circulating newspaper IN TTHIS IISSUE OOF TTHE GGREEK ...greekorthodox.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/DEC-14.pdf · IN TTHIS IISSUE OOF TTHE GGREEK AAUSTRALIAN VVEMA To all our

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To all our readers we extend our sincere good wishes for

a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2015

OUR ARCHBISHOP’S

CHRISTMAS MESSAGE 2014

Byzantine Chant: the sound of prayer

Nektaria Karantzi is one of the most promi-nent women in Byzantine music. She is theFounder and Honorary President of the Pan-hellenic Association of Women in ByzantineEcclesiastical Music.

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Patmos:Simply a revelation

It seems paradoxical that St John experi-enced his vision of the Apocalypse on thisbeautiful and enchanting Dodecanese island.

PAGE 24/52

39th Nameday Celebrationsfor our Primate ArchbishopStylianos held in Sydney

More than 400 representatives of Parishesand Communities, Institutions, Associationsand Brotherhoods honoured the 39th Name-day anniversary reception for the Primate ofthe Greek Orthodox Church in Australia, HisEminence Archbishop Stylianos.

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DECEMBER 2014 Tel. (02) 9559 7022 Fax: (02) 9559 7033 E-mail: [email protected]

THE GREEK AUSTRALIAN

VEMADISCIPLINE IN THE HOME

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The Greek Australian VEMATO BHMA2/30 DECEMBER 2014

The Nativity of Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus ChristDecember 25

The incomprehensible and inexplicable Nativity ofChrist came to pass when Herod the Great was reign-ing in Judea; the latter was an Ascalonite on his fa-ther's side and an Idumean on his mother's. He was inevery way foreign to the royal line of David; rather, hehad received his authority from the Roman emperors,and had ruled tyrannically over the Jewish people forsome thirty-three years.

The tribe of Judah, which had reigned of old, was de-prived of its rights and stripped of all rule and authori-ty. Such was the condition of the Jews when the await-ed Messiah was born, and truly thus was fulfilled theprophecy which the Patriarch Jacob had spoken 1,807years before:

"A ruler shall not fail from Judah, nor a prince fromhis loins, until there come the things stored up for him;and he is the expectation of the nations" (Gen.49:10).

Thus, our Saviour was born in Bethlehem, a city ofJudea, whither Joseph had come from Nazareth ofGalilee, taking Mary his betrothed, who was with child,that, according to the decree issued in those days bythe Emperor Augustus, they might be registered in thecensus of those subject to Rome.

Therefore, when the time came for the Virgin to givebirth, and since because of the great multitude therewas no place in the inn, the Virgin's circumstace con-strained them to enter a cave which was near Bethle-hem. Having as shelter a stable of irrational beasts, shegave birth there, and swaddled the Infant and laid Himin the manger (Luke 2:1-7). From this, the tradition hascome down to us that when Christ was born He lay

between two animals, an ox and an ass, that the wordsof the Prophets might be fulfilled:

"Between two living creatures shalt Thou be known"(Abbacum 3:2), and "The ox knoweth his owner and

the ass his master's crib" (Isaiah 1: 3). But while theearth gave the new-born Saviour such a humble recep-tion, Heaven on high celebrated majestically His world-saving coming.

A wondrous star, shining with uncommon brightnessand following a strange course, led Magi from the Eastto Bethlehem to worship the new-born King. Certainshepherds who were in the area of Bethlehem, whokept watch while tending their sheep, were suddenlysurrounded by an extraordinary light, and they saw be-fore them an Angel who proclaimed to them the goodtidings of the Lord's joyous Nativity. And straightway,together with this Angel, they beheld and heard awhole host of the Heavenly Powers praising God andsaying: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earthpeace, good will towards men" (Luke 2:8-14).

Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone

Thy Nativity, O Christ our God, hath shined the light ofknowledge upon the world; for thereby they that wor-shipped the stars were instructed by a star to worshipThee, the Sun of Righteousness, and to know Thee, theDayspring from on high. O Lord, glory be to Thee.

Kontakion in the Third Tone

Today, the Virgin bears Him who is transcendent, andthe earth presents the cave to Him who is beyondreach. Angels, along with shepherds glorify Him. TheMagi make their way to Him by a star. For a new childhas been born for us, the God before all ages.

Source: www.goarch.org

200th Anniversary Concert of ‘New’ Church MusicOn Sunday 16 November 2014, the Anniversary Concert was held at St Spyridon

College (Sydney) to mark the 200 years since the new method of Ecclesiastical musicwas introduced. It was a huge success with a large turnout. The event was predomi-nantly attended by laity and clergy of the Antiochian and Greek Orthodox Churches.

His Grace Bishop Seraphim of Apollonias who attended the concert had congratu-lated both the Antiochian and Greek choirs for their excellent performances and allthose who attended and gave their support.

Special mention was given to Dr Dimitri Koumbaroulis who had initiated the ideafor the concert and also directed the Greek choir.

Entry was by donations in support of St Andrew’s Greek Orthodox Theological Col-lege which provides tertiary level education and training for Christian Orthodox cler-gy, theologians and lay teachers in order to meet the catechetical and pastoral needsof the Orthodox Church in Australia.

His Grace Bishop Seraphim thanks the performers,the organisers, the hosting school and all who

attended

Antiochian Orthodox Choir

Melisma Choir The second half of the performance included the useof traditional instruments

The Greek Australian VEMA TO BHMA 3/31DECEMBER 2014

GREEK ORTHODOX ARCHDIOCESE OF AUSTRALIA .

�� Sunday 22nd December, 7pm

In the presence of His Eminence Archbishop Stylianos of Australia

The Christmas Carols will be held in the courtyard of our Cathedral

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In the presence of His Eminence Archbishop Stylianos of Australia

The Christmas Carols will be held in the courtyard of our Cathedral

Christmas Carols 2014Sunday 21st December, 7pm

New film ‘Promakhos’makes case for return of Parthenon Marbles

Two lawyers fight for the return of the Parthenon Marblesfrom the British Museum to Greece in a new film producedby brothers Coerte and John Voorhees.

The brothers were in Athens recently to promote “Pro-makhos,” which they have also written and directed, andspoke to the press about the project and what they hope itcan achieve. John and Coerte are the sons of a US-basedlawyer who has been an active campaigner for the return ofthe Parthenon Marbles to Athens. Coerte studied historyand classics at Georgetown University. “Promakhos” is theirfirst film.

Inspired by the statue of Athena Promachos, protector ofthe Parthenon in antiquity, they tell the fictional tale of twoAthenian attorneys (played by Pantelis Kodogiannis and Kas-sandra Voyagis) handling a suit against the British Museumfor the return of the ancient sculptures removed from thecitadel by Lord Elgin in the early 1800s. The film stars Gian-carlo Giannini, Paul Freeman and Michael Byrne, as well asGreek actors Georges Corraface, Yorgo Vogiatzis, PygmalionDadakaridis, Irene Katsarou and Kelly Eleftheriou, amongothers.

The film is being shown in Greece under the aegis of theMinistry of Culture and has also drawn the support of the Al-liance for Athens initiative, the Acropolis Museum, theGreek-British, Greek-German, Greek-Spanish and Greek-Ital-ian chambers of commerce, as well as the groups “Return,Restore, Restart,” “Bring Them Back,” “Marbles Reunited”and “International Association for the Reunification of thePantheon Sculptures.”

“Promakhos” was first shown at an exclusive screening inLondon in July attended by important figures in the arts andletters, including award-winning actor and Marbles advocateStephen Fry.

GiancarloGiannini

plays the directorof the Acropolis

Museum.

British Museum to loan more Parthenon MarblesThe British Museum is discussing to

loan more Parthenon sculptures to for-eign museums, after loaning the statueof god Ilissos to Russia’s State Her-mitage Museum in St Petersburg.

British Museum director Neil MacGre-gor told “The Telegraph” that severalmuseums from across the world are in-terested in borrowing the ParthenonMarbles and that he is discussing withthem. He said that talks are underwayfor almost a year but declined to namethe time of the loans or the museums,according to “The Telegraph.”

The sculpture of god Ilissos is the firstpiece of the Parthenon Marbles thathas ever “left” the British Museum. Thesculptures were taken by Lord Elginfrom Greece in 1803, when the countrywas still under Ottoman rule. Despitethe efforts of Greek governments of thepast thirty years, the Parthenon sculp-tures - or Elgin Marbles, as the British

like to call them - were never returnedto Greece.

Earlier this month, Greek Prime Min-ister Antonis Samaras spoke of the Ilis-

sos loan and called it “an affront to theGreek people,” who are infuriated thatthe Parthenon sculptures “travel,” butnot to their home. The British Muse-um’s argument had so far been that thesculptures cannot be moved. Now thatargument is invalid, Samaras said.

However, the British Museum insiststhat the marbles were acquired legallyand that they can be loaned to othermuseums, if the trustees choose so.“This is a totally normal thing for theBritish Museum to do, to lend great ob-jects to great museums,” MacGregortold “The Telegraph.”

Greece is in UNESCO-mediated talkswith Britain over the sculptures’ repatri-ation, since the largest part of theParthenon Marbles are on display at theAcropolis Museum. The Greek sidefirmly believes that the sculptures be-long to their natural environment andthey are part of a whole that is broken.

The Greek Australian VEMA DECEMBER 20144/32 TO BHMA

By Youli Eptakoili - Kathimerini, Athens

The illustrated codex painted by Greek painter andminiaturist Georgios Klontzas, a work belonging to theMarciana Library in Venice, was recently being carefullyplaced in a glass displace case at the Byzantine & Chris-tian Art Museum in Athens ahead of a press conference

on the El Greco exhibition marking the 400th anniver-sary of the grand master’s death.

“A long, difficult preparation, which lasted nearlythree years, has come to a close,” the Culture Ministry’sgeneral secretary Lina Mendoni told journalists. Exhibi-tions on the Crete-born artist, better known in Greeceas Domenikos Theotokopoulos (1541 - 7 April 1614),

have already been staged on the southern island, aswell as at the Benaki Museum and the Museum of Cy-cladic Art in Athens. Each of these shows casts light on adifferent aspect of the artist. It is the first time thatGreece has staged exhibitions about Theotokopoulos ina systematic manner.

The title of this exhibition, “Domenikos Theotokopou-los Before El Greco,” is revealing: The works presentedhere, crafted by the artist himself as well as his contem-poraries, highlight the social and artistic environment of16th-century Crete. During that time, painting reachedstunning levels of artistry. Also, it was the time thatshaped the personality of Theotokopoulos before heleft for Venice in 1567.

The exhibition is divided into three parts. The firstsection takes us to Venetian Crete in the 16th century.The works on display document the trade routes, mili-tary might, social stratification, economy and religion.

Section 2 presents the scholarly environment that in-fluenced Theotokopoulos, his readings and culturalevents in cosmopolitan Cretan towns. The exhibitionshowcases the efforts of Cretan painters to bridgeByzantine and Western tradition. In the last section ofthe exhibition visitors are treated to an interpretationof Theotokopoulos’s Cretan period through the particu-larities of his style and an interesting dialogue withworks by Georgios Klontzas and Michail Damaskinos.

“I believe that in terms of research and expressingfresh opinions, this is a very important exhibition,” saidthe museum’s outgoing director Anastasia Lazaridou.

“With works [belonging to Greek collections] andloans from foreign institutions we are trying to recreatethe social fabric of Crete in all facets of life,” she said.

Next to works from Theotokopoulos’s Cretan period,the exhibition showcases works by other artists includ-ing a work by Klontzas depicting a sermon, which hasbeen moved out of the Sarajevo Church of the HolyArchangels for the first time, Plotinus’s Enneads, with arare illustration by Cretan painter Markos Bathas, “TheWedding at Cana” attributed to Damaskinos, and worksfrom Mt Athos.

The exhibition will remian on display at the Byzantine& Christian Art Museum (22 Vassilissis Sofias, tel 210721 1027, www.byzantinemuseum.gr) through March31.

Theotokopoulos before El Greco

Two paintings on display at the exhibition at the Byzantine &Christian Art Museum in Athens: ‘St Luke Painting the

Virgin’ (1560-1565) (left) and ‘The Dormition of the Virgin’(1565-1567) (right).

