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Thousands of Greeks across Australia take part in Good Friday processions

The Greek Herald
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Thousands of Greeks across Australia take part in Good Friday processions

Good Friday processions in Australia’s Greek Orthodox Churches saw thousands of Greeks gather for the first time in two years to commemorate the death of Jesus Christ.

One of the most widely attended rites on Good Friday is the Epitaphios threnos (funerary lamentation). The word epitaphios is an adjective meaning “funerary, happening on a grave”, originating from Thucydides’ famous “Pericles’ Funeral Oration”.

Within a liturgical context, this is also the name of an icon, usually made of cloth and richly embroidered, depicting the body of Christ being laid in the grave, often by the Virgin Mary and some disciples.

On Good Friday morning, the icon is placed on a platform, resembling a bier, typically topped with a kouvouklion, an elaborately carved wood canopy. In the evening the service begins; near the end of the ceremony, the canopied platform bearing the icon is lifted on the shoulders of priests or churchgoers (usually four to six people) and carried through the streets. 

After the COVID-19 pandemic saw people celebrate Easter from home last year, thousands turned up to churches across Australia to bless the Epitaphios.

The Greek Herald has compiled a gallery of Epitaphios from Greek churches in Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide and Darwin.

Sydney

  • Greek Orthodox Parish of Kogarah.
  • Greek Orthodox Parish of St Stylianos Gymea
  • St Spyridon Parish.
  • Saint Paraskevi Greek Orthodox Church Blacktown
  • St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, Marrickville.

St Nektarios Church, Burwood:

The St Nektarios Church in Burwood held their Good Friday Lamentations and traditional Procession with Mayor of Burwood, Cr John Faker, and Member for Strathfield and Leader of the Opposition, Ms Jodi McKay MP, in attendance, as well as His Eminence Metropolitan Seraphim of Sevasteia.

Melbourne

  • Saint Panteleimon, Dandenong.
  • All photos sourced from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia District of Northcote Victoria.
  • All photos sourced from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia District of Northcote Victoria.
  • All photos sourced from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia District of Northcote Victoria.
  • All photos sourced from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia District of Northcote Victoria.
  • All photos sourced from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia District of Northcote Victoria.
  • All photos sourced from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia District of Northcote Victoria.
  • All photos sourced from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia District of Northcote Victoria.
  • All photos sourced from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia District of Northcote Victoria.
  • All photos sourced from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia District of Northcote Victoria.

Adelaide

  • Saint George Greek Orthodox Church Thebarton.
  • Greek Orthodox Parish of Prophet Elias Norwood.

Canberra

St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, Canberra.

Darwin

Photo by Georgia Politis Photography.

Multiculturalism Minster Geoff Lee sends Easter message to Greek Orthodox community

The Greek Herald
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Multiculturalism Minster Geoff Lee sends Easter message to Greek Orthodox community

Minister for Multiculturalism Dr Geoff Lee has sent a message to Greek Australians marking Orthodox Easter this week.

Full Message:

I would like to wish everyone a blessed and safe Orthodox Easter. This is an important time of year for Christians, marking the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The sacrifices we made last year, being physically apart and adapting our Easter traditions, not only saved lives, but have allowed us to once again celebrate Easter together. This year, we can once again come together with family and friends and give thanks for overcoming the challenges of the past year.

I am especially grateful to our religious leaders and clergy who adapted church services to comply with public health advice, shared vital health messages and connected with their communities online during this difficult time. I take this opportunity to thank you for your support over the past year.

I wish you and your loved ones a safe and blessed Easter.

Greek PM sends condolences to Israel after dozens killed at religious festival

The Greek Herald
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Greek PM sends condolences to Israel after dozens killed at religious festival

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis expressed his condolences to Israel over the tragedy that unfolded during a religious celebration at Mount Meron, where 45 worshipers were killed and at least 112 have been injured.

“Our thoughts today are with the people of Israel. On behalf of the people of Greece I would like to express my deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims of the tragic accident at Mount Meron,” he said in a tweet on his official account.

“We wish you courage and strength during these trying times,” he added. 

The stampede began when large numbers of people thronged a narrow tunnel-like passage during the event, according to witnesses and video footage. People began falling on top of each other near the end of the walkway, as they descended slippery metal stairs, witnesses said.

Video footage showed large numbers of people, most of them black-clad ultra-Orthodox men, squeezed in the tunnel. Initial reports said police barricades had prevented people from exiting quickly.

