Clayton Church: How the Clayton Community together with Archbishop Makarios healed a century long schism

·

The Victorian and Australian Greek Orthodox community celebrated a historical event today (Thursday 12/12) and yesterday (Wednesday (11/12), as Archbishop Makarios officially marked the end of the Holy Temple of St Spyridon’s (Clayton, VIC) schism from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia. 

Clayton’s caution from entering the Archdiocese led to a social stigma that regarded people in the area to be labelled “schismatic”.

In October, the 99.5% of the members of Clayton’s church decided they were willing for their church to finally become part of the Australian Archdiocese.

The church’s change of position aligned with the admission of the new Archbishop, His Eminence Makarios.

The reason Clayton was so comfortable finally accepting the Archdiocese was because they were assured nothing would change about the current running of their church. The only change would be that the Archdiocese will have the title of the church. Their priest will remain the same, but be awarded tools from the Archdiocese to assist in his liturgies.

The Church saw new opportunities with Archbishop Makarios. They were assured that nothing would happen to the church while there are still Greek Orthodox members who attend.

The division from the Archdiocese created a bit of a rift in the community, with families who attended the churches of the Archdiocese not being able to attend weddings, christenings, funerals etc. that were held at Clayton’s St Spyridon church, due to the schism. 

The Greek community are mainly positive about the unification of the churches, as it was creating rifts between friends and families, as well as the wider Orthodox community.

His Eminence addressed the unification in a letter, which surrounded the topic of discontinuing the “mistakes of the past”.

Advertisement

Share:

KEEP UP TO DATE WITH TGH

By subscribing you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

Advertisement

Latest News

Earlwood’s Greek spirit centre stage as ‘Plateia’ Festival secures state funding

The City of Canterbury Bankstown will host the “Love Earlwood” festival thanks to the NSW Government’s Open Streets 2025-28 Program.

Greek Consul General honoured at Hellenic Club farewell event in Sydney

Sydney’s Greek community came together on Thursday for a dignified farewell dinner in honour of Greece’s Consul General, Ioannis Mallikourtis

Field of candidates announced for 2025 Greek Community of Melbourne Board election

Greek Community of Melbourne has officially called elections for a new Board of Directors, with members set to head to the polls on June 29.

Australia Cup 2025: Strong Greek heritage club presence as Final 32 locked in

The cast for the Hahn Australia Cup 2025 Round of 32 has been decided following the completion of the Preliminary Rounds.

Apostolakis and Trimis named on Young Matildas squad for upcoming training camp

CommBank Young Matildas Head Coach Alex Epakis has settled on a 32-player squad for a domestic training camp to be held in Sydney.

You May Also Like

Arsenal youngster Konstantinos Mavropanos completes loan transfer to FC Nurnberg

Konstantinos Mavropanos has left Arsenal to join Bundesliga 2 team FC Nurnberg on loan for the rest of the 2019/2020 football season.

A virtual tour of the permanent Greek Revolution exhibition at the Athens War Museum

The years of the Revolution of 1821 have been revived through a permanent collection of rare artifacts at the War Museum in Athens.

Greek-owned restaurants win big in the NSW excellence awards

The winners of the 2022 Restaurant & Catering Awards for Excellence in NSW have been announced and four Greek-owned restaurants won.