Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia

Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia
Official seal
Location
Country	Australia
Headquarters	Cathedral of The Annunciation of Our Lady, Redfern, Sydney
Statistics
Population - Total	400,000 approx (2021 Census)[1]
Parishes	121
Schools	8
Information
Denomination	Eastern Orthodox Church
Cathedral	Cathedral of The Annunciation of Our Lady (1970-present) Greek Orthodox Cathedral of Saint Sophia (1927-1970)
Patron saint	Saint Paisios of Mount Athos
Language	Greek, English[a]
Parent church	Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople
Metropolitan Archbishop	Makarios Griniezakis
Auxiliary Bishops	Bishop Iakovos of Miletoupolis Bishop Christodoulos of Magnesia
Vicar General	Very Reverend Father Christophoros Krikelis
Archdeacons	Archdeacon Athinagoras Karakonstantakis
Website
greekorthodox.org.au

The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia is the Australian archdiocese of the Greek Orthodox Church, part of the wider communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity. The archdiocese is a jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. As of 2024, there were over 130 parishes and eight monasteries in the six dioceses of the archdiocese in Australia.^{[2][3] [4]}

Since May 9, 2019, Bishop Makarios is Archbishop of Australia.^[5][6] He was elected by the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and was enthroned in front of thousands of faithful on 29 June 2019 at the Cathedral of the Annunciation of the Theotokos.

Since February 2024, the Archdiocese of Australia is governed by the Holy Eparchical Synod, at which the incumbent Archbishop of the day presides, and whose members are his active assistant Bishops in their capacity as Regional Bishops.^[7]

The first churches founded by Greek Orthodox in Australia were Holy Trinity in Surry Hills, Sydney (1898), and Annunciation of the Theotokos in East Melbourne (1900). The first priest to serve the religious needs of the Greek Orthodox population in Sydney and Melbourne was Archimandrite Dorotheos Bakaliaros. In March 1924, the "Metropolis of Australia and New Zealand" was established under the Ecumenical Patriarchate to cover the expanding Greek population, which by 1927 numbered over 10,000 and had established churches in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Port Pirie in South Australia. The first metropolitan of the new province of the Ecumenical Patriarchate was Christoforos Knitis of Serres. In 1929, Metropolitan Christoforos returned to his homeland, Samos. He died on 7 August 1959.

In 1931, Timotheos Evangelinidis was elected as the second Metropolitan of Australia and New Zealand. He arrived in Australia on 28 January 1932 and presided over the church in Australia and New Zealand until 1947 when he was elected Metropolitan of Rhodes. On 22 April of that year, Theophylactos Papathanasopoulos was elected as the third metropolitan. On 2 August 1958, Metropolitan Theophylactos was killed in a car accident. In February 1959 the assistant bishop of the Archdiocese of America, Bishop Ezekiel Tsoukalas of Nazianzos, was elected Metropolitan of Australia. He arrived in Sydney on 27 April 1959.

On 1 September 1959, the Metropolis of Australia and New Zealand was elevated to an archdiocese and Metropolitan Ezekiel to an archbishop. Archbishop Ezekiel's episcopacy coincided with a period of great expansion in the numbers of Greek Orthodox in Australia through immigration, and many of the parishes that the church has today were formed under his guidance. In August 1974, the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate elevated Archbishop Ezekiel to the titular see of Metropolitan of Pisidia.^[8] He died in Athens in July 1987. On 3 February 1975, the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate unanimously elected the Metropolitan of Miletoupolis, Stylianos Harkianakis, a lecturer at the University of Thessaloniki, as the new Archbishop of Australia. Archbishop Stylianos arrived in Sydney on 15 April 1975 and was officially enthroned on Lazarus Saturday, 26 April 1975.^[9]

At the 12th Clergy-Laity Congress held in Sydney in September 2023, Saint Paisios of Mount Athos was declared Patron Saint of the Holy Archdiocese of Australia by Archbishop Makarios.^[10]

His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople has visited Australia twice, in 1996 and 2024. The 1996 visit of His All Holiness was historic as it was the first time the Patriarch of Constantinople visited Australia. On this visit, a Patriarchal Divine Liturgy occurred at the Sydney Entertainment Centre on Sunday November 24.^[11] Likewise, his visit in 2024 was also historic as coincided with the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Archdiocese of Australia. Two Patriarchal Divine Liturgies occurred in 2024, on Sunday October 6 at the International Convention Centre, Sydney and on Sunday October 14 at Margaret Court Arena, Melbourne.^[12]

• Metropolitan Christoforos of Australia and New Zealand (1924-1929)
• Metropolitan Timotheos of Australia and New Zealand (1931-1947)
• Metropolitan Theophylactos of Australia and New Zealand (1947-1958)
• Metropolitan Ezekiel of Australia and New Zealand (1959), Archbishop Ezekiel of Australia and New Zealand (1959-1970), Archbishop Ezekiel of Australia (1970-1974)
• Archbishop Stylianos of Australia (1975-2019)^[13]
• Archbishop Makarios of Australia (2019–present)

The following clergy are members of the archdiocese's current hierarchy.^[14][15]

• Bishop Elpidios, Regional Bishop (Chorepiskopos) of Perth

• Bishop Silouan, Regional Bishop (Chorepiskopos) of Adelaide

• Bishop Kyriakos, Regional Bishop (Chorepiskopos) of Melbourne

• Bishop Evmenios, Regional Bishop (Chorepiskopos) of Chora

• Bishop Bartholomew, Regional Bishop (Chorepiskopos) of Brisbane

Source^[16]

St Andrew's Greek Orthodox Theological College is an Eastern Orthodox Christian seminary located in Redfern, Sydney, New South Wales. The college was established in 1986 by Archbishop Stylianos, who had proposed the establishment of a theological college during the fourth clergy and laity congress in 1981. There was a need for a theological college that would be primarily dedicated to theological study in co-operation with other theological colleges. It would be hoped that a centre of theological reflection and ecumenical dialogue would be created, offering the Orthodox worldview and perspective with scriptural commentaries, the writings of the Greek Fathers, the Orthodox liturgy, iconography and spirituality.

• Holy Monastery of St George (New South Wales)
• Holy Monastery of Panagia Pantanassa (New South Wales)
• Holy Monastery of the Holy Cross (New South Wales)
• Holy Monastery of Panagia Gorgoepikouos (Victoria)
• Holy Monastery of Axion Estin (Victoria)
• Holy Monastery of Panagia Kamariani (Victoria)
• Holy Monastery of St Nektarios (South Australia)
• Holy Monastery of St John (Western Australia)

• Archbishop of America
• Greek Australian
• Greek Orthodox Churches in NSW
• Greek Orthodox Churches in South Australia and the Northern Territory
• Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of Australia, New Zealand, and Oceania

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Greek Orthodox Church.

• Kiminas, Demetrius (2009). The Ecumenical Patriarchate: A History of Its Metropolitanates with Annotated Hierarch Catalogs. Wildside Press LLC. ISBN 9781434458766.

• Official website