The stampede occurred during the celebrations of Lag BaOmer at Mount Meron, the first mass religious gathering to be held legally since Israel lifted nearly all restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who briefly visited Mount Meron around midday Friday, said it was “one of the worst disasters that has befallen the state of Israel” and offered condolences to the families. He said Sunday would be a day of national mourning.

The festival attracted tens of thousands of attendees. Photo: Reuters

The death toll at Mount Meron was on par with the number of people killed in a 2010 forest fire, which is believed to be the deadliest civilian tragedy in the country’s history.

Katerina Sakellaropoulou, President of the Hellenic Republic, said she was “saddendened and shocked” of the terrible accident at Mount Meron.

“I wish to express to President Rivlin, the families of the victims and the people of Israel my deepest condolences for the loss of innocent lives,” she said in a tweet.

Man faces court after pleading guilty to murdering Greek Australian Frankie Prineas

The Greek Herald
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Man faces court after pleading guilty to murdering Greek Australian Frankie Prineas

Jayscen Anthony Newby faced ACT Supreme Court yesterday for the murder of Frankie Victor Prineas, who he stabbed almost 40 times after finding him in bed with a woman he once dated.

According to the statement of facts tendered in court, The Daily Telegraph reports, Newby had been on a night out with friends in Civic before catching a taxi to the woman’s home in Charnwood just after 1:00am on January 11, 2020.

Newby grabbed a knife from the kitchen then barged in and attacked the unsuspecting Mr Prineas as the woman begged him to stop.

After leaving the house, Newby drove to his mother’s home where he confessed to her, saying he had found the woman “screwing some guy” and that he “got him with a knife”.

Frankie Prineas was murdered by Jayscen Newby. Picture: Facebook/Supplied.

Mr Prineas died just over an hour later at the Canberra Hospital and Newby handed himself into police the next day.

Mr Prineas’s family members told the court he was a caring son, brother and cousin who was taken in the prime of his life when he was stabbed to death at Charnwood in January last year.

Mr Prineas’s father, Victor Prineas, told the court Newby “deserves no mercy” for killing his son, and should be handed a long jail term.

Photo: ABC News/Isaac Nowroozi

Mr Prineas’s mother, Phillipena Prineas, said her son was popular, loving and had his whole life ahead of him.

“Every fibre in my body aches for my son,” she said.

The court heard hundreds of people showed up at Mr Prineas’s funeral, and more than a thousand at a memorial car cruise held in his honour.

Newby will be sentenced on June 2.

‘I don’t trust Greek Cypriots’: Erdogan weighs in on failed Cyprus talks

The Greek Herald
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‘I don’t trust Greek Cypriots’: Erdogan weighs in on failed Cyprus talks

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Friday criticized the attitude of Greek Cypriots regarding the Cyprus issue, saying that “they have never been honest” in their stance.

The United Nations has been trying to negotiate a deal ending a decades-long dispute over the divided Mediterranean island, but the first talks since 2017 broke up in Geneva on Thursday without making progress.

“I don’t trust or believe Greek Cypriots. They have never acted honestly,” the Turkish leader said referring to the the Greek Cypriot administration of Southern Cyprus 

“Now the talks have been pushed back two or three months and I again, don’t know that anything will be achieved, because they never spoke truthfully,” he added.

READ MORE: Greek Cypriots swiftly reject proposed ‘two-state solution’ at UN talks
READ MORE: UN chief ‘realistic’ at start of fresh bid to resolve Cyprus stalemate

The informal 5+1 talks – including both sides on the island, plus the guarantor states of Turkey, Greece, and the UK plus the UN – were meant to break the stalemate on the island and pave the way for future talks.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Thursday, the last day of the talks, that there is “no common ground yet” to resume formal negotiations on resolving the decades-old Cyprus problem.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres attends a news conference after a 5+1 Meeting on Cyprus at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland April 29, 2021. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

Guterres summarized the two sides’ positions: The Turkish Cypriots believe that decades of efforts to ensure a “bi-zonal, bicommunal federation” have been exhausted and they now deserve “equal international status” like that enjoyed by the Nicosia government run by Greek Cypriots in the south.

The Greek Cypriots held to their position for a federation “with political equality on the basis of relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions,” Guterres said.

The two sides have differing views on how to resolve the issue.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres attends a news conference after a 5+1 Meeting on Cyprus at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland April 29, 2021. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse

“There is not one single chance of Turkey or the Turkish Cypriot side succeeding in this. This was something that was pointed out by the (United Nations) secretary-general,” Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades told reporters in Geneva.

The informal 5+1 talks – including both sides on the island, plus the guarantor states of Turkey, Greece, and the UK plus the UN – were meant to break the stalemate on the island and pave the way for future talks.

