The Greek Herald’s Easter print edition seen on SKAI TV

·

The President of the Greek Community of Melbourne, Bill Papastergiadis, was hosted on SKAI TV’s breakfast program this week and spoke about how the Greeks of Australia will celebrate Orthodox Easter.

Mr Papastergiadis stressed that Greek Australians follow all Easter traditions, and mentioned The Greek Herald‘s special 80-page print edition for Orthodox Easter published on Saturday, April 27.

“The Greeks of Australia celebrate Easter massively and with splendour. Imagine that there are about 50 Greek Orthodox churches in Melbourne and tens of thousands attend the service in the churches. The first church was built by the Greek Community of Melbourne in 1900…” Mr Papastergiadis said at first.

Mr Papastergiadis then referred to The Greek Herald‘s Easter edition to commemorate Orthodox Easter: “Let me show you the cover of The Greek Herald that came out. A local Greek newspaper that had prepared 80 pages for the celebration of Easter. Hellenism in this country normally celebrates Easter just like in Greece.

Asked about the Melbourne community and the celebrations in the churches, Mr Papastergiadis replied, “It should be pointed out that on Good Friday at the Epitaph procession we close all the streets around the church, the bells ring, but unfortunately, we don’t have the fireworks and rockets that you have in Greece. There have been 2-3 people injured before and they take more notice of this. The food is similar, however, as well as the tsourekia we have; the red eggs, we skewer lambs and cockerels, we have it all here. Imagine that in my law firm where most of my clients are Australian, I send them a tsoureki on Good Friday. I do that for about 100 clients, so that they also understand that there is multiculturalism in Australia and the customs and traditions continue. At the Resurrection last year we had our Prime Minister attend, he came down with us too.”

Mr Papastergiadis was also asked about participation through postal voting for the June 9 European elections:

“As for the postal vote, not too many people have registered. It is a few thousand, because for many years, unfortunately, the country had ignored the diaspora and there was no interest in participating. I believe that with time and in the next election the participation will increase, but at the moment we are not talking about too many,” he said.

Advertisement

Share:

KEEP UP TO DATE WITH TGH

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

Advertisement

Latest News

Darwin’s Greek community marks OXI Day with pride and unity

The Greek Orthodox Community of North Australia (GOCNA) commemorated OXI Day with a ceremony honouring Greece’s defiance.

Consul General of Greece in Sydney meets with NSW Governor

George Skemperis, the new Consul General of Greece in Sydney, was formally received by NSW Governor Margaret Beazley AC KC.

Sydney’s Cretan community to honour Arkadi Monastery Holocaust anniversary

The Cretan Association of Sydney and NSW will mark the 159th anniversary of the Holocaust of the Arkadi Monastery.

Historic first Divine Liturgy celebrated at Mount Gambier’s new Greek Orthodox church

The first Divine Liturgy was celebrated at the newly established Church of St Haralambos, marking the first permanent Orthodox church.

102-year-old ANZAC Leslie Cook receives letter of gratitude from Greece’s Prime Minister

ANZAC veteran Leslie Cook, one of the surviving soldiers of the Battle of Crete, has received a letter of gratitude from Greek PM Mitsotakis.

You May Also Like

Greece sends condolences after South Korean plane crash kills 179

Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs has expressed deep condolences following the tragic plane crash in South Korea, which claimed 179 lives.

Greek designer stitches together ‘The Thread’ production at Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus

Internationally acclaimed British choreographer Russell Maliphant, Greek composer Vangelis and London-based Greek fashion designer Mary Katrantzou have joined their formidable forces in “The Thread,”...

Mitsotakis becomes first Greek PM to visit Moldova, pledges energy and EU support

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has made a historic visit to Moldova — the first by a Greek head of government.