OECD report: Life expectancyrises in Greece

Life expectancy at birth has risen in Greece reach-ing 80.7 years, while the EU28 average is 79.2 years,according to a new OECD report.

Published in “Health at a Glance: Europe 2014,”the figure puts Greece at 13th place among its Eu-ropean Union peers, behind nations such as top-ranked Spain (82.5 years), Italy and France butahead of more recent members such as Romania,Bulgaria and Lithuania, the latter at the bottom ofthe table at 74.1 years.

St Andrew’s Greek Orthodox Theological College


TO BHMA 5/33DECEMBER 2014 The Greek Australian VEMA

Our Primate’s View

CHRISTMAS MESSAGE 2014

Dearest brothers and sisters, and beloved childrenin the Lord,

All of Christendom is preparing this year,once again, to celebrate Christmas, within a worldthat is troubled, frantic and contradictory.

The phenomena of international violence,together with crime of every kind and materialistichysteria, all apply asphyxiating pressure upon thechests of every honourable person. They threatento turn into a desert not only society and the familyunit, but also the inner world of the human soul.

However, it would be the greatest hypocrisyto believe that we can judge this world as if we weresomehow outside it. We are a vital part of this con-tradictory world and we share in its responsibilitiesabsolutely.

If, after the passage of so many centuries,the Incarnation of God has not made our worldmore loving, this is not due to the non-Christians,but mainly to the followers of Christ. The most bit-ter betrayal always comes from within, from amongone’s own people.

How are we then to chant the angelic Christ-mas hymn with “unblemished lips”? The wonder ex-pressed by the Hymnographer is therefore verytimely for us all, when exclaiming: “What can weoffer You, O Christ?”

In order to sing “Glory to God in the highest”and to experience, even to the slightest degree,“peace on earth,” we must respect the human per-son as the image of the invisible God. This is regard-less of race, gender, colour, religion or age.God became human for all humankind.

If we do not possess the purity of the angelsto offer the hymn of the Manger, we are neverthe-less able to return to the simplicity of the shep-herds, dwelling in the fields and glorifying God whowas Born as an infant for all people.

To Him be the glory and power and veneration un-to all ages. Amen!

With fervent prayers to Him

[translation from the original Greek by DK]

By ARCHBISHOPSTYLIANOSOF AUSTRALIA

+ S T Y L I A N O SBy the grace of God Archbishop of Australia

to all the Reverend Clergy and devout faithful of our holy Archdiocese.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEARThe word ‘Christmas’ comes from two words: Christ and Mass (which is the west-

ern term for what the Greek Orthodox call the Liturgy Service or the holy Eucharist).The corresponding Greek term ‘Χριστούγεννα’ is also a compound word, comingfrom Χριστός and Γέννησις, which clearly means ‘birth.’

So, with the Birth of Christ in mind, we also recall several of our traditions that arenot central to the spiritual feast, but are still worth noting nonetheless. Christmas canbe seen as part of a broader festive period of the year, that encompasses New Year’sDay and the celebration of the Epiphany (Baptism of Christ) on January 6. Hence thewestern Carol that sings about the “Twelve Days of Christmas.”

We hardly need to be reminded of the enduring customs that surround Christmasitself.

On Christmas Eve, for example, the Greek tradition is that young children go out tosing Carols. They will knock on doors in the neighbourhood and shout out the ques-tion “na ta poume?” which means “should we sing them?” Everybody who lets themin says yes, as Christmas is a time of joy, especially for children. They will usually singa couple of the verses of this Christmas Carol and when they are finished they willwish everyone a Merry Christmas (Kαλά Χριστούγεννα). Then the people of the homegive them a sweet or some coins.

We may have heard the Carol below sung many times in Greek, but what is it real-ly saying? One website provides us with the following translation in English, which wehave tweaked a little further for the sake of our readers.

Καλήν εσπέραν άρχοντες Good evening noble ones αν είναι ο ορισμός σας if it is your will Χριστού τη θεία γέννηση the divine birth of Christ να πω στ‘ αρχοντικό σας. for me to tell your household: Χριστός γεννάται σήμερον Christ is born today εν Βηθλεέμ τη πόλη in the town of Bethlehem οι ουρανοί αγάλλονται the heavens are in jubilationχαίρει η φύσις όλη all of nature rejoices. When we arrive at the New Year, we see some other sanctified customs (ήθη και

έθιμα) that are fairly distinct against the backdrop of our Australian society. Weshould hold on to these.

For example, Greeks normally cut the Vasilopita cake on January 1, the feast day ofSt Basil the Great. The householder makes the sign of the cross three times over thecake with the knife, before cutting it into smaller pieces. The first piece is dedicatedto Christ, the second to the Mother of God, the third to St Basil, the fourth to thehome, and then to each member of the family according to their age. The last pieceis reserved for the poor.

One of the pieces has the gold florin (φλουρί), although it is rarely really gold thesedays. If the florin is found in the piece belonging to Christ, the Virgin Mary or St Basil,then it is given to the local church. Similarly, if found in the last piece, the coin is giv-en to the poor.

The tradition of having a florin or coin in the Vasilopita dates to a real occurrencein the life of St Basil during the 4th century AD, according to which the valuable itemsthat the people of Caesaria (in Asia Minor) had given to appease the pagan EmperorJulian the Apostate were returned to them via small pita breads that were especiallybaked for that purpose.

TO BHMA6/34 DECEMBER 2014

This year has passed so quickly and much has hap-pened.

January saw the protests in the Ukraine continueand a month later they took a violent turn. In March,Russia despatched troops to the Crimea. Nearly 97%of voters in Crimea chose to secede from Ukraine in areferendum.

The second round of UN-led negotiations on Syriabegan in February. This was the month when theworld’s most wanted man, known as El Chiapo (Joa-quim Guzman Loera), who is described as a drug car-tel leader, was arrested by Mexican marines and USagents.

In March, North Korea had an election but therewas only one candidate on the ballot for each elec-

torate. Around the same time, ultra-Orthodox Israelishad different problems. They were no longer exempt-ed from military service by the Israeli Parliament.

It was in March that Malaysia Airline’s flight MH370carrying 239 people disappeared on its way to Beijing.It is thought that it landed in the southern IndianOcean. Many questions remain unanswered.

Meanwhile in South Africa, the Olympic runner Os-car Pistorius sobbed during his murder trial testimo-ny. A mass kidnapping of 280 girls occurred in Nigeriain April. I’ll bet there were a few parents sobbingabout that.

In April a South Korean ferry carrying 459 peoplesank but guess what, the captain was not at the helm.

By May the Ukrainian government launched an of-fensive against pro-Russian rebels. Narendra Modiwas set to become India’s prime minister after thelargest ever election in the world, where 814 millionpeople were eligible to vote.

Another day, another coup - this time it was themilitary in Thailand and life continued merrily on itsway in the rest of the world.

Did you remember that in June, Maria Sharapovaand Rafael Nadal won the French Open again? Youwere probably more concerned about what was onspecial at Aldi!

At about the same time, things were starting towarm up in Hong Kong after a pro-democracy groupheld an unofficial referendum.

It was only a month later that ISIS changed its nameto Islamic State and declared the territory under itscontrol as a caliphate.

On the other side of the globe, Germany decided totake the World Cup. They did not actually “take” it,but rather beat Argentina in extra time by 1-0.

By the end of July, Argentina defaulted (not in ten-nis) but on its debt for the third time in 25 years.I hope that Greece was watching.

It was only a few days later that Malaysia Airlinesflight MH17, a Boeing 777, was flying from Amster-dam to Kuala Lumpur. It was shot down over the east-ern Ukraine.

By July 31, the World Health Organisation declaredthe death toll from the Ebola virus in West Africa at672. The western world goes into panic mode.

In Mosul, ISIS threatened to kill all Christians whodid not convert to Islam. There were around 60,000 inthat city some 10 years ago. By August 19, theserebels beheaded captured American journalist JamesFoley. A second American journalist, Steven Sotioffwas also beheaded.

The decision by China to deny democratic electionsto Hong Kong sparked protests at the end of August.By now more than 1500 have died from the Ebolaoutbreak.

A Ukrainian cease-fire began on September 5. Twoweeks later Scotland voted to remain within the Unit-ed Kingdom. Demonstrators now shut down theheart of Hong Kong while the world watched in ama-zement.

The first US Ebola patient died on October 8 but inNovember we landed a spacecraft from the mothership Rosetta on a comet called 67P.

So there it is in a nutshell.Is it any wonder that our Church prays in every Li-

turgy for “the peace from above” and then a little lat-er “For the peace of the whole world… for the unionof all”?

It continues with these words: “…for every city andcountry, and for the Faithful who dwell there…”. Andthen the Liturgy adds: “…for the sick, for the afflicted,for captives and for their salvation… For our deliver-ance from all affliction, wrath, danger and necessity…let us pray to the Lord”!

Yes, let us pray because without God we have madea right mess of things.

All the best for 2015.

The views expressed are those of the author and not neces-sarily those of the VEMA.

Artwork source: Adapted from International Business Timesand news events from www.infoplease.com/news/2014/current-events

[email protected]

The Greek Australian VEMA

Letterfrom

Maroubra

LAW OFFICE OF KONSTANTINOS KARRAS17 Noembri 6-8, Alimos-Attikis (Athens), P.S. 17455

Email: [email protected] or [email protected]: +30-693-67-08-018

Attorney at Law in Athens. Graduated from the Law School of University ofAthens, Master Degree in European Law from the University of Louvain - Bel-gium.

Practice Areas:

a) Hereditary Issues (Wills, Inheritance)b) Legal Support regarding Property Issues (Real Estate-Markets,

Real Estate Leasing, Real Estate Registration in the Land Registry)c) Tax Matters (Tax Greeks Abroad, New estate tax law, inheritance

and gift tax)d) Greek citizenship (Greek Conditions for Granting Citizenship,

Registration at Registrar’s Office and the conditions for granting visas)e) Family Law (Divorce, Affairs)f) Recognition of foreign judgments in Greece

Our office is located in Alimos – Athens and we can be contacted by emailon [email protected] or [email protected]

describing briefly your case.

GREEK ORTHODOX ARCHDIOCESE OF AUSTRALIA

GREEK ORTHODOX PARISHOF ST JOHN THE FORERUNNER

BATEMANS BAY NSWCnr Princes H’way & Clyde St., Grossland Batemans Bay NSW 2536

Annual General Meeting - Sunday 28th Dec 2014New Years Eve & Epiphany Day Festivals

Annual General Meeting: The AGM will be held on Sunday 28th December2014 at the Entertainment Centre, the Church of St John at 10.30 am. The agen-da for the AGM will consist of presenting the President’s Report, the Treasurer’sReport and Financial Statements, General Business and the election of the newcommittee members for the 2015 year.

Position Nominations for the 2015 Committee: Nominations will be acceptedfor the 2015 committee positions by post up to 21st December 2014. Nomina-tions will be confirmed by the existing executive committee and presented at theAGM.

New Years Eve: We welcome everyone to our annual New Years Celebrationand hope to see you feasting, dancing and celebrating your way into 2015!Look out for more information leading up to the start of 2015!

Epiphany Celebration Saturday 10 th January -8.30 am Church Service10.30 am Bus provided to Batemans Bay Wharf11 am Wharf Service and Dining for the Cross12 Noon Celebration Lunch BBQ at Community Centre

Sid Pashalidis, President ph: (02) 4472 4141 mb: 0423 391 546

The Greek Australian VEMAThe oldest circulating Greek newspaper

outside Greece

Tel: (02) 9559 7022 Fax: (02) 9559 7033

Email: [email protected]


We shall now say something about the present feast.Many celebrate the feast days and know their designa-tions, but the cause for which they were establishedthey know not.

Thus concerning this, that the present feast is calledTheophany - everyone knows; but what Theophany is,and whether it be one thing or another, they know not.And this is shameful - every year to celebrate the feastday and not know its reason.

Why then is this day called Theophany? Because Christ made Himself known to all - not then

when He was born, but when He was baptised. Until this time He was not known to the people. And

that the people did not know who He was, listen aboutthis from John the Baptist, who says:

“Among you stands One whom you do not know”(John 1:26).

