Saint Demetrios’ popularity in the Orthodox faith as a warrior saint is strange considering the Church’s pacifist teachings

 Dean Kalimniou – Neos Kosmos – 20 Oct 2014

The traditional iconography of some of the ‘warrior’ saints of the Orthodox Church has always disconcerted me a little. Saint Eustathios, Saint Minas, Saint George and Saint Dimitrios are invariably depicted in soldier’s armour, something that seems to fit uneasily with the pacifism of Christianity. In some of the nineteenth century, baroque inspired iconography, Saint Dimitrios, patron saint of Thessaloniki, is actually portrayed on a horse, in the process of sticking his spear into a man lying prone on the ground. This martial quality is emphasised in the apolytikion of the Saint, which at our Parish, being the parish of Saint Demetrios in Moonee Ponds, is chanted every week:

“The world has found you to be a great defence against tribulation and a vanquisher of heathens, O Passion-bearer. As you bolstered the courage of Nestor, who then humbled the arrogance of Lyaios in battle, Holy Demetrius, entreat Christ God to grant us great mercy.”

The apolytikion is not exaggerating when it suggests a global reach for the saint, for Saint Demetrios is one of the most popular saints of the Orthodox world, transcending ethnic and cultural boundaries. From the Synaxarion of the Orthodox Church, we learn that Saint Demetrios came from a noble family in Macedonia and that he rose to a high military position under Maximian, Caesar of the Eastern part of the Roman Empire, reaching the rank of proconsul.

When Maximian returned from one of his campaigns to Thessaloniki, which was his capital, he had games and sacrifices celebrated for his triumph. Saint Demetrios was denounced as a Christian, and thrown into prison. While in prison he was visited by a young Christian named Nestor, who asked him for a blessing to engage in single combat with the giant Lyaios, who was posing as the champion of paganism. Saint Demetrios gave his blessing and Nestor, against all odds, slew his opponent in the arena, as David had once defeated Goliath.

The enraged emperor, learning that this had occurred with Saint Demetrios’s aid, first had Nestor beheaded outside the city and then had Saint Demetrios impaled in prison. Later Saint Demetrios’ servant Lupus was beheaded after using his master’s blood-stained tunic and signet ring to work many miracles.

The Thessalonian Christians buried Saint Demetrios and Nestor next together in the bath where he had been imprisoned. During the seventh century a miraculous flow of fragrant myrrh was found emanating from his tomb, giving rise to the appellation Myrovlitis, the Myrrh Gusher, to his name. His tomb is now in the crypt of the great basilica dedicated to him, in Thessaloniki.

Extreme popularity for Saint Demetrios is first attested in the sixth century. It grew because of his miraculous interventions in defence of Thessaloniki during the many sieges it endured during the early Middle Ages, particularly by Slavic tribesmen who overran the Roman provinces of Hellas and Macedonia during the sixth through to the eighth centuries. It is for this reason, out of insecurity and fear, that the saint’s martial quality have been so emphasised and indeed, the final liberation of Thessaloniki in 1913 has also been attributed to him.

The very first pages of the Russian Primary Chronicle, on the other hand, maintain the saint’s marital qualities but present him as a punisher of the Greeks. The Chronicle relates that when Oleg the Wise threatened the Greeks at Constantinople in 907, the Greeks became terrified and said: “This is not Oleg, but rather St Demetrius sent upon us from God.” Russian soldiers always believed that they were under the special protection of the Saint, Demetrius, who was always depicted as Russian in icons displayed in Russian army barracks.

Yet in the teaching of the Church, it is the spiritual warfare in which he engaged, that makes him worthy of emulation and in this way, his depiction holding weapons can be reconciled as merely symbolic and not an exhortation to or a glorification of violence.

For his encouragement of the young Nestor and his chastity, Saint Demetrius is thus regarded as a protector of the young, and is also traditionally invoked by those struggling with lustful temptations. Thus in his church in Thessaloniki, one of the only mosaics to have survived the Great Fire of 1917 depicts him as a young man, his arms draped protectively around the shoulders of two children.

Given Saint Demetrios’ significance for both the Orthodox Church and the Greek nation, it is not surprising that his feast of 26 October is an important event here in Melbourne, especially for those whose origins derive from Thessaloniki. This year, the significance of the feast is augmented for an event unprecedented in the history of Australian Orthodoxy which has taken place: the parish of Saint Demetrios in Moonee Ponds has been granted the gift of a portion of the miraculous and myrrh-gushing relics of the saint. In this way, all Orthodox Australians are able to feel and witness the immediacy of the saint, when praying for his intercession, but also partake of a unique piece of history as well. In an age of hard-nosed economic rationalism, of materialism and of spin, the need to touch the ideal of the divine is felt as keenly as ever before. Whether one is called upon, as in the case of Iraq and Syria’s Christians to compromise one’s faith in order to survive, or in the complacent world of western bourgeois capitalism, to compromise one’s principles and sense of decency, or to sacrifice to any modern day idols, the Orthodox hymns in honour of the saint are a lasting call to remain steadfast:

“Even though callous tyrants gave you over/ to be subjected to the most cruel and painful tortures,/ and thy much-suffering and steadfastly enduring body/ did undergo a multitude of various torments,/ you, O Godly-minded Demetrios,/ did not renounce Christ,/ neither did you offer sacrifice to idols,/ but endured all as if it were somebody else who suffered,/ awaiting future reward and the undying love of the Word of God.”

*Dean Kalimniou is a Melbourne solicitor and freelance journalist.

STYLIANOS

By the grace of God, Archbishop of Australia,

To all the Reverend Clergy and devout faithful of our Holy Archdiocese.

Dearest brothers and sisters, and beloved children in the Lord;

All of Christendom is preparing this year, once again, to celebrate Christmas, within a world that is troubled, frantic and contradictory.

The phenomena of international violence, together with crime of every kind and materialistic hysteria, all apply asphyxiating pressure upon the chests of every honourable person. They threaten to turn into a desert not only society and the family unit, but also the inner world of the human soul.

However, it would be the greatest hypocrisy to believe that we can judge this world as if we were somehow outside it. We are a vital part of this contradictory world and we share in its responsibilities absolutely.

If, after the passage of so many centuries, the Incarnation of God has not made our world more loving, this is not due to the non-Christians, but mainly to the followers of Christ. The most bitter betrayal always comes from within, from among one’s own people.

How are we then to chant the angelic Christams hymn with “unblemished lips”? The wonder expressed by the Hymnographer is therefore very timely for us all, when exclaiming: “What can we offer You, O Christ?”

In order to sing “Glory to God in the highest” and to experience, even to the slightest degree, “peace on earth”, we must respect the human person as the image of the invisible God. This is regardless of race, gender, colour, religion or age. God became human for all humankind.

If we do not possess the purity of the angels to offer the hymn of the Manger, we are nevertheless able to return to the simplicity of the shepherds, dwelling in the fields and glorifying God who was Born as an infant for all people.

To Him be the glory and power and veneration unto all ages. Amen!

With fervent prayers to Him,

Archbishop STYLIANOS

Primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in Australia

THE WATER DIVINER: FANTASY NOT HISTORY

By Dr Panayiotis Diamadis – Neos Kosmos English Edition: Saturday 10 January 2015

“Satan’s army: the dark side of The Water Diviner”, “Bizarre”, “Disgusting”, “Lies” and “Disgraceful”. –These are some of the responses to the depiction of Hellenes and Orthodox Christians in The Water Diviner, screenplay and novel by Andrew Anastasios and associates. Anastasios and his co-writers have done serious disservice to both Kleio, Muse of History, and to Hellenism.

A daughter of Zeus, Kleio (Κλείω) may translate as “to recount”, “to make famous”, or “to celebrate”. Anastasios’ misconstructions and omissions result in the film and its accompanying novel presenting the indigenous Hellenes (Greeks) of Anatolia as “Satan’s army”, as barbarous invaders. In its drive to create an anti-war message, The Water Diviner ends up as fantastic propaganda where victims become perpetrators become victims.

In The Water Diviner, Anastasios omits that Hellenes, Armenians and Assyrians are the indigenous peoples of Anatolia, omits that Armenians lived in the region where most of the action in the film and the novel takes place, depicts the indigenous Hellenes of Anatolia so disparagingly even the Turkish newspaper Zaman decries it, and much more.

In a recent interview, Russell Crowe claimed that “after 100 years, it’s time to expand that mythology”, Australia “should be mature enough as a nation to take into account the story that the other blokes have to tell”. Fair enough. This should include the story of the indigenous peoples of Anatolia who were being subjected to genocide at the time when the film is set, in the land where the film’s action unfolds.

The first step in setting right a litany of wrongs is a disclaimer at the beginning of each screening of this fill acknowledgeing that Hellenes, Armenians and Assyrians are the original and indigenous peoples of Anatolia and that the film may offend them and their descendants.

HISTORY & FANTASY

The Water Diviner is about a man who travels to eastern Thrace and Anatolia after the Battle of Gallipoli to try and find his three missing sons. The premise of an Australian wandering around western Anatolia in 1920-21 is itself incredulous. Australian World War One veteran Major George Devine Treloar told the Sydney Morning Herald in May 1927 that “Turkey was a bad place for foreigners at the present time”.

The story deals (in part) with the Anzac prisoners-of-war of the Ottoman Empire in World War One. The climax of the story takes place in a medieval Orthodox church in the city of Akroinos (modern Afyonkarahisar).

Anzac and other Allied POWs (especially Indians) died in captivity by the thousand. Anzac POWs recorded how Armenian and Hellenic churches across Anatolia were their prison camps. Akroinos’ main prisoner-of-war camps were the massive Armenian church and its neighbourhood of formerly Armenian-owned houses.

The Water Diviner paints indigenous Anatolia Hellenes as barbaric invaders, at one point being labelled “Satan’s army” by one character. Surviving Anzac prisoners recorded how Hellenes assisted their survival – and in some cases, their escape.

