On Thursday evening, August 7th, Archbishop Makarios of Australia visited the Holy Church of the Presentation of Our Lord, in the suburb of Coburg, Melbourne, accompanied by the local Bishop Eumenios of Chora, and Bishop Kyriakos of Melbourne.
The Archbishop presided over the Great Supplicatory Canon to the Most Holy Theotokos, joined by the esteemed hierarchs, the Parish Priest Fr. Leonidas Ioannou, and other clergy from the Dioceses of Chora and Melbourne.
At the conclusion of the service, after thanking the faithful for their strong attendance, he spoke about the deep reverence Orthodox Christians—and particularly Greeks—hold for the Virgin Mary. “Each of us has formed a personal relationship with the Theotokos,” he noted, emphasizing that we turn to her for strength, courage, comfort, and protection. “And each of us,” the Archbishop added, “has personal testimonies to share of the Virgin Mary’s interventions and miracles in our lives.” However, he clarified at this point that “the experience of a miracle should not be the primary motivation that drives us to faith.” “Because if we believed in Christ, the Theotokos, and our Saints only because they perform miracles, that would not be faith—but a transaction,” he stressed.
He also reminded the faithful that Christ Himself, during His Crucifixion, ignored the taunts of His accusers who mockingly challenged Him to come down from the Cross to prove He was truly God (“Let Him now come down from the cross, that we may see and believe” [Mark 15:32]). “Christ could have come down—but He didn’t—because faith that is based on miracles has no value,” the Archbishop remarked.
Concluding his address, he clarified that although miracles are accepted by the Church, they should not be the ultimate goal in a Christian’s life. “We come to church and venerate the Theotokos,” he said, “not because she performs miracles—though she does—but primarily because we love her, Christ, and our Saints.” “And we are in the Church,” he continued, “not because it spares us from sorrows, but because it teaches us how to live with them—how to be courageous and face our trials head-on. For we all know that in this world we are sojourners and strangers. We know this, but often we don’t want to accept it—because, as the folk poet says, ‘life is sweet.’ Yet the life to come is sweeter, more beautiful, more radiant, and it is life with Christ. And that is something which cannot be compared to any joy or comfort of this world.”
At the end, Archbishop Makarios offered appropriate well-wishes to the Parish Priest Fr. Leonidas and to all the members of the Church of the Presentation of Our Lord, and presented each of the faithful in attendance with an icon of the Theotokos as a blessing.