Which reason for Christ’s baptism did John declare?Namely, that Christ should become known to the

people, as Paul also mentions: “John therefore baptisedwith the baptism of repentance, so that through himthey should believe in the One who was to come afterhim, that is in Jesus” (Acts 19:4).

If John had gone to the home of each and, standing atthe door, had spoken out for Christ and said: “He is theSon of God,” such a testimony would have been suspi-cious, and this deed would have been extremely per-plexing.

But when all the people thronged out from all the

cities to the Jordan River and remained on the banks,and when He Himself came to be baptised and receivedthe testimony of the Father by a voice from above andby the descent of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove,then the testimony of John about Him was made be-yond all questioning.

And in order that it should not seem that John wouldtestify concerning Christ because of kinship, the graceof the Spirit organised it in such a way that John spentall his early years in the wilderness, so as not to seemthat John had declared his testimony out of friendshipor some similar reason.

But John was instructed by God, who said “He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain

is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit” (John 1:32-33).

Do you see, that the Holy Spirit descended in order topoint out what was preached by His inspiration - asthough by a finger, it pointed Him out to all. For thisreason He came to baptism.

Therefore also the Spirit did descend as a dove: be-cause where there is reconciliation with God - therealso is the dove.

So also in the ark of Noah the dove brought thebranch of olive - a sign of God’s love of humankind andof the cessation of the flood.

And now in the form of a dove the Spirit descended,announcing the universal mercy of God and showingthat the spiritual person needs to be gentle, simple and

innocent, as Christ also says: “Except you change and become as children, you will

never enter the Kingdom of Heaven” (Mt 18:3).

Text adapted from the Orthodox blogsite: modeoflife.org

ST JOHN CHRYSOSTOM: ON THE HOLY THEOPHANY

Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia

ST EUPHEMIA COLLEGE202 Stacey Street, Bankstown, NSW 2200 Tel: (02) 9796 8240 Fax: (02)9790 7354

School email: [email protected] * Website: www.steuphemia.nsw.edu.au

Left: Mr Theophilou OAM, Mrs Xanthoudakis – Director of Junior School, Mrs Pappas – Teacher, welcoming the 2015 Kindergarten students.Right: Primary students build valuablefriendships with the new students.

A wonderful performance by KA and KB, showcasing their excellent acting and singing talents.The new students entertained the audience with a selection of

well known songs.

Kindergarten Orientation for 2015St Euphemia College recently welcomed their new Kindergarten students for 2015

Right: Primary students build valuable

The Greek Australian VEMA DECEMBER 20148/36 TO BHMA

Feast of the Nativity of our Lord December 25

Biblical StoryThe story of the Nativity of Christ is

beautifully told in the Holy Scriptures. Nomatter how often the Birth of Jesus istold, we realize that it is an importantevent.

As the story is told by the Apostles, theRoman Empire was powerful. The Ro-mans had conquered much of the thenknown world. Judea and Samaria, whatwe know today as Israel, were includedin their conquests. Emperor Augustus or-dered that a census be taken in all hislands. He needed to know how manypeople lived in the empire so he couldtax them. Everyone had to go to thetown of their family’s origin to registerfor the census. This meant that Mary andJoseph had to go to Bethlehem. Theywere descendants of King David andBethlehem was the City of David.

Mary and Joseph lived in Nazareth andit was a great distance from Bethlehem.It was about 100 miles over very ruggedroads. Moreover, Mary was expectingthe baby and it was almost time for herto give birth. Bethlehem was a smalltown and there were many descendantsof David who had come to register forthe census. By the time Mary and Josepharrived in Bethlehem there was no placefor them to stay. Joseph tried very hardto find a place to sleep that evening.There was no room at the inn. Finally,Joseph found a cave-like place wherethey could rest. This place was used byshepherds to protect their sheep instormy weather. It was here that Marygave birth to Jesus. The baby was wrap-ped in swaddling clothes and laid in thestraw in the manger.

Now, that night the shepherds wereout in the fields guarding their sheep.Suddenly, there was a bright light whichstartled the shepherds. The light was sobright that it turned the night into day-light. Of course, the shepherds werefrightened. Nothing such as this had everhappened. Soon an angel appeared andcalmed them. The angel said:

“Fear not for behold, I bring you goodtidings of great joy, which shall be to allpeople. For unto you is born this day inthe city of David a Savior; which is Christthe Lord. And this shall be a sign untoyou: You shall find the babe wrapped inswaddling clothes, lying in a manger”(Luke 2:11-12).

Then a larger group of angels ap-peared. They praised and glorified Godand sang, “Glory to God in the highest,and on earth peace, and good will to-ward men” (Luke 2:14). When the angelsfinished singing, they disappeared andthe light began to fade. It became dim-mer and dimmer until it was dark again.The shepherds were awed. They didn’tknow what to do. Finally, they decided toleave their flocks of sheep and go toBethlehem. They decided that theywanted to see for themselves what theangels had told them. When they got toBethlehem, they found Mary, Joseph,and the infant Jesus. They fell to their

knees and adored Jesus. Some Wise Men came from the East

for they knew of the coming of Jesus.They had seen a star that told them thata new king had been born to the Jews.They followed the star and were lookingfor the child. At this time the governor ofJudea was King Herod. He was a wickedman and was feared and hated by thepeople.

When Herod heard about the WiseMen looking for the child, he invitedthem to his palace. Herod asked theWise Men to find the child so that he,too, could worship Him. But Herod waslying. He did not want anyone to take hisplace.

The Wise Men went on to look for Je-sus. The Star led them to Jesus and Mary.When the Wise Men found Jesus, theyfell to their knees and worshipped Him.They gave Jesus gifts of gold, frankin-cense, and myrrh. The Wise Men left butdid not return to Herod. They had adream that warned them that Herodwanted to harm Jesus. Instead, they re-turned to their native country by a differ-ent route.

Icon of the NativityThe icon of the Nativity tells the story

of Christ’s birth from the Scriptures. It al-so shows that all creation is taking part inChrist’s birth. The angels give thankswith their song; the heavens give the s-tar; the Wise Men give their gifts of gold,frankincense, and myrrh. The poor, hum-ble shepherds give their praise and a-mazement; the earth gives the cave, andhumanity gives the Virgin.

This Holy Icon is an icon with manyscenes. See the front cover for the fullicon of the Nativity. First, it stresses theimportance of the Theotokos, the Moth-er of Jesus (1). She is placed in the centerand is the largest figure in the icon. Inthis icon, she is kneeling with crossedarms, looking at the Christ child. Thethree stars, denoting her virginity before,during, and after the Nativity, are on hergarments. The Christ Child (2), in the cen-ter of the icon, is in swaddling clothesand is lying in the manger. In the back-ground is the dark cave where He wasborn. In the cave are an ox and a donkeyguarding the newborn Babe. Eventhough the Gospels say nothing of thecave, this information is from Holy Tradi-tion. Neither do the Gospels speak of theox and the donkey, but all cons of theNativity include these animals. Includingthe animals in the icon fulfills theprophecy of “The ox knows his master,and the donkey his master’s crib; but Is-rael does not know me, and the peoplehave not regarded me.” The long ray oflight from the star points directly to thecave. This ray comes from the star and

travels to all parts of the world. It teach-es that this bright star is an astronomicalhappening, and is a messenger fromheaven announcing the birth of Jesus.

On the left hand side of the icon is an-other scene. The Wise Men (3), whowere led by the star, are riding horses tobring their gifts of gold, frankincense,and myrrh to Jesus. The Wise Men are ofvarious ages. One is without a beard. Inthose days, young men did not wearbeards. The other Wise Man has longhair and a long beard, which indicatesthat he is much older. These detailsteach that regardless of age and appear-ance, the Good News was given to eachand everyone.

Opposite the Wise Men is the scenewith the humble shepherds. An angelproclaims the glad tidings. A young shep-herd plays a reed instrument (4). Thisscene reveals that the music of the hu-mans was added to the hymn of the an-gels. Across from the shepherd’s scene isthe heavenly choir of angels (5). They aregiving glory to God. The angels serve twopurposes in the Nativity of Christ. Theygive glory to God and announce the goodnews to all mankind.

The background shows a very ruggedterrain. This is not a true representationof the land in this area. Joseph could notfind room in Bethlehem, so they wentoutside of Bethlehem to a cave. Thisrocky mountain formation only serves asa background for the event.

In the lower part of the icon are twomore scenes. In the right hand corner arethe two women Joseph brought to takecare of the Christ child (6). They arebathing Him just as any baby is bathed.The humanity of Jesus is clearly shown inthis setting.

Opposite the bathing of Jesus scenesits a sad and worried Joseph (7). He isnot part of the central group the ChristChild and the Theotokos. Joseph is notthe natural father. Joseph is troubledand despondent. There is an old mantalking to Joseph. The old man is Satan.Satan can appear in many forms. Here heis as an old man who is tempting Josephand disturbing him. Satan is telling Jo-seph that virgin birth is impossible. He’stelling Joseph that he’s a fool if he be-lieves this. This story comes to us fromHoly Tradition. The sad Joseph shows usnot only his personal predicament butthe dilemma of all mankind the difficultyof accepting that which is “beyond wordsor reason.”

The tree, which is in the middle of thelower part of the icon, is a symbol of theTree of Jesse. This tree refers to, “But ashoot shall sprout from the stump ofJesse, and from his roots a bud shall blos-som. The spirit of the Lord shall rest up-on Him.” King David was often men-tioned as the son of Jesse and Jesus wasfrom the House of David.

The Holy Icon of the Nativity remindsone to praise and glorify the Birth ofChrist. The celebration of Christmas eachyear serves to remind each and everyoneof us that Christ came for you and me.

Source: www.goarch.org

1. The icon of the Nativity stresses the impor-tance of the Theotokos, the Mother of Jesus.

2. The Christ Child, seen here in swaddlingclothes, lies in a manger guarded by the ox

and donkey.

3. The Wise Men, are seen in the icon ridingtowards the light from the star.

4. Opposite from the Wise Men sits a youngshepherd boy plays music for his flock.

5. An angel gives glory to God and announcesthe good news of His birth.

7. In the right hand corner are the two womenJoseph brought to take care of the Christ

Child.

6. Satan is depicted as an old man who istempting Joseph not to believe in the virgin

birth of Jesus.


ARCHBISHOP VISITS ST JOHN’S COLLEGEOn the morning of Monday 17 November, His Eminence Arch-

bishop Stylianos of Australia visited St John’s Greek Orthodox Col-lege in Melbourne. The historic visit marks the commencement ofa period of renewal in the College.

St John’s College is the very first Greek Orthodox College to beestablished in Australia. It opened its doors in 1979, and in its 35years of life, the College has had many bright achievements.

A detailed master plan for the improvement and extension ofthe College’s facilities has recently been completed. The masterplan aims to ensure that St John's continues to offer quality edu-cation through the direct investment in thoughtfully developedacademic resources and facilities and the creation of cutting edge21st century learning spaces.

With the support of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Aus-tralia, the realisation of this master plan has already begun, withworks for Stage 1 of the new Science Centre commencing beforethe end of year.

His Eminence Archbishop Stylianos with His Grace Bishop Ezekiel of Dervis, His Grace Bishop Iakovos of Miletoupolis, members of the College Board, leadership and teaching staff,school captains and vice captains.

The College’s Junior School choir performing at the assembly

Some details from the school master plan


Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia

St Euphemia College is a K-12, co-educational Greek Orthodox day School.Our educational ideals are encapsulated in our motto ‘Strive for Excellence’

ST EUPHEMIA COLLEGE 202 Stacey Street, Bankstown, NSW 2200

Contact us for more information: Phone: (02) 9796 8240 Fax: (02) 9790 7354School email:

with a solid and positive education at St Euphemia College.

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The Reverend Fathers of the Parish, the President

Mr Peter Theofilou OAM, Board Members,

the Principals and Teachers of the College, extend to all

their sincere wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year


An activity of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia


Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of AustraliaTHE MILLENNIUM HERITAGE COUNCIL

is pleased to announce the reconvening of

THE MILLENNIUM CHOIR

The Choir is open to men and women aged 18 to 80and will convene on Monday evenings 7 8.30 pm

at St Spyridon Parish Hall, 72 76 Gardeners Road, Kingsford, Sydney.