Guterres said on Thursday, the last day of the talks, that there is “no common ground yet” to resume formal negotiations on resolving the decades-old Cyprus problem.

Following the three days of informal talks, Guterres added that he will convene another round of 5+1 talks to move the process forward.

What is the custom of Protomagia (1st of May) and why do Greeks celebrate it?

The Greek Herald
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What is the custom of Protomagia (1st of May) and why do Greeks celebrate it?

In many countries, 1st of May is International Labour Day. In Greece, Labour day is also celebrated and is called Protomagia (which literally means the first day of May).

On this day, people usually spend time with their families, and go to the countryside for picnics, kite-flying and wildflower picking which they then use to make a wreath. The day is celebrated as a national holiday in Greece and all shops are closed. 

May is a month of joy for Greeks. The most known custom is the May wreath which is hung to the main door of the house on the 1st of May. It is kept there until the 24th of June when the wreaths are burnt in bonfires known as St. John’s fires.

The wreath is always made with colourful flowers, it is placed on the front door as per tradition, to welcome the beauty of nature and symbolises rebirth. In urban cities, you can buy beautiful knitted wreaths in flower shops. But Greek families tend to gather that day in the countryside to appreciate nature.

May Day has roots from ancient times

Maios (May in Greek), the last month of Spring, was named after the Goddes Maja, who was named after the ancient word Maia (the nurse, mother in other words, Goddess of Fertility). It was named after the Goddess of fertility because during spring all the plants that had died during winter were reborn.

According to Greek legend, the month of May has two meanings: the rebirth and death, but also the good and the bad. The good and the bad can be seen as the battle between Summer and Winter, and the struggles accociated with the harsh conditions of Winter versus how the summer times would overcome these struggles.

There is also a realtion to Dimitra, the goddess of agriculture, and her daughter Persephone, who was taken to the underworld by Hades. According to the myth Pesphone’s mother was so upset her daughter was gone that everything began to die, when her daughter did come back to earth, everything began to bloom again. The myth is strong symbol of the rebirth of nature and the begging of summer, just as the May Day celebrations.  

The ancient May Day celebrations have been passed throughout the centuries kept alive by different rituals and practices.

The Αnthesteria was one of the oldest and earliest flower celebrations. The Anthesteria contained a number of rituals and ceremonies in which Greeks carried flowers to sanctuaries and temples. This ritual first began in Athens and then later was celebrated in other cities.

Even when the Romans invaded Greece, these rituals continued to exist, although with minor changes. Both Ancient Romans and Greeks believed that flowers represented power, glory, happiness and joy. 

In many other regions of Greece May is personified with the “Magiopoulo” which means May child. In this tradition, a child is decorated with flowers and wanders around the village streets with other people around him singing and dancing songs about May.

In Nafpaktos, the “May child” is accompanied by elderly men who wear the traditional fustanela skirts, and hold with them willow tree blossoms. In Parga, children from the early morning visit neighbours houses and sing songs about May holding branches of an orange tree. Each region of Greece celebrates this day slightly differently, but the message of the rebirth of nature is consistent. 

Protomagia began as a celebration of the transition from winter to summer, it was seen as a triumph for the people because they had survived the harshness of winter.

Today protomagia is a joyfull holiday that is it about the appreciation of nature and is enjoyed by Greeks across the country but also in the diaspora.

13-year-old, Ilyana Paterakis, gets creative for Greek Easter with a mini Epitaphio

Andriana Simos
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13-year-old, Ilyana Paterakis, gets creative for Greek Easter with a mini Epitaphio

On Good Friday, the Epitaphio, which symbolises the Tomb of Christ, is adorned by young girls and women with fresh flowers in preparation for the body of Jesus.

13-year-old, Ilyana Paterakis, is one of these young girls. Every year, she helps to decorate the epitaphio at All Saints Greek Orthodox Church in Belmore and it was this which inspired her to create a mini Epitaphio for a recent school assignment.

“Ilyana studies Greek at her high school and the Greek teacher asked the class to make something Greek for an assignment. And because we’ve gone to church almost every year to help decorate the Epitaphio, Ilyana wanted to create her own in the lead up to Easter,” Ilyana’s mum, Thea Horozakis, tells The Greek Herald.

From there, Ilyana and her mum went shopping to choose paper flowers which they thought would really make the Epitaphio stand out.

“We chose those specific flowers because they are similar to what we have been using in real life to decorate the Epitaphio at church. She wanted to make the Epitaphio as real as possible,” Thea says.