Crowe and his writers are derided by Guy Walters of The Telegraph (London), Barry John Clark, president of the New Zealand Veterans Association, and Major General David McLachlan, president of the Victorian RSL, amongst others, for holding positions “utterly without foundation”.

In Major General McLachlan’s words, “Russ must have been asleep during that lesson at school”, referring to the inclusion of the Turkish view of Gallipoli in this country’s schools and universities.

The danger of this and other similar films that claim to be “inspired by actual events” is that because Crowe is a famous actor, his words are taken as being authoritative. His film may be treated as actual history. As educators and as consumers, we should take this problem seriously.

As demonstrated by Peter Weir’s Gallipoli (1980) – a favourite of secondary school teachers –the problem with the glib Anastasios-Crowe approach is that audiences develop completely skewed, often false, historical knowledge; implanting false memories in public history.

As seen with the explosion of “Anzackery” over the last generation, this collective false memory has major effects on our understanding of our own past, how we explain our past to ourselves, how we regard ourselves, and how we act as a national collective. The 1934 Mustafa Kemal “statement” about mothers and sons exemplifies this point. As illustrated by Professor Peter Stanley, THERE IS NO EVIDENCE MUSTAFA KEMAL EVER ADDRESSED A MESSAGE TO GRIEVING AUSTRALIAN MOTHERS. Yet the “statement” is omnipresent in political and historical writing around Anzac.

Similarly, Anastasios and Crowe “expand” the very mythologies they are seeking to undermine. As Crowe stated: “You know, because we did invade a sovereign nation that we’d never had an angry word with….we shouldn’t celebrate the parts of that mythology that shouldn’t be celebrated”.

The Ottoman Empire launched a campaign of destruction against its indigenous peoples from January 1914, beginning with violent expulsions of Hellenes from the very region (the Gallipoli Peninsula) where so many Anzacs and other allies fell only months later.

The Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers and invaded British Egypt and the Russian Caucasus in 1914. On New Year’s Day 1915, two Afghan cameleers flew the Ottoman banner in their assault on a trainload of picknickers outside Broken Hill, NSW.

In seeking to promote an anti-war message at a time when extreme ideologies are wreaking havoc, Anastasios and Crowe are engaging in a dangerous revisionism of historical events.

In some aspects, this constitutes genocide denial by omission. While Anastasios may claim “artistic licence”, that this film and its novel are entertainment, historical events should not be used as the basis of works that distort them. This is not the History that Kleio personifies.

Dr Panayiotis Diamadis lectures in Genocide Studies at the University of Technology, Sydney.

ARI TSILFIDIS COMMENTS

SPOILER ALERT – Those who haven’t seen this movie may want to turn away right now. If you were a descendant of the victims of the Turkish massacres during WW1, you may not like The Water Diviner at all. In his directorial debut, Russell Crowe distorts history in a way that only a Hollywood actor/director can. The movie appears to be funded by Australians. The executive producer is an Australian owner of casinos, James Packer. We can only hope that Crowe didn’t use Packer as his history advisor. No, that task was given to the Turks, because this movie is clearly, and I mean CLEARLY based on Turkey’s version of historical events during that period. The film portrays the Turks as victims, something most would know is not true. The film is based in the year 1919, four years after the battle of Gallipoli, a town where thousands of Australians and Turks lost their lives. The first revision of history made by Crowe is early in the movie when a British officer is seen complaining that the Greeks ‘invaded’ Turkey. Most would be aware that Greece occupied the environs of Smyrna, a city in western Turkey, under a British mandate. There was no invasion. Throughout the film, the Turks are seen as victims of some sort of Greek terror campaign against them. What Crowe forgets to tell his audience, is that the Greeks were sent to Smyrna, because during WW1 (1914-1918), the Turks had massacred millions of its own citizens, mainly Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians in a state sponsored campaign regarded by most historians today as genocide.

During WW1, The Turks were conducting massacres and atrocities that the world had not yet seen before that time. The events were reported in the English media throughout the world. Stories of massacre, death marches into the interior without food and water, forced conversions to Islam, confiscation of property, rape and other barbaric methods were used by the Turks to annihilate their minorities. So at the end of the war, Greece was sent to Smyrna, a city with a majority of Greek citizens, to protect the remaining Christians from Turkish slaughter. Another thing to note in this movie, is the use of the Greek town of Livissi (today Kayakoy) as one of the scenes. Most would not be aware that Livissi, a picturesque town on the slopes of a mountain, was once a purely Greek town of some 5,500 people. During WW1, the Greeks of Livissi had sent a detailed report to British authorities to save them from Turkish massacres and deportations. Today it stands neglected, it’s old houses and 14 churches ‘abandoned’. The Livissi Greeks endured some barbarous treatment by the Turks during the war, but that wasn’t mentioned in Crowe’s film. Crowe only wanted to tell us about what the Turks ‘endured’.

I can mention other things about the film such as the predictable love story between Crowe and the Turkish hotel owner, or the bizarre fact that Crowe was able to mysteriously find the exact location of his son’s death at Lone Pine, but all movies contain oddities such as these so common in Hollywood films. What can’t be accepted is a film based on historical events being so obviously distorted in order to make Australia’s enemy at the time, Turkey, appear so favourably. The film was filmed partly in Turkey and Australia. As most would know, Turkey is a nation that has a law that criminalises anyone who ‘insults Turkishness’. It would be fair to say, that considering Crowe filmed the movie in Turkey, he would have either been stoned, sent to prison, or even sent home in a body bag if he had of presented the period according to the exact events. Crowe should stick to acting and leave history to the historians as he has made a mockery of the events depicted during this film. Especially those whose descendants were massacred by Turks during WW1.

THE FACEBOOK CAMPAIGN

Russell Crowe’s new film about Gallipoli, The Water Diviner, has offended many descendants of genocide survivors – Greeks and Armenians alike – through its false portrayal of the events during the period which the film is set.  There has been public outrage on our Facebook Page:

https://www.facebook.com/thegreekgenocide/photos/a.479379905419652.109566.142610129096633/900800713277567/?type=1&theater

And for that reason, we’ve drafted a letter which you may use to voice your opinion. You may address it to whomever you choose, however we have listed some recommendations at the bottom of the draft (see below) including Andrew Anastasios the screenwriter, and The Rabbitohs Rugby League team which Crowe is shareholder of, and which is currently chaired by a good friend of Crowe’s, Dr Nick Pappas.  Let’s stand up and be a voice for our ancestors who were brutally massacred during that period!

Dear 

I am writing this letter to express my shock at the false portrayal of historical events in the Russell Crowe film ‘The Water Diviner’. The film is presented as being ‘inspired by actual events’, but as a person whose family has been deeply affected by the genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman Government during that period (1914-1923), I can say that the events in the movie are far from the truth. In fact, they are a gross distortion of it.

In May of 2013, the New South Wales Parliament officially recognised the mass killing of Greeks, Armenians and Assyrians during that period as an act of genocide. Similar recognitions have occurred throughout the world condemning the acts as genocide. Geoffrey Robertson QC has for years been calling on Turkey to recognize its past, using the term ‘genocide’ to describe the events. Turkey has continuously denied committing genocide, while the rest of the world has been calling for recognition.

So how can a film such as The Water Diviner be made? How can a film show the exact opposite? How can Russell Crowe direct a film in which he portrays Greeks as satanic, while he portrays the Turks as victims? Just two weeks before the ANZAC landings, some 32,000 indigenous Greeks living in the Gallipoli peninsula were forcibly deported by the Ottoman Turkish government, and many died of harsh conditions. Other Greeks of Asia Minor such as those from Livissi (today Kayakoy) were also victims of the genocidal campaign during that period. Ironically, the final scenes in the movie were shot at the current ghost town of Livissi, Turkey.

In 1919, the Greek Army was sent to the western Ottoman port city of Smyrna (Izmir) via a British mandate, to protect the remaining Christian population in Anatolia from further massacre. When Greek forces landed, the Christians saw them as liberators. During and after WW1, the international media widely reported Turkish massacres against Greeks and Armenians. The methods used included mass killings, death marches, rape, forced conversion to Islam and confiscation of property amongst others.

On April 24, 1915, just one day prior to the ANZAC landing at Gallipoli, the Ottoman government rounded up some 240 Armenian intellectuals and most were killed. By 1923, over half of the Armenian population (1.5 million people) was massacred, some 1 million Greeks, and several hundred thousand Assyrians. All these events were happening during the time period of the scenes depicted in The Water Diviner, yet Russell Crowe managed to paint the Turks as victims.

The Water Diviner is a film that offends the descendants of genocide victims and should therefore be condemned. If a film depicting Adolf Hitler as a hero and the Jews as terrorists were made, the reaction would be one of shock and outrage. Russell Crowe’s film is a distortion of history that only serves to appease Turkey and its continued agenda of genocide denial.

Regards

SEND EMAILS TO:

ANDREW ANASTASIOS: ajana@bigpond.net.au
eOne PRODUCTION HOUSE: info.au@entonegroup.com
SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS: thumper@rabbitohs.com.au
WARNER BROTHERS: http://www.warnerbros.com/help/customer-service
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: letters@smh.com.au
THE AUSTRALIAN NEWSPAPER: letters@theaustralian.com.au
NATIONAL FILM EDITOR. FAIRFAX MEDIA: kquinn@fairfaxmedia.com.au

Other ways to PROTEST include going to IMDB and ROTTEN TOMATOES and giving it a really low rating and leaving a negative comment.

IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3007512/?ref_=nv_sr_1
ROTTEN TOMATOES: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_water_diviner/

MODE OF LIFE COMMENTS AND REFLECTS

If I were to go about proclaiming that the Genocides of World War II, the result of secular materialistic ideologies, that plunged all of Europe into a dark abyss of death and destruction, was the product of innocent European civilians, I would be dubbed ignorant. And if I were to claim that the genocide of Europe’s Jews, Slavs, Greeks, Gypsies, Communists, homosexuals and so forth, known to most as “the Holocaust” was perpetrated by Jews, then I would locked up in a mental facility or in a prison. And if were to claim that the Nazis and their Fascist allies were the victims of the Holocaust, and that the Jews were their tormentors, I would be classed as insane. And yet, we have a novel and a film that purports something similar to which Russell Crowe and Andrew Anastasios seem to take pride in as a monumental achievement.

