Lebanon handed back two 18th-century religious icons of Jesus and Mary to Greece on Tuesday after they were seized during an auction, a judicial source said.
The paintings were stolen from an exhibition in Athens in 2016, and Greece put out an international notice calling for their return.
Icons are Christian religious paintings, often of saints, and are viewed as sacred.
Lebanon has launched an investigation, but it is not clear who stole them, or how they were brought to the country.
“The person who bought the paintings at the auction in Lebanon was questioned,” the source said, adding that the buyer was about to ship them to Germany “to sell them on at an international auction there.”
The paintings were handed to the Greek ambassador in Beirut.
Greece has retrieved several other religious icons worth thousands of dollars in recent years.
In 2011, Greek officials blocked the sale of a dozen religious icons by two art galleries in Britain and the Netherlands after finding the items had been stolen years before.
The icons, which dated from before the 18th century and could have each fetched from $7,000 to $21,000, were stolen from unguarded monasteries and churches in the sparsely-populated Epirus region of northwestern Greece.
In 2008, Britain returned to Greece a 14th-century icon stolen from a Greek Orthodox monastery 30 years earlier, and found in the hands of a London-based collector.
The rural New South Wales town of Orange has a well-deserved reputation for its food, stunning landscapes and rich history. From the original Aboriginal custodians, the Wiradjuri people, to the arrival of Greek migrants, it’s always been a place where people from different cultures and places have felt welcome.
Chris Gryllis is one of these people. He left his home of birth, the Greek island of Patmos, in 1962 to join his brothers Theo and Michael in Orange and he never looked back.
“There were about 30 to 35 Greek families in Orange and we were accepted by the country folk,” Chris tells The Greek Herald.
“I think traditionally Orange has been renowned to be a very conservative place, but I think we broke the barriers very early and we live very harmoniously with each other now, with no issues or problems.”
Living the rural way of life:
It’s certainly clear the Gryllis family worked hard to involve themselves in the Australian way of life and activities. In fact, historian at Macquarie University, Leonard Janiszewski, says Chris’ brothers, Theo and Michael, became involved in the rural town’s food industry early on.
The wedding of Chris’ sister, Helen, in Orange in 1970. Photo supplied.
In the 1960’s, the brothers took over Jim’s Café at 298 Summer Street, Orange. Later, the Gryllis’ bought the Carlton Café at 307 Summer Street and Michael even opened the Welcome Patmos restaurant in the early 1980’s.
Chris himself says that when he first arrived in Orange, he also started working with his brothers in their food businesses. In 1974, he became “sick and tired of the food industry.” Instead, he entered the real estate industry and opened his own business on Summer Street. After 58 years, the office was relocated to 74 McNamara Street in March 2020.
Fostering the Greek community and language:
But being a real state expert in a rural town is not all Chris is known for in the 1970’s. In fact, during this period, Chris and his wife Mosha, who he met and married on a trip to Greece in 1974, also became more involved in fostering the Greek community of Orange.
Chris Gryllis opened a new real estate office in March 2020 on 74 McNamara Street. Photo supplied.
“After six months in Greece, I came back to Orange and we were determined to organise a way to teach the Greek children in Orange the Greek language,” Chris explains.
“In the early days, I set up a school in my house to teach Greek children and later on, when I was President of the Greek Community of Orange, we bought a little hall and we also began teaching Greek dances.
“It was a bit hard to achieve, but I believe a number of young kids benefited from the plan.”
Sadly, that’s not all that was hard to achieve in a rural town. Chris says that because of the smallness of the Greek community, even the traditional Greek Ball’s, which ran annually in Orange for 18 years from the mid 1960’s, “ceased to operate a few years ago.”
But the former Orange councillor of over 20 years adds that he still loves to live in the rural town as he’s never had to hide his Greek heritage.
Chris at one of the annual Greek Balls in Orange. Photo supplied.
“I enjoy the fact that I was proactive in assimilating without giving away my heritage. And in fact, on my travels with fellow councillors or the Mayor, more than once I was introduced as the Greek councillor and I was very proud of that,” Chris says.
‘We never thought we were different’:
Can the same be said, however, for a second-generation Greek Australian who was born in Orange to Greek parents? To find out, we spoke to Chrissa Gryllis, the daughter of Chris’ late brother Theo, who has lived in the rural town her whole life.
Chrissa is the youngest of three siblings – an older sister and brother, who sadly passed away many years ago. She tells The Greek Herald that as young kids they never felt different, even though they went to a Catholic high school.
