Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia

St Spyridon's Church, Kingsford, New South Wales

The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia is the Australian archdiocese of the Greek Orthodox Church, part of the wider communion of Orthodox Christianity. The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia is a jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.

Archbishop of Australia

Archbishop Stylianos is the primate of the Greek Orthodox Church of Australia. He was appointed to this position in 1975. Archbishop Stylianos is a theologian of international standing. He is the co-chairman of the official dialogue between the Roman Catholic and the Orthodox churches. Archbishop Stylianos has won an award for poetry, and has written 16 collections.

History

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. The first Metropolitan of the new province of the Ecumenical Thronos was Christoforos Knitis of Serres. In 1929 Metropolitan Christoforos returned to his homeland, Samos. He died on 7 August, 1959.

Cathedral of the Annunciation in Redfern, Sydney; the see of the Archbishop of Australia

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 of 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. In August 1974, the Ecumenical Patriarchate promoted Archbishop Ezekiel to the Metropolis of Pisidia. 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 on 26 April 1975.

There is a growing monastic presence in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia. Examples are the newly built "Holy Cross" and "Pantanassa" monasteries.

Primates in Australia

• 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

See also

• Archbishop of America
• Greek Orthodox Church
• Greek Australian
• Greek Orthodox Churches in NSW

External links

• Official Site - The Greek Orthodox Church in Australia