Being an Anatolian Greek who due to historical circumstances and political realities is condemned to dwell in exile in far off Australia, cut off from residing in the very house in which my forefathers lived in, praying in the church in which they worshipped in but is now a ruin that has been confiscated by the Turkish state, or denied knowledge of the whereabouts of the cemetery and the burial plots in which past family members were laid to rest. ….

And yet the foreigners (the Turks) who invaded, conquered and settled this land of my forefathers, claim it as their own land and nation, and have for centuries done everything possible to extinguish the presence and memory of my people and their Armenian and Assyrian neighbours who were indigenous to Anatolia and Thrace and originally constituted the region’s majority. And the reality of this fact can be seen in how overly sensitive Turks, or Turkish authorities and police are when you take photos of things like ruined churches in “their nation” or you discuss “historical and cultural facts” which they construe as “insults against the Turkish state or Turkishness”, which of course is a punishable offence. Their refusal to acknowledge such ancient and time honoured institutions and their representatives such as the Ecumenical Patriarchate as being “Ecumenical” within the Orthodox Christian world. Even Turkish foreign policy which is confrontational and belligerent towards neighbouring countries such Greece, Syria, Cyprus, Iraq, Armenia and others, indicates a lack of security in their own identity or the legitimacy of their nation’s presence within the region…..

Still, there are some Turks who have the courage, manliness and decency to recognise and concede that many awful things did occur in the past, but fail dismally by asserting that the past is the past and that we must move on. This would be the ideal stance to adopt if it were not for the fact that the past is yet to be acknowledged officially, or that the current domestic realities combined with Turkey’s aggressive and manipulative foreign policy, does not permit peace or stability to take root within the region or redress issues of human and civil rights.

Historically, the Turks justified their actions in Anatolia and other lands they conquered and settled in the name of Islam. And they applied a system of apartheid known as “dhimmitude” upon the native non-Muslim peoples of Anatolia. These subject peoples had to endure the hardships and humiliation of:

*An extortionist taxation system, of which in the event of being unable to pay were forcibly converted to Islam or beheaded.

*Their testimonies were considered invalid before the testimony of a Turkish Muslim in the court system. (Even non-Turkish Muslims were subject to this discrimination in the law-courts).

*They could be beaten up by complete strangers who were Turkish Muslims, as these subject peoples were considered filthy infidel scum.

*They were expected under law to abandon any duties they were doing, in order to extend hospitality for at  least 3 days to any Muslim, especially Turks, who may wish to stay at their home, and to hand over any personal goods of family members (IE wife, children etc) that such an uninvited guest may so desire to possess.

*They were not permitted to walk on the footpaths, especially if a Turk was walking within the vicinity, but had to walk in the gutters and joyfully accept being spat upon.

*They were expected to hand over their children to serve as slaves, janissaries, spouses, or be raised as the offspring of their very oppressors.

*Their churches and institutions were not able to function without Turkish interference, influence or paying out hefty “gratuities” (baksheesh) and other such things. Even today bishops and patriarchs are not even recognised by their historic titles and roles, nor can they be elected without Turkish approval.

*Schools and printing presses outside of the major cities were not permitted, despite the Concord signed between Sultan Mehmet II and Ecumenical Patriarch Gennadios Scholaris was to guarantee such rights and prevent the aforementioned abuses.

This and many more evils which we do not mention, was the reality of the Seljuk and Ottoman Islamic apartheid systems in which Greeks, Armenians and Assyrians of Anatolia, (as well as other peoples of the Balkans and Middle East in later times) had to endure for centuries. Is it any wonder that the idea of freedom, migration and nationalism had such great appeal for the downtrodden indigenous inhabitants of Anatolia, who had been reduced to being minorities by the time of the Gallipoli landings; and who lived in constant fear of their Turkish neighbours due to the ever-present threat of massacre or genocide? A people who rarely smiled for fear of being seen and punished for “stepping out of line” and “not knowing their place as infidels”. The smile was reserved for only those extreme instances where they had to show their “happiness” and “acceptance” of their “inferior status” as people and to apply it as a final self-defence mechanism to mask their real feelings and suffering when confronted (better known as “The Anatolian Smile”).

Yet at Anzac Day in Australia, we continually have to hear how the Turks were defending their homeland against the invader, when they themselves were also the invader and oppressor. Rarely do we ever hear within Australia (let alone Turkey), any mention of the thousands of indigenous Greeks who were killed, sent on death marches or expelled from their land because of the Allied landings upon the Gallipoli Peninsula. Australians remain deafeningly silent or ignorant of this one particular fact amongst many others. No mention is made of the genocides, no mention of the deprivations of the Allied prisoners of war, or their eyewitness accounts of the treatment meted out to the indigenous Christian peoples of Anatolia, or even the comfort and assistance extended to these prisoners by these very oppressed native peoples who understood the suffering of these foreigners. Not one mention is made in all of Australia today within Anzac commemorations, while the man responsible for the death of countless Anzacs (especially in prison camps) or the multitudes of Anatolia’s indigenous peoples through genocide, is put forward as a great hero by which Australians should view as a just and valiant man, this Mustafa Kemal Ataturk….

The same man who sent death squads into villages like that of my grandfather’s, whose eldest brother went up into the mountains with whatever guns, knives or swords he had to defend the village and allow others to escape, and to which since 1921 we do not know what happened to him, whether he survived, died, was tortured etc. A mystery even to this day, while many of his siblings perished in refugee camps in Lemnos from tuberculosis and other nasty maladies….

Not one word is ever heard in Australia about these things, especially from the big-shot Hollywood star such as Russell Crowe, or the charlatan who wrote the book and made the film “The Water Diviner”, this shameful Andrew Anastasios who displays such ignorance, contempt and lack of concern for historical facts. Yet in Australia, the Turks have a very good public relations campaign, which has even succeeded masking the intent behind the construction of a great mosque in Sydney, marking their victory at Gallipoli over the “vile Australian and New Zealander infidels”, which those who are familiar with Islamic culture and society is in itself is an eternal declaration of war for the future subjugation of these “conquered and defeated peoples”, that we know as the children of the Anzacs….

By Justice Emilios Kyrou – Neos Kosmos English Edition: 10 January 2015

On Tuesday 3 February 2015 at 9:00am an Eastern Orthodox service will be held at St Eustathios Greek Orthodox Church, 221 Dorcas Street South Melbourne, to mark the opening of the 2015 legal year.

The service will be a collaboration of the Greek, Antiochian, Russian, Serbian and Romanian Orthodox Churches. It is expected to finish by 9:45am, and will be followed by morning tea in the church hall.

Judicial officers, tribunal members, court officials and members of the legal profession will enter the church in procession from the church hall. Judges and barristers will be wearing their official robes and wigs.

Celebrating the opening of the legal year is an ancient tradition which originated in Paris in 1245. A Roman Catholic mass (liturgy) was held at Notre Dame Cathedral to invoke the guidance of the Holy Spirit over the Ecclesiastical Court judges. The Holy Spirit was considered the source of wisdom, understanding, counsel and fortitude.

Later in France, the mass was celebrated in honour of the patron saint of lawyers, St Yves of Brittany, who was canonised by the Roman Catholic Church in 1347. (-The Eastern Orthodox patron saint of lawyers is St Dionysius the Areopagite whose Feast Day is celebrated on 3 October.)

The tradition of the mass crossed the Channel in 1310, during the reign of King Edward II, and landed at Westminster Abbey. All the judges and barristers attended the mass on the first day of the first term of the legal year, known in England as Michaelmas term.

They celebrated the inauguration of the new legal year, and sought divine guidance for their work. The practice of holding mass stopped during the Reformation in the 16^th century, when the Church of England broke away from the Roman Catholic Church. The mass was revive in England in 1897, and it returned to Westminster Abbey in 1904.

The mass came to be known as the Red Mass, because of the red vestments worn by the priests. The priests wore red symbolise the tongues of fire that descended on the Apostles at Pentecost, those flames being the manifestation of the Holy Spirit. Senior judges wore red hoods, to make for a cathedral/abbey resplendent in red.

In the English tradition, judges proceeded in their formal robes on foot from Temple Bar to Westminster Abbey for a religious service, followed by the Lord Chancellor’s breakfast in Westminster Hall. The first Red Mass in Australia was held at Sydney’s St Mary’s Cathedral on 16 February 1931. Since 2008 a community gathering has also been held to celebrate how the community and the legal system work together towards achieving a just society.

Today, ceremonies and religious services to mark the opening of the legal year in Australia are attended by governors, judges, senior ministers and other politicians, consular officials, academics, religious leaders and lawyers who seek guidance and blessings for the year to come. In the religious services, prayers and blessings focus on the roles and responsibilities of the leaders present. They reflet on the art they play in the administration of justice and seek guidance of the Holy Spirit and blessings of strength, wisdom, truth and justice for the legal system.

As the Honourable Marilyn Warren, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria, said at the 2008 community gathering:

“Those committed to the law, take the opening of the legal year as the time to recommit to fairness and impartiality and revive their courage to maintain and apply the law. In reality, there is no opening of the legal year. The law is always open. The opening is merely a temporal marker to pause momentarily to consider what the law is about and our individual roles in it. The opening of the legal year is but a time for the renewal and recommitment”.

In 2015, in addition to the Eastern Orthodox service at 9:00am on Tuesday 3 February at St Eustathios Greek Orthodox Church, three other events will be held on the morning of 2 February 2015, which is officially the first day upon which the courts will resume full-time operation for 2015. The three events are a multi-faith gathering, which will be held in Government House, a Catholic Red Mass, which will be conducted at St Patrick’s Cathedral and a community gathering, which will take place at the County Court.

