Saturday, 5 October 2024
The Cathedral of the Annunciation of Our Lady, Redfern
Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC KC

Thank you, Archbishop^[1]

Bujari gamarruwa

Diyn Babana Gamarada Gadigal Ngura

I greet you in the language of the Gadigal, Traditional Custodians of these lands and waterways, and I pay my respects to their Elders past, present, and future.

Your All-Holiness^[2], Prime Minister^[3], Premier^[4], Archbishop^[5], Parliamentarians, members of the Diplomatic and Consular Corps, esteemed clergy and representatives of many faiths, friends, family, distinguished guests all,

Your All-Holiness, in whose person is embodied the spiritual leadership of more than 250 million people worldwide, it is an honour for all of us here to welcome you to this Cathedral, the spiritual and community home of Greek Orthodox peoples here in Sydney.

There was a time when Australians of English and European descent considered our country as a young country – some 200 years old. That was a myopic misunderstanding of a heritage which through anthropological findings, including burial sites and rock carvings, date our living history back at least 65,000 years. It is a history of culture and deep spirituality and sacred ground commencing with the creation story as is also does the Creation Story in the Book of Genesis. 

The Eastern Orthodox Church, its derivation – the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ Our Lord – likewise has a venerable and sacred history, as we witness today in the rites which mark this welcome to Your All-Holiness.  

Australians of Greek Heritage are proud that you have honoured the centenary of the establishment of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Australia, later to be elevated to.  Strictly speaking, however, this could be a bicentenary of Orthodoxy in Australia.

The earliest known recorded mention of an Orthodox service in Australia comes from the journal of the Russian explorer Thaddeus von Bellingshausen, who wrote, on Easter morning 1820, as he sailed up the East Coast^[6], in a reflection that still resonates today, that “everyone dressed in clean summer holiday clothes, and as is the custom of our compatriots, they listened to the matins and all the prayers […] [and] broke their fast with Easter cakes. […]”^[7].

In 1829 seven young Greek sailors were transported to NSW convicted of piracy; they were not, however, pirates at all but, palikari, freedom fighters in the Greek War of Independence.^[8] 

Freed with a Governor’s pardon, 5 returned to Greece but fortunately two stayed, one of whom, Gikas Voulgaris, went on to have 9 nine children and 50 grandchildren. His descendants now live in various parts of our State.^[9]

Over the succeeding decades, the growing communities from Orthodox homelands had neither clergy to administer, nor churches in which to practice, their faith. Thus, in 1892, Patriarch Gerassimos of Jerusalem gave permission for the Clergy of the Anglican Church in Melbourne to administer baptisms,^[10] marriage, and burial according to the rites of the Orthodox Greek Church.

This was followed by a visit in 1896 by Archimandrite Dorotheos Bakaliaros, who conducted Orthodox services under the hospitality of the Anglican Church, including at St James Church at Queen’s Square here in Sydney.^[11] He also advocated for the construction of a dedicated church for the Orthodox parishioners of Sydney and, in late 1897, fund-raising began.

In a ceremony on May 29^th, 1898^[12], the three foundation stones of Aghia Triada the oldest Greek Orthodox Church in the southern hemisphere^[13], were laid on donated land in Bourke St, Surry Hills, presided over by Archimandrite Dorotheous. Within each stone was placed a small iron cross, a bottle of holy water and a collection of English and Greek silver coins^[14]. As many in this community know, my father’s childhood home stood next to Aghia Triada, explaining his easy communication with his Greek customers on his local milk run in this area.

A quarter-of-a-century after Aghia Triada was completed, the spiritual jurisdiction of Orthodox Greeks in Australia was transferred from the Church of Greece to the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, and the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Australia and New Zealand was established. This is the centenary we celebrate.

