the greek australian vema

VEMASEPTEMBER 2019 Tel. (02) 9690 6100 Fax: (02) 9698 5368

THE GREEK AUSTRALIANThe oldestcirculating

Greeknewspaper

outsideGreece

Archbishop Makarios:“No law should take away a child’s right to life”

Rememberthe 6th September

PAGE: 27

St Stylianos held its Annual Family Dance

What now for the return of the Parthenon Sculptures?

PAGE: 29 PAGE: 22

St Andrew’s Theological Collegerepresented at International Patristics Conference

PAGE: 21

PAGE: 20

The Greek Australian VEMA /20 VEMA SEPTEMBER 20192

The relevant bill, which allows abortion for any reason up to 5.5 months of gestation and until birth, with the consent

of two doctors, has been approved by the Legislative Assembly (Lower House) of New South Wales and has been introduced for debate and vote in the Legislative Council (Upper House).

In the rally organized by the move-ment “Stand for Life”, thousands of citizens have joined their voices to defend the sacred right of the unborn child to life. Young and old, men and women, with feelings of love and re-spect for the human being, confirmed their opposition to the law change, which will result in abortions uncon-trollably.

Archbishop Makarios spoke to a charged yet peaceful crowd alongside a number of leaders from various Christian denominations, as well as state and federal politicians.

“I guess we are all united,” the Arch-bishop said to open his address.“No law should take away a child’s right to life, let alone take it away in such a barbaric manner.”“Under the proposed legislation, such violent acts can be committed for any reason, on any baby up to 5-and-a-

half months pregnant,’ the Archbish-op continued, “even if…the parents are having a girl and they only want-ed a boy.”“New South Wales abolished the death penalty for murder in 1955; now, it is being reintroduced.”The bill, which passed the NSW Leg-islative Assembly two weeks ago, states that for terminations up to 22 weeks, ‘The medical practitioner may perform the termination if the [preg-nant] person has given informed con-sent to the termination’.The crowd which included many fam-

ilies and young people was so large, security was forced to create a pas-sage for pedestrians to pass through.The protest was the largest pro-life rally seen in Sydney in decades. Even with so many people gathered in a small area, the crowd became silent for a minute to listen to a live heart

beat of a 26-week-old unborn child of Sydney couple Chantal and Piotr Czeczotko.Earlier in the day, NSW Premier Glad-ys Berejiklian had the vote on the bill delayed by a number of weeks, mean-ing that an outcome expected later this week now won’t be reached until at least mid-September.

“Up until now, the process has been designed to exclude your voice,” said State Liberal MP, Tanya Davies.“We now have three weeks to cause a tsunami of opposition to the office and

the ears of Premier Gladys Berejiklian.” State Liberal MP Nethaniel Smith an-grily addressed the energetic crowd, stating that “Sorry, I don’t take orders from the socialist states of Victoria and Queensland.”“We should not stand aside and let society kill a child on their birthday,” said the first-term Member for Wol-londilly.

Under the bill, now before the Leg-islative Council, terminations of pregnancy after 22 weeks would re-quire consensus from two medical practitioners on the basis that ‘in all the circumstances… the termination should be performed’, or in an emer-gency to ‘save the person’s life, or save another foetus.’The protest in Sydney’s CBD was held following the inaugural ‘Religious Freedom Forum’ at Parliament House earlier in the day, co-hosted by State Labor MP Tania Mihailuk and attend-ed by Archbishop Makarios.

Archbishop Makarios: “No law should take away a child’s right to life”Archbishop of the Greek Orthodox Church of Australia, Makarios, addressed a 10,000-strong crowd that braved the Sydney winds on Tuesday 20 August at the ‘Stand For Life’ protest at Martin Place in opposition to the proposed bill to

decriminalize abortion, currently before New South Wales Parliament.

The Greek Australian VEMA /21VEMASEPTEMBER 2019 3

Who among us can resist the drama of a play, the spectacle of theatre and the performance of a show? However, when it comes to the Divine Liturgy, can we call this sacred event in the life of the Church a performance? While the Liturgy contains elements of drama and may, from time to time, appear somewhat theatrical, does it stage the history of salvation in the same way as the performance of a Shakespearean play evokes the sto-ry of Hamlet or Macbeth? A panel of scholars recently grappled with these questions at the International Patris-tics Conference in Oxford.

The 18th International Patristics Conference was held at the Univer-sity of Oxford from 19–24 August 2019. More than 1000 scholars from around the world gathered in Oxford to explore, discuss and ponder the theological, biblical and liturgical universe of Christianity during hun-dreds of papers, panels and keynotes. St Andrew’s Greek Orthodox Theo-logical College was represented at the Conference by Dr Andrew Mellas who joined a panel of scholars to ex-plore the theology of liturgical per-formance. The panelwas convened by Fr Dr DamaskinosOlkinuora, a Finn-ish scholar and Athonite hieromonk who visited Australia a year ago (in August 2018) with the blessing of the late Archbishop Stylianos and with permission from the abbot of Xeno-phontos Monastery.