Further information about the Eastern Orthodox service can be obtained by contacting Mr Daniel Bellis on 9245 9010 or at daniel@greekorthodox.org.au

Members of the legal profession with Greek backgrounds, Greek Australians and Philhellenes are encouraged to attend this significant and historic service. Those eligible to take part in the procession should assemble at the church hall by 8:45am.

PASCHAL MESSAGE 2015 – GREEK ORTHODOX ARCHDIOCESE OF AUSTRALIA

STYLIANOS

By the grace of God Archbishop of Australia to all the Reverend Clergy and devout faithful of our holy Archdiocese.

Brother Concelebrants and beloved children in the Lord,

Christ is Risen!

The period of mourning and cleansing in Great Lent has culminated, as every year, with Holy Week and the sacred Passion of Jesus Christ.

Following this purification, then, we have prepared ourselves to listen, and to understand correctly, the exhortation of the Church towards a reclassification of the values in our lives:

“Come let us drink a new drink, not one from a barren rock, worked by a miracle”!

This, in summary, is the recommendation of the Church for renewal:

To greet and accept life, not as we know it in its biological dimensions, but rather as Christ has transformed it through the trial of the tomb and death.

Of course, the tomb and life, death and resurrection, are concepts that are opposite and contradictory. And it is only natural for one to think in this manner, when using the criteria of the world and the things of this world, rather than the Omnipotence, Freedom and Love of God, which predate the existence of the world and man himself.

The world, as a creation of God, is the object of absolute Love, because it was the product of absolute freedom. Therefore, who can place limits and barriers on Love which is absolute, which is free, and which is indeed the Love of God? What is our experience and our logic compared to the abyss of the Love of God?

This Love became incarnate so that we could touch it.

This Love was crucified so that we might commune with it as a “ransom for many.”

In light of this unprecedented cosmogony of Love, no matter how much darkness may still accompany our lives, the Church emphasises the most harmonious hymn:

“Now all things are filled with light; heaven and earth and the subterranean regions. Let all creation therefore celebrate the Resurrection of Christ, by means of which it is established”

To Him be glory and power unto the ages.

Amen!

With fervent prayers in the Risen Christ

Archbishop STYLIANOS

Primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in Australia

PASCHA 2015

[translation from the original Greek DK]

PASCHAL MESSAGE 2015

Metropolitan Paul Saliba

Primate of the Antiochian Orthodox Metropolis of Australia, New Zealand and Philippines

There is nothing after Christ and nothing other than Christ. If you are not an extension of Him or an expression of Him, then you are nothing. At Pascha, I become Him or I am nothing. If I have love Him, then I grow through Him and I grow in Him. I do not want anything in His place because He is everything. All the saints are in Him and unto Him, and if you look at their faces, do not look for them. Search for the face of Jesus traced upon them. How should I conduct myself at Pascha? My only affair with my soul is to bring it to the Lord. With Him it comes into existence. The Father is the beginning and the end and in Him the Christ of history pours forth. I am nothing if I do not become a person of Pascha, one who looks to the Father, the end point.

As we celebrate Holy Pascha, we also each ask: “Who shall I be at Pascha?” This feast defines who we are, not just as a climax or triumph of the liturgical year, but as the very core of our life and, indeed, not just the core, but the whole of our life. Our task as Christians is to become an “extension” or “expression” of Christ, to become so like Him in communion with Him that the face of Jesus is also traced upon us.

We become ourselves at Pascha. We gain our true selves in the Resurrection of Jesus, that death-conquering act which shook the universe and spelled the end of the power of hell and the devil, freeing us from their domination which distorts us as persons. As the Holy Scripture tells us, “Since, therefore, the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise partook of the same nature, that through death He might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage”( Heb. 2: 14-15).

Every deed of Christ is a reason to glorify His church. But the greatest of all glory, is in the Cross and Resurrection. Knowing this, St. Paul wrote: “But far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord”.

Many have been crucified throughout the history of mankind but by none of these are the devils scared. All the others died for their own sins, but Christ died for the sins of others. I confess the Cross because I know of the Resurrection; “For, after being crucified, He has remains as He was.

The Cross, the Crucifixion and the Resurrection of our Saviour Jesus Christ are of great importance in the history of our Salvation. Without them, the Incarnation of the Son of God has no meaning. We know that the Orthodox Church, in her Liturgical and Spiritual life, never separated the Cross of Christ from the mystery of His Resurrection. She sees the Cross in the Light of the Resurrection and the Resurrection as the Victory of the Cross. This is why the Cross is called “Life Giving” and the Resurrection is the source of joy in the entire life of the Church.

The Resurrection of Jesus confirms His Divinity and His Victory over Death, which entered the world as consequence of sin. Without the Resurrection, the horizon of our existence is confined to the dimension of Earth, the identity of our person vanishes, and faith and hope are useless. The Resurrection of Christ is the full revelation of the glory that was hidden in the Cross. In our Christian life, the Resurrection of the Lord should not be only a commemoration of a historical event. Because the Cross did not produce a joy that lasted only a day. The joy of the Resurrection permeates all the days of our lives, and through it, our lives are renewed, liberating us from sin and death. “If anyone is in Christ, He is a new Creation; the Old has passed away, the new has come” (II Cor. 5: 15).

“For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures” (I Cor. 15: 3-4).

First:
Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. Several things should be noticed:
A- “Christ died”: that is a fact of history, and in itself it may not mean anything more than the death of a martyr. But “For our sins” it is a definite doctrinal statement which explains the reason for that death.
B- He gave Himself a ransom for all”: He took the sinner’s judgment. He died that we might never die, and this was “According to the Scriptures”.

Second:
“He was buried”. This suggests the reality of His death. It was not His “seeming death”; He was actually dead, and His precious Body was laid in Joseph’s Tomb. But, “Death could not keep its prey; He tore the bars away”. And so we come to the last point of this declaration.

Third:
“He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures”: The Resurrection was the Father’s Expression of satisfaction in the work the Son accomplished on the Cross when He gave Himself a ransom for our sins. The sin question settled, God raise Him from the dead and set Him at His own Right Hand, exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour.

The physical Resurrection of our Lord Jesus is fundamental. There is no room for human theories here. His Body- which was buried in the Tomb- is resurrected on the third day.

It was not simply the survival of the Spirit after the death of the Body. Although that might prove immortal, it would not be Resurrection. What the Scripture clearly declares is that the Body that hung on the Cross is the Body that raised from the dead. It still bore the print of the nails (John 20:27)

It is useless to claim that He is a Great Teacher and Deny His Bodily Resurrection. He predicted that He would be rejected and would die and rise on the third day. The Disciples could not understand it then. But the empty Tomb, His appearances and His Resurrected Body, mad it all clear to them. Then they remembered His words. And after His Ascension to Heaven in that same Body and the Descent of the Holy Spirit, they went everywhere declaring His Resurrection from the dead.

Believe what? Confess what? That He who died for our sins has been raised again for our Justification and now sits enthroned at God’s Right Hand. This is the basis of all Gospel Testimony and the only sure Foundation upon which Salvation Rests.

He has said: “Because I live, you shall live also”. We rest upon His word and rejoice in hope of the Glory of the Resurrected Christ.

The Lord has spoken to many of you. He is inviting you every day of your life to celebrate Pasha with Him. He is waiting for you with an open heart. Do not leave this place tonight, leaving Him and His Church behind you until next year.

Let the Resurrected… use you as a vessel for His Divine Purposes. Let the One who is risen, live in your hearts. Let yourself be able to sing every day, every moment of your life: “Christ is Rise…”

Amen

In Christ,

+Metropolitan Paul

Antiochian Orthodox Primate of Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines

PASCHAL EPISTLE

Of Metropolitan Hilarion, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia

Most Reverend archpastors and brethren, most honored fathers and concelebrants, monastics, beloved brethren and sisters in Christ, parishioners and worshippers of our churches scattered throughout the whole world,

Christ is risen!

Truly, these age-old holy words, which we exchange with one another at the time of the Pascha of the Lord, resonate with great joy in the hearts of Orthodox believers. Those radiant, astonishing sensations which the Christian soul experiences on the night of Pascha are like a reflection of heavenly joy sent to us by the Lord. These joyous feelings inspire us during the blessed hours when we hear the greetings of the clergy, the chanting of the church choirs, and the beautiful paschal pealing of the bells summoning us to share in the common “feast of feasts.” We see in the wonderfully decorated church the kindly and reverent faces of those gathered to pray, and with them we receive the communion of the Holy Mysteries of Christ.

Concerning the joy of Pascha, the ever-memorable Metropolitan Anastassy (Gribanovsky), who died fifty years ago (+22 May 1965), wrote remarkably: “Joy! Our soul always thirsts for it! All of us would fain delight in it! But it is not given to us gratis. Each moment of happiness must be purchased in this world. Now the radiant paschal joy comes to us independently of our efforts, as a heav enly blessing. Like a refreshing dew it falls from heaven to the earth, if wafts upon us like the sweetly scented wind of springtime. We are all upborne in spirit upon its gentle breezes, and are lightly and joyously carried on its bosom, by its sweet breath.”

With gladness of heart we experience the boldness of faith; for the Lord has united us all in His glorious victory over sin and the powers of hades, the victory He won by His Resurrection.

The Resurrection of Christ is an undoubted, historical fact confirmed precisely, reliably and fully by the Gospels, those unique first century documents. More than twenty years after the Resurrection, the Apostle Paul bore witness of the risen Christ: “After that, He was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep” (l Cor. 15: 6). This means that the majority of those witnesses, who with their own eyes beheld Christ, Who had risen on the third day, were still alive at that time, and were able to confirm the reality of that miracle to anyone who doubted it. Thanks to their life, struggles and preaching Christianity spread throughout the whole world.

