His Eminence Archbishop Makarios of Australia on the unifying and apostolic character of the Church

On Thursday, May 26, His Eminence Archbishop Makarios of Australia participated as a keynote speaker at the 3rd International Conference on the Hellenic Diaspora entitled “Contemporary and Diachronic Aspects of the Hellenic Diaspora”, which is co-organised during the current three days (May 26-28) by the Australian Charles Darwin University and the Greek Universities of the Aegean and Macedonia. The theme developed by His Eminence immediately after the official opening of the Conference was: “The Orthodox Church and its mission in the world”.

During his introduction, the Archbishop congratulated the organisers of the Conference and by name the Professor of Charles Darwin University, Mr. George Frazis, while conveying the paternal wishes and blessings of His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.

His Eminence then referred to the decisive role played over time by the Greek Orthodox Church of Australia in the sacred task of preserving the identity and cohesion of Greek immigrants on the fifth continent. The Archbishop then outlined some of the diverse activities of the Holy Archdiocese of Australia, which focus on the pastoral, social, educational, cultural and spiritual fields.

In the main part of his speech, His Eminence Archbishop Makarios presented the theological vision of the Church, on which all its initiatives and activities are based. “By nature, the Church is communion and apostolic,” he stressed, to then analyse these two dimensions of nature and its mission.

Referring to the communal nature, he described the unifying power of the Church, given that “as a living presence of the body of the incarnate Word of God, it brings the faithful into communion with Christ and among themselves.”

Moreover, focusing on its apostolic character, the Archbishop pointed out that the Church is present in the modern challenges facing humanity, promoting the teaching of the Holy Gospels, and essentially continues the work of the Apostles, according to the command they received from Christ. In support of this, he recalled the content of the relevant decisions of the Holy and Great Pan-Orthodox Synod, which took place in Crete in 2016.

At the end of his speech, His Eminence Archbishop Makarios of Australia briefly outlined his vision and current planning for the future role of the Greek Orthodox Church in Australia, describing, among other things, the ambitious development plan of the headquarters of the Holy Archdiocese in Sydney.

With the quotation of a phrase of the Apostle Peter: “a cornerstone chosen and precious,”, the Archbishop hoped that the Holy Archdiocese would become a dynamic nucleus for the Greek Orthodox faithful, so that they would be more strongly connected with their traditions and traditions.

In addition, the vision for the future includes the opportunity for the Greek Orthodox Church to acquire a further extroversion and to give a blessed witness to the wider Australian society, highlighting the richness of our invaluable heritage – our Orthodox spirituality, our culture, our language. our traditions. “By achieving this, we will have remained faithful to the core of the unifying and apostolic character of the Church,” he concluded.