Auditions for NEWmembers will be held on Monday 9th February 2015whilst rehearsals will commence fromMonday 16th February 2015,under the direction of our esteemed Conductor, Mr George Ellis.

For expressions of interest and enquiries please phone Father Steven Scoutas on 0417 771 113.

The Millennium Heritage Councilis also pleased to announce the formation of

THE MILLENNIUM ORCHESTRAunder the direction of our acclaimed Conductor, Mr George Ellis, in Sydney.

Orchestral musicians should lodge their expression of interestby phoning Father Steven Scoutas on 0417 771 113.

FROM 2015 WE ALSO LOOK FORWARD TOWELCOMING TO THE MILLENNIUM TEAMMR THEMOS MEXISWHOSE DIRECTION WILL FURTHER ENRICH OUR CULTURAL EXPRESSION

16 2015, .

..




39th Nameday Celebrations for our PrimateArchbishop Stylianos held in Sydney

More than 400 representatives of Parishes and Com-munities, Institutions, Associations and Brotherhoodshonoured the 39th Nameday anniversary reception forthe Primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in Australia,His Eminence Archbishop Stylianos, held at the ‘PalaisFunction Centre’ on Friday 28th November, 2014.

All proceeds from this function each year go towardsSt Andrew’s Theological College which has alreadyyielded priests, teachers and theologians who areworking in specialist areas of pastoral, social, educa-tional and other ministries.

THE OFFICIAL GUESTS

Besides the celebrating Primate of our Greek Ortho-dox Church in Australia, the official party was com-prised of:

1. His Grace Bishop Seraphim of Apollonias, AssistantBishop to His Eminence in Sydney.

2. Mr Vaianos Oreopoulos-Kelenis, Consul for Eco-nomic and Commercial Affairs with the Consulate Gen-eral for Greece in Sydney.

3. Mr Michael Diamond, Legal Adviser to the Archdio-cese.

4. Mr Peter Theofilou, President of the Inter-Commu-nities Council of NSW and President of the Parish andCommunity of St Euphemia, Bankstown.

5. Mr Harry Danalis, President of the Greek Commu-nity of Sydney and New South Wales, and Mrs Alexan-dra Danalis.

6. Mr Jack Passaris, Chairman of the Ethnic Commu-nities Council of NSW, and Mrs Irene Passaris.

7. Professor Spiros Miyiakis, School of Medicine atthe Aristoteleian University of Thessaloniki, Senior Lec-turer at the Graduate School of Medicine, University ofWollongong, Specialist in General Medicine and Infec-tious Diseases at Wollongong Hospital and nephew ofHis Eminence.

8. Mr Dimitrios Gemetzis, a nephew of His Eminencefrom his sister’s side, currently visiting Australia fromGreece, though having spent several years with HisEminence in the past whilst undertaking university stud-ies here.

9. Dr Philip Kariatlis, Senior Lecturer at St Andrew’sTheological College, and Mrs Kay Kariatlis.

10. Father Steven Scoutas, as Master of Ceremonies,and his Presvitera Patricia.

THE SPEAKER FOR THE EVENING

This year’s speaker was Dr Philip Kariatlis who wasborn in Sydney and nurtured from a young age in thelife of the Church. He is currently Academic Director andSenior Lecturer in Dogmatic Theology at St Andrew’sTheological College. After taking a degree in Theology

from St Andrew’s, he graduated from the University ofSydney with a degree in Arts, majoring in ModernGreek. He received a Master of Theology and a doctor-ate from the Sydney College of Divinity, where he stud-ied under Professor Gerard Kelly. His doctorate was inthe area of ecclesiology where he examined the notionof ‘koinonia’ as both gift and goal. His research interestlies in Church doctrine, specifically its existential andsalvific character. He translated the doctoral disserta-tion of Archbishop Stylianos (Harkianakis) ‘The Infallibili-ty of in Orthodox Theology’ (2008) and has written inseveral peer reviewed journals within Australia andabroad. He has also written extensively for variouspublications, along with creative works. His most recentbook is entitled: ‘Church as Communion: Gift and Goalof Koinonia’ (2011). He is currently translating into Eng-lish His Eminence’s book ‘The Constitution of the Churchof the 2nd Vatican Council’ which to date is the only ex-tensive stu-dy on that milestone Council of the RomanCatholic Church, from an Orthodox perspective. Thetranslation and publication of His Eminence’s work iseagerly anticipated in theological circles around theworld.

Dr Kariatlis also has a podcast series on Ancient Ra-dio entitled‘’. He is currently a member of the Faith andUnity Commission of the National Council of Churchesof Australia (since 2010). He is a Director of the SydneyCollege of Divinity (since 2009). He has also had theprivilege of representing His Eminence ArchbishopStylianos on the Principals’ Fellowship of the SydneyCollege of Divinity (since 2009).

Dr Kariatlis is a practitioner of Byzantine Music and isthe Right Chanter at the Church of St Stylianos, Gymea,in Sydney. He married Kalliope Koutzas in 2003 andthey have been blessed with a beautiful son, Gregory.

THE ADDRESS BY DR KARIATLIS

Reminiscing his experiences as a student at St An-drew’s Theological College in Sydney, Dr Kariatlis re-flected on his appreciation gained of the celebratingArchbishop through the privilege of learning DogmaticTheology from our Primate who is one of the mostqualified and recognized Dogmatologists in the world.

Dr Kariatlis, in his bilingual presentation, describedHis Eminence best by referring to quotes from variouslessons, poems and personal conversations with theArchbishop. Words and phrases which carry greatmeaning reveal the sensitive inner spirit of ArchbishopStylianos, he said, and expressed not only the gratitudeof all students, past and present, for the honour of stu-dying at St Andrew’s but also for the enormous bless-ing of allowing him personally to teach our Primate’sspecialized subject.

THE RESPONSE

In his response, the Archbishop thanked Dr Kariatlisfor his enlightened presentation then introduced Mr An-thony Johnson who would receive the Silver Cross ofthe Archdiocese. His Eminence highlighted the integrityand the humility with which Mr Johnson had worked onthe Board of the St Basils Network of Aged Care Serv-ices, most recently as Chairman of the Board, beforecalling him to receive his distinction.

THE RECIPIENT OF THE SILVER CROSS -MR ANTHONY JOHNSON

Mr Anthony Johnson was born in Sydney and is anephew of Father George Cateris of blessed memory.Mr Johnson received his degree in Business Studiesfrom the University of Technology. Very quickly heclimbed the ladder of achievement. In 1978 he was ap-pointed Internal Auditor of the Royal North Shore Hospi-tal. Since then, he has held Executive managerial posi-tions at Westmead Hospital, the Bank of America, Ham-bros Australia, Western Sydney Area Health Service,and State Super Financial Services. From 1990 he be-came General Manager of Finance and Administrationwith State Super Financial Services Australia. He thenoversaw and managed the transition of First State Su-per from an exempt public sector superannuationscheme to an SIS regulated public offer superannuationfund, making it one of the largest superannuation fundsin Australia.

With such expertise, Mr Johnson has quietly and com-petently volunteered his services for the past 20 yearson the Board St Basil’s Network of Hostels and NursingHomes. He has been Chairman of the Board for thepast 8 years.

Mr Johnson thanked His Eminence for the great hon-our bestowed upon him by our Primate and remarkedthat he had been taught by his father to work hard andto give back to the community by way of service.

THE EVENING CLOSED WITH THANKS

Warm thanks were expressed to the OrganizingCommittee which worked, as always, under the direc-tion of His Grace Bishop Seraphim, as well as to theproprietors of the ‘Palais Function Centre’, Mr MichaelOnoufriades, his wife Litsa and his mother Mersina, fortheir delightful service.

The evening closed with clergy and laity chanting thePheme of our Archbishop.

The VEMA of the Church also takes this opportunity towish His Eminence continuing health and strength onthe occasion of his recent Nameday.

FSS

Left: The official table. Centre: Academic Director and Senior Lecturer in Dogmatic Theology at St Andrew’s Theological College, Dr Philip Kariatlis during his speech. Right: His EminenceArchbishop Stylianos congratulates the outgoing Chairman of the Board of the St Basils Network of Aged Care Services, Mr Anthony Johnson


Each Thursday, our senior citizens gather at St Spyri-don Kingsford Church hall to Lunch in Good Company.This weekly event is for many of them, the only timethey leave their homes and is an opportunity for themto share a meal and friendship with others, in their na-tive tongue. The Ladies Philoptohos of the Parish, led bythe President Mrs Elsie Tsangaris, prepares the freshand tasty meal.

On 30th October as part of the Greek Welfare Cen-tre’s Annual Senior’s Month, and at the kind invitationof Mrs Dimitra Micos, their coordinator, the students ofSt Spyridon College Junior School entertained a packedhall. Mr James Philips, President of St Spyridon Parish,Mrs Christina Tsaconas, Parish Executive Officer andMrs Stefanou, Head of St Spyridon College joined us forthis occasion.

We were honoured to have with us Mrs ElizabethKyrimis, the wife of the Consul General of Greece inSydney, Dr S. Kyrimis. Her generosity of spirit and sup-port of the work of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese ofAustralia through the Parish, our College and the GreekWelfare Centre, warmed our hearts and encouragedour children to give of their best. As an educator her-self, she spoke of the importance of the younger gener-ation learning about their native Greece and about theOrthodox faith. She spoke about the importance of re-cognising and appreciating the sacrifices made by theirgrandparents and the need to hold on to those impor-tant values that characterise the Greek person: philoti-mo.

Students from Kindergarten to Year 6 performed dra-matic pieces from Greek Mythology and presentedGreek Dances taught to them by the inimitable Mrs.Sophia Haskas. Our seniors laughed and sang along withthe students, remembering their own childhood whenthey too had learnt these things.

We thank the Greek Welfare Centre for including ourchildren in this program as it highlights the importanceof community service. We also thank the wonderful La-dies Philoptohos of St Spyridon who prepare and servelunch for our senior citizens every Thursday.

Mrs A. SynesiosPrincipal St Spyridon College Junior School

Senior citizens lunch at St Spyridon Kingsford (NSW)

Greek-Australian beats weight loss recordGreek-Australian Jordan Tirekidis (pictured) bro-

ke Australia’s weight loss record by losing 204 kg ina year, through the method of sleep hypnosis.

Just two years ago, Jordan weighed just over 300kilos. His life was a nightmare. He had to wear cus-tom made clothes, drive a custom made car. Hecouldn’t remember the last time he went to thebeach or had a night out at a restaurant.

The 47-year-old man started putting on weightwhen he took over the family business and due tolack of time started eating unhealthy fast food.

However, he believes that his first tendency to-wards obesity started long before, at the age of 9,when he had his tonsils taken out and as a result

started eating unhealthy treats. His life changedwhen he met with hypnotherapist and motivation-al speaker Mark Stephens who believes that “hyp-nosis is the only way to convince the mind tochange habits and make you want to eat right andexercise.” The two men started working togetherin order to help Jordan change his lifestyle. Hestarted eating healthy and exercising on a daily ba-sis.

“I was sick and tired of being sick and tired, and Iknew I had to do something to reclaim my life,”said Tirekidis. Slowly but steadily he started losingweight, until he broke Australia’s weight lossrecord by losing 204 kg.

Students from Kindergarten to Year 6 performeddramatic pieces from Greek Mythology

Mrs Elizabeth Kyrimis, during her speech

Students of St Spyridon College enter-tained a packed hall

Students presented Greek Dances taughtto them by Mrs. Sophia Haskas


By Chris VlahonasiosFounder & DirectorOFA blog + Byzanfest + THE MOVING ICON

Nektaria Karantzi is one of the most prominentwomen in Byzantine music. She has toured across Eu-rope showcasing the ancient voice of the Church.