During Bright Week, after the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy, the Church daily invites us to join together in procession. The hymn, “Having beheld the Resurrection of Christ” is chanted repeatedly in the churches on those days. It summons us to enter into the world and proclaim the truth of this greatest of miracles, no so much, of course, in word, as by good example, deeds and life, just as did those who beheld Christ with their own eyes.

From the depths of my heart I greet you, the archpastors, clergy, monastics, parish sisterhoods, all who labor in our churches, our dear parishioners, worshippers and fellow countrymen, with the great feast of the splendid Resurrection of Christ. I give voice to my own heartfelt desire that the risen Lord, Who loves mankind, will, in the midst of our sorrows and temptations, renew us all with the joy of His life-bearing Resurrection, support faith and piety within us, and illumine us with trust in the coming, eternal celebration “on the never-waning day of His kingdom.” Amen.

With love in the risen Christ,

+Hilarion Metropolitan of Eastern America & New York,

First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia

The Pascha of the Lord, 2015

ARCHPASTORAL PASCHAL MESSAGE

IRINEJ

By the Grace of God, Bishop of the Metropolitanate of Australia and New Zealand of the Serbian Orthodox Church

Beloved monastics, clergy, all sons and daughters, faithful spiritual children of our Holy Church in Australia and New Zealand, from a paternal heart overflowing with Paschal joy, We greet all of you on this great and most radiant Feast of Feasts greeting all with the inspired words of the Venerable John of Damascus:

“Let us purify our senses and we shall see Christ Shining in the unapproachable light of His resurrection. We shall clearly hear him say rejoice, as we sing the song of victory“

(Paschal Canon—Song 1)

CHRIST IS RISEN!

Most beloved, in order to encounter the Risen Christ, who shines in the unapproachable light of His resurrection, in order to choose God that we may live according to the Gospel, all this does not mean the renunciation of happiness and satisfaction in this life, as we can clearly hear Him say: Rejoice! How will we be able to rejoice if we do not experience the transfiguration of happiness and satisfaction? Joy can be considered the ability to live here and now in this happiness that is yet to come, to feel and taste it. Unlike mere satisfaction, joy is essential happiness and everlasting satisfaction that does not depend upon the circumstances in which we find ourselves.

In this world there are many objective difficulties and adversities that we cannot influence, however, there are those which are subjective, that we create, either of our own volition or inadvertently which thereby depend on us. Many dilemmas, the solution and responsibility of which we relegate to others or expect others to solve, are most often are within our own might and domain. If we did everything in our power, no matter how impoverished, it is certain that our life would be more bearable, meaningful and certainly more beautiful. Because beauty and the meaning of life do not depend on transient prosperity. Anyone can be joyful in small things if they purify their senses by placing their mind in their heart. According to newly-illumined saint, the Venerable Elder Paisius of Mount Athos: “A clean, good thought has greater might than any feat.”

Therefore, beloved Spiritual Children, in order for us to be genuinely joyful and satisfied in the same, we do not need much. The entire world, since God created it out of nothingness, is an inexhaustible source of beauty offered to us. If we so desire and if we behold with impartial eyes, we can find beauty in everything. For the Creator, when He created the world, beheld everything that He created and sealed it with beauty saying that everything was very good (Gen.1:31). If anything disrupts this beauty, we do this on our own accord. As much as the life we live seems difficult, it truly has its sense according to Divine Providence. The Lord did not bestow life to anyone for the simple sake of life. Our life has been given an exalted sense and we Orthodox Christians see this sense primarily in the revelation of the Word of God and the greatest sense we see is in the person of the Risen Lord. For Christ, who “conforming to the body of our lowliness”, is the image of our expectations. In Him is the fullness of both Divine and human nature for He, who did not create death, voluntarily gave Himself in exchange for death, once and for always to break the infernal chains of death that kept us in bondage so that He might be Himself “the first in all things, “according to the sublime words of the Divine Liturgy of St Basil the Great, with which we fervently prayed during the past Great Lent.

Our whole life will conclude in the victory of life by resurrection. Thus, when the eye of the heart perceives the meaning of life, only through this unique prism we shall see clearly, without detraction, the very meaning of life. Only then will life have abundant personal meaning and none of the problems of this world will be able to disturb this sense. This most beautiful, true beauty of life, is life in abundance. For the beauty of all that is passing is precisely the threshold that opens unto the horizons of everlasting beauty.

As our Holy Serbian and All Orthodox Bishop Nicholai stated, “Christ steps lightly”; to which he adds “God does not need quick, but lasting victories.” The onus on us is, as always, to be on God’s side; and God will, as stated Patriarch Pavle of blessed repose, “help, if he has whom to help.” Struggling thus against evil in ourselves and the world, and loving justice and truth, which have their source and end in the God of Love, we will be able to promptly stop and break free of dishonourable, evil rashness. Therefore the Lord said to us in anticipation of His voluntary and for us, salvific suffering: “Be careful, see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come” (Matt. 24:6).

In joyful anticipation of the Coming of the Age, in which the mystical link that will unite beauty with the final silent threshold will be realised, through which all of us will be invited to cross, there where the Gate of Beauty will be opened unto the ages, with all our heart, Our joy, let us exclaim:

CHRIST IS RISEN! TRULY, HE IS RISEN!

Given in Sydney, at Pascha in the Year 2015

Your fervent intercessor before the Risen Christ,

+IRINEJ

Bishop of the Metropolitanate of Australia and New Zealand

MARAS SUES OVER CHURCH DISPUTE

South Australian community leaders to fight it out in court

13 May 2015

Two prominent members of Adelaide’s Greek community will face each other in court this month over comments made four years ago about the future of local churches.

Former president of the Greek Orthodox Community of South Australia (GOCSA), property developer Theo Maras, is suing former Industrial Commissioner John Lesses over what Mr Maras describes as “defamatory” statements made to GOCSA members in June 2011.

The statements, made in a newsletter and email to GOCSA members, described Mr Maras and other leaders of the organisation as “blatantly treating GOCSA members with contempt” and acting in a way that would abandon GOCSA’s independent status and align the organisation with the Holy Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia.

Last week the Adelaide Advertiser reported that GOCSA members feared that churches would be forced to close if GOCSA relinquished its independence.

Mr Lesses claims that Mr Maras said he “did not care if three churches closed”.

Mr Lesses is understood to have corresponded with members asking them to hold Mr Maras and others “accountable for this travesty of process” and described an annual general meeting of GOCSA as a “monumental fiasco”.

In his statement of claim, Mr Maras said as the founder of the Maras Group, “a high profile, respected and successful property investment and development group”, the statements by Mr Lesses left him “injured in his reputation and profession” and that he had “been brought into ridicule, odium and contempt”. Court documents are reported to claim Mr Maras’ damages were aggravated by the “improper, unjustifiable and deliberate conduct of [Mr Less] … with the intention of embarrassing [Mr Maras] within the Greek community”.

Mr Maras claims the statements were defamatory and had the meaning that he was “untrustworthy” and “does not care about GOCSA churches”.

The Maras Group chief further claims that Mr Lesses edited a photograph of him shaking hands with an Archdiocese of Australia Bishop in order to convey the impression he was aligned with the national body.

“[The image] was altered to obscure the fact that the occasion was a reception at Parliament House hosted by (former) Premier [Mike] Rann in honour of the Deputy Foreign Minister of Greece,” court documents state.

In his statement of defence, Mr Lesses denies defaming Mr Maras, arguing he believed the statements to be true.

Mr Lesses has been president of GOCSA since July 2013 and claims the independence of the organisation was of “paramount” importance and that he had acted in the best interests of members.

Mr Lesses also says the statements were made under “qualified privilege at Common Law” and denied they had damaged the reputation of Mr Maras.

The case is listed for a five-day trial in the District Court starting on May 18.

Mr Maras has been an active community leader in Adelaide for many years and has numerous awards including being a Member of the Order of Australia.

Mr Lesses is a former commissioner in the South Australian and Australian Industrial Relations Commissions and is a former secretary of the United Trades and Labour Council of SA.

Source: Adelaide Advertiser

NEOS KOSMOS

Mark Robertson will stay with the school for another five years

Oakleigh Grammar Principal, Mark Robertson, signed a five year contract this week following positive appraisal of his leadership at the school over the past four years.

Appointed in 2011, Robertson’s initial role was to manage the successful implementation of Oakleigh Grammar’s 2011-2015 strategic plan, which included changes in organisation culture as well as improvements to quality of education and education facilities.

The decision to extend Robertson’s contract was appraised by the President of the Greek Orthodox Community of Oakleigh , Mr Angelo Sardellis, as it guarantees the school’a progression as one of south-east Melbourne’s most well-rounded and high achieving schools.

As principal, Robertson places a strong focus on the fostering of cultural diversity throughout the school. With over 25 different cultural backgrounds represented in the student body, Robertson states that it has always been his “focus to encourage and celebrate cultural diversity in the student body.” He further believes that diversity in the school environment better prepares students to live in Australia’s multicultural society.

Over the course of this year, Robertson will work with the school’s executive team and the community Board of Management to develop a new strategic plan for 2016-2021.

On Thursday 16 April at 5:45am AEST (Australian Eastern Standard Time), His Grace Bishop George of Canberra arrived in Sydney to his new appointment as the Vicar of the Australian and New Zealand Diocese. Bishop George was greeted at the airport by Archpriest George Lapardin (dean of Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral, Strathfield), Priest Gabriel Lapardin (rector of St Seraphim’s parish, Brisbane) and Protodeacon Alexander Kotlaroff.

Bishop George was then driven to the Diocese where he was warmly greeted by His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion, Archbishop of Australia and New Zealand and received the keys to his apartment. Breakfast was served.