The panel consisted of three papers and two reflections. Fr Damaskinos’ paper investigated how liturgical commentaries by St Maximus the Confessor, St Germanos of Constan-tinople and St Nicholas Cabasilas portrayed liturgical performance, examining how these works situate the performative aspects of liturgy within a theological framework. A paper by Dr VesselaValiavitcharska explored the late antique distinction between mental discourse and enun-ciated speech, arguing that enunci-ated speech becomesan icon of the souland an activity of the soul, which participates in the subject of conver-sation andcontributes toward the ful-fillment of the soul. Dr Andrew Mellas presented a paper on the symphony of salvationin the hymns of St Roma-

nos the Melodist. These three papers were followed by reflectionsfrom the two discussants, Fr Dr Andreas Andreopoulos and Professor Wendy Mayer. These reflections led to fruit-ful discussion and several questions

from the audience, which featured eminent scholars from around the world, such as Professor Mary Cun-ningham, Professor Susan Ashbrook Harvey and Dr Daniel Galadza.

St Romanos’ second hymn On the Holy Nativityis a surprising and thought-provoking narrative that meditates on the events surrounding the birth of Christ.The hymn sus-

pends the history that divides and or-ders the narrative of salvation and its scriptural characters, blurring time and place. The poet takes the faithful to the days after the birth of Christ and paints a scene where Mary holds

the newborn baby in her arms and warbles a sweet song of praise to her child. But a strange thing happens—Mary’s song is heard in Hades by Eve and the slumbering Adam. The first-created humans shed tears at the feet of Theotokos who is portrayed as the spiritual paradise from which Christ—the new Adam—blossoms. Mary feels compassion and entreats the child who is God before the ages

to give Adam and Eve life. It is only then that Christ reveals to the Virgin his desire from eternity for the Pas-sion.

In Romanos’ hymn, it is God who harmonises the human race to the symphony of salvation.The Creator sketches out the construction of sal-vation before the ages as a mystery that is only revealed with the Incar-nation and Passion of Christ. Indeed, it is the death of God that redeems the faithful from the nightmare of history in the economy of salvation. It is this mystery that the Byzan-tine liturgy brought to life. However, while Christianity cultivated liturgi-cal practices that invited the faithful to perform their faith as protagonists in the theatre of the divine economy, whatdid this signify for the Byzan-tines? Christianity decried the the-atre, choosing to create a new mode of performance. The performance of liturgical hymns was not simply a remembrance of biblical events or a theatrical display of divine things; itcreated a space of participation for the faithful in the mystery of sal-vation. The liturgical world of Byz-antium staged a theological drama that went beyond the mimetic art of theatre and showed forth the reality of Christ’s sacrifice. Through sacred song and holy ritual, liturgical per-formance interwove biblical figures and events from the past and the future into the present, inviting the faithful to be protagonists in the sto-ry of salvation.

Towards a Theology of Liturgical Performance

St Andrew’s Theological College represented at International Patristics Conference

By Andrew MellasSt Andrew’s Theological College

One of the Keynotes at the Conference

Dr Andrew Mellas with Fr John Behr and Dr Daniel Galadza


The Parish of St Stylianos held its An-nual Family Dance at Doltone House Sylvania Waters on Saturday the 31st of August, 2019. It was a great suc-cess and people had a lot of fun. At the Dance the annual raffle was drawn.

The Parish would like to thank the organising Committee Voula Kous-toubardis, Helen Lakatos and Kathy Assarapin. The Parish, Fr Constan-tine, the President George Gatz and the organising committee would like to thank its sponsors at the dance and all those who attended. Also we would like to thank our dance teacher Maria Karabellas and all the children who danced. This Annual Dance and Annual Raffle are some the fundraising activities the Parish is doing to help in the es-tablishment of a child care centre next to the Church. Months of hard work allowed us to raise about $35000. The

child care centre and community fa-cilities will cost about $3million so we would appreciate peoples prayers and donations. If someone would like to donate please email Fr Constantine on: [email protected].

It was noted that the Parish has the

Consecration of the Church happen-ing on the 19th of October with our new Primate His Eminence Archbish-op Makarios. Fr Constantine hopes many of the faithful of Sydney can attend this significant event. The Consecration of a Church is part of blessing the space around us, es-

pecially our Church. The Altar and the Church are anointed with Holy Myrrh and Saints relics are put into Altar. Then the Myrrh is wiped with Holy Cloths that look like a small Epi-taphio called an “Andiminsio”. These are then sent to all the Churches with the new Archbishops signature on it and we do the Holy Liturgy on this Cloth with the Blessing of our Arch-bishop!

