The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia is an Archdiocese of the Greek Orthodox Church in Australia, part of the Eastern Orthodox religion. The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia is a jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.
Archbishop Stylianos is the primate of the Greek Orthodox Church of Australia. He was appointed to this position in 1975. Archbishop Stylianos is a theologian of international standing. He is the co-chairman of the official dialogue between the Roman Catholic and the Orthodox churches. Archbishop Stylianos has won an award for poetry, and has written 16 collections, which shows that he is not only an eminent theologian and servant of the church but also a patron of the literary arts. [1]
The first priest to serve the religious needs of the Greek Orthodox population in Sydney and Melbourne was Archimandrite Dorotheos Bakaliaros. In March 1924, the 'Metropolis of Australia and New Zealand' was established under the Ecumenical Patriarchate. The first Metropolitan of the new province of the Ecumenical Thronos was Christoforos Knitis of Serres. In 1929 Metropolitan Christoforos returned to his homeland, Samos. He died on the 7th August, 1959.
In 1931, Timotheos Evangelinidis was elected as the second Metropolitan of Australia and New Zealand. He arrived in Australia on the 28th January 1932 and presided over the Church of Australia and New Zealand until 1947 when he was elected Metropolitan of Rhodes. On the 22nd April of that year Theophylactos Papathanasopoulos was elected as the third Metropolitan. On the 2nd August 1958, Metropolitan Theophylactos was killed in a car accident. In February 1959 the Assistant Bishop of the Archdiocese of America, Bishop Ezekiel Tsoukalas of Nazianzos was elected Metropolitan of Australia. He arrived in Sydney on the 27th April, 1959.
On the 1st September 1959 the Metropolis of Australia and New Zealand was elevated to Archdiocese and Metropolitan Ezekiel to Archbishop. In August 1974, the Ecumenical Patriarchate promoted His Eminence Archbishop Ezekiel to the Metropolis of Pisidia. He died in Athens July 1987. On the 3rd February 1975, the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate unanimously elected His Eminence Metropolitan of Miletoupolis Stylianos Harkianakis, lecturer at the University of Thessaloniki, as the new Archbishop of Australia. Archbishop Stylianos arrived in Sydney on the 15th April 1975 and was officially enthroned on Lazarus Saturday on the 26th April 1975. [2]