Six years since the election of Archbishop Makarios of Australia

On this day, exactly six years ago, the Holy and Sacred Synod of our Ecumenical Patriarchate unanimously elected the then Bishop Makarios of Christoupolis, as the new Shepherd of the Fifth Continent.

The seeds of expectations that the Mother Church planted that day in the hearts of her devout children in Australia gradually began to sprout, grow and bear fruit, transforming the intangible of hopes into tangible realities.

With his first declared goal of forging unity – unity with Christ, unity with the Holy Centre of Orthodoxy and the unity of Hellenism within Australia- His Eminence Archbishop Makarios managed to inspire and mobilise the Clergy and the People, and to initiate initiatives at an administrative and spiritual level, which allowed the local Church to improve and increase its work, presence and testimony.

Six years after that blessed starting point of a journey of revitalisation of Orthodoxy in Australia, we turn the eyes of our hearts, on the one hand, to the past, to express our gratitude to His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, for the election of our Chief Shepherd, and on the other hand, to the future, to renew our devotion to the vision of His Eminence Archbishop Makarios, the vision of an Archdiocese whose light will shine before Australian society “so that they may see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven”!

From the “Vema” Editorial Team