Also it was noted at the Dance that the next day 1st of September is the beginning of the Church year so we were really celebrating New Years Eve! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Winners of raffle: 1) B Kassaras - 5711, 2) G Kamenos - 38558, 3) Coudounaris - 16584, 4) Coudounaris - 6507, 5) A Spiroglou - 44734. Thank you to all!

Photo’s by Natasha MagdanisMC Dr. Philip Kariatlis

St Stylianos held its Annual Family Dance

4

GREEK ORTHODOX ARCHDIOCESE OF AUSTRALIA

CONSECRATION OF ST STYLIANOS CHURCH & CHAPELS DEDICATED TO STS PETER & PAUL & ST GREGORY PALAMAS

PROGRAMMEFRIDAY, 18 OCTOBER 2019

7.00 pm Presentation of the Holy Relicsand Great ArchierarchicalVespers.

SATURDAY, 19 OCTOBER 2019

7.00 am The Services of Matins

8.00 am Consecration and then followingArchierarchical Holy Liturgywith His

Eminence

Archbishop Makarios of Australia

G W C C o m m u n i t y S e r v i c e s - H e l p i n g t h o s e i n n e e d

43rd

G W C C o m m u n i t y S e r v i c e s i n c o n j u n c t i o n w i t h t h e G r e e k O r t h o d o x P a r i s h o f S t N i c h o l a s

i n v i t e y o u t o t h e

C o m e a n d w a l k w i t h o u r A r c h b i s h o p !

Sunday 20th October 2019S t N i c h o l a s G r e e k O r t h o d o x P a r i s h

2 0 3 - 2 0 7 L i v i n g s t o n e R d , M a r r i c k v i l l e

W a l k - a - t h o n R e g i s t r a t i o n s 1 1 : 0 0 a m - 1 : 0 0 p mO ffi c i a l S t a r t 1 : 3 0 p m

F o r R a f f l e t i c k e t s & f u r t h e r i n f o r m a t i o n T: ( 0 2 ) 9 5 1 6 2 1 8 8 E : e v e n t s @ g w c c s . o r g . a u


Antonis Diamataris, the Deputy For-eign Affairs Minister for Expatriate Greeks, assured Vasilis Papaster-giadis, the president of the Melbourne Greek Community, on Wednesday that the Greek state will make every effort to support Greeks throughout Australia. His remarks came during a meeting the two officials held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Athens.Diamataris stressed that Greek ex-patriates are a priority for the gov-ernment, and he asked to be briefed on the important issues facing Mel-bourne’s expatriates, particularly in the field of education.

Areas of concern for the Deputy Foreign Minister include potential teacher transfers from Greece, the establishment of student hospitality programs in Greece, and new school textbooks, as well as distance learn-ing.Papastergiadis briefed Minister Dia-mataris on Melbourne’s Greek com-

munity, which is the second-oldest Greek Diaspora hub, counting 300,000 residents of Greek descent. Melbourne is also considered the third-largest Greek-speaking city in the world, after Athens and Thessaloniki.

The Melbourne Community president said the Greek community there oper-ates schools offering courses in Greek language and culture in various sub-urbs of Melbourne. It also supports five large Greek Orthodox churches, as well as Alphington Grammar Col-lege, which has more than 2,500 stu-dents.The large Greek diaspora community in Melbourne also hosts some of the largest cultural festivals held in Aus-tralia, including the Lonsdale Greek Festival in downtown Melbourne, which attracts more than 120,000 vis-itors, and the annual Greek Film Fes-tival.

Construction on the Community’s 15-story building in central Melbourne was begun in 2014, and this new facil-ity, which houses the Hellenic Center for Contemporary Culture, is the larg-

est such community-owned building anywhere in the Greek diaspora.

The spectacular Center now sees tens of thousands of visits every year.The Center’s multifaceted offerings at their gleaming new facility also in-

clude lectures and language courses in Modern Greek and Ancient Greek, and it sponsors awards for Australian students of Greek descent.

Source: Athens – Macedonian News Agency

The year 2021 will find Greece on a course shaped by 200 years of nation-al victories, defeats and missed op-portunities, by moments of unity and decades of division, with many seri-ous issues unresolved. Aside from the celebrations commemorating the start of the Greek War of Independence, the bicentennial demands that we look so-berly, without myths or prejudice, at who we are, what we want and how we will achieve it.

Major issues have been resolved. There is no doubt that Greece is an integral part of the most advanced Western soci-ety, the European Union. Our democracy survived even the last crisis, thanks in part to our joining the great European experiment in 1981 but also because the great schisms of the past have nar-rowed. Perhaps the years of borrowed bounty helped heal the worst wounds by opening others. However, the enormous public debt, a widespread sense of enti-tlement and persecution, the almost in-stitutionalized tolerance of disobedience

and even violence as acts of protest, can-not be compared to last century’s Nation-al Division, Civil War and dictatorships. The monarchy was abolished by referen-dum in 1975, as were endless quarrels over language in 1976 (with the adoption of a simplified form of Greek). SYRIZA’s efforts, while in government, to reheat the vocabulary of the Civil War and the Cold War did not succeed. The neo-Na-zi Golden Dawn party was isolated and

failed to get into Parliament. It appears that ideological differences do not affect many of us to the point that this would shape developments.