“We were probably one of the first Greek families in Orange in the 1980’s to go through the Catholic school system. But we never thought we were different at all… we had a good group of friends, so we were lucky,” Chrissa explains.
Chrissa Gryllis’ family. Photo supplied.Chrissa as a baby. Photo supplied.
“We even did weekend sport along with everyone else. I played netball for about six or seven years and there were music lessons. It was just mainly to be involved in the local community as much as we could.
“At the time, there was also Greek school at least once a week. There was a teacher that used to come from Sydney and we’d learn the alphabet and read books. But that was only for about four or five years.”
Since then, Chrissa and her sister have opened their own successful optometry business in Orange, where Chrissa works as an optical dispenser. While their powerful business dynamic hasn’t changed for the last 12 years, Chrissa says the same can’t be said for her rural hometown.
Chrissa loved growing up in Orange. Photo supplied.
“There’s not a lot of Greek events like there used to be maybe 20 or 30 years ago when there were more Greek people around. It’s just the monthly church service now,” Chrissa explains.
“But I’m very proud of my Greek heritage. We grew up with a strong belief in the church, so that has always been a part of our life. But because we lost our parents at such a young age, we try to connect more with family in Greece… and we try as hard as we can to keep that going.”
A powerful statement which shows the truth of what it’s like growing up Greek Australian in a rural town – cultural events might be slowing down but a person’s love for their Greek heritage only continues to grow.
CAUTION: Story may contain graphic details of injuries that some readers may find upsetting.
After decades of investigation and months of pre-trial argument, a six-month trial over the infamous 1994 NCA bombing started in the South Australian Supreme Court today.
Domenic Perre is accused of murdering Detective Sergeant Geoffrey “Bowie” Bowen and injuring Mr Wallis by sending a parcel bomb to the NCA building on Waymouth Street on March 2, 1994. The 63-year-old accused has pleaded not guilty to the offences.
Former NCA personnel officer Joanne Taskas told the Supreme Court that she had just poured a coffee, and was chatting with colleagues, when the parcel bomb exploded on March 2.
Geoffrey Bowen was killed in the blast at the NCA office in March 1994.
“We heard and felt a loud, hollow bang and all just started running toward it… (male workmates) were pushing on the door to Peter’s office… we could hear Peter screaming,” she said.
“I could see that the office was on fire… Peter was burned from the waist up, it was mostly open wounds.
“He was unrecognisable, I couldn’t determine anything about his face except his mouth, because it was moving.
“Peter was asking me about ‘Bowie’, he kept asking ‘is Bowie okay?’… he said ‘a bomb, a bomb’ a number of times.
“He complained that he had a pain in his stomach – it was the belt buckle of his pants, it had embedded in his stomach.”
Domenic Perre (left) is facing trial over the NCA bombing.(ABC News)
Ms Taskas told Justice Kevin Nicholson — who will determine the case in the absence of a jury — that she noticed a package sitting near security when she walked into work that day.
She added that she had never seen a package like it mailed to the NCA.
Former Australia Post staffer Wendy Den Hartog also gave evidence today, telling the court she handled the package before it was given to the NCA on March 2, 1994.
“I do remember it was large writing [on the package],” she said.
The trial, before Justice Kevin Nicholson and in the absence of a jury, continues.
Nikos Magitsis’ ‘7 summits’ journey is an accomplishment unthinkable to people with little knowledge of mountaineering. A tale of courage and persistence, Magitsis was the first Greek to climb to the highest peak in each of the planet’s continents, including Mt Everest at 8,848 meters on 17 May 2004.
The achievement by Magitsis, however, comes one year after he broke another world record: The first Greek to reach both the South and the North Poles on January 19, 2003.
Magitsis was born in Volos, in 1968, and became a professor of Sports Science and Physical Education. He first started climbing with his PE Professor when he was a child in Agria, later developing his love for climbing and mountaineering by joining the Greek Mountaineering Club of Volos as a coach.
The idea of conquering the ‘7 Summits’ was not Magitsis’. It was first suggested, in 1980, by Richard Bass, and the Greek alpinist found out about it in 2003 at the Antarctic, from Conrad Anker. Together, with Anker and one other American, the three covered a distance of 250 kilometres in the South Pole, with temperatures reaching -50 degrees Celsius.
Together, they raised the flags of Greece and the Olympic Games in the southernmost part of the world, atop the icy mountain of Vinson.
Magitsis had already climbed three other summits before this journey, including Mount Pelion in southeastern Thessaly. “I like Pelion so much; it inspires me to work out and strengthen my soul and spirit!” the alpinist says in an interview.
After climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, in Tanzania, the next step was to climb the Akounkagkoua peak, in the Andes, and the mountain of all mountains; Mount Everest.
As a member of an international mountaineering mission, he stayed at Mount Everest for 64 days with a temperature of -25° C and, reached the highest peak after nearly nine hours of ascent, on May 17, 2004, at 5:45 am.
Then climbing the mountain Mak Kinley, in Alaska, the only top that was left was the Carstensz Pyramid, a mountain in tropical Papua (4884 m.), in Oceania.
The Greek climber and his team, the Swiss Rupert Haider and the Belgian Robert Hugo, on March 17, 2008, arrived by helicopter at the base of the mountain.
“I spent 30 hours hanging on the ropes at a height of 800 meters, during a blizzard. By the time I was on top, I got my satellite phone out and called my family crying. We all cry once” he admits.
His experience, excellent training, careful preparation and integrity has inspired associations and dozens of parents to entrust their children’s care in his hands.
“Since 1994 I have organised and conducted 50 mountaineering expeditions as well as sporting survival missions all over the world,” Magitsis said.
On the occasion of the celebration of the International Education Day and the bicentennial of the 1821 Greek Revolution, an online conference has been organised to highlight the initiatives of the Greek Universities in education, research and innovation.
Titled, “Reinforcing bridges between Greek Universities and the Greek Diaspora”, it will be hosted by the General Secretariat of Higher Education of the Hellenic Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs and the General Secretariat of Public Diplomacy and Greeks Abroad of the Hellenic Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for Sunday, 24th of January 2021, at 14:30.
The conference will seek to strengthen the bond between the Greek Diaspora and the higher education institutions in Greece, enabling students of Greek origin to act both as beneficiaries and as ambassadors abroad.
Greek government and university representatives, prominent Greeks of the Diaspora who are graduates of Greek universities, as well as representatives of Greek organisations abroad, will present the opportunities offered to Greeks abroad in the field of Higher Education in Greece.
The Turkish foreign ministry has criticised comments made by Ieronymos II, the Archbishop of Athens and All Greece, who said the Islamic faith is “not a religion but a political party”.
The head of the Greek Orthodox Church in Greece said Islamic adherents “are the people of war”, claiming it is one of the “characteristics of Islam.”
The Archdiocese of Athens immediately defended the comments, saying they were taken out of context and noting that he was “referring to the group of extreme fundamentalists, who sow terror and death throughout the Universe”.
“Ieronymos II respects all the known religions and treat all their faithful with Christian love and solidarity”.
The comments brought a firm response from the Turkish foreign ministry, who released a statement insisting that the Archbishop plans to “incite the society to hostility and violence against Islam” and “show the frightening level Islamophobia has reached”.
“Such malign ideas are also responsible for the increase of racism, Islamophobia and xenophobia in Europe,” it added.
Archbishop Ieronymos II.
Turkey’s directorate of religious affairs also called out the Archbishop for his “sick mentality”, asking all Christians to ignore his words.
“The most important duty of the clergy, who should strive for peace and tranquility, should be to contribute to the culture of coexistence,” said the president of the directorate, Ali Erbas, who is also a Muslim scholar.
“This kind of discourse aiming to marginalise Muslims feeds the racist perspective against them, and leads to attacks on their lives and places of worship.”
Nick Kyrgios has yet again taken to social media to hit out at World No.1 Novak Djokovic after he released a set of six demands for Australian Open players currently stuck in hotel quarantine.
There are currently 72 players confined to their hotel rooms, unable to access the five hours of practise time and training others can.
Djokovic issued a letter to Tennis Australia urging tournament director Craig Tiley to support players, including:
Fitness and training material in all rooms
Better food for elite athletes, following players taking aim at the meals on offer
Reduce the days of isolation for players in hard isolation and carry out more tests to confirm they are negative
Permission to visit your coach or physical trainer, as long as both have passed the tests
Grant both the player and his coach permission to be on the same floor of the hotel
Move as many players as possible to private houses with a tennis court to facilitate training
Kyrgios, ranked 47th in the world, took to Twitter on Monday night to slam the World No. 1.
Djokovic is a tool. I don’t mind Bernie but his Mrs obviously has no perspective, ridiculous scenes 🤦🏽♂️ https://t.co/MMgeriH2GJ
Kyrgios has previously shown annoyance at Djokovic’s ‘relaxed’ attitude towards the coronavirus disease. In June 2020, the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in certain countries, Djokovic was caught dancing in a nightclub with other US Open tournament players.
