On Tuesday, March 25, following the Festal Divine Liturgy at the Holy Cathedral of the Annunciation of the Theotokos in Sydney, Archbishop Makarios of Australia received at the Archdiocesan Office the Members of Parliament from Greece— Stavros Keletsis, Athanasios Papathanassis, Stefanos Parastatidis, and Miltiadis Zamparas—who represent the Greek Parliament during the Greek Australian community’s celebrations of the Greek War of Independence.
During the meeting, which took place in a warm and cordial atmosphere, His Eminence had the opportunity to present aspects of the work of the Holy Archdiocese of Australia, to outline the needs and challenges of the Greek Diaspora, and to express the deep love and attachment of the Greek community to the beloved homeland.
Furthermore, he thanked the Greek MPs for the effort of traveling to the fifth continent, expressed his hope that their interaction and communication with the Greek Diaspora would be fruitful, and asked them to convey to the Prime Minister of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, to the party leaders, and to their fellow MPs in the Greek Parliament the respect and love of the members of the Holy Eparchial Synod, the clergy and laity of the local Church, as well as his own personal sentiments.
At the conclusion of the meeting, Archbishop Makarios bestowed upon the four Members of Parliament the Medal of the Order of the Philochristoi.
Also present at the meeting were Metropolitan Seraphim of Sebasteia; Bishops Prodromos of Toliara and South Madagascar, Elpidios of Perth, and Christodoulos of Magnesia, Chief Secretary of the Holy Eparchial Synod; Hieromonk Fr. Antipas, Elder of the Iberian Cell of Saint Anne in Karyes on Mount Athos; and the Consul General of Greece in Sydney, Ioannis Mallikourtis.