BIOGRAPHY

The future bishop George, Paul Schaefer, was born on May 25, 1950, in Belleville, Illinois. He graduated from Catholic High School in 1968 and then attended Southern Illinois University from 1968 to 1972. In 1974 he was received into the Greek Orthodox Church in Modesto, CA, and given the name Makarios in honor of Saint Makarios the Great. He joined the Russian Church Abroad in San Francisco in May 1975 and entered Holy Trinity Seminary in Jordanville, New York in September 1975.

On Christmas, January 7, 1976, Makarios was made a novice by Archbishop Averky (Taushev). As a novice his obediences in the monastery were working in the farm and cemetery. After a few years in the monastery he was made a riassophor monk on Friday of the First Week of Lent, 1979 and tonsured to the small schema on Friday of the First Week of Lent, 1980, and given the name Mitrophan in honor of Saint Mitrophan of Voronezh. He was ordained a subdeacon on Palm Sunday of the same year. In 1980, he graduated from Holy Trinity Seminary.

Fr. Mitrophan was sent to Mount Athos by Archbishop Laurus in June of 1981. He was tonsured to the great schema by Hieromonk Nektarios of Koutloumousiou Monastery, Mt. Athos, and given the name George in honor of Saint George the Great-Martyr.

In February, 1986, Fr. George returned to Holy Trinity Monastery and started working in the Printshop of Saint Job of Pochaev in 1986, where he worked until 1998. He assumed editorial duties on Orthodox Life in 1992.

 Fr. George was ordained a hierodeacon on the feast of St. Michael, 1986, and a hieromonk on Palm Sunday, 1987. In September 1998 he was elevated to the rank of abbot and archimandrite on the Feast of St. Job of Pochaev, 2005.

In 1994, he was appointed as economos of Holy Trinity Monastery and made dean of Holy Trinity Monastery in 2007. He is the author of several articles and translations published in Orthodox Life. He translated the sayings of the Optina Elders published in the book “Living without Hypocrisy,” published by HTM Press in 2006. He served as confessor and spiritual father for Holy Trinity Monastery and for the Hermitage of the Holy Cross in Wayne, West Virginia, the largest English-language monastery of the ROCOR.

In May 2008, the Synod of Bishops of the ROCOR elected Archimandrite George as Bishop of Mayfield, Vicar of the Eastern American Diocese. The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church confirmed the election in June 2008. On December 7, 2008, Archimandrite George was consecrated to the episcopal office at Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, New York, by Bishop Gabriel of Montreal and Canada, Bishop Peter of Cleveland, and Bishop John of Caracas. Bishop George’s place of residence is at Holy Cross Monastery in Wayne, WV, of which he is now abbot.

On October 10, 2014, he was appointed by the Holy Synod to be ‘Bishop of Canberra’ and a vicar bishop within the Diocese of Australia and New Zealand. It was later announced that Bishop George would move to the Australian Diocesan Chancery after Pascha 2015, and would remain Bishop of Mayfield until his relocation.

CHRIST IS RISEN!

Our Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of Oceania includes all jurisdictions in the region – Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia, Greek Orthodox Metropolis of New Zealand and Exarchate of Oceania, Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines, Russian Orthodox Diocese of Australia and New Zealand, Serbian Orthodox Metropolitanate of Australia and New Zealand, Ukrainian Orthodox Consistory in Australia and New Zealand, Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox Diocese of USA, Canada and Australia, and Romanian Orthodox Episcopate of Australia and New Zealand. As you may be aware, the last Synaxis of the Assembly mandated the initiation of work on a website representing the Assembly.

Consequently, we are delighted to inform you about the launching of the official Orthodox Australia and Oceania website – www.orthodox.net.au

This is the official website of our Assembly, and is intended to facilitate Pan-Orthodox communication. In Australia alone, there are currently 244 Orthodox churches, 20 monasteries and approximately 563,000 declared Eastern Orthodox Christians (according to the Australian Census of 2011).

We are aiming to provide:

• Maps and lists of all Orthodox parishes and monasteries in Australia, New Zealand and Fiji
• Electronic copies of official documents of the Assembly
• News and photos from Church events
• Information about upcoming events – parish feast days, seminars, planned pilgrimages, Bible Study groups etc.

In connection with the website, we have also established a Facebook group called “Orthodox Christians of Australia”, which already has over 1000 members, including a large contingent of Orthodox clergy.

If possible, we would highly appreciate your support for our initiative, which aims to bring Orthodox communities closer together. You can help us in the following ways:

• Inform parishioners about the website by distributing our link www.orthodox.net.au;
• Provide a link to www.orthodox.net.au on your parish website;
• Display the downloadable flyer and cards on your parish notice board;
• Review and update your parish listing;
• Submit information about events, pilgrimages, Bible Study groups to Facebook group or by email orthodoxau@gmail.com;
• Assist in translation to your language, and,
• Report any inaccuracies/grammatical issues/omissions or technical problems relating to the website to our webmaster on orthodoxau@gmail.com.

On behalf of the Assembly of Canonical Bishops, we thank you for your help and invoke God’s rich and benevolent blessings upon you.

Dated, 21st April 2015

Archbishop Stylianos (Chairman ex officio, Ecumenical Patriarchate)
Metropolitan Archbishop Paul (Antiochian Patriarchate)
Metropolitan Hilarion (Russian Patriarchate)
Bishop Irinej (Serbian Patriarchate)
Bishop Mihail (Romanian Patriarchate)
Metropolitan Amphilochios (Ecumenical Patriarchate)
Bishop Ezekiel (Assistant Bishop – Ecumenical Patriarchate)
Bishop Seraphim (Assistant Bishop – Ecumenical Patriarchate)
Bishop Nikandros (Assistant Bishop – Ecumenical Patriarchate)
Bishop Iakovos (Assistant Bishop – Ecumenical Patriarchate)
Bishop George (Assistant Bishop – Russian Patriarchate)

Medical science has in recent years developed worldwide the practice of organ and tissue transplants in the human body.

This honourable effort of science is to replace tissue or organs that have deteriorated, through the offering of caring donors, such that the recipients of this ‘gift’ are able to live, whereas they previously had no hope whatsoever.

We are all called, therefore, to support the practice of such transplants, and to encourage one another to become donors, thereby greatly assisting our suffering fellow human beings, especially as it is possible that we may be recipients in the future, depending on circumstances. 

The Orthodox Church fully respects the dignity and individual integrity of the human person as created by God in His image and likeness and endowed with free will. Therefore, the question of organ and tissue donation is left to the personal choice of the individual in consultation with their spiritual father and medical doctor.

That having been said, as permitted by the Orthodox Church, the individual is guided to understand the following points of reference when making a choice:

*1.       Firstly, if it is a living donation, it is permitted to donate duplicate organs, such as kidneys and the like. This can be done as long as the life of the donor is never brought into question, nor the physical appearance unacceptably compromised.

*2.       Secondly, any post-mortem donation is possible, following full biological death. However, the Orthodox Church understands the body to be the temple of the Holy Spirit and requests that special care be given to the donor’s body in the process of harvesting and in preparation for proper burial. The Orthodox Church does not condone cremation.

As a result, it would be good for us, whenever the circumstance for a transplant arises in our immediate environment, to seek the advice of both our spiritual fathers and specialist doctors about what can be done, so that we are not indifferent or unmoved in the face of such a serious matter. It requires not only a sense of human solidarity, but also of equal respect towards the donor and the recipient.

28 April 2014

Archbishop Stylianos, Chairman ex officio (Ecumenical Patriarchate – Australia)

Metropolitan Paul (Antiochian Church – Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines)

Metropolitan Hilarion (Russian Church – ROCOR First Hierarch)

Bishop Irinej (Serbian Church – Australia and New Zealand)

Bishop Mihail (Romanian Church – Australia and New Zealand)

Metropolitan Amphilochios (Ecumenical Patriarchate – New Zealand)

Bishop Ezekiel (Ecumenical Patriarchate – Assistant Bishop)

Bishop Seraphim (Ecumenical Patriarchate – Assistant Bishop)

Bishop Nikandros (Ecumenical Patriarchate – Assistant Bishop)

Bishop Iakovos (Ecumenical Patriarchate – Assistant Bishop)

The centre provides services to enhance the quality of life of the aged and assist younger people with intellectual and physical disabilities

5 May 2015 – Neos Kosmos Newspaper

St John’s Community Care officially opened its doors in Townsville last Saturday 18 April, with a blessing from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia.

Participating in the ribbon cutting ceremony were His Grace Bishop Seraphim, vicar general of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, along with the assistant bishop to His Eminence Archbishop Stylianos.

The centre, which provides services to enhance the independence and quality of life of the aged, along with assistance for younger people with intellectual and physical disabilities, was established by Theo Bacalakis and the team at St John’s the Baptist under the guidance of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia.

With centres in both Cairns and Taigum, Towsville is now the third addition, providing much-needed services to the surrounding districts.

Also present on the day were Townsville’s mayor, Jenny Hill; minister for disabilities and seniors, and assistant to the premier in North Queensland, Hon.

Coralee O’Rourke; Scott Stewart, member of parliament for Townsville; Jim Raptis, Hon. Consul for Greece in Queensland and Chas Gianarakis, acting chair for St John’s Community Care.

It proved to be a busy weekend for the Greek Community of St Theodore, with a divine liturgy taking place on the following Sunday.

The service was celebrated by His Grace Bishop Seraphim together with Father Menelaos Hatzoglou, parish priest from Cairns and newly appointed priest to Townsville, Father Alexios Kapandritis.

A lunch followed in the adjoining church hall, during which Ms Hill presented the Greek Community with an award for the Townsville Greek Festival.

Source: http://neoskosmos.com/news/en/St-Johns-Community-Care-opens-in-Townsville

On Tuesday 6 May and Wednesday 7 May the clergy and faithful of the Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral in Strathfield, together with clergy of the Sydney Deanery, celebrated the feasts of Mid-Pentecost and of the Great-Martyr and Trophy-Bearer George. The feast of Saint George was observed with a special joy this year as it was the name-day of our newly-inducted Diocesan Administrator, His Grace Bishop George of Canberra, as well as that of long-serving cathedral cleric Archpriest George Lapardin.