She is the Founder and Honorary President of thePanhellenic Association of Women in Byzantine Ecclesi-astical Music. Her work has been honoured by the Hel-lenic Musicological Society, the Institute for Byzantineand Greek Traditional Music Studies and the musicmagazine “To Psaltiri.” She is also the Public Relationsand Press Manager of the Metropolitan Symphony Or-chestra of Athens and the Artistic Director of the Tradi-tional Music School “Chronis Aidonides.”

I had the privilege of interviewing Nektaria Karantzi,despite being on a busy concert tour, to discuss her lovefor Byzantine chant, her influences and her exciting, up-coming project.

You started chanting and performing at a young age.What inspired you to dedicate yourself to this scaredart?

I grew up early on with this special kind of music, so itvery much became part of my life. I also had the bless-ing to know during my childhood a contemporary saint,Saint Porphyrios the Kapsokalyvite, and with his en-couragement I started my studies in Byzantine Music.

Byzantine chant is a life-long learning experience.What are some of the basics that make it unique ascompared to Western spiritual music?

Indeed! Byzantine music is a life-long learning experi-ence - as well as any kind of the “real” music - and takesmuch study and practice to understand and be execut-ed correctly. This kind of music has many special fea-tures that make it unique. There’s much to say about it,but for the sake of summarising, I’ll give a small sampleof the huge variety of musical specificities in Byzantinechant.

Firstly, there’s musical modes. Byzantine music em-ploys a wide range of modes. It does not distinguish be-tween major and minor scales. Byzantine scales haveprecise tunings that have some intervals smaller thanthe Western half-step, so it sounds very different fromany other kind of music, based on Western tradition. Al-so, the whole system of Byzantine music is closely relat-ed to the Ancient Greek system.

But, what I think is most distinct and important aboutByzantine music is that this kind of chant is not only anart, but moreso a prayer. The prayerful mood is thequintessence of Byzantine music. Byzantine ecclesiasti-cal music is foremost the art of prayer and spirituality.It has a psychotherapeutic value that calms the souland leads the people to their natural state - their rela-tionship with God.

You’ve toured all over Europe, what do non-Orthodoxpeople think of Byzantine chant? Is it becoming pop-ular?

European people welcome Byzantine chanting withgreat interest and an honest desire to learn! I havesome really great memories from my tours all over Eu-rope. However, I don’t think that it has been turned in-to a popular kind of music. Besides, popularity neverwas the purpose of this art.

Do you think Byzantine chant can be incorporated intosecular music?

In a musicological way, it could be, but in that casewe cannot speak about Byzantine music.

In your first recordings of chanting you accompaniedSaint Porphyrios - what was it like to work with himand what wisdom did this great saint pass on to you?

Saint Porphyrios is the most important person in mylife.

I learned ecclesiastical music thanks to him, but fore-most… I met a Saint of God in life. I grew up next to him,from a very early age, with my family. I remember SaintPorphyrios as the man of love. He had the experience ofthe Holy Spirit within his heart in his life. We thank theLord for giving us such a great gift in our times... He al-ways stressed that Christianity is freedom. He pres-sured no-one and he wanted whoever came to him todo it out of their own free will.

He loved Byzantine hymnography very much and heliked Byzantine music chanted by women during the Di-vine Liturgies or other liturgical services, at the GreekOrthodox churches.

You have a new album coming out very soon. What’sthis project about and why is it so significant?

It‘s the first part of my new big project, Byzantine Ec-clesiastical: Hymns and Traditional Songs to the Moth-er of God! It’s really something special because the to-tal project comprises of more than 40 Byzantine Ecclesi-astical Hymns and about 30 traditional songs with refer-ence to the Mother of God which makes it unique andthe first complete musical work of collected hymns andsongs of the Virgin Mary from all over Greece.

The hymns cover the Great Feasts of the Mother ofGod while many others are included: some knownhymns recently composed [eg. ‘O Virgin Pure’ writtenby St Nektarios, ‘Virgin Pure’ by hieromonk Daniel Kou-ta-nakiotis] and many other hymns such as the AkathistHymn and the Supplicatory Canon to the Mother ofGod.

Regarding the traditional songs there has been an at-tempt to include all regions of Greece from Crete toThrace and the one-time unforgotten Homelands [Sina-sos in Cappadocia, Silivria, Tsesme, Alatsata, Kato Pana-yia]. Some songs of the project are unpublished, pre-served either for the musical archives of the HellenicFolklore Research Center of the Academy of Athens, therecording of which was edited at times by reputablemusicians and musicologists such as the late SpryridonPeristeris, or through amateur recordings of past gener-ations, of which I was fortunate enough to have in myhands. The whole work has been distributed in threeeditions, each of which contains a double CD with tradi-tional songs and Byzantine hymns of Theotokos.

I’ve also had the honour in this first edition to workwith three special guests: the greatest performer andteacher of Greek Folk Culture, Chronis Aidonids; the in-ternationally acclaimed pianist, composer and conduc-tor and ECM recording artist Vassilis Tsabropoulos andthe internationally acclaimed folk singer of Hungary anda UNESCO artist for Peace, my very beloved artist, Mar-ta Sebestyen.

When will the first album be released?

It’s is going to be released early December by the ra-dio stations of the Church of Greece. The album will beavailable for purchase on iTunes mid-December or Jan-uary.

What’s your next project?

It’s a new album that is going to be released by ECMrecords with Vassilis Tsabropoulos. We have recentlyinitiated a special collaboration with Vassilis which linksthe music of West and East. This gap is eliminated bythe hands of a famous musician like Vassilis. The start-ing point of our cooperation is the deep inner intent tojoin two different worlds of music that seem inconsis-tent and sometimes incompatible.

Vassilis Tsabropoulos has managed to highlight an-other aspect and development which the Byzantine mu-sic routes could have, when the soul is allowed tobreathe freely, far from prejudices and attitudes whichunravel and destroy the musicality and often become ahiding place for sloppiness surviving only with thefacade of a disputed authenticity.

What advice can you give to other young womenwho want to chant?

Close your ears to the “popular” songs of sirens anddon’t be afraid of the difficulties and the loneliness ofthe path you chose with all of your heart.

To hear Nektaria’s music & stay-tuned for release ofMother of God: Pt 1

www.facebook.com/karantzinektaria

www.nektariakarantzi.weebly.com

www.youtube.com/user/nektariakarantzi

Digital MosaicWhere the Ancient Faith + 21st century media merge

Byzantine Chant: the sound of prayer

Nektaria Karantzi


Imagine sunny Brisbane, with its tropical climate, hillytopography, and tree-lined thoroughfares. Then thinkof combining this soothing atmosphere with the aca-demic study of Byzantium; could there be a more in-spiring environment for a conference?

As a representative of St Andrew’s at the AustralianAssociation for Byzantine Studies (AABS) 18th biennialconference on the topic of Byzantine Culture and Trans-lation, I had the honour of being inspired precisely bysuch an environment. The conference was convened byeminent scholars Dr Bronwen Neil FAHA (AustralianCatholic University, Centre for Early Christian Studies,Banyo QLD) and Dr Amelia Brown (Lecturer in GreekHistory and Language, University of Queensland), andthe keynote speaker was Professor Maria Mavroudi(University of California, Berkeley). Dr Neil is of coursewell known to St Andrew’s. Having been keynote speak-er for two of our Patristic Symposia (2011 and 2014),she also published in both Phronema 27:2 (2012) andCappadocian Legacy (edited by Protopresbyter Dr DoruCostache and Dr Philip Kariatlis), and participated in our2013 Round Table on St Maximus the Confessor. Forthese reasons, and more, her generosity and friendshipover the past few years have meant a lot to us.

I arrived on the twenty-eighth to encounter a city thathad been assailed by torrential storms; but I soon re-alised that neither the debris nor the power-outagecould dampen the spirits of the participants at this veryauspicious conference. Travelling to the St Lucia cam-pus of the University just before registration, I was metby Dr Anna Silvas FAHA (University of New England,School of Humanities, Armidale NSW) who is a tremen-dous friend of St Andrew’s. Dr Silvas gave keynote lec-tures at our 2010 and 2011 Patristic Symposia and pub-lished in the second volume of Phronema in 2012. Thisyear, Dr Silvas gave two guest lectures at St Andrew’son the ‘Nexus of Greek, Syriac and Latin Christianity: StBasil the Great’s Small Asketikon’ and ‘Was St Basil theGreat a mystic? Was he a mystical theologian?,’ withher paper at AABS covering the first of these topicsfrom a fresh angle. After greeting Dr Silvas and register-ing for the conference, the latter kindly introduced meto Emeritus Professor John Melville-Jones (Classics andAncient History, University of Western Australia), oneof the most accomplished Byzantinists in the Antipodes.

We sat together for the keynote lecture by ProfessorMavroudi who was introduced by Dr Brown after thewelcoming remarks of Associate Professor Martin Crot-ty, the Head of the School of History, Philosophy, Reli-gion and Classics at the University. Professor Mavrou-di’s keynote was entitled ‘Translation from Greek intoLatin and Arabic during the Middle Ages: Searching forthe Classical Tradition.’ This stimulating paper acted asa corrective to modern assumptions that Byzantiumstatically preserved the classical tradition without anyinnovation whatsoever. Professor Mavroudi, however,demonstrated that this ‘preservation’ involved a greatdynamism that made the classical tradition relevant forthe Christian Romans, the contemporaries of whom(i.e. Muslims and Latins) were interested not only in theclassical tradition that Byzantium had preserved but al-so its other creative projects, Biblical, patristic, hagio-graphical, liturgical, and legal, etc. At the generous re-ception that followed the presentation, the recent pub-lication of the Society, Byzantium: Its Neighbours andIts Cultures, edited by Dr Danijel Dzino (Lecturer in An-cient History, Macquarie University) and Dr Ken Parry(former Senior Lecturer in Church History at St An-drew’s), was launched by Dr Neil. Bursaries were then

distributed to myself and another PhD candidate MrMatthew O’Farrell (Department of Ancient History,Macquarie University), for which I am very grateful.During the reception I was pleased to meet Justin Pig-got, PhD candidate at the Australian Catholic University,who presented at our 2014 Patristic Symposium. His pa-per at AABS was on ‘The Bishops of Constantinople andthe Monastic Menace.’ I also met another PhD candi-date from ACU, Ryan Strickler, who presented the nextday on ‘Apocalyptic Discourse in Epistula 8 by Maximusthe Confessor.’ After the reception, Dr Neil generouslyinvited me to dinner with Professor Mavroudi, DrAmelia Brown, Dr Andrew Faulkner (Department ofClassical Studies, University of Waterloo, Ontario) andMr Andrew Stephenson (School of Historical and Philo-sophical Studies, University of Melbourne), whom I fi-nally met after much correspondence in relation to mysociety membership and conference registration.

The first night of the conference was just a foretasteof what transpired the next day. The morning startedwell with a brief breakfast at a local café attended by DrNeil, Associate Professor Nigel Westbrook (AssociateDean of Research, School of Architecture, Landscapeand Visual Arts, University of Western Australia), DrZdenko Zlatar (Reader in History at the University ofSydney), and myself. I was privileged to receive insightsinto their fascinating research interests. I was unable ofcourse to attend all of the presentations because of theparallel sessions (one-and-a-half hours each, comprisedof three presentations for thirty minutes each), buthere I will provide some commentary on the sessions Idid attend, as well as my experience throughout. Mypaper, entitled ‘Constantinople as an Imago et AxisMundi: Approaching the New Rome through the Lens ofthe History of Religions,’ was to be presented in themorning session ‘Constantinople through the Ages.’ Thefirst paper of this session was on ‘The PerformativeFunction of Column Monuments in Constantinople’ byMs Rebecca Smith, PhD candidate at the University ofQueensland. I addressed Constantine’s porphyry col-umn in my paper that was up next, so I deferred to MsSmith’s excellent presentation at the places where mytalk covered the same material.

