His Eminence Archbishop Makarios welcomed with open arms the delegation of the ‘Pontoxeniteas’ Association of New South Wales at the offices of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese Australia in Sydney’s central district.
President Mrs Maria Anthony, Vice-President Mr Demetrios Kouklides and Past president Mrs. Helen Makris presented to His Eminence the history, current activity and vision of the Pontoxeniteas Committee for the future direction of Pontian Hellenism in New South Wales.
“As with His Eminence, the vision of ‘Pontoxeniteas’ is fixed on the future,” stated Mrs Anthony. “On the continuation and development of rich Pontian Hellenic history, language and culture with the next generations. On behalf of ‘Pontoxeniteas’, I thank His Eminence for the opportunity to meet, for the warm welcome and for the opportunity to work with him.”
The delegation from ‘Pontoxeniteas’ presented to His Eminence an Aboriginal Australian artwork titled ‘The Seven Sisters’, one of the core paintings of the night sky star Dreaming. The artwork depicted seven sisters running away from the Jampijnpa man, across the lands. Finally, they launch themselves from a steep hill into the night sky, in an attempt to finally escape his unwanted attentions.
The Sisters make up the cluster of stars known to the ancient Hellenes and to the western world as the Pleiades, one of the groups nearest to the Earth. A beautiful First Nations’ Dreaming story with resonance with ancient Hellenic mythology.
