AB Makarios, of the EP “Band of Thieves”, Causes Deep Divisions In Australia…

Turmoil in Australia centered on the Archdiocese

By Vasso Morali

There has been turmoil in our diaspora in Australia in recent months, following specific actions (direct or indirect) by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia regarding (a) the fierce confrontations taking place within one of the largest parishes-communities of Sydney, since the beginning of August , (b) in the attempted amendment of the Constitution and Special Regulations of the Archdiocese of Australia without the knowledge of the highest legislative body of the Archdiocese, its Clergy-Lay Assembly, (c) in its unprecedented conflict with its elderly (still active) priest in Melbourne, from the end of July, but also (d) to the steep increases in sacramental fees in the Archdiocese’s churches (from 1 July 2022).

For the first time during the tenure of Archbishop Makarios (who has been leading the Greek Orthodox Church in Australia for the last three and a half years), so many serious and direct criticisms from our expatriates against the Archdiocese, its organizations and him are being expressed publicly, especially on social media.

To the point that several caustic comments by our expatriates are censored and deleted from the pages of expatriate media that host the relevant posts/publications (or even completely block their commenting), under the threat of legal proceedings against them by Mr. Makarios and the Archdiocese (based on controversial legislation in Australia). In addition, on three different occasions, expatriates organized an online collection of thousands of signatures (since last August, but also during this month) against specific actions of Archbishop Makarios, the Archdiocese and the administration of the aforementioned Parish-Community of South-East Sydney (St. Spyridon Kingsford), which is normally incorporated in the Archdiocese of Australia.

To hand over the powers of the Community to the hands of the Archbishop

In the “Agiou Spyridonos” Parish – Community, in fact, at the initiative of its board of directors, a catalytic change of its character (as a democratic Parish – Community) is being attempted, through an Extraordinary General Assembly of its members on Monday, November 21, with an amendment to its Statute and delivery of the most important powers of the Board of Directors. (consequently also the management/control of all her assets, including her own and rich College) in the hands of the Archbishop!

If on Monday, the amendment of its Statute is approved by 75% of the 238 members of the Community, as warmly recommended to the members and the current Board of Directors. and the Australian Archdiocese will now depend exclusively on Archbishop Makarios, not only the fate of each elected member of the Board. (it will be able to approve or reject candidates for the Board of Directors at its will, as well as expel, without explanation, any member it wishes), but even the registration or the (unreasonable) expulsion of even simple members of the Community. At least these are indicatively mentioned in the relevant letter sent by the Board of Directors under the chairmanship of Mr. Ilias Economou. to the members of the Parish-Community, as an invitation and to inform them about the Extraordinary General Assembly of November 21st (photo).

Specifically, among the attempted changes to the Statute of the Parish-Community, the following is indicatively mentioned:

“The Parish will retain the structure of a corporation, but these changes will empower it with the spirit of the Church, as an integral part of our Holy Archdiocese of Australia under the jurisdiction of the Great Mother Church, the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.

In practice, this means that the Archbishop:

• Must approve any new members and nominations for the Parish boar
• Appoints and removes the officials (Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer) of the Board. of the Parish and
• He has the right to remove any ordinary member from the Community or member of the Board.

All this in a Community whose members, according to its Statute valid from 1962 until now, can freely run for office in its elections and be democratically elected to its board of directors, with the only restriction that they must be members of the Community for at least three years and have paid their annual subscriptions.

Also, the members of the Parish-Community are warned that after the amendment of the Statute, “fundamental decisions, which are now taken by the members and the Board of Directors. of the Parish-Community, will be subject to the control and final approval of the Archbishop”

In addition, in the future, no amendment of the Statute will be allowed without the prior written approval of the Archbishop, while he will be able to extend the term of office of members of the Board of Directors by his decision. for more than three years – which the current Statute prohibits.