My paper, however, focused on applying the re-nowned Romanian scholar Mircea Eliade’s heuristic de-vices of imago mundi (image of the world) and axismundi (centre of the world) to the founding of Constan-tinople in order to demonstrate Constantine’s syn-cretistic construal of the city as a cosmic centre thatborrowed motifs from ancient Egypt, Greece, andRome, with some Christian elements. Next I moved tothe session ‘Exploring Byzantine Monasticism’ to deliverProtopresbyter Dr Doru Costache’s (Senior Lecturer inPatristic Studies, St Andrew’s) paper on his behalf. FrDoru had intended to attend the conference, but couldnot make it due to unforeseen circumstances; I duly ac-knowledge him here for facilitating - with His EminenceArchbishop Stylianos’ (Dean of St Andrew’s) blessing -the strong and enduring connections that St Andrew’shas with Dr Neil, Dr Silvas, and other esteemed partici-pants at AABS. Fr Doru’s paper was entitled ‘The Phi-lokalia and Its First Translation into a Modern Language’and gives a groundbreaking spin on the modern phi-lokalic saga, which, Fr Doru demonstrates, was initiatedby Ukrainian and Romanian monks in the Romanianlands; lands that had an ancient history of monasticismand hesychast experience that were now made wide-spread by the bold translation of the Philokalia into thevernacular for the first time. After delivering Fr Doru’spaper, I had the honour of meeting once again the leg-endary Professor Pauline Allen FAHA (Director of theCentre for Early Christian Studies, ACU).

Professor Allen is another dear friend and supporterof St Andrew’s, who was keynote speaker at our Patris-tic Symposium on St Cyril of Alexandria last year, pub-lished two articles in Phronema this year, and will bekeynote speaker again (together with Dr Wendy Mayer,another eminent scholar from ACU) at our 2016 Patris-tic Symposium on St John Chrysostom. Professor Allenalso recently joined Phronema’s editorial board. Duringmorning tea that followed this session I also had thepleasure of greeting Professor Alanna Nobbs, Co-Direc-tor of the Ancient History Documentary Research Cen-

Byzantium in Brisbane: Reflections on the Australian Association

for Byzantine Studies Conference28-30 November, 2014

The Great Court of the Campus of St Lucia, University of Queensland, where the conference was held


Cont. from previous page

tre at Macquarie University who, together with her hus-band, Emeritus Professor of the Sydney College ofDivinity, Raymond Nobbs, have for many years beenfriends of St Andrew’s.

I chaired the next session on ‘Byzantine Dreambooks.’Dr Faulkner delivered an insightful paper on the ‘Para-phrase and the Translation of Scripture,’ showing howsome ancient authors employed Hellenistic literary de-vices in their paraphrase of scripture. Next, Dr LolaSharon Davidson (University of Technology, Sydney)gave a fascinating presentation on ‘Pascalis Romanus’Liber Thesauri Occulti and the translation movement ofthe Twelfth Century.’ Dr Davidson contextualised theLatin translator Pascalis Romanus, working in Constan-tinople in the twelfth century, within a wider transla-tion movement that attempted to adapt pre-existingoneiromantic traditions within a Christian framework.Co-convener Dr Neil’s paper was thematically linked tothe previous insofar as it addressed the topic of ‘Trans-lating Byzantine Dreams from West to East.’

In a fascinating investigation of the cultural cross-overs between Byzantium and Medieval Islam, Dr Neilemployed Kenny’s taxonomy for dream accounts inninth century hagiography to Byzantine, Islamic, andLatin milieus. I managed to attend one more paper thatday on ‘Nikephoros Phokas as Superhero’ by Mr JohnBurke (Honourary, Historical and Philosophical Studies,the University of Melbourne) before venturing back tothe hotel to rest before the conference dinner, whichwas at the Victorian-looking Regatta hotel, and was theperfect way to cap off a day of scholarly fraternity andedification.

The next day began with a bang. I attended the ses-sion called ‘Translations of text and dress in the 17thcentury’ where Dr Alfred Vincent, founder of the De-partment of Modern Greek Studies at the University ofSydney, gave a remarkable presentation on ‘RestoringByzantium? Two Greek Writers in Seventeenth CenturyWallachia.’ These writers were Stavrinos the Vestiaryand Bishop Matthew of Myra, both of whom were bornin Epirus, settled in Wallachia, and delineated theByzantine-inspired history of pre-Phanariot dominationin the Danubian provinces. Dr Vincent contrasted theirtwo approaches; what stood out to me was that Stavri-nos described the death of the Romanian voivodeMichael the Brave’s assassination at the behest of theHabsburgian emperor as a mythical victory of a dragon(the emperor) over the hero (Michael). This continuesand inverts a motif prevalent in ancient Greek andByzantine culture (e.g. Apollo slaying Typhon, Digenis

Akritas slaying a dragon), and prompted a discussionbetween Dr Vincent and myself during the tea breakwhich followed, from which I learned a lot. After thenext presentation by Dr Przemylsaw Marciniak (Univer-sity of Silesia, Katowice, Poland) on ‘Translating Byzan-tine Literature in Pre- and Early Modern Poland’ - whichdescribed some fascinating literary examples of Byzan-tine inspired literature in Poland before the Russiandomination - I was whisked away by Dr Silvas who wasintent on showing me something on campus that sheinsisted was well worth seeing.

After walking around the beautiful lake and meetingsome of its inhabitants - ducks and peacocks of variousshapes, colours and sizes - we finally made it to a grassyarea marked with large trees that overshadowed a stat-ue of St Vladimir the Great, the converter of the KievanRus’, standing like a silent sentinel and beacon with hisRussian cross in hand; his welcoming arms outstretchedtowards those who would draw near. The statue wasdedicated by the Russian community in Brisbane “onthe occasion of the millennium of Christian culture inRussia 1988.” Strengthened by this image and Dr Silvas’commentary on it - for which again I humbly thank her- we made our way back to the conference for the ses-sion on ‘Text translations in the medieval West,’ whichincluded two presentations. The first was on ‘ByzantineReligious Tales in Latin Translation: The Work of John ofAmalfi’ by John Duffy, Dumbarton Oaks Professor ofByzantine Philology and Linguistics (Harvard University,Cambridge MA). This insightful presentation addressedthe manuscript tradition behind the works of John, abilingual priest and monk of Amalfi who in the eleventhcentury lived for some time in the Zoodochos Pegemonastery at Constantinople.

The second paper was entitled ‘Lost in Translation:Planudes in Search of Human Reason’ by Dr EvangelinaAnagnostou-Laoutides (School of Languages, Culturesand Linguistics at Monash University). The presentationunfolded as a complex analysis of Maximus Planudes’(13th century) translation of certain passages fromMacrobius, Boethius, and St Augustine as an attempt toreconcile Aristotelian and Neo-Platonic conceptions ofreason. Lunch followed this nuanced paper, after whichwe said our goodbyes, edified in mind and collegiality. Imade my way back to the airport and began to writethe present reflection, when I was pleasantly surprisedto bump into two conference delegates heading back toPerth, Associate Professor Westbrook and MichaelChampion; both of whom are from the University ofWestern Australia but whose papers I unfortunately didnot manage to hear.

We reflected about the conference over some coffee,and, given A/Professor Westbrook’s deep interest inByzantine architecture, I offered to show them photoson my laptop from my trip to Istanbul in 2011. The in-sightful commentary that followed was a fitting way toend this tour de force of a conference, and I take theopportunity to express my sincerest gratitude to theconveners and participants for making me feel so wel-come.

Mario BaghosAssociate Lecturer in Church History and Patristic Studies


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874 Anzac Parade, Maroubra Junction874 Anzac Parade, Maroubra Junction(at bus stop, on RTA block)(at bus stop, on RTA block)

TTTeell :: ((0022)) [email protected]@maroubraoptoms.com.au

Katerina + Kyriacos Mavrolefteros

The statue of St Vladimir the Great, herald of Orthodoxyto the Rus’, was shawn to me by Dr Anna Silvas FAHA.

St Stylianos Parish in Sydnery, NSW celebrated its Panigiri on 30th of November(St Andrew’s Day) with His Eminence Archbishop Stylianos and other priests:

Fr Miltiadis, Fr Nicholas Tsouloukidis, Fr John Kapetas and Fr Michael. Fr Constantine was bestowed the honour of Protopresbyter by His Eminence.

This was a great honour and Fr Constantine said it is a reflection of His Eminence’sexample at our Theological College, his Presbytera Eleni’s dedication, his Parents’integrity and the hardworking Church Committees that are in synergy with a Priestand his family.

This was a blessed day with so many people attending and a luncheon followedwith entertainment by the dancing groups of the Parish, taught by Maria Karam-belas.


By Guy Freeland*

In many and various ways God spoke of oldto our fathers

by the prophets; but in these last days he hasspoken to us

by a Son, whom he appointed the heir of allthings,through whom he also created the world.

He reflects the glory of God and bears the verystamp

of his nature, upholding the universe by hisword of power.When he had made purification for sins,

he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty onhigh,having become as much superior to angels

as the name he has obtained is more excellentthan theirs.

(Hebrews 1:1-4 Revised Standard Version.)

So read the first four verses of the Epistle for the Vigil/Vesperal Liturgy of Christmas Day; the one usually cele-brated “in anticipation” on the morning of ChristmasEve.

We all of us reach out for an understanding of theIncarnation of Christ through the narratives and canti-cles of the Christmas story as told by the EvangelistsLuke and Matthew. And what a wondrous story it is! Forchildren the Mystery is the story, but those of mature(or over-ripe!) years need to penetrate beneath the nar-ratives and poetry to the Mystery that the Gospelenshrines.

But of course a mystery that can be totally unravelledand analysed is no mystery at all. So the Mystery of allmysteries, the incarnation of a Saviour God, can neverbe fully encompassed by human minds. The Christmasstory can only point us towards the Mystery, it cannotenable us to dissolve the Mystery. Theology can onlytake us so far.

The process of articulating a theology of the Incarnationdidn’t have to await the advent of the Fathers of theChurch for it has its roots in the New Testament itself.Two important passages have been chosen by theChurch as the Epistle lections for the ChristmasVigil/Vesperal Liturgy and Liturgy of the Day: Hebrews1:1-12 and Galatians 4:4-7 respectively. The latter pas-sage I discussed in an earlier Christmas article (Vema,December 2010); let us now take a look at the openingverses of the former reading.

The author of the letter to the Hebrews is not known.Some early writers, particularly Alexandrine Fathers,believed that it was written by St Paul, but critical analy-sis of the text has established beyond reasonable doubtthat the letter could not be the work of the Apostle,although much of its thought is distinctly Pauline.However, that its author, let us call him “the Author”, isnot St Paul in no way diminishes the authority and inspi-ration of this great writing of the Apostolic Church, dat-ing to before 70 AD. As the editorial introduction toHebrews in the Revised Standard Version notes:

“This anonymous treatise contains the longest sus-tained argument of any book in the Bible. With a care-

ful and closely knit discussion, the unknown authormoves with confidence step by step through an elabo-rate proof of the pre-eminence of Christianity overJudaism.”

The Author commences this protracted argument byobserving that, although God long ago had spokenthrough the prophets, now the Father has spokenthrough His Son, through whom the world is created.(Actually, aionas would be better translated as “worlds”or “ages”; the New Revised Standard Version goes forthe former, my Interlinear New Testament the latter,though in fact the two connotations are fused togeth-er.) The Son, who reflects the Glory of the Father and isthe true imprint of His nature, upholds (or “sustains”)the universe by His powerful word.

When, through His self-sacrifice on the Cross, Christ hadcleansed our sins, He sat down at the right hand of theFather, “the Majesty on high”. Thereby Christ showedHimself far superior to the angels (through whom theJews believed the Law had been transmitted by God).

The words on which I particularly wish to focus withinthis dense text are those in which the Author tells usthat Christ “reflects the glory of God and bears the verystamp of his nature”.

Christ, the Only Image of the Father

Who was the child born two thousand years ago in acave behind a grotty pub in an obscure village and laid

in a manger for a cradle? A human being in the fullsense? Yes indeed, despite the fact that His mother wasa virgin. God incarnate in the full sense? Yes indeed,despite the fact that the Godhead is transcendent.

A nest of paradoxes indeed! From the perspective of the“wisdom” of the world to arrive at a paradox is a causefor intellectual alarm or even despair, but in theapophatic (negative) theology of the Orthodox Church itis cause for celebration as it indicates that one is verypossibly on the right track. No paradox, no Truth! Theparadox, while defining the boundaries of the Mystery,guards and protects it from the reductive all-consuming“wisdom” of the world.