However, the relationship between the Church of Greece and the Greek state remains unresolved. Legisla-tion has not been sufficient to make respect for every minority group, or absorption of immigrants, common-

place in practice. The clash between “autochthons” and “heterochthons” (“locals” versus Greeks from other territories), which marked the years after 1821, nepotism and clientelism live on in the way parties undermine institutions and in the deep-root-ed mentality that some groups are more deserving than the whole. The discussion on the future of the Greeks demands the right participants, with every institution, every group and every serious trend at the table. Let representatives of the church and the state, the diaspora, the intelligen-tsia, the minority groups, the industri-alists and workers, the young, the un-employed and the pensioners debate each other. Let us see what unites and what separates us. To determine who we are, to decide where we are going, we need to be serious, humble, sincere and determined.

Source: ekathimerini.com

Deputy FM for Expatriate Greeks Says Australian Greeks a Government Priority

Loose ends between 1821 and 2021

6

By Philip Chrysopoulos

By Nikos Konstandaras

Greek Deputy FM Antonis Diamataris (right) with the Melbourne Greek Community’s President Vasilis Papastergiadis

The Greek Australian VEMA /25VEMASEPTEMBER 2019

“I believe...in one Catholic, and Ap-ostolic Church”

The first thing that may strike a per-son about the book The Fellowship of St Alban and St Sergius: Orthodox and Anglican Ecumenical relations 1927 - 2012 by Dr Dimitrios Filip-pos Salapatas (publ. 2018) which takes as its subject a Fellowship now based in Oxford, is the title.

The first saint mentioned clearly belongs to Western Christendom, St Alban being the first Christian saint and martyr of Britain. Yet, in the subtitle, it is Orthodoxy which takes precedence. The reason for this becomes clear upon reading the text,

and it is because the Fellowship’s ac-tivities over the years have concen-trated on presenting Orthodoxy to the West.

While there has been criticism from time to time within the Fellowship of bias towards Orthodoxy, there has not been any intention to prosely-tise, but to increase awareness and understanding of a Faith which was

hidden from the West for hundreds of years.

This Fellowship grew out of a mutu-al desire by members of the Student Christian Movement of Great Britain and Ireland and the Russian Student Christian Movement in Exile, from 1927 onwards, to meet together with the aim of building friendships, and to pray for and work towards eventu-al reunification of the Church (albeit it in an unofficial way). Ecumenism was to be thrown more into the spot-light by the emergence of the World Council of Churches, but the Fellow-ship can take credit for laying much of the groundwork, in particular a respect for the Liturgy.

The list of members of the Fellow-ship over the years reads like a ‘who’s who’ of Orthodox theological schol-arship and debate, including histori-ans/philosophers/theologians Sergei Bulgarov, George Florovski, Vladi-mir Lossky, Metropolitan Kallistos of Diokleia, Christos Yannaras, and Andrew Louth. It has also included amongst its members Rowan Wil-liams the Archbishop of Canterbury 2003 - 2012 and, as the Orthodox President of the Fellowhip, the Most Reverend Germanos, Metropolitan of Thyateira and Exarch for Western and Central Europe of the Patriarch-ate of Constantinople (the first Or-thodox Archbishop in the West).

Most of the text concentrates on the historical development of the Fel-lowship, but the final chapters deal with two issues, one which threat-ened the continuation of any dia-logue between Orthodoxy and An-glicanism, and the other which has borne fruit. The first is the issue of ordination of women priests.

Dr Salapatas addresses this with reference to the writings and inter-views of Metropolitan Kallistos of Diokleia (whose writings have also been published under his name by birth, Timothy Ware). The second, that of icons in the Church, is ad-dressed by Salapatas through a dis-cussion of writings and interviews by the retired Archbishop of Canter-bury, Rowan Williams.

Is the book worth purchasing and reading, especially given its price of well over $AUS100 plus postage? In short, yes. No final definitive answers

are given to many of the theologi-cal issues raised, but the author, who amongst his many roles serves on the Committee of the Anglican and Eastern Churches Association (AECA) as representative of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Thyatiera and Great Britain, is well placed to clearly elucidate why the issue of women priests has posed such a threat to continuation of any dialogue. What the reader comes away with is an appreciation of the struggle of those exiled from Russia and their determination to not only adhere to their Faith, but also to

bring its beauty to the understand-ing of those with whom they came into contact, in Paris initially and then in the United Kingdom. What also comes across very strongly is not only a thirsting of knowledge about Orthodoxy amongst Angli-cans initially, later to be joined by others, but above all a strong de-sire by all of those who belong/ed to the Fellowship, for the eventual reunification of all of Christendom. While Bulgarov’s desire for the Fel-lowship to have intercommunion proved a step too far, the members have shown that with mutual re-spect, and by leaving national pol-itics out of the mix, much can be achieved between those who share a love of Christ and their fellow man.

