St. Petka Macedonian Orthodox Church, Mill Park

St. Petka Macedonian Orthodox Church
Македонска Православна Црква „Св. Петка“ Makedonska Pravoslavna Crkva „Sv. Petka“
St. Petka Macedonian Orthodox Church Location in greater metropolitan Melbourne
37°40′29″S 145°04′12″E / 37.674586°S 145.070058°E / -37.674586; 145.070058
Location	281-285 Plenty Road, Mill Park 3082, Melbourne, Victoria
Country	Australia
Denomination	Macedonian Orthodox
Previous denomination	Presbyterian
Website	St. Petka Church
History
Former name(s)	Janefield Presbyterian Church
Status	Church
Dedication	St. Paraskeva
Consecrated	2000
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Architectural type	Church
Completed	1861
Administration
Diocese	Macedonian Orthodox Diocese of Australia and New Zealand
Clergy
Priest(s)	Reverend Father Tone Gulev

St. Petka Macedonian Orthodox Church (Macedonian: Македонска Православна Црква „Св. Петка", Makedonska Pravoslavna Crkva "Sv. Petka“) is the Macedonian Orthodox church located in Mill Park, a suburb of northern Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.^[1][2] The church is an old bluestone building with a new Orthodox interior, alongside nearby community facilities.^[3][4] Built in 1861 as a Presbyterian church, the building is one of a few early churches built in the Plenty Valley area^[3] and is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register.^[5] In the late 1990s, the church was transformed into a Macedonian Orthodox Church and joined the local Macedonian Orthodox Diocese.^[3][4]

The church was constructed in 1861 and belonged to the Christian Presbyterian denomination.^[3] Known as the Janefield Presbyterian Church and located in the Plenty Valley, an area of Scottish settlement, the church was one of three built in the region at the time.^[3] The church itself is small, built from blue stone, and its roof is hipped and laid with slate tiles, alongside additional structures on the building's east and west sides.^[6] By the late twentieth century, the building had fallen into disrepair and a 1990 Whittlesea Heritage study described its "poor structural condition" was caused by movements from unstable footings and wall cracks, due to its large windows.^[3] The study noted the continuation of problems emanated from the building's inadequate design and lacked quality skilled masonry.^[3] The church nonetheless was listed on the local heritage overlay and proposed for the Victorian Heritage and the Australian Heritage Commission Register.^[3]

The building was in a dilapidated state when it was bought in 1996 by the Australian-New Zealand Macedonian Orthodox Diocese.^[3] The church became part of the Macedonian Diocese during 1997 and its consecration occurred in 2000.^[4] Extensive repairs were made to the structure and the whole church interior was rebuilt and remade into a Byzantine-Orthodox design.^[3] An iconographer from Romania painted high quality frescoes on each of the church's interior walls.^[3] The Orthodox iconography creates the appearance of a larger space then otherwise is in the small interior, inducing mystical overtones.^[3] During the liturgy, an atmospheric interior is generated through ceremonial practices such as the use of candles, incense, ritual foods and performance of choir singing.^[3] Nearby, a few additional buildings have been constructed to serve the needs and activities of the congregation.^[4] The local Macedonian community celebrated the twentieth anniversary of the church in November 2017.^[4]

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  Side view of church
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  Side view of church
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  Church sign
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  Church entrance

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