The reactions

Against the attempted alteration of the democratic physiognomy of the Parish-Community of St. Spyridon, through Monday’s extraordinary General Assembly, a significant number of members are standing by, denouncing the proposed amendments as “anti-democratic” either with their posts on social media or with their statements and critical comments in the expatriate Sydney newspaper “Hellenic Herald”, which published a related report in the middle of the week. The rest of Australia’s expatriate media is silent.

The reactions are led by many parents who send their children to the large privately owned College of the Parish-Community of St. Spyridon, which was founded in 1986-87 with the initiative and encouragement of the blessed Archbishop of Australia Stylianos, with the aim of preserving the Greek language and the Greek Orthodox tradition in the next generations of the diaspora. With approximately 800 students today (from Kindergarten to High School), the Bilingual (English-Greek) Day College of St. Spyridon ranks among the top 70 (out of a total of over 800) schools in the State of New South Wales in terms of the success of its graduates in the Higher Education Examinations. Among his students, who pay several thousand dollars in tuition every year, are dozens of children of non-Greek origin.

Online campaign demanding transparency

In the said College, a great disturbance was caused from the beginning of August, as the Principal of the Primary School for 32 years, Mr. Aristeas Synesios, suddenly submitted her resignation, citing “personal reasons”. As the departure of the popular, experienced, dedicated and accomplished teacher in the middle of the school year, without warning and without any official farewell ceremony (as is customary in Australia), troubled many, the Association of Parents/Guardians and Friends of the College appealed to the D. D. of the Parish-Community (which also runs the College) for explanations about the resignation and clarifications about the future of the Primary School of the educational organization. The Association never received a response to its letter, but the president of the Parish-Community, Mr. Ilias Oikonomou, made vague, reassuring statements to the “Hellenic Herald”, to entertain the impressions of the director’s removal. The next move of the Parents’ Association was to denounce the lack of transparency in the decisions of the Board of Directors. and to urgently demand answers through an online campaign, which gathered over 1,100 signatures in a few days and widespread support. Not even this move, however, brought results, since the Board of Directors not only did he turn a deaf ear to the calls of the Association, but he hastened to abolish in practice the Association of Parents and Guardians of the College of Ag. Spyridon, committing, according to our secure information, also tens of thousands of dollars that he had in his fund for the financial support of the school!

In fact, in an effort by the Board of Directors to silence the protesting voices of the parents, who demand explanations and transparency about what is happening at the College, a mother of three students of the College, who had publicly expressed her concerns about the dramatic reduction in the number of teachers at the College (a total of 22 have left!) during last year and the possible effect this will have on the students), complained that she received an electronic letter from the general director of the College, Mrs. Amalia Katsogiannis, about the termination of her children’s studies at the College at the end of the year and that they will not be offered places at the school for the 2023 school year. “Given that our values ​​do not align with yours, we believe it is best for the College community and for your children to continue their education elsewhere,” the letter to the stunned mother said. .Aikaterini Iliopoulou, according to the publication of the “Hellenic Herald”, on the Facebook page of which readers, express expressing their disgust at the unprecedented ostracism of the three innocent students, posted Australian press reports (2019 and 2020) about the arrest and conviction of the (now) 34-year-old son of the College’s principal for importing a large quantity of prohibited substances into Australia . It is noted that the son of Ms. Katsogiannis was a police officer, while his father, Mr. Athanasios (Arthur) Katsogiannis, was a high-ranking officer of the New South Wales Police…

A Board of Directors – a family”…

Among other strange things that happen in the Parish-Community of St. Spyridon for the last year and a half is that from the new 11-member Board of Directors. the members of the “opposition” were essentially pushed into resignation: the former president, well-known Sydney doctor Thomas Savvoulis and the banker Costas Pavlou, also well known in the Sydney diaspora. As a result, the group of the president, Mr. Economou, who enjoys the full confidence of Archbishop Makarios, is now completely dominant. This is exactly the real estate agent Ilias Oikonomou, the man who mediated in December 2019 for the purchase of the infamous luxury apartment of Archbishop Makarios from the Archdiocese of Australia.