The Fellowship of St Alban and St Sergius: Orthodox and Anglican Ec-umenical relations 1927 - 2012 by Dimitrios Filippos Salapatas, 2018

is available online through the pub-lisher Cambridge Scholars Publish-ing and Amazon

• h t t p : / / w w w . c a m b r i d g e s -cholars .com/the-fel lowship-o f - s t - a l b a n - a n d - s t - s e r g i u s

• h t t p s : / / w w w. a m a z o n . c o . u k /Fellowship-St-Alban-Sergius/dp/1527505472/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UT-F8&qid=1518436034&sr=8-1&key-words=salapatas

*Dr Ann Coward is a graduate of St An-drew’s Theological College

Arts, Food & WineEditor: Imogen Coward

Book Review:The Fellowship of St Alban & St Sergius

7

Most of the text concentrates on the historical development of the Fellowship, but the final chapters deal with two issues, one which threatened the continuation of any dialogue between Orthodoxy and Anglicanism, and the other which has borne fruit.

The reason for this becomes clear upon reading the text, and it is because the Fellowship’s activities over the years have concentrated on presenting Orthodoxy to the West.

reviewed by Dr Ann Coward*


God Parents – Why are they necessary?

In most countries of the world, to immigrate from another country and to become a permanent resi-dent you will require a sponsor. A

sponsor has to be someone who is al-ready a citizen or a permanent resident in that country to which you wish to emigrate and who is willing to vouch for you, look after you, help you get ‘on your feet’, find a job, find a place to live, learn the rule of the country and adopt the local way of life. Can you imagine if the new migrant did not have a sponsor? Imagine how hard life would be with nobody to show them

the way. Many migrants would fall into despair and fail in their new coun-try. Quite possibly, they would even-tually leave their new country and go back to their old country.In the Church the same logical prin-ciples apply. When welcoming a new person (a catechumen) into the Church, it is a rule of the Church that they are assigned a sponsor. The sponsor is often given the name ‘God Parent’, especially when the catechu-men is a child. The sponsor must be a baptised member of the Church and in good standing with the Church. In the early Church, the Bishop had to ap-prove people to be allowed to sponsor

others into the Church. Church liter-ature of the second century suggests that the sponsors of the first centuries were usuallydeacons,deaconesses, her-mits, virgins, and in general, persons dedicated to the service of the Church and thus capable of teaching the new-ly-baptised in the truths of the Chris-tian faith. According to the “Apostolic

Canons” (3, 16), a male Christian was obliged to take onedeacon, and a wom-an onedeaconessas sponsor. According to the Rudder, the person baptised, “when he leaves the saving bath, must be received by one faithful person.”People can be baptised at any age. Usually if they are born into an Ortho-dox Christian family, they are baptised as soon as possible. However, other people learn about God later in life and may choose to be baptised as teen-agers or adults. If one is baptised as a baby, then the Godparent takes on the responsibility of promising, on behalf of the child, to keep the Faith. If the catechumen is of age when baptised,

then the sponsor is more of a coach or guide for the catechumen who must take personal responsibility for their own decision to become a Christian.So as you can see, to serve as a Godparent is both a special honour and imposes responsibilities.

The rules of our Church are that a sponsor must:

• Be older than 12;• Have a sound knowledge of the

faith;• Not be guilty of overt sins, or in

general a person who in the opin-ion of the community has fallen in his or her moral life;

• Be a baptised Orthodox Christian.

The responsibilities of the Godparent only just begin at baptism. The role re-ally expands and hopefully blossoms as the Godparent and Godchild devel-op a close and loving relationship. As with any relationship, this spiritual one needs to be fostered and cared for in order for it to develop. The best way for this relationship to grow is through prayer. Pray for your Godchild and his or her parents. At the same time, the parents should encourage their child to pray for the Godparents. By doing this you are encouraging a relation-ship and giving it the spiritual basis on which to mature.

If you are a godparent you might consider the following advice:

• Model your faith through your actions. Understand the sacra-ments as well as the teachings of the Church so that you will

By Rev. Fr. Nicholas Stavropoulos

be able to answer questions that your Godchild may have.

• Encourage the faith life through the types of gifts that you give your Godchild. Some examples of gifts are a bible, prayer book, books on the lives of saints, a prayer rope, an icon etc. By do-ing this you are giving tools to help your Godchild grow in the faith, and are helping him/her to start a personal library of Or-thodox teachings.

• If you live in close proximity to your Godchild make your-self available to spend time with him or her. Find out when school activities and sports events are scheduled and try to go to a few. Plan a special time, whether for lunch or a trip to the zoo, to be with your Godchild. These times together will only help to make your re-lationship closer.