All-night vigil was served on Tuesday evening with Bishop George and Father George being joined by Priest James Carles (rector of the Gosford and Newcastle parishes), cathedral clerics Protodeacons Alexander Kotlaroff and Constantine Moshegov, and Deacon Edward Waters (Archangel Michael parish, Blacktown).

On Wednesday morning Bishop George presided at Divine Liturgy and at the moleben with blessing of water that followed. Concelebrating were Father George, Abbot Joachim (Ross) (Saint John the Baptist Skete, Kentyln), Father James, Protodeacon Alexander and Deacon Edward. At the end of the service Father George warmly congratulated Bishop George on his name-day, wishing him spiritual and physical strength for the undertaking of his archpastoral labours in the Diocese. Bishop George in turn congratulated Father George, presenting him with a framed postcard written by Saint John of Shanghai and San Francisco to another Father George on the day of the Great-Martyr’s commemoration in 1954. Many years was then intoned for all those celebrating their name-day.

Afterwards, the clergy and faithful gathered in the church hall for a festive meal. Arriving after services in their own parishes were Mitred Archpriest Nikita Chemodakov, Dean of Sydney and New South Wales; Abbess Maria (Miros), Superior of the Convent of Our Lady of Kazan in Kentlyn, NSW; and Priest Simon Nekipelov, rector of the All Saints of Russia parish in Croydon, NSW.

Over lunch Father Nikita warmly greeted Bishop George, likening him to the Patriarch Abraham, called by God to leave his own country and kindred and go into a distant land. On behalf of the cathedral altar servers, Andrew Wheat presented Vladyka George with a gift, a new suitcase for use in his travels around the Diocese.

The day was one of great joy and cordiality, a testament to the warmth with which our new vicar bishop has been received. Glory be to God for all things!

The Supreme Court of New South Wales handed down its judgment today in legal proceedings commenced, with the knowledge and consent of the Holy Assembly of Bishops and the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church, by His Grace Bishop Irinej and the Serbian Orthodox Metropolitanate of Australia and New Zealand against the Free Serbian Orthodox Diocese for Australia and New Zealand Property Trust Limited and its directors for breaches of a charitable trust relating to the St Sava Monastery New Kalenich located in Wallaroo, New South Wales.

By way of summary, the Court found as follows:

*1. The Property Trust’s rejection of Bishop Irinej’s authority to supervise the Monastery, its exclusion of him and of persons authorised by him to conduct services and the allowing of Dragan Saracevic to conduct services were breaches of the trust upon which the Monastery is held;

*2. The Free ANZ Diocese’s affiliation with the Greek Old Calendarists, and the appointment of Bishop Ambrose as ‘bishop’ of the Free ANZ Diocese, was not consistent with the spirit of that trust;

*3. The Property Trust be removed as trustee and the Metropolitanate’s nominee be appointed as trustee in its place;

*4. The Defendants transfer title of the Monastery to the Metropolitanate’s nominee; and

*5. The Monastery is to be held by the Metropolitanate on trust for its purposes and for the use by those individuals and organisations that are a part of the Free ANZ Diocese.

His Honour has issued draft orders to give effect to his reasons. The matter is to come before the Court again in the near future for the finalisation of those orders and on the question of legal costs.

The Metropolitanate welcomes this important decision of the Supreme Court of New South Wales which vindicates the commencement of these proceedings and will hopefully delivers peace and stability to the Serbian Orthodox Church in Australia.

The Metropolitanate will be making no further comment at this time. A complete copy of the Court’s judgment can be found at:

https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/55641476e4b06e6e9f0f5d65

Metropolitanate Executive Board
29 May 2015

AUSTRALIAN RELIGIOUS LEADERS CALL ON PM AND PARLIAMENT TO UPHOLD TRUE MEANING OF MARRIAGE

Thirty-eight of Australia’s religious leaders, representing major religious traditions and a broad diversity of faiths and cultures, have written a public letter to the Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, urging him to resist attempts in Federal Parliament to redefine the meaning of marriage.

“As leaders of Australia’s major religions we write to express the grave concerns that we, and those who share our various faiths, share regarding Bills that have or will be introduced into the Federal Parliament to change the definition of marriage in Australian law,” the statement said.

“The definition of marriage enshrined in the Commonwealth Marriage Act 1961 – “the union of a man and a woman, to the exclusion of all others, voluntarily entered into for life” – reflects a truth deeply embedded across diverse communities, faiths and cultures.”

The 38 signatories to the letter include the Catholic and Anglican Archbishops of Sydney, a bishop of the Lutheran Church, bishops from various Eastern and Orthodox Churches, Christian pastors representing major Protestant denominations, senior rabbis from the Jewish community and leaders from both the Sunni and Shia Islamic communities.

While suffering and injustice faced by people with same-sex attraction was to be “deplored”, “this does not require the further deconstruction of marriage as traditionally understood”, the leaders said.

The religious leaders pointed out that Australia’s definition of marriage as a union of a man and a woman is shared by the vast majority of nations and cultures, who represent over 91 per cent of the global population. They emphasised the need to uphold traditional marriage for the good of children: “as a couple, two persons of the same sex are not able to provide a child with the experience of both mothering and fathering. Only the institution of marriage between a man and a woman has this inherent capacity to provide children with both of these relationships that are so foundational to our human identity and development.”

The statement pointed out that redefining marriage would have consequences for everyone: “In overseas jurisdictions where the definition of marriage has been changed, the public manifestation of this belief has resulted in vilification and legal punishment of individuals and institutions. This violates not only freedom of religion, but also the rights of conscience, belief and association, and the right of parents to educate their children according to their own beliefs.”

For 55 years the Parish & Community of St Ioannis (St John the Forerunner) has been at 11 Hassall St,

Parramatta. Parramatta is the rapidly developing second CBD of Sydney. Our Church is surrounded by high rise apartments and office towers, and new ones are constantly being built around us.

Our Parish has the desire to expand its services. Of course its primary service has always been and will always be spiritual work, the Divine Liturgy, the Sacraments and Prayer. It would like however to develop and to serve its people in new ways, but at the current site it cannot do this because it cannot expand, being surrounded by skyscrapers.

With the blessings of His Eminence Archbishop Stylianos the Parish/Community entered into an attempt to sell its property where the Church and hall stand in order to buy something bigger. A very large meeting of Parishioners was held where the matter was debated. Fr Nicholas Tsouloukidis, who served the Parish/Community for 50 years since its establishment, during this debate said, “If someone is going to feel hurt if we sell our Church, the first one will be me, but the time has come for us to put emotion behind us and to do what is logical.” Over 99% of the people voted for the move.

We feel very blessed that we were able to sell and buy, and now have a new property that is very large, with ample parking, next to Parramatta River and a park, and very close to our current Church. On this site there is an existing large 2 storey building, of which we have converted a part to be used as a temporary Church, for Liturgies, Sacraments and Funerals. In another section we will continue our services to the Parish, and we will lease out the remaining sections to help us raise money for the building of a new Church at this site.

The last Liturgy in the old Church at 11 Hassall St Parramatta will be celebrated by Fr Nicholas Tsouloukidis and Fr DimitriosP Kokkinos on Sunday 7 June, 7.30 – 11am.

The first Liturgy at the new site, the corner of Purchase and George Streets Parramatta, will be officiated by His Grace Bishop Seraphim of Apollonias, on Sunday 14 June, 2015, 7.30 -11am.

Council is currently in the process of determing our application to commence liturgies at 163-165 George Street by June 14.

Source: The Greek-Australian Vema Newspaper – May 2015

The 40th anniversary since the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate elected and enthroned His Eminence as Archbishop of the Greek Orthodox Church in this continent was celebrated on May 15, 2015.

Over 800 faithful from every State across Australia attended the Official Dinner in Sydney. The event was honoured with the presence of the official representative of His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch

Bartholomew. This was Metropolitan Ambrosios of Korea, who also read the official Message of our Ecumenical Patriarch for the occasion.

Present were the leaders and representatives of every major Orthodox jurisdiction in Australia, together with many other dignitaries.

During the evening, a video was presented showing highlights of Archbishop Stylianos’ 40 years of dedicated service in Australia. A packaged copy of the DVD was given freely as a gift to all the attendees.

The eloquent speakers were Metropolitan Ambrosios of Korea, the Greek Ambassador to Australia Haris Dafaranos, Federal MP Anthony Albanese and the former Minister in the New South Wales government, George Souris. In response, His Eminence expressed praise and gratitude towards the faithful people of God who stood together with him throughout all these years.

The Millennium Choir of our Archdiocese, led by maestro George Ellis, also sang beautifully to honour the Archbishop and to provide an uplifting atmosphere that was appropriate to the joyful milestone that was being celebrated.

There were two very capable MCs for the evening, so as to convey everything equally in Greek and English: The Very Rev. Father Steven Scoutas and Nicholas Pappas, Secretary of the Archdiocesan Council.

When the event closed at 10:30pm, it was apparent that the Dinner seemed to conclude all too soon, leading to much mingling and conversation of those who had come to honour our long-serving Archbishop and

Father in Christ.

Source: The Greek-Australian Vema Newspaper, May 2015

St Andrew’s Grammar School in Dianella (WA) has joined Perth’s elite schools in creating a multi-million dollar modern sporting complex. In March 2015, the City of Stirling approved a $2 million gymnasium facility.

The complex will be built next to an AFL size sports oval and the new Andrew and Maria Petrelis Amphitheatre.

The Gymnasium caters for a range of sports including:

Basketball, Netball, Volleyball, Badminton and Indoor Soccer. A full size classroom for Physical Education theory and change rooms are also part of this exceptional project.

The Hellenic Community of Western Australia President Gary Mitchell welcomes this new facility: ‘I am utterly delighted with the positive growth and directions at St Andrew’s Grammar.