So what can we say of the Mystery of this child who wasat the same time perfect, complete God and perfect,complete human being? How indeed could one haveseen in the person of the child as He matured to man-hood that truly He was both fully human and fullydivine? What was there about His presence that couldhave led St John the Baptist to say of Him, “Behold, theLamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!(John 1:29)”?

It wasn’t by virtue of the miracles Jesus performed,because when John made that declaration Christ hadperformed no miracles, preached the Word of God in nosynagogue or on no mountain. Of course, later thedeeds did convince some of His divinity, but it is the vis-ible and audible uniqueness of the person of Jesus ofNazareth that one needs to try to pin down and whichgives the answer to the question: “Who is this man?”

Whatever it was it enabled the Forerunner to exclaim“Behold the Lamb of God!” and even Pontius Pilate,who clearly caught a glimmer of what John had sensed,to declare “Here is your King!” and to refuse to changethe inscription on the Cross from “Jesus of Nazareth,the King of the Jews” to “This man said, I am King of theJews”; “Quod scripsi scripsi”, “What I have written Ihave written” (John 19:14,19,21-22).

Well, the answer is given by the Author of Hebrews, itwas because Christ reflected in his person “the glory ofGod” and bore “the very stamp of his nature” (thoughthe New Revised Standard Version translation isarguably preferable, “He is the reflection of God’s gloryand the exact imprint of God’s very being”). ButHebrews by no means stands alone. The prologue of StJohn’s Gospel (1:14) echoes Hebrews:

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt [better, “taber-nacled”] among us, full of grace and truth; we havebeheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from theFather”.

And four verses on (1:18) John wrote:

“No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in thebosom of the Father, he has made him known.”

That John didn’t understand his words as mere meta-physical rumination is clear from the fact that he inter-weaves (as does Luke) his testimony of the Incarnationwith an extended account of the ministry of theForerunner, culminating in the Baptist’s declaration“Behold the Lamb of God!” It was the Glory of theFather reflected in the face of Jesus that led John theBaptist to recognise Him as the Son of the Father, “theLamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”

Not only does tradition bear witness to the changeabil-ity of the countenance of Jesus but so does the Gospelitself. When St Mary Magdalene encountered Christ at

Christ the Incarnate Word, the Only Image of the Father

Windows to Orthodoxy

Christ Pantocrator, sixth-century encaustic icon, St Catherine’s Monastery, Sinai. Photo: Wikipedia.


Cont. from previous page

the tomb, despite the fact of the closeness of their rela-tionship (No, they weren’t married!) she failed to recog-nise Him, mistaking Him for the gardener, until Headdressed her by name. Similarly, Luke and Cleopas didnot recognise Him as He walked with them along theroad to Emmaus.

The apocryphal Acts of John, which is probably Gnosticin origin, speaks of the instability of Christ’s appearance.Of course the Church does not endorse the apocryphalNew Testament books, but behind the legends therecould well be authentic tradition as to the changeabilityof Christ’s countenance. The famous Sinai icon of Christ,usually attributed to the sixth century, could reflect thetradition since the left and right sides of the face pres-ent radically different appearances, though undoubted-ly the face is of the same person. (The left side is oftensaid to symbolise Christ’s divinity, the right His humani-ty.)

When Christ was transfigured “the appearance of hiscountenance was altered (Luke 9:29) and his face shonelike the sun (Matthew 17:2).” The Transfiguration was aTheophany, a revelation of Christ’s divinity and Sonship,witnessed only by Peter, James and John, but some-thing of what was revealed in its fullness on the moun-tain was clearly detected by many in the countenanceof the Saviour as He went about His ministry.

The Author of Hebrews goes further than simply sayingthat Christ “reflects the glory of God” by adding that He“bears the very stamp of his nature.” St Paul inColossians likewise declares that Christ “is the image ofthe invisible God (1:15).” What is being asserted is thatChrist bears the exact imprint of the Father in the waythat a coin beares the image of the emperor. The corol-lary being that as the portrait of the emperor wasafforded the same honour as the emperor himself, sothe Son of God as His image was due the same honourand worship as the Father.

But isn’t there a snag? A true portrait of a person incor-porates their actual physical features. How, then, canChrist bear the imprint of the Father who no one hasseen and who has no physical form whatsoever? Someearly fanatical Egyptian monks, known as “Anthropo-morphites”, concluded that the Father must have a phy-sical human-like form if the Son could be His image, andwere so convinced that they marched off (as was theirwont) to kill the bishop, Theophilus. (They didn’t, hewheedled his way out of the predicament.)

Obviously, the monks’ cause was profoundly heretical,but we are left with the question of how Christ couldpossibly be an image of a bodiless God who indeed ispure Spirit (John 4:24).

The answer is that Christ is the living icon of the Father

because He is of the same nature/substance as theFather. The divine nature is signified by the Glory of theFather which is perfectly reflected in the radiance of theSon and encompasses all that constitutes the divinenature.

As with a portrait of a person, in which the image is cre-ated by the painter out of totally different material thanthat of which the subject is composed, so is the imageof the bodiless Father imprinted on the flesh of Christ.Because the Word (Logos) is consubstantial with theFather, in being born as a human being the flesh ofChrist becomes the flesh of God.

As a consequence, although the divine and humannatures of Christ do not merge into one substance butsimply interpenetrate, the person (hypostasis) of Christbecomes the perfect image of the person of the Father;that is God in human form. And because Christ is God inhuman form we can relate to him as person to person.Moreover, since Christ and the Father are one that alsomeans that we can relate to the Father in a personalway through the Son in the intimate power of the HolySpirit, the Comforter who dwells in us and all things.

All well and good, but if Christ is the only image of theFather then what does it mean when Genesis assertsthat human beings are made in the image and likenessof God? The answer is that the Word/Christ, being aperson of the Holy Trinity, stands in a unique relation-ship with the Father: “He who has seen me has seen theFather (John 14: 9)”. The sense in which we are made inthe image of God is quite different.

The Fathers point to slightly different characteristics asconstituting the image of God imprinted on humanbeings, but basically they are those distinctive emergentattributes which characterise human beings within theAnimal Kingdom, such as our powers of reason andcomprehension and ability to look out into the cosmosand find the Creator within the entire Creation.

The Image of the Image

So Christ is the exact image of the Father, but is it pos-sible for us to make an image of the image of theFather? That question divided the Eastern Church forcenturies; but barely impacted on the West, at leastbefore the iconoclasm of the Protestant Reformation.

The great early fourth century Church historian,Eusebius of Caesarea, had argued that while it is possi-ble to depict the physical features of Christ it would beimpossible to depict His divine nature. But, in fact, whileit would be impossible to encompass His divine nature,it is possible to paint an image of the divine-human per-son, Jesus of Nazareth. As St John of Damascus put it:

“In olden days, God who was without body or physicalform, was not depicted at all. But now, since God hasappeared in the flesh and has interacted with man, I amable to depict the visible aspect of God.”

(Quoted in C. Schonborn, God’s Human Face: The Christ-Icon, Ignatius Press.)

But does the familiar icon image of Christ, which hasbeen established since the fourth century, derive froman actual from-life portrait or portraits of Christ?Despite the scepticism of art historians, the evidencefor the authenticity of the likeness is surprisingly strong,but certainly not conclusive. Unfortunately, I cannotpursue this fascinating issue here.

But even if should there be no genuine continuing from-life portrait tradition this is not what really matters.What matters is whether we can or cannot recognisefrom the icon image the countenance of Christ. One hasonly to contemplate the Sinai icon or Fr Arsenios’Mandylion (which is based on the tradition that the faceof Christ was imprinted on a cloth sent to King Abgar ofEdessa) to find oneself gazing into the countenance ofthe divine-human Saviour who was born in a cave inBethlehem to a virgin and laid in a manger two thou-sand years ago.

* Thirty-three of Guy Freeland’s Vema articles have been pub-lished under the title Windows to Orthodoxy. The fully-illus-trated book, the perfect Christmas present, can be purchasedfor $28 plus postage from the publisher, St Andrew’s OrthodoxPress, or from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of AustraliaBook Shop. An e-book version is also available for the BargainBasement price of $5.

Mandylion, acrylic on sandstone icon, written by Fr ArseniosPantanassiotis. Photo: Pantanassa Monastery, Mangrove

Mountain, NSW.

Chios mastic know-how makes UNESCO listThe know-how of cultivating mastic,

the aromatic resin of an evergreen thatgrows on the eastern Aegean island ofChios, has been included by UNESCO onits Representative List of the IntangibleCultural Heritage of Humanity.

According to a statement by the Cul-ture Ministry in Athens, the culturalarm of the United Nations endorsed aGreek request for the special statusduring its annual conference in Paris,which took place late November.

The decision, the ministry said in itsstatement, “is an acknowledgement ofthe value of this element of our culturalheritage and, at the same time, it incor-porates it in a global system aimed at

the promotion and protection of livingtraditions.”

Mastic, better known among locals as“mastiha,” only grows in the southernpart of the island.

The uniqueness of the product is at-tributed to the area’s particular soil andtemperature climate.

“The culture of mastic represents acomprehensive social event, aroundwhich networks of alliances and mutualhelp have been established,” UNESCOsaid.

“The communal practices are also anoccasion for perpetuating collectivememory through the narration of oldtales and stories,” it said.


Arts, Food & Wine

Dyed in the WoolEditor: Imogen Coward

By Dr Ann Coward

“Jean dye cancer risk prompts recall ofmore than 121,000 items of clothing,”screamed the ABC news headline in Mayof this year. The Herald Sun, reporting onthe same story, noted that “more than50,000 items of clothing and manchestertainted with a carcinogenic dye” were re-called from stores in Australia. Regard-less of the massive discrepancies in thetwo article, were the dyes life threaten-ing? Were, or are, there any guidelinesor regulations in place regarding the dye-ing of cloth? Well, no, and no again itwould seem.

The dyes in question were azo dyeswhich are used not only in cloth but alsoin leather goods, paints, cosmetics andfood. Some of the dyes can break downinto a form which may be absorbedthrough the skin, especially throughbody heat, sweat, or the wearing of wetor damp clothing. The dyes are readilyavailable, and used by industry.

The first truly synthetic dye was in-vented, accidentally, in Britain when itsinventor (18 yr old William Perkin) wasattempting to invent a synthetic quinine.The colour was purple and was calledmauveine. According to Susan Kay-Williams, in her book The Story of Colourin Textiles, “in the years 1859 - 61,mauve mania dominated British andFrench society and the colour was seenall over Europe”. Indeed, it was not un-usual even in the Greek islands for wed-ding dresses at the time to be colouredpurple. Dyers flocked to England to studythe new dyestuff, and France and Ger-many began work on new synthetic

dyes. Interestingly, the French dye fuch-sine (a bright purple-red) was renamedmagenta by the English in 1860 followingthe Battle of Magenta in the Franco-Aus-trian War.

Global companies we associate todaywith drug manufacturing were actuallyfounded to create dyestuffs in the 1860sand 1870s. These include Geigy, Sandoz,and Ciba in Switzerland (as a direct resultof an exodus of French dyers to Switzer-land), and Hoechst and Bayer & Co inGermany. England was to lose its lead,not least because of the influence ofWilliam Morris and the Arts and CraftMovement in the late 19th century, withtheir emphasis on reinstating traditional

crafts. A desire to return to traditionalmethods of dyeing was not only idealistichowever. There were more sinister rea-sons.

According to Kay-Williams, within tenyears of the new synthetic dyes comingon the market, there were worryingsigns that all was not right with the newinventions. As the decades passed, it be-came clear that people wearing thecolours next to their skin were sufferingfrom a number of complaints: rashes,skin eruptions “and other afflictions”.The culprit was arsenic acid in the dyes.

Azo dyes, the current problem notedby the ACCC, has been used since the1870s and was the major dye categorythroughout the 20th century, with someof the dyes being outlawed in Europe in1997. Batik craftsmen and women inAustralia were alerted to the dangers inthe 1980s and ceased to use them, fortheir own health’s sake. Our country hasplaced no ban on their general use in ourclothing industry (such as it is), however.