• If you live far away, call, write, or e-mail your Godchild. Send a message or telephone at the be-ginning of a church season (Ad-vent, Lent, etc.) to let him or her know that you will be praying for him. If possible, plan visits to see your Godchild.

• Emphasize the spiritual aspects of holy days. Make it a tradition to read the stories of the Nativ-ity and Pascha with your god-child, and help his or her par-ents downplay the material and commercial aspects (Santa, the Easter Bunny, loads of loot in pretty wrapping). Give empha-sis to the feasts of the Church instead.

• Ask what your godchild is learn-ing in Sunday school… Discuss the lesson of the week.

• Help your godchild serve God. Choose a service project to work at regularly together, such as working at a hot-meal program or visiting parishioners in the hospital.

• Make your godchild “one of the family”. Include your godchild, and his or her parents and sib-lings, in your own family’s “so-cial” events: reunions, picnics, camping trips, and zoo and mu-seum outings.

• Attend church with your god-child and take Holy communion together. This is the ultimate lesson that Christ is the centre of your lives.


Here are some photographs that should make you sad. Not too many wordsare necessary to describe what

is called the Septemvriana.

For those who are unfmailiar with these events, it was a pogrom that occurred in September 1955.An or-ganised riot of huge proportions was aimed at the Greeks of Constantinople.

Greeks had been permitted to remain in Constantinople under the terms of the 1923 poulation exchange. They went on to suffer occupational restric-tions and being Greeks they thrived in business and commerce. They endured pesecution such as the Varlik Vergisi (an oppressive wealth tax designed to lead to financial ruin). In 1955, the remnants of the Greek population in Constaninople were still

around 119,822. Fol-lowing the Istanbul riots, they have been reduced to a few thou-sand today. It is true that Greeks have occupied what is now modern Turkey since ancient times (maybe second mil-lenium BC). The his-torian Spero Vryonis writes: “…Greeks possess one of the longest, continuous, and most extensively recorded history in the Mediterranean basin…”. They feel some nostalgia but in modern times it is hardly a threat.There is no valid reason, for instance, why the Theological School of Halki, should have been closed since 1971; or why Patriarch Bartholomew has to

witness Christian tombs that were des-ecrated in a historic Istanbul cemetery in September 2009 (see photo, AsiaN-ews.it).

There are some good reasons why we should honour and respect and sup-port our Patriarchate.

So, remember September.

Letter from Maroubra

MARIOS PASASFOR ALL YOUR HOME

& BUSINESS LOANS

Authorised Credit Representative �516492�

TRUST - EMPATHY - ACCREDITED WITH 30 LENDERS

isplayDoanL

Are you paying too much?Are you struggling to get theamount you want?Do you know how much thebanks will lend to you?Don't have enough deposit?Credit score issues?Consolidate your loans

Call 1300 617 510 for afree consultation

www.loandisplay.com.au

REMEMBER, REMEMBER THE 6TH SEPTEMBER

9


That’s a wrap!Byzanfest 2019

This year’s Festival has been very spe-cial in many ways. So far, it’s been the most successful Byzanfest. Now in its third year, this international Orthodox film festival grew in ways I never imagined. Reaching audienc-es both online and through organised venue screenings, Byzanfest has truly cemented itself as an innovative and global cultural event.

The Global Première screening took place at St Haralambos Greek Orthodox Church, Melbourne on Sunday 21st July as a red carpet event to officially

kick off the Festival. Thenon Sunday 4th August in Melbourne, Australia, the winners were announced. After extensive consideration by the judg-ing panel and global audience votes, the winning filmmakers are:

• Best Film: The Throne of St Sava – by Jakov Popov

• Best Director: Christmas Anti-Fa-ble – by Efthimios Hatzis

• Best Cinematography: Christmas Anti-fable – by Efthimios Hatzis

• Best Screenplay: The Lonely In-ventor – by Nicholas Shaheen

• Best Documentary: Under the Archangels’ Wings – by Dinu Cris-tian

• Audience Favourite: Icons – by Craig DiRienzo

The award ceremony was streamed live on the Festival’s Facebook page with several of the nominated film-makers appearing via Skype. It was a profound experience to be able to engage with filmmakers on the other side of the world whilst streaming to a global audience. At last count, the award ceremony has been viewed over 1,000 times.

The Festival has evolved from a virtual event to a real-world one with 11 Glob-al Screening Partners having held ven-ue screenings in Australia, USA, Cana-da, Serbia and Kenya. Most held Skype Q&A sessions after each screening where I was able to answer audiences’ questions and provide in-depth analy-sis of the films. Byzanfest attempted to reach audiences, despite separated by distance, on a personal level through digital technology. My favourite Skype session was with Kenya where I got to have fantastic conversations with a very enthusiastic audience of youths. Their sincere interest in Or-thodox films was truly heartwarming.