The history of Greek Orthodoxy in Australia is intrinsically linked to Greek migration, particularly after the two World Wars, which in turn links to the history of this Cathedral. Built in the 1850s it was originally consecrated as the Anglican Church of St Paul. As that congregation moved to the outer suburbs, the church and its grounds were sold to the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese in 1967^[15] and reconsecrated in 1970 as the Cathedral of the Annunciation of Our Lady of Australia.

Of course, in tracing this history in terms of buildings, is to miss a, if not the, vital part of the story: that of the people. There would be few people in our community who don’t have friends and colleagues in the Greek community. Indeed, I’m having a very ‘Greek Day’ – commencing with an early morning exercise walk with the Deputy Chief Magistrate Theo Tsavdaridis – obviously Greek – and finishing at the theatre tonight with a Greek doctor, Dr Helen Zorbas. As I look around the congregation here, I see a person I recently invested with an award under the Order of Australia, and there are many others of Greek heritage who have been awarded Australian honours. Also here today is a Greek orthodox architect who designed the magnificent Punchbowl Mosque.

As the Very Rev. Fr Miltiades Chryssavgis, former Chancellor of the Archdiocese and parish priest of St George Church, Rose Bay,^[16]  so eloquently wrote in 2009:

The cultural and spiritual influence of the Orthodox Church on Greek Australian community life is a truly existential enrichment that transcends the narrow limits of conventional religion and embraces the fullness of life as God’s gift to the entire world: baptisms and weddings, dances and songs, food delicacies and social functions are all aspects of culture in which the whole family participates in a spirit of joyful celebration. …[with] no sharp line of distinction is drawn between secular and divine ...  ^[17]

To the Greek Orthodox community: in welcoming your spiritual leader, in celebrating the centenary of your Archdiocese, I offer the warmest of thanks for your contribution to our wider community and congratulate you on this centenary.

^[1] His Eminence Archbishop Makarios, Primate of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia

[2] His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, Archbishop of Constantinople and New Rome

[3] The Honourable Anthony Albanese MP, Prime Minister of Australia

[4] The Honourable Chris Minns MP, Premier of NSW

[5] His Eminence Archbishop Makarios, Primate of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia

[6] On the Russian voyages, undertaken in the ships Vostok and Miryn, the latter captained by Mikhail Lazarev, and during which Antarctica may have been sighted for the first time by a European, see: here and here

[7] Fabian Bellingshausen, Entry for 27 March 1820 [Julian], Two Explorations in the Southern Arctic Ocean and a Voyage Around the World During 1819, 20 and 21, Moscow, 1949, available (in Russian) here

[8]Fotis Kapetopoulos, ‘Greek Prisoners Sent to the Colony of NSW were Freedom Fighters’, 22 March 2023, Neos Kosmos online, available here

[9] One to farm near Cooma and the other in Picton.

[10] Anastasios M Tamos, ‘Greek Orthodoxy in Australia’, in The Encyclopedia of Religion in Australia, Cambridge University Press, 2009, p.492, available here

[11] ‘Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church’, NSW State Heritage Inventory online, available here; Tamos, op. cit.

[12] “This date is significant in the history of Orthodoxy, being the date the Byzantine Empire in Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453 and it has since become the date on which all Holy Trinity churches are founded. Through this tradition, May 29th has also become the date that represents the courageous extension of Hellenism and Orthodoxy around the world”: ‘Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church’, NSW State Heritage Inventory online, available here.

[13] ‘Archbishop of Australia: The history of the Greeks has shown that we progress through unity and love’, Orthodox Times online, 2 June 2024, available here

[14] ‘Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church’, NSW State Heritage Inventory online, available here.

[15] ‘The History of the Greek Orthodox Church in Australia’, Greek Orthodox Diocese of Australia website, available here

[16] ‘Latest News’, St Andrew’s Greek Orthodox Theological College website, 9 August 2024, available here

[17] Fr Miltiades Chryssavgis, quoted in Anastasios M Tamos, ‘Greek Orthodoxy in Australia’, in The Encyclopedia of Religion in Australia, Cambridge University Press, 2009, p.492, available here