Daily Archives: November 19, 2014

Labor minsters with the GOCMV board.

An Andrews Labor government will provide $100,000 each year during its first term towards the iconic annual celebration of Hellenic culture.

The Greek Community of Melbourne’s two day Glendi in Lonsdale Street at the heart of Melbourne’s Greek precinct is one of the most prominent multicultural events in Victoria.

Abundant performances, activities and food make the Glendi a weekend carnival for all Victorians, attracting over 150,000 people in 2014.

Known as the biggest event of its kind outside of Greece, the Lonsdale Street Glendi showcases the enormous success of Victoria’s multiculturalism.

Mr Andrews says Melbourne has the largest Greek population of any city outside of Greece in the world and the Lonsdale Street Glendi gives all Victorians a great opportunity to appreciate Hellenic culture.

Labor MP Jenny Mikakos added that the Greek Community of Melbourne’s Lonsdale Street Glendi showcases the strength of Victoria’s Greek Australian community.

She said that Labor also recognises this community is changing and that newly arrived migrants from Greece need support to settle here.

Ms Mikakos stressed that Labor made a $360,000 commitment earlier this year to the Australian Greek Welfare Society for social workers to assist newly arrived migrants from Greece.

She said the social workers will be based at Australian Greek Welfare Society offices in Brunswick and out-posted to the Greek Community of Melbourne offices in Lonsdale Street.

She added that Labor promised a $60,000 grant to the Oakleigh Greek Glendi on 2 November. That brings Labor’s election commitments to the Greek community to $820,000 so far.

source: Neos Kosmos

Bishop Ezekiel (L) with Archbishop Stylianos (C) blessing the Frankston church. Photos: Kostas Deves.

With two new churches opening in the past two weeks and more in the pipeline, Melbourne is cementing its place as the Greek Orthodox Church capital of Australia and the wider diaspora.

On Sunday, North Altona’s church The Dormition of Our Lady conducted its first service, with Archbishop Stylianos, Bishop Ezekiel and Bishop Iakovos leading proceedings.

It’s the second church to open in just two weeks, with the Holy Epiphany Church in Frankston ringing its bell for the first time the Sunday before.

Victoria is now home to 44 Greek Orthodox Churches, the most in any state of Australia.

NSW comes in second, with 38 churches, while South Australia has 15 under the auspices of the Archdiocese.

Per capita, Melbourne hosts the most Greek Orthodox Churches outside of Greece, considering the small population (around 5.8 million).

New York State in the USA might boast 62 Greek Orthodox churches to its name thanks to its strong Greek American community, but considering the total population (19.6 million) its church numbers aren’t as impressive as Melbourne’s.

The parish priest of the new Altona church, Father George Frangos, says with the growing urban sprawl and the changing dynamic of Greek Australian suburbs in the state, we’ll be seeing more churches popping up for years to come.

The Altona church is proof of that, as it has been built to cater to a growing Greek community in the outer western suburbs.

“It’s quite a large area, there’s probably about 9,000 registered Greek Orthodox (parishioners) according to the data under our parish,” he tells Neos Kosmos. “And regular visitors of our parish are about 500 families.”

It’s one of the larger churches of the state, with the capacity to house almost 700 parishioners.

Like many of the Greek Orthodox churches in Australia, the Altona church utilises both Greek and Australian influences.

All the marble work has been hand-made in Greece to the church’s specifications, while the rest of the church is made with Australian materials.

What the Altona church and the newly minted Frankston church show is that there is a growing need for the work the church does.

Father Frangos says it’s a testament to the cultural and religious ties the Greek community has.

“In adverse timeframes we see that other denominations (particularly Christian denominations) are starting to decline in numbers, but we’re seeing the Orthodox Church still gaining ground and thriving,” he says.

Yet, with many of its current faithful ageing, the future of the church is in doubt in Australia.

As a generation shift happens and with Greek proficiency levels diminishing in the second and third generation of Greek Australians, will the church still be relevant in the community? Will the 118 Greek Orthodox churches in Australia still bring in the crowds?

Father Frangos sees the Archdioceses opening up to new parishioners outside of the Greek Australian community to fill the gaps.

“What we’re seeing is the Orthodox faith is starting to open up to everybody,” he says.

“So in anticipation of others joining our church from mixed marriages or those who have an interest within our church and our faith, we’ll see a growth and demand for it.”

In visiting America, where the Greek community is much older and where the generational shift has already happened, Father Frangos says there’s no need to worry.