For many, this was their first experi-ence of watching Orthodox-focused films. Byzanfest is proud to be able to share with the world the richness and complexity of Orthodox visual story-telling. The Festival was ac-cessed by over 6,500 unique audience members with films being viewedover 19,000 times!That works out to be 3standard sized commercialcinemas, fully seated, each day the festival ran!

By Chris VlahonasiosByzanfest Founder & Director

What also makes these statistics even more remarkable is – at the time this article was written – only five days af-ter the Awards Night, the films were viewed an additional 7,500 times! This isdue to the fact many people only just discovered the Festival. It’s for this reason the films remain available on-line to view long after each Festival is over.

Byzanfest was overwhelmed by the amount of media coverage from lo-caland international news agencies. Orthodox media outlets, just to name a few, included: OCN, Pemptousia, Ba-silica, and Orthodox News Agency, as well as a host of other outlets, includ-ing: Herald Sun, SBS Radio, NeosKos-mos, Manningham Leader newspaper and Russian Sputnik. This PR has helpedauthenticate the Festival’s rep-utation as a prestigious and important creative event for Orthodox filmmak-ers worldwide.

Byzanfest is incredibly grateful to its sponsors – Orama World, Ikonograph-ics, Al Orthodoxiya Radio and Price-less Imagery – for their support and belief in the Festival. As well as the time taken by our judges, Dr. Norris Chumley, Ivan Jovic &Nicholas Savas.

Given the profound excitement and interest, planning has already started for Byzanfest 2020. The plan is to raise greater awareness of the Festival’s goals, which are:to encourage more Orthodox-inspired creative content,make such films more accessible and on-demand to global audiences, and to evangelise through art, culture and entertainment whilst maintaining the completeness of the Faith.Byzanfest can organise screenings, selecting the very best short and fea-ture-length films from its collection. Contact can be made through our web-site.

Just because the Awards Night has passed, does not mean the festival has ended. All 12 finalists will be still be available to view, indefinitely! The purpose is to showcase and inspire Orthodox and non-Orthodox audiences of the richness and creativity of Ortho-dox films. Go to www.byzanfest.com to watch anytime on any device, entirely for free! Make sure to LIKE our page for Festival developments and other exciting movies.

www.byzanfest.comwww.facebook.com/Byzanfest


But amidst all the euphoria, we should not forget the main reason why the museum was built – namely, to counter

the British argument that the Greeks did not have a suitable museum for the Parthenon Sculptures even if they were ever returned to Athens. For years the British Museum had dread-ed the moment when a new museum would rise from the ground in Athens. In fact, on March 22, 1991, the former keeper of Greek and Roman antiqui-ties at the museum, Brian Cook, had sent a memo to the BM director with this warning: “The next phase of the campaign for repatriation is likely to begin any time after the actual start of construction of the new Acropolis Museum. The problem has not gone away, it is merely in hibernation; and when it wakes up, our successors will find that it is fiercer than before”. The Greeks had also assumed the new museum would complete the case for return. As a 2002 report in the Washing-ton Post noted, Greece was building the museum in hope of reinforcing efforts to change the negative stance of the British government and “shaming the British government into giving back sculptures taken two centuries ago”. Prior to the actual unveiling of the museum in 2009, then Prime Minis-ter Costas Karamanlis declared: “Once the museum is completed, Greece will have a very strong argument for the return of the Parthenon Sculptures. We are taking a very important step to finally realize a dream that unites all Greeks”.

The Acropolis Museum has therefore always been the centerpiece of the campaign for the return of the Parthe-non Sculptures, but unfortunately it was assumed that, once built, the case for return would be beyond question. For a start, the British Museum had other ideas. Over the last decade it has carefully rebranded itself as the universal museum, the “museum of

the Enlightenment”, the “collective memory of mankind”, a museum at the “center of a conversation with the world,” and therefore the logical re-pository for the marbles. Today, it ar-rogantly describes itself as the “muse-um of and for the world”.According to the British Museum, the life of the Elgin Marbles as part of the story of the Parthenon is over and they are now part of another nar-rative, that of the British Museum in London, in a not too subtle attempt to suppress the context of their origin. In April 2018, for example, the British Museum hauled some 12 pedimental sculptures, metopes and parts of the frieze into a separate hall in the mu-seum under the pretext of displaying these works of art together with sculp-tures by the renowned French sculptor Auguste Rodin.In its press release the British Muse-um stressed that the exhibition “will provide a new opportunity to focus on

the Parthenon Sculptures as individu-al works rather than as part of an en-semble” as an obvious counter to the claim that the sculptures are integral to a unique monument.While Greece may have a new muse-um in Athens, the BM has devised a new political and diplomatic playbook by which it promotes the sculptures as individual works of art which can be dispersed or dismembered as the trust-ees see fit, with no intention of ever returning the collection to Athens. Meanwhile, cultural diplomacy via mediation through UNESCO has been rejected. Resolutions made at the UN-ESCO Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultur-al Property over the last 30 years for meaningful negotiations to be con-ducted between Greece and Great Brit-ain have also been routinely ignored by the British side.So, while we can justifiably celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Acrop-

olis Museum as a magnificent mu-seum and the unifying element for the Parthenon and its sculptures, the unfortunate reality is that we are re-ally no closer to the marbles’ return. The next Greek government needs to carefully reassess its approach and to embrace all available political, diplo-matic and legal options to bring about an effective resolution so that one day, when all the known surviving sculp-tures are finally reunited from the British Museum and elsewhere, the Parthenon Gallery on the top floor of the Acropolis Museum can truly be regarded as the most famous sin-gle room of Classical Greek art in the world. Only then will the Greek Stones truly speak.

