The sisters worked for almost a year. The complete vestment set is festive in its restraint, captivates in its beauty of delicate patterns and cannot but bring feelings of joy to all who see it. Another example of the rare skill of embroidery is the white, embroidered Easter vestment for the Priest.
As well as vestments for the Priest, the sisters also made the Archbishop's mantle. The round ‘orlets', a circular rug with the image of an eagle flying over a city, put under the Bishop's feet during service, was ordered from Evdokia Pavlovna Bogomyakova, whose talent in embroidery is unsurpassed. When the round ‘orlets' was ready, the sisters finished it.
The sisterhood did not shy away from charitable activities either. The sisters considerably assisted the parish school by sewing costumes for students' theatrical activities, undertaking duties in kitchen, organising charity lotteries, participating in the Day of the Russian Child, in productions at the end of the school year, in the holding of the Christmas performances. The sisters lent a helping hand during the time of the Chernobyl disaster. They collected almost $2000.00 for the children of Chernobyl and organised a concert for them.
Fundraising for the construction of the Russian Centre in Dandenong (Melbourne) and the Day of Russian Culture could not have been done without these angels of kindness.
Organisation of the conference of Russian orthodox youth is also memorable for both the sisterhood and for parishioners. Three conference were organised in the city of Geelong . Up to 200 participants were present at each convention. The responsibility for feeding all of them rested upon the sisters. The sisters prepared delicious breakfasts, dinners and suppers. The conventions coincided with the Christmas Fast, therefore the sisters needed to show not only culinary art, but also the skill of cooking diverse lenten food. All were satisfied with lenten pizza and lenten shashlik, lenten pousi and lenten vareniki. The participants of the conventions always expressed special gratitude to the sisters for their scrumptious food, and organisers of the subsequent conventions came to the sisters for advice.
The senior sister directs and coordinates multilateral work. Listed are the senior sisters from the founding of the parish to the present day:
Elena Kondratjevna Gimaly
Maria Grigorjevna Malikova
Apolinaria Stepanovna Chumakova
Darja Semyonovna Titova
Antonina Petrovna Kichakova
Elizaveta Timofeevna Kichakova
Evdokia Stepanovna Kichakova
Anfisa Aleksandrovna Malisheva
Lydia Ivanovna Matafonova
Tatiana Semenovna Kozulina.