“I’ve experienced it first hand, and although the majority of the people in the churches don’t know much Greek, they still maintain their cultural and religious traditions,” he says.

“The churches are absolutely packed even just on a normal Sunday.”

What might also be a problem for the church in future years is meeting demand as the old priest guard retires.

The theological colleges will have to find a way to increase enrolments, while the Archdiocese will need to look at better promoting the priesthood career.

A large number of the capital’s makeshift mosques, many of them located in basement and ground-floor apartments, have been shut down because of financial difficulties, sources inside the Hellenic Police and the Education Ministry have told Kathimerini. The reason, they say, is that many Muslim migrants, documented as well as undocumented, have left Greece in search of better prospects in Western Europe.

Government officials insisted to Kathimerini that plans to build a state. funded mosque in the capital will not be affected be the trend, adding that the project is in the “national interest.”

“Neither the big outflow of Muslims from Greece nor any other reason will change this,” an official who asked not to be named told the newspaper. He said construction at the site had been delayed after Greek citizens challenged the decision at the Council of State, Greece’s highest administrative court.

“The issue has been resolved as there are no other obstacles left,” the official said, adding that construction of the building was only a matter of time.

Kathimerini understands that Athens currently has about 40 makeshift mosques, down from about 100.

“The economic crisis has forced many migrants to leave the country and many mosques have closed as a result,” a police official said, adding that the sites depend on members’ contributions to pay rent and utility bills. Eid celebrations this year attracted a far smaller number of Muslims compared to previous years. The ministry, which has made several sports venues available for the annual prayers to mark the end of Ramadan in previous years, said that about 250 people attended the prayers this year, compared to more than 2,000 people in the past.

However, representatives of the Muslim community claim that many mosques were shut down by police after an Education Ministry circular issued last year tightened the requirements for fire safety and public health.

Meanwhile, members of the Muslim community criticize the government for failing to see through the construction of an official mosque in the neighborhood of Votanikos.

“Government officials have not explained why the have failed to sign a contract with construction firms,” the head of the Muslim Union of Greece, Naim El-Ghandour, said, attributing the foot-dragging to concerns about the political cost.

source: ekathimerini.com

Three weeks before a Greek-Turkish summit in Athens, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu accused Greece and Cyprus on Tuesday of trying to “frighten” his country by signing an agreement with Egypt.

Cavusoglu made the comment with regards to the Cairo Declaration signed by Greece, Cyprus and Egypt earlier this month. The three countries agreed to cooperate more closely on a range of issues, including energy, which is a sensitive issue in the Eastern Mediterranean.

The Turkish foreign minister also criticized Nicosia for carrying out hydrocarbon explorations off Cyprus at a time when reunification talks with Turkish Cypriots are still in progress. Cavusoglu said this was not a “goodwill gesture” on Nicosia’s part but he played down the significance of Turkey sending the Barbaros seismic research vessel into Cyprus’s exclusive economic zone.

The Cypriot government, however, was unmoved by Cavusoglu’s comments and a meeting of the National Council, chaired by President Nicos Anastasiades, led to Nicosia rejecting a suggestion by United Nations mediator Espen Barth Eide for a technical committee consisting of Greek and Turkish Cypriots to be created to manage the island’s hydrocarbon reserves.

Eide had proposed the panel as one of several measures aimed at getting peace talks restarted. Instead, Anastasiades will propose steps that had been previously agreed by Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders to defuse tension. These include the creation of a common fund for revenues from any gas or oil sold.

source: ekathimerini.com

A new draft bill prepared by the Interior Ministry gives all second-generation immigrants living legally in Greece the right to apply for citizenship, whether they were born in the country or have completed certain levels within the Greek education system, Kathimerini has learned.

Once approved, the new bill will essentially fill the gap left by the revocation of the so-called Ragousis law, which had allowed second-generation migrants to apply for Greek citizenship and to stand in local elections.

The new bill sets out three alternative prerequisites for the acquisition of citizenship. The applicant must either have completed the compulsory minimum education in the Greek system (primary school and junior high), have completed six academic years in secondary education (junior and senior high) or have finished high school and graduated from a Greek university or technical college.

Migrants as young as 16 will be able to apply and will be eligible for citizenship from the age of 18.

It is unclear exactly how many people will be eligible for citizenship under the new regulations. Ministry sources indicated yesterday that at least 50,000 fulfill the criteria. The Greek Forum of Migrants has estimated that there are some 200,000 second-generation immigrants in Greece.

source: ekathimerini.com