Melbourne faithful warmly welcomed the new Archbishop of Australia, Makarios, who arrived at 11 am this morning to the city with the highest concentration of Greeks in the country.
The new Archbishop was greeted upon his arrival at the airport by two auxiliary bishops Ezekiel of Dervis and Iakovos of Militoupolis, as well as Greek Consul General in Melbourne Dimitrios Michalopoulos.
In his brief address, Makarios thanked the bishops and the people who came to greet him. “I want to assure you that I see your presence here as a great responsibility and a great legacy to continue together in love and united in the work of Christ here that God has ordained for us,”, he added.
Shortly thereafter, the Archbishop headed to St Eustathios parish in the South Melbourne suburb where the Archbishop’s offices in Melbourne and St Eustatius Cathedral are located.
Both the church and the courtyard and the street in front of the church of Agios Eustathios were full of believers of all ages.
A doxology was also held in the presence of the Bishop of the Romanian Church in Australia Michael and the Consul of Greece in Melbourne Dimitrios Michalopoulos
Speaking to Melbourne faithful, the Archbishop sent a message of love and solidarity and praised the presence of Hellenism in Melbourne. “I know another Greece, thriving and traditional”, he said, referring to the city’s Greek community and stressed:
“You are a part of Greece as well, who have emigrated and found themselves here in Australia and in the very Greek Melbourne where you brought forward and advanced but also conveyed the high Greek idea of Romiosyne and the Orthodox faith here. You should be proud that God gave us this great gift of being Orthodox and being ‘Greek’”, concluded Archbishop Makarios.
Source: abc.com.au