It’s no surprise then that, despite the miniature size, the final Epitaphio model actually does look real, with its perfectly shaped cross and pillars all covered by pink, white and yellow flowers.

“We as parents are both very, very blessed and proud of her creativity,” Thea says with a smile.

Former ‘Georgie Porgies cafe’ owner George Mikhail joins new Cronulla cafe

The Greek Herald
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Former ‘Georgie Porgies cafe’ owner George Mikhail joins new Cronulla cafe

George Mikhail ran the successful Miranda cafe Georgie Porgies for nine years before its closure in early March.

Now, Mikhail has joined the team at the new cafe-bar Waters Edge, located next to Cronulla Park.

Speaking to The Leader, Mikhail said it was “a very difficult decision to close Georgie Porgies, but it just wasn’t worth being there any more”.

“We weren’t getting enough people in,” he said.

“I decided to get out before I lost everything.”

Mikhail has become a ‘Shire icon’ after achieving great success at his Miranda cafe, also being a strong advocate of the ‘World’s Greatest Shave’. In 2018, Mikhail raised a whopping $5000 for the Leukaemia Foundation.

Mikhail revealed that Zac Sweeney, owner of Waters Edge, offered him to join the new Cronulla cafe-bar, and the former cafe owner said he’s been enjoying the change.

“It’s always more fun to have your own place to run, but there are also a lot of headaches,” he said.

“Zac is a good person, and I am very happy.”

The business is operating as a cafe at this stage while an application for a liquor licence is processed.

Mr Sweeney said the cafe offered “a simple menu with reasonable prices and great service”.

“I think a lot of places over complicate it,” he said.

Traditional Greek Recipes: Magiritsa

The Greek Herald
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Traditional Greek Recipes: Magiritsa

Eating magiritsa is a high point of Easter for many Greeks, traditionally eaten in the early hours of Easter Sunday following the midnight service celebrating the Resurrection.

Magiritsa is the rich soup with which the faithful break their Lent fast.

It is typically made with lamb liver and other organs such as the lungs, heart and spleen as well as lamb intestines, plentiful dill and a roughly chopped head of lettuce. Another hallmark of the soup is the egg-lemon liaison added at the end.

Below you’ll find a traditional recipe to make your magiritsa perfect.

Kalo Pascha!

Ingredients (Serves 6):
  • 1.5 kg lamb liver and other organs* cut into cubes (about 2-3cm)
  • 1 small intestine (about 300gr), well cleaned** and cut into 3-4cm pieces
  • 1 bunch dill finely chopped (remove any thick stems)
  • 1 bunch parsley finely chopped (remove any thick stems)
  • 1 large head of lettuce, washed and coarsely chopped
  • 5 spring onions finely chopped
  • 150ml white, dry wine
  • 150ml olive oil
  • 100g glutinous rice
  • 2 eggs, yolks and whites separated
  • 1 tbsp vinegar
  • The juice of 1 lemon (or to taste)
  • Salt and freshly ground pepper

Cleaning the Intestine:

The night before place the intestines in a bowl and cover them with water, squeeze the juice of a lemon into the water (to whiten them) and place it in the fridge.

The next day take one end of the intestine, stretch the opening with your fingers and place the opening under the running tap. Allow plenty of water to flow in and then, squeezing the intestine, (it will swell like a balloon) push the water down towards the other end. Repeat the procedure a number of times until the water that comes out of the other end is clean.

Method:

1. In large stock pot heat plenty of salted water to a rolling boil and add the lamb liver and organs (not the intestine) and cook for about 2-3 minutes until they changes color and soften. Strain the meat and discard the water.

2. In the same, now empty pan, heat the oil on a medium head and sauté the onions with the lettuce and a little salt for about 2 minutes until they are soft and shrink in size. 

3. Add the lamb liver and organs, the small intestine, the dill and the parsley and continue to sauté for 3-4 minutes, stirring the ingredients with a wooden spoon until they are covered in oil. Add salt and pepper and pour in the wine. Let the mixture cook for 2-3 minutes until the alcohol has evaporated.

4. Add 1 liter of water and cook for 1 hour until the ingredients have softened.

5. Add the rice and continue cooking for 20 minutes until the rice is cooked.

6. In a bowl whisk the egg whites with the vinegar and a little salt until it forms a stiff meringue. In another bowl, beat the yolks with the lemon juice until light in color and frothy. Add the meringue, mix and gradually add broth from the soup with a spoon to the egg, mixing continuously so that the mixture gradually warms up.

