Sydney and Melbourne, October 21, 2024
Photo: greekorthodox.org.au
Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople paid an extended visit to Australia this month in honor of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia’s 100th anniversary.
The Patriarch arrived on October 4 and remained through the 19th. Highlights of his visit included Patriarchal Divine Liturgies, on October 6 at the International Convention Centre Sydney Theatre, and on October 13 at the Margaret Court Arena in Melbourne, with the concelebration of Archbishop Makarios and his assistant bishops and local clergy, reports the Archdiocese of Australia.
The Archdiocese’s centenary was also celebrated with a concert reflecting on its Greek heritage on Saturday evening, October 5, at the University of Sydney.
The first formal event of the Patriarch’s visit came earlier in the day with a Doxology at the Holy Annunciation Cathedral in Sydney, which was attended by thousands of Christians, the Australian hierarchs, various government figures, and others.
Pat. Bartholomew praised “the love and devotion of the Greeks of Australia to the Great Church and to the motherland, their commitment to the ideals and traditions of the nation, their longing for return to the sacred soil of their ancestors.”
That same day, the Patriarch was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Archdiocese’s St. Andrew’s Theological College.
On Sunday, October 6, he oversaw a session of the Eparchial Synod of Australia that focused on the new Archdiocesan charter and the Synodal governance it establishes.
Pat. Bartholomew at Panagia Pantanassa Monastery. Photo: greekorthodox.org.au
The next day, he visited the Holy Monastery of Panagia Pantanassa in New South Wales, where he conferred the title of Archimandrite of the Ecumenical Throne upon Abbot Stephanos. He also oversaw a meeting of the five Archdiocesan monastic communities there.
On October 9, the Patriarch led a Trisagion service for the former hierarchs of Australia, Metropolitan Theophylactos and Archbishop Stylianos, at the Sydney cemetery where they’re buried. That same day, he attended a dinner put on by the Archdiocesan clergy and their presbyteras.
During a dinner held in his honor in Melbourne on October 14, Pat. Bartholomew gave a speech on the importance of dialogue in the modern world, particularly among Christian Churches and different religions. He highlighted the Patriarchate’s pioneering role in promoting dialogue, stating that the Orthodox Church naturally desires and promotes it as the only way to achieve unity. The Patriarch criticized those who oppose dialogue, calling them enemies of Christ’s peace. He addressed divisions within the Orthodox Church, attributing them to desires for primacy and ethnophyletism.
He also characterized the granting of autocephaly to the “Orthodox Church of Ukraine” (recognized as schismatic by the broader Orthodox world) “as a crucial move for preserving unity within Orthodoxy.”
Photo: greekorthodox.org.au
On October 15, a statue of the Patriarch was unveiled in Northcote, Melbourne.
The Patriarch’s trip was also filled with visits to politicians, parishes, and monasteries, and several dinners held in his honor.
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