Enormous thanks must go to the Berbatis Family together with the members of the Hellenic Community, who have completely embraced the School and have afforded the opportunity to progress the School’s facilities with the construction of the new sports facility.

The Gymnasium has also been designed to cater for Assemblies and Theatre Performances and further expansion of the complex will occur in the future. St Andrew’s Grammar Board Chair Marcelle Anderson has expressed the significance of the Gymnasium project for the School:

“The Hellenic mantra of a heathy mind in a healthy body has been borne out by modern research which shows that physical activity improves learning ability. The Sports Facility will provide for the sporting, health and fitness needs of our students as well as accommodating school events such as assemblies, prize nights and fundraising activities. The School Board and community thank the Berbatis family for its very generous donation which has moved the Sports Facility from concept to reality.”

Designed by T&Z Architects as part of their long lasting relationship with the School, the Gymnasium is another extensive educational work that T&Z has carried out in both the public and private sectors. Project architect Jeremy Feldhusen identified the importance of the project in relation to surrounding facilities: “While primarily a sports hall the building is a multipurpose facility forming an integral ‘piece of the puzzle’ to the eastern edge of the campus”.

Metrowest Constructions Pty Ltd is the successful tenderer of the project. The Gymnasium has a world class synthetic sports floor that provides a durable surface with excellent shock absorption. Metrowest General Manager Mark Lewington is pleased to ‘build on its strong record of delivering educational facilities’ in Western Australia.

The students of St Andrew’s Grammar look forward to the Gymnasium with excitement and anticipation.

The Gymnasium will provide a great opportunity to further enhance the School’s rapidly developing sport programme.

Source: The Greek-Australian Vema Newspaper, May 2015

Dearly Beloved,

Further to our Encyclical of 28^th May 2013, in relation to a law which the State proposes to vote upon with regard to Marriage between persons of the same gender, we write to you once again because the Federal Parliament is expected very soon to deal with the redefinition of the concept of Marriage.

You might appreciate, then, should such an Act be legalized, what destructive consequences this will have on the institution of Marriage, but also on the institution of the Family more generally.

As Orthodox Christians, therefore, we are obliged, once again, to express in the strongest possible terms, our objection to the enactment of such legislation, as this will assail the sacredness of the Sacrament of Marriage and the Family, as has been taught to us through the Ages by our Holy Faith and by the Fathers of the Church.

In the first instance, of course, our reaction must be through prayer to God. That is why the period of the August Fast for the Dormition of our Lady, which is about to commence, is the most appropriate time to beseech the Theotokos, of whom we ask, as “a fervent advocate and invincible battlement, fountain of mercy and sheltering retreat for the world”, to protect the People from such an aberration.

We are also called upon to protest by gathering signatures, requesting the defeat of the proposed legislation. Our protest may be expressed by signing the relevant petitions or via the online internet page of the Archdiocese (http://marriage.greekorthodox.org.au/ and http://marriage.greekorthodox.org.au/get-involved/). You shall receive detailed instruction from our Reverend Clergy.

Hopeful that none of us will show indifference to such an important issue, I thank you for your cooperation in this matter and pray that the abundant blessings of God be upon you all during this blessed period of the Sacred August Fast.

Sydney, 17^th July 2015

With fervent fatherly prayers

Archbishop Stylianos

Primate of the Greek Orthodox Church of Australia

When our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ instructed His Apostles to render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s (Matthew 22:21), He foretold of the future what was already true in the days in the Roman Empire: that a Christian would never be one who sat dismissively apart from the world and its governance, but neither would a Christian be one for whom the ever-changing whims of social governance would be the chief voice ruling his life. We are, as His followers, children of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:14); we follow the Shepherd Whose voice we know (cf. John 10:4), trusting that His guidance will lead us out of all error into the haven of eternal life.

With the June 26th 2015 decision of the United States Supreme Court’s “Obergefell v. Hodges” case, every pious Christian has been given cause to consider anew these words of the Saviour. While our faithful living in the United States, and indeed all citizens of this country, are and shall remain thankful – both to God and to the founding ideals of the state – for the freedom in which they reside, which permits as one of its core values the free expression and practice of religion, neither we nor they can accept principles, created by juridical fiat from an organ of the state, which so blatantly go against the Teaching, Will, Law and Love of God. While the U.S. Supreme Court may have affirmed in law that a so-called “marriage” between two persons of the same sex is to be recognized, no pious Christian can see this as anything other than an attempt by the state to render unto itself what rightly belongs to God; for it is God, not the state, the courts or the electorate, Who fashioned male and female from the dust, Who blessed the clinging of man and woman together in marriage both in Eden and in Cana (cf. Genesis 2:18-25; John 2:1-11), and Who has sole claim over the fundamental nature of this bond. He Who is the only Lawgiver and Judge (James 4:12) is not bound by the determination of worldly judges, and He Whose word is truth (John 17:17), Who said to Thomas I am the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6), is not subject to the redefinition of truth by any social or governmental body.

While we reaffirm today, as we have always done, the unchanging reality of repentance as a path open to all, without qualification, and abhor those who would react to any sin, or any sinner, other than in love and with the promise of new life that true repentance may bring, we nonetheless shall not succumb to the prevalent social trend of our day, which equates recognition and acceptance of sin with love. For the legalisation of sin is precisely what this judicial act accomplishes, whatever may otherwise be its aims or intentions. Marriage has been from creation, is now and will always be a union of a man and a woman, and the Church shall recognize and bless nothing else in the stead of this sacred union that has been established by God Himself.

We deeply regret that the United States Supreme Court has taken a decision which, in so definitively spurning the revealed will of God, opens the peoples of this land to an increase of suffering and sorrow, and a further decrease of moral stability. That which societies from time immemorial have honored – the strong place of the traditional family, the need for children to be reared in the embrace of a father and a mother – has been dismissed through an act of overstepped judicial authority, and we lament the profound trials this act will inevitably bring, since the departure from God’s Will always results in suffering. Yet we are children of a sovereign and unchanging God Whose power is not thwarted by the acts of men, and we encourage the faithful of the Church not to grow weary of doing good (Galatians 6:9) in the face of worldly trial. The Law of God is sure and steadfast, and against it nothing shall prevail. Our hearts remain calm and unshaken, and we fervently entreat the God of our Fathers to show His mercy upon this land, to guide its peoples and government aright. And to a world that has grown lukewarm to the truth, for which the choice between right and wrong is further greyed by political errors such as this, we exhort the same surety and confidence that has been borne by Christians through the ages, spoken firmly through the mouth of the prophet:

If it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord (Joshua 24:15).

On Thursday 14 May 2015, the Thanksgiving Service for graduates of St Andrew’s Orthodox Theological College was celebrated at the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Annunciation of Our Lady Theotokos (Redfern NSW). The evening’s proceedings began with a Doxological Service chanted by students, past and present. His Eminence Archbishop Stylianos, as Dean, recited a benediction over the graduates and conferred them with the College’s Ecclesiastical Certificate.

In his address to the congregation, His Eminence gave thanks to God for the work of the College in the Antipodes and its vital contribution to the service of the Church and the broader community for almost 30 years. He acknowledged the highly valued efforts and collaboration of so many people of good will, both Orthodox and non-Orthodox alike. He described the College’s long-standing membership of the Sydney College of Divinity (SCD) as a particular blessing and warmly greeted Professor Diane Speed who is the current Dean and Chief Executive Officer of the SCD. In conclusion, His Eminence thanked all of the staff wholeheartedly for their tireless work for the good progress of the College, and expressed his deep gratitude to all donors and supporters of this noble task of the Church.

Honouring this important occasion with their presence were His Eminence Metropolitan Ambrose of Korea, representative of His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew; His Grace Bishop Seraphim of Apollonias, College Sub-Dean; His Grace Bishop Nikandros of Doryleon; and other colleagues from within the SCD and its member institutions; reverend clergy and Archdiocesan Council Members. There were also College alumni and representatives from the various committees of the College and the Archdiocese.

Both undergraduate and postgraduate awards were bestowed as noted below:
Master of Theology: Fr Kyrillos Zisis (NSW), Fr Siluan Mrakic (Serbia) in absentia. Master of Arts: George Tsikritsakis (NSW). Graduate Certificate in Arts: Theodoros Dimitriou (VIC), Daniel Haitas (VIC), Jacqueline Sarros (VIC) all in absentia. Bachelor of Theology with First Class Honours: Stefan Mastilovic (New Zealand). Bachelor of Theology: Fr Prohoros Anastasiadis (NSW), Fr Evangelos Thiani (Kenya) in absentia, Fr Nectarios Joannou (NSW), Markellos Margelis (NSW), George Papoutsakis (NSW). Associate Degree of Christian Thought and Practice: Fr Jean Mawal (VIC), Dn George Vrionis (NSW). Diploma of Christian Studies: Con Farrugia (NSW), Demetra Petrakis (NSW) in absentia, Chrysovalantis Sideris (SA) in absentia.

The latest group of graduates brought to 134 the total number of graduates – receiving 163 SCD degrees and awards at various levels, but primarily the Bachelor of Theology – since St Andrew’s opened in 1986.

Some of the aforementioned graduates were also present at the Sydney College of Divinity Graduation Ceremony on Saturday morning, 16 May, along with approximately 80 graduates and 400 attendees from other member institutions of the SCD. Here they were conferred their respective degrees and awards in the Great Hall of the University of Sydney by the President of the SCD Council, Mr Peter King. The Occasional Address was delivered by Dr Greg Clarke, Chief Executive Officer of Bible Society Australia and Chair of the Global Literacy Group of the United Bible Societies.

His Grace Bishop Irinej of the Metropolitanate of Australia and New Zealand of the Serbian Orthodox Church offers, in addition to his own congratulations, that of his clergy, monastics and faithful to our Serbian students, Protosingelos Siluan (Mrakic) and Stefan Mastilovic, as well as to all graduates of St Andrew Orthodox Theological College.