* George Vardas is vice chair of Aus-tralians for the Return of the Parthe-non Sculptures.

Source: ekathimerini.com

What now for the return of the Parthenon Sculptures?

11

By George Vardas*

On June 20, Greece and the world museum community celebrated the 10th an-niversary of the inauguration of the Acropolis Museum in Athens. The state-of-the-art museum is rightly regarded as a defining structure that has established a dialogue, across time and space, between the sculptural works it houses and the

Sacred Rock itself.


Its proximity to the coast of Asia Minor has made Samos a link between the two cultures, his-torically helping to forge the co-

operation and friendship of the two cultures living across the water from each other.It is the island where the astronomer Aristarchus, who introduced helio-centrism, the astronomical model in which the planets revolve around the sun, formed his celestial theories.Samos was also home to other brilliant men, including Pythagoras, the philos-opher and the father of mathematics, and the philosopher Epicurus. The land was also home to the Greek histo-rian Herodotus, who often referred to as the “Father of History,” and Aesop, the Greek storyteller and fabulist.It was also the mythical birthplace of Hera, the goddess of women, family, marriage, and childbirth. Hera was the wife as well as the sister of Zeus, serv-ing as a defender of the idea of mar-riage and monogamy. She spent most of her time trying to prevent Zeus from being unfaithful and was said to torture the children he had from those affairs, including Hercules.The island came into frequent con-tact with important Mediterranean cultures throughout its history, since it was an important center of trade in the Aegean and a major naval force in ancient times.Apart from its fascinating legends, the island has beautiful natural land-scapes filled with color. The natural environment of the island makes one think of the Greek mainland in min-iature, with its caves, canyons, and

mountains (such as Mt. Kerkis and Mt. Ambelos) which receive large amounts of precipitation and have alpine winter temperatures.Let us explore what this legendary is-land has to offer.

WITNESSING AN ANCIENT CULTURE

Heraion of Samos According to the historian Herodo-tus, Samos was home to the largest temple in Greece. The temple, dedi-cated to the goddess Hera, features a sanctuary called the Heraion of Sa-mos, and is located in the southern part of the island.

The Tunnel of Eupalinos The Tunnel of Eupalinos is a tun-nel for water which used to be the middle section of a huge aqueduct named Eupalinos. This is also the name of its architect, who was a well-known engineer in ancient

times.The tunnel was built during the reign of Polycrates in the sixth cen-tury B.C. This tunnel bears witness to the great engineering knowledge possessed by the ancient Greeks.

The Castle of Lykourgos Logothetis Constructed relatively recently, in the nineteenth century, the Castle was a great example of defensive architec-ture, and different remains of archae-ological monuments were used to con-struct it.

The Castle received its name from Lykourgos Logothetis, the leader of the Revolution against the Turks. The Castle played a significant role in the Revolution and was used as its head-quarters.

The Roman Baths The ruins of Thermes, the Roman bath complex which was constructed in the second century AD, are found

just outside the town of Pythagorion. These ancient Roman baths were part of the athletic complex of the ancient city of Samos, which also included a stadium, a palaestra (a wresting school), and a gymnasium.

The Cave of Pythagoras The Cave is where Pythagoras, a phi-losopher and the father of mathematics, found refuge from Polycrates, the tyrant of Samos, who was pursuing him. It is found on the eastern side of Mount Kerk-is, the highest mountain of the Aegean.

THINGS TO DO

Visit the convents of Zoodochos Pigi Aliotissa (Greek Ζωοδόχου πηγής = Life-Giving Force), which was founded in 1756 by the monk Dorotheus, as well as the monastery of Agia Zoni, with its splendid library, and the church of Timi-os Stavros, with its impressive throne.Built at the entrance of Pythagoras’ Cave, where the ancient Greek mathe-matician found refuge, are the steps up

to the church of Panagia Sarandaskali-otissa. Be sure to climb these steps for the very worthwhile visit to this beau-tiful church.

Source: greece.greekreporter.com

12

Vathy, the capital of Samos

Agia Zoni Monastery. Panagia Sarandaskaliotissa.

Exploring Samos, The Island of LegendsSamos, a legendary Greek island steeped in beauty, is found in the

eastern Aegean Sea off the coast of Asia Minor (Asian Turkey).

the greek australian vema

Documents