Kay-Williams, writing as she does froman area of the world which has sought toaddress this matters (unlike Australiaand the Asian region) is not so much aworry about health and safety, but sus-tainability of supply of dyestuffs. In fact,if we try to search the internet for infor-mation of safe dyed clothing, we aremore likely to find articles on sustainabil-ity of fibres and dye ingredients, ratherthan on the effects of synthetic dyes onone’s health.

Sustainability, or access to ingredients,has always been a problem. In the FirstWorld War, England was so dependantupon German patents and Germansources for dyestuffs that the Englishwere unable to procure sufficient dyes.In Lucy Adlington’s recent book, GreatWar Fashion: Tales from the HistoryWardrobe, we learn that women work-ing in factories during the war weredressed in overalls dyed khaki, green andblue; colours which all “faded to thesame dull shade after a while”.

However, sustainability and healthhazards are not necessarily separate is-sues, and some businesses and con-sumers have come to the realisation that

they are linked. Rather than worry aboutpoisons lurking in dyestuffs (and, ofcourse, in our waterways), or whether ornot the ridiculous amount of cheapthrow-away clothing littering our storeswill exhaust the world’s supply of ingre-dients to make synthetic dyes (whethersafe or not), some manufacturers (notonly to be found in less industrialised na-tions) continue to make clothing withnatural dyes, dyed using safe practices.

It’s not always easy to find them.When searching the web, try typing inthe words natural dyes, eco dyes, plantdyed. Some examples you may comeacross are suppliers of clothing such asthe U.K.’s People Tree (who sell clothingdyed using safe and natural dyes), in theU.S.A. Eileen Fisher (who supports whatis known as bluesign - a Swiss-basedgroup who measure every stage of cloth-ing manufacturing to make sure theprocess and products are eco-sound),and smaller businesses such as Coloursof Australia (which supplies wool andwoollen goods dyed with natural dyes)and is, as the name suggests, an Aus-tralian company.

It is possible that the clothes we wearare making us sick. But when all is saidand done, we need to be clothed. In theabsence of regulations and regulatorybodies, it is up to the individual to keepinformed, to be wary of purchasing exot-ic coloured clothing, particularly under-wear which we wear next to our skin,and to be observant when it comes toour own, and our family’s well-being.

ReferencesAdlington, Lucy Great War Fashion: Tales from the

History Wardrobe Port Stroud: The History Press,2013

Kay-Williams, Susan The Story of Colour in Textiles:Imperial purple to denim blue London: Bloomsbury,2013

http://www.bluesign.com/http://www.coloursofaustralia.comhttp://www.eileenfisher.comhttp://www.peopletree.co.uk/In a lighter vein, for Christmas holiday watching

Alec Guinness’ The Man in the White Suit (Ealing Stu-dios) shows what can happen when there is a revolu-tionary discovery made in clothing manufacture.

The GreekAustralian Vema

The oldest circulating newspaper outside

GreeceTel: (02) 9559 7022 Fax: (02) 9559 7033

Email: [email protected]

NOVEMBER 2014 Tel. (02) 9559 7022 Fax: (02) 9559 7033 E-mail: [email protected]

THE GREEK AUSTRALIAN

VEMAThe oldestcirculating

Greeknewspaper

outsideGreece

Two Greek-Australianscientists among world’s best

Thomson Reuters made a list with 3,200scientists from all over the world, whosework has benefited the planet. Two promi-nent Greek-Australian professors made thelist.

PAGE 7/25

Ithaca:Take the long journey home

Odysseus’ native island is as appealing totravelers as his wanderings are symbolic tothose seeking the meaning of life.

PAGE 20/38

John Svigos: The doctor who saves hundreds of lives

Greek-Australian gynecologist and obstetri-cian, John Svigos, has saved hundreds of livesin Bali and his work has won him a place inthe South Australian Medicine Hall, while in2011 he was awarded the Medal of Australia.

PAGE 6/24

WINDOWS TO ORTHODOXY

PAGES 8/26 - 9/27STEPPING STONES WITH ST BRENDAN

Estia Foundation

receives ‘The Jim Samios

MemorialAward’

PAGE 2/20

MEDICALGRANTS

to Greek-Australian scientistsThe presence of Greek-Australians on the list of scien-

tists who will receive grants by the National Health andMedical Research Council in Australia is prominent. A to-tal of 580 million dollars have been allocated this year byNHMRC to help scientists conduct research in the field ofmedicine.

The list of Greek-Australian researchers who will re-ceive grants by the National Health and Medical Re-search Council is as follows:

* Professor Paul Glasziou for his work on utilizing medi-cal research that have not been completed yet, in or-der to reduce unnecessary costs.

* Professor Sophia Zoungas for her research on diabe-tes in older groups and helping to prevent heart dis-ease.

* Professor Christos Pantelis for his research on mentalillness in adolescents and children.

* Professor Paul Nathan for his studies related to bonedisease.

* Professor Andreas Fouras who has found a new revo-lutionary method for diagnosing lung diseases.

* Professor Stan Gronthos for his research on osteopo-rosis.

* Professor Tony Tiganis for his work on fatty liver dis-ease and obesity.

* Prof. Arthur Christopoulos who discovered a new ef-fective and cheap drug for heart disease.

* Professor James Trikas for his research on issues re-lated to TB.

* Professor Ross Vlahos for his work in haematologicaldisorders.

* Professor Alexander Lucas for his research concern-ing cancer of the liver.

* Professor George Paxinos for the presentation of a3D human brain map.

* Professor Nick Lintzeris for the completion of his re-search on the healing properties of cannabis.

* Dr Peter Psaltis for his research related to nutritionand cells.

* Prof. John Toumbourou for his research on whetherreducing alcohol consumption in young adolescentshelps reduce the harmful effects on a socia level.

* Dr Jim Vadolas for his research on thalassemia.

The covers of Lucy Adlington’s recent book, “Great War Fashion: Tales from the HistoryWardrobe” (left) and Susan Kay-Williams’ book “The Story of Colour in Textiles” (right)


Croydon Park83-93 Regency Road

St Peters 9 Winchester Street

Christie DownsAegean Village 10 Morton Road

Season’s GreetingsGREEK ORTHODOX

ARCHDIOCESE O F A U S T R A L I A

“Your home, with us.”

At Christmas We are thankful for the cherished moments we share with our family and friends. From our home to yours, St Basil’s (SA) wishes you a Christmas blessed with those you love and may 2015 bring peace and happiness.

Τα ΧριστούγενναΕίμαστε ευγνώμονες για τις αγαπημένες στιγμές που μοιραστήκαμε με την οικογένειά μας και φίλους.

Από το δικό μας σπιτικό στο δικό σας, το St Basil’s (SA) σας εύχεται ευλογημένα Χριστούγεννα με αυτούς που αγαπάτε και μακάρι το 2015 να φέρει Eιρήνη και Eυτυχία.

With dedicated care, every day of the year. T 08 7424 0900, [email protected]

stbasils.com.au

G

O F A U S T R A L I AARCHDIOCESE

GREEK ORTHODOX

TO BHMA24/52 DECEMBER 2014

Travel

BY KYRIAKI VASSALOU

“What it this? A well?” “Yes,a well. Just submerge yourhead in the water and don’t beafraid. It will erase all your badthoughts immediately.” An-dreas’s humor may be not bethe most sophisticated but heis a guy you don’t easily forget.It’s the way he speaks, moves,what he wears and what hesays and does. You may onlyspend a few minutes with sucha person but you rememberthem for ever.

Andreas runs an art gallery inHora - the main hilltop villageon the Dodecanese island ofPatmos. There you will findeverything from works by ac-complished modern Europeanpainters to drawings by theyoungsters he instructs in themornings. The place is alsofilled with good music as wellas a good deal of creative“madness.”

In Hora, which is dominatedby the imposing fortified Mo-nastery of Saint John the The-ologian, founded in 1088, it’s ajoy to wander the whitewashed alleyways of the vari-ous neighborhoods and take acloser look at the elegantshops here and there.

Views from the hill are se-ductive: On the one side isSkala, the port village 3 kilome-ters down the road; on theother is Profitis Ilias, the high-est summit at 269 meters, andthe beaches of Grikos and Pe-tra. Walking uphill toward themonastery, under the archesand arcades in the maze ofnarrow medieval streets, peekthrough the windows of themansions to catch a glimpse oftheir antique furnishings.

One also wonders what theisland’s hermetically sealedchapels - about 400 in total -look like inside. The monasteryis a veritable fort, built on thesite of an ancient temple toArtemis, goddess of the hunt.It houses an excellent ecclesi-astical museum with uniqueByzantine treasures as well asone of the country’s most im-portant libraries, where re-searchers can access rare man-uscripts, historical archives andbooks.

Downhill from Hora toward

Skala, a stop at the Holy Grottoof the Revelation - the cavewhere St John is supposed tohave written the Book of Reve-

lation around AD 95 - with itsthree chapels, is a must. Hora,the monastery and the caveare on UNESCO’s list of WorldHeritage Sites.

Skala, one of the most at-tractive port settings in theAegean, is Patmos’s busiestspot. Located on the narrowisthmus that separates the is-land’s northern and southernparts, it is an ideal base for ex-ploration.

Bypassing Hora on the wayto the southern bit, stop at thethree recently inaugurated re-stored windmills, funded by

Charles Pictet, a Swiss benefac-tor of the island.

Continue to the beaches oftouristy Grikos and the quieterPetra. Further on is Diakoftis,with its boat repair facilities.Park your vehicle and eitherstop for coffee or a meal, orcontinue on foot (about 20minutes) toward Patmos’s bestbeach, Psili Ammos, which,true to its name - shared bymany other beaches aroundthe country - has fine whitesand, crystal-clear waters anda few trees for shade. On theway back, drive up to Profitis Il-ias for panoramic views.

Some 6 kilometers north ofSkala, you’ll reach Kampos, afarming village with white-washed houses near a sandybeach. George’s Place here issaid to be one of the most “in”beach bars in the Aegean -guests must reserve their sun-beds in August. The rest of Pat-mos’s northern part is calmer,in keeping with typical islandstyle.

Northeast of Kampos is Lam-bi - a beach also true to itsname, as the pebbles truly doshine. However, do resist thetemptation to take some ofthem home because the shinedims over the years. North ofLambi is Livadi Geranou - withpine trees shading the sandand a much quieter ambiencethan elsewhere on the island.

Source: ATHENSPLUS

The Greek Australian VEMA

Where to stayArea telephone code: 22470.

Deluxe: Porto Scoutari (Meloi, tel33123, www.portoscoutari.com), ci-ted as one of the 100 most romantichotels in the world on (Porto Scou-tari and Doriza Bay in Skala are nowoffering discounts of up to 50 per-cent); Patmos Paradise (Kampos, tel32624, ), on a hill, with a pool, ten-nis and squash courts. Lower-range:Skala (tel 31343, www.skalahotel.gr), one of the oldest and taste-fully restored; Sunset (Skala, tel31411), in a lovely garden, goodservice; camping (Meloi, tel 31821).

Where to eatLambi and Leonidas in Lambi for

good seafood and more; Mrs Oura-nia’s Psili Ammos, on the beach ofthe same name, has superb pastitsioand goat in tomato sauce; Flisvosand Ktima Petra in Grikos have goodhome cooking; Benetos, in Sapsila, issaid to be one of the best restau-rants in the Dodecanese, so you mayneed to book in advance (tel 33089);the same goes for Veggera in Skala(tel 32998); Vaggelis, on the squarein Hora, has excellent Greek dishes,while Aloni has good food with livemusic at times; try breakfast atAigaio in Skala and coffee in Loza,Hora.

What to seeSee the mansion-museums of

Nikolaidis and Simantiris and thenearby Monastery of Zoodochos Pigiin Hora; next to the St John Mona-stery is the Church of Panaghia Dia-sozousa - at all such religious loca-tions, visitors should dress appropri-ately. Other beaches worth visitingare Agriolivadi, near Skala, andLefkes, west of Kampos, where youwill see a mansion built by a wealthyGreek family from Egypt.

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PatmosSimply a revelationIt seems paradoxical that St John experienced his vision of the Apocalypse on this beautiful and enchanting Dodecanese island

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