“Prayers up to all the players that have contracted Covid- 19,” Kyrgios said, retweeting a video of the players dancing shirtless in Belgrade.
“Don’t @ me for anything I’ve done that has been ‘irresponsible’ or classified as ‘stupidity’ – this takes the cake.”
Sofia Bekatorou will prepare to give a deposition on Wednesday morning against Greek sporting official Aristeidis Adamopoulos, who she alleges sexually abused her in 1998 prior to the Sydney Olympic Games.
The investigation was opened despite the fact that the alleged crime cannot be prosecuted due to Greece’s statute of limitations, but judicial authorities are hoping other women may come forward to reveal similar incidents on the case.
The sailing champion will present her testimony to prosecutor Nikos Stefanatos, who has been tasked with the investigation.
Since coming out at a government-sponsored teleconference on sexual abuse on Thursday, the former sailing Olympian has sparked a wave of social action, seen as a belated #MeToo moment after decades of silence by sex abuse victims.
A second sailor, Marina Psichogiou, also came forward late Saturday to say that a federation member “old enough to be my grandfather” made her an indecent proposal in 1993, when she was 20 years old.
Aristeidis Adamopoulos stepped down as vice president of the Hellenic Sailing Federation (HSF) on Saturday, soon after the allegations were made. He has denied any wrongdoing, and said he had resigned due to the “great negative publicity” the allegations would have on the Hellenic Olympic Committee.
Aristeidis Adamopoulos.
Greek President Katerina Sakellaropoulou, who met Bekatorou on Monday, said her courage offered hope to other women who had suffered similar abuse in their personal and professional lives.
“I hope her brave revelation will blow like a rushing wind and sweep any hypocrisy, any cover up attempt away,” Sakellaropoulou said in a statement. “It is time to end the guilt of the victims and the impunity of the perpetrators.”
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said he “stood by” Bekatorou and urged other victims of sexual abuse to speak out.
“It is time to uproot the violence of those in power against anyone in a weak position,” Mitsotakis said in a Facebook post on Saturday.
If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault, family or domestic violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit 1800RESPECT.org.au. In an emergency, call 000.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was joined by Australian PM Scott Morrison and the world leaders of five other ‘first mover’ nations to discuss the vaccine rollout progression and how it can be accelerated.
The leaders of the exclusive COVID-19 discussion group agreed that the vaccination process is a technically difficult task, yet the Greek PM argued the procedure “must proceed faster”.
Kryriakos Mitsotakis added that the European Union must approve the vaccine of Astra Zeneca and other companies as soon as possible.
The prime minister’s proposal for a European vaccination certificate was also discussed during the teleconference, which will also be discussed at the 27th teleconference on Thursday.
Photo: Prime Minister’s Press Office / Dimitris Papamitsos
“One way or another, those who travel will be asked for some type of certificate, whether it is a certificate, or a negative coronavirus test,” Mitsotakis said.
Mr Morrison meanwhile said the meeting was an important opportunity to exchange notes on the challenges of responding to COVID-19 and, “how we can work together to beat it and prepare for the next pandemic”.
“Thank you Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz for hosting what was another invaluable meeting,” the PM concluded.
The Greek and Australian leaders were joined in the meeting by Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.
The world leaders first convened via teleconference in May, 2020, discussing the most effective ways to “reopen our economies” and considering strategies to manage potential localised outbreaks.
Among clapping and whistles of excitement Andreas Pavlou, the official winner of South Australia’s Blessing of the Waters ceremony was presented with a gold cross, by Bishop Silouan of Sinope during the annual Vasilopita cutting event held on Sunday at the Archdiocese’s offices in Adelaide.
“It’s such a joy to be able to present him [the winner] with a cross and it’s lovely that I can do so without having to wear a mask and be three meters away from everybody,” said the Bishop before calling Mr Pavlou to receive his award.
Video by: The Greek Herald
Present at the well-attended event was Mr George Psiachas, Consul General of Greece in Adelaide who received a warm welcome from all and was also invited to address the attendees.
“This year is very important as it marks 200 years from the beginning of the Greek Revolution and not 200 years from the country’s Independence,” clarified Mr Psiachas.
“There are so many events organised to commemorate this occasion in Adelaide, that one would not know which ones to attend,” he said, explaining that he will soon make public the events planned by the Consulate.
The evening featured Christmas carols from the younger members of local parishes, refreshments, Greek delicacies and of course the traditional Vasilopita.