7. Empty the egg-lemon into the mageiritsa, and shake the pan so it mixes in. Let it rest for 5 minutes for the flavors to combine and serve. 

Recipe sourced By: Greece-is.com

Apostolos Santas: WWII hero and Manolis Glezos’ partner-in-crime

The Greek Herald
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Apostolos Santas: WWII hero and Manolis Glezos’ partner-in-crime

By John Voutos

On this day in 2011, the late WWII resistance veteran and hero, Apostolos Santas, dies.

Apostolos Philippos ‘Lakis’ Santas was born on the 22nd of February 1922 in Patras, Greece, to Lefkadan parents.

He was 12 years old when he moved to Athens with his family in 1934.

Santas began studying law at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in 1940. Here, he would share classes and become close friends with the late-great Manolis Glezos, and graduate after Greek liberation in 1944.

Manolis Glezos (L) and Apostolos Santas (R).

Meanwhile, Santas prescribed to join the fledgling National Liberation Front (EAM) and the Communist Party’s guerrilla force ELAS in 1942 to help battle rapid escalations from the Nazi/Axis Armies throughout central Greece.  

Santas and Glezos were a pair of teenage law students when they decided to kick-off a defining gesture of opposition against Nazi occupation in Greece.

“Hitler had said in a speech that, ‘Europe is free’. We wanted to show him that the fight was just beginning,” Glezos reflected to the Agence France-Presse in 2011. 

Glezos (L) and Santas (R) [Courtesy of ONEMAN at oneman.gr (1 April 2020)].

An act of defiance

April 27, 1941. WWII began a year-and-a-half before German tanks rolled into Greece to claim siege.

The Nazis hoisted a swastika flag atop a 50-foot-high flagpole at the Acropolis in Athens to mark the beginning of a 3-and-a-half-year occupation.

A month later on the night of May 30, 1941, Santas and Glezos would take a gallant stand against this gesture’s “[offence] to all human ideals.”   

The pair discovered a cave route to sneak passed the sentry and climb the steep Acropolis Hill. A torch, a pocket knife, and the Battle of Thermopylae in mind was all the pair had when they crept through the undergrowth and up the caves of the Acropolis.

The 3-hour operation saw the pair scale the pole, cut the banner down, tear off trophy pieces of the flag and hide the rest before making their escape. They were greeted at the base of the Acropolis by a Greek police officer who let them go.  

Nazis hoist the Swastika flag on Acropolis Hill, March 1941 [Dimitris Bousounis on Pinterest].

The Athenian populace awoke the next morning to find a Greek flag flying in its place and front-page editorials led by the tightly censored Athenian press spreading mystique around the town like wildfire.

The Gestapo would launch a manhunt and sentence the pair to death in absentia.

It was seen as the first, symbolic act of resistance against the month-old occupation and inspired and symbolised Greek and wider European resistance to Nazism.

Meanwhile, with their identities unbeknownst, the boys’ mothers were turning all evidence, including diaries and the flag pieces, to ash. Santas would narrowly dodge his death sentence even after being arrested in March 1942.

Later life

The liberation of Greece in mid-1945 allowed for a brief sigh of relief before the onslaught of a new Civil War (1946 – 1949) between the capitalist Democratic Army of Greece (DSE) and the Communist Party of Greece (KKE). Santas began fighting for the KKE as a communist partisan in 1943.

The fallout of the KKE’s unsuccessful attempt to claim power led Santas on-the-run across eastern Greece and saw him exiled to Ikaria, Psyttaleia, and interred in the concentration camps of Makronisos between 1946-1948. Santas was imprisoned in Makronisos in 1948 until managing to use Italy as a gateway to receive political asylum in Canada. Canada is where Santas would live for almost 20 years before returning to Greece in 1963 where he would continue his struggle against the Monarchy and later the Junta from 1967-1974.

Death and legacy

Apostolos Santas died aged 89 on the 30th of April 2011 in the Sotiria Hospital of Athens, Greece. Santas died of respiratory failure.

Santas’ wife, Cleopatra, predeceased him. He is survived by their two daughters.

Λάκη Σάντα Road near Palaio Faliro, Athens, Greece [Courtesy of Vima Online)

Santas received numerous awards from various institutions in Greece and other Allied countries for his role in the resistance. Parnassos Street, in Athens’s Palaio Faliro, was renamed “Λάκη Σάντα Street” on February 21, 2019.

“It was the first gasp of resistance… Two 18-year-olds toyed with history. They saw a symbol and decided to become symbols themselves,” a Greek Parliament resolution proclaimed in 2008, during a plenum session honouring the pair.

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