According to complaints from expatriates, the composition of the current board of directors of the Parish-Community of Ag. Spyridonos is mostly made up of relatives. Something that is expressly prohibited by the Constitution and the Special Regulations of the Archdiocese (Special Regulations: Sec. 3, art. 12b – photo), which allow the presence of a maximum of two relatives on the same Board of Directors. Parish-Community.

For example, the president Elias Economou is accompanied to the Board of Directors. from two of his cousins: Nick Papas (Papanastasiou) and Alexander Yules (secretary), the treasurer John Georgopoulos is the brother-in-law of the member of the Board of Directors. Peter Bletsa and best man of another member of the Board of Directors. (of Peter Souleles), Mr. Souleles is also the best man of the only female board member, Sue Mayson (godmother of Mr. Souleles’ son). A “beloved family”, that is, who agree on decisions…

One of the controversial decisions and actions of the current Board of Directors, shortly after taking office last year, is the hasty sale of two important properties owned by the Parish-Community (next to its Church, in the heart of the middle-urban suburb of Kingsford), without that the Parish-Community faces some financial need and without putting the properties on the market by auction (as is customary in Australia), in order to “catch” a higher price. The two detached houses were sold by private sale at a price below the area average, for a total of A$5.3 million (approximately €3 million).

According to the Statute of the Parish-Community of Ag. Spyridon, the Board of Directors had the right to proceed with their sale, as the two properties were fully owned by the Parish-Community. However, according to the Constitution of the Archdiocese (and its incorporated Special Regulations), with which the Parishes-Communities that are part of it are obliged to comply, in order to sell or mortgage privately owned properties of the Parishes-Communities, it must be previously approved their sale, by a majority, by a General Assembly of the members of the Community (Special Regulations: Section 7, art. 9 and 10 – photo). Something that did not happen in the case of the sale of the properties of the Parish-Community of Ag. Spyridon, under the responsibility of the Board of Directors.

Also, it is worth noting that in the 16 months of the term of the current Board of Directors. the (regular, annual) General Assembly has never been convened, nor have the annual balance sheet and its budget been submitted for approval to the members of the Parish-Community. On the contrary, the Board of Directors has hurried to call for next Monday (November 21) an Extraordinary General Assembly for the change of the Statute, with the aim of channeling to the Archbishop (“dictatorial”, as our expatriates publicly describe them in their comments) virtually unlimited powers, which until now belong to the members of the Board of Directors and to the members of the “Non-Profit Association of Persons (Association) of the Greek Orthodox Parish of South-East Sydney”.

Attempt to amend the Constitution of the Archdiocese without Clergy-Laity

However, it is not only the threatened amendment of the Statute of the Parish-Community of Ag. Spyridon Sidney, which worries the whole of the Community, since it will probably (if approved by its members) act as a “model” for the reduction of the democratic rights of the members and dozens of other Parishes-Communities throughout the country, which are included in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia. The greatest concern has arisen since it became known in the circles of the diaspora that Archbishop Makarios has for several months been persistently promoting to the Ecumenical Patriarchate for approval the sweeping amendment of the Constitution and Special Regulations of the Archdiocese itself, without any prior consultation with the competent authorities (democratically elected) bodies and, much more, without the relevant decision being taken by the highest legislative body of the Australian Archdiocese (its Clergy-Lay Assembly), as required by its existing Constitution.

Archbishop Makarios has tried repeatedly in the last two years to promote his own draft Constitution for the administration of the Archdiocese for approval by the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Few people know with whom he “consulted” and what was finally worked out as the content of the new Constitution of the Archdiocese, which will determine the future of the Greek Orthodox Church and diaspora in Australia for the next decades. For now, according to information, the issue has been “frozen” in Fanari until Mr. Makarios brings it up again.

What is certain, however, is that the Archbishop of Australia has acted in the absence of the Congregation, the Clergy and the lay staff of the Archdiocese, contrary to what the current Constitution and Special Regulations (as formulated since 1959 and through the 11 Clergy-Lay Assemblies) mandate that have mediated until now), which require the processing and passing of any amendment to them (or much more the drafting of a new Constitution) with the direct and exclusive participation of the dominant and superior legislative body of the Archdiocese: the Clergy-Lay Assembly. All the clergy of the Archdiocese of every rank participate in this Assembly, as well as twice (at least) the number of lay people, representatives of all Parishes-Communities throughout Australia, who are convened (normally every four years) in a three-day event and meetings, in order to examine from together all the important issues of the Archdiocese and the community and to take decisions, which are submitted for final approval to the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. The second governing body of the Archdiocese, the Archdiocesan Council, is elected by secret ballot from each Clergy-Laity, which has decisive powers for all non-religious and spiritual matters of the Archdiocese of Australia.

Due to the long illness of the late Archbishop of Australia Stylianos (+2019), no Clergy-Lay Assembly has been held since 2013. An announcement by the current Archbishop Makarios to hold the 12th Clergy-Lay last May (2022) has not been verified, although the emergency measures and bans on gatherings due to the Covid pandemic have been lifted for many months by the Australian government and Mr. Makarios regularly participates in various events attended by hundreds of people. He has also systematically avoided convening the Archbishop’s Council in full and representative composition (with its elected members from all over Australia), even online, contenting himself with two all-and-all “meetings” in three and a half years with some members ( clergy and laity) from Sydney only.

Rage over new mystery prices

“People’s anger”, however, has also been aroused by the months-old circular (June 24, 2022) of Archbishop Makarios regarding the sudden steep increase in the prices of sacraments (Marriages, Baptisms), funerals and certificates issued by the Archdiocese (copies of divorces, baptistries, etc.) from 1 July. The new prices, which are at least 30-40% higher than prices that have been in place for about 15 years, have sparked protests from worshipers in Australia, who already have to deal with the country’s skyrocketing cost of living due to of the pandemic and the explosion of real estate (for sale or rent) and food prices, while wages and pensions are stagnant.

Priests facing the wrath of their flock are forced to comply with the (mandatory) new price list, which does not discriminate between rich and poor areas (especially for parishes located far from major urban centers) and imposes the same prices for all of Australia.

In the photo below you can get an idea of ​​the new prices charged by the Australian Archdiocese to its faithful. (Prices are in Australian dollars. The current exchange rate is approximately: 1 dollar = 0.60 euros).

Thousands of signatures in favor of a persecuted priest

Finally, the Australian Archdiocese has been involved in a turmoil with unpredictable consequences for its unity in Melbourne since last July due to the unprecedented conflict of Archbishop Makarios with an elderly, but very popular, priest in Melbourne, Father Eleftherios Tatsis.

Father Eleftherios was for almost half a century the founder and vicar of the Holy Monastery of Panagia Kamariani, in the Red Hill area of ​​Melbourne. A monastery one hour away from the city center, which, however, gathered every Sunday and holiday an impressive number of believers, who were attached to their priest, appreciating that he was always present in the difficult and happy moments for themselves and their families . With the support of thousands of believers and his countless hard personal work, Father Eleftherios Tatsis transformed a deserted place into a real oasis of green and reverence, serving the Church and his flock with touching devotion.

His spontaneous and straightforward character has brought him several times apart from his superiors in the past, but his treatment by Archbishop Makarios, with public complaints against the priest (who, it should be noted, had spoken out against vaccines for the coronavirus, as opposed to the pro of vaccines Mr. Makarios) and the imposition of fines against him (removal of his ability to preach, removal of the spiritual status, etc.), led to a frontal conflict between them. The devoted believers of Fr. Eleftherios even organized an online campaign (with over 6,300 signatures) to protect him from the Archbishop and to prevent any unfavorable transfer of him from the Church that he built with his own hands and served for almost half a century , but the sharpening of spirits was such that Fr. Eleftherios Tatsis finally resigned from his duties and handed over the church to a representative of the Archdiocese last month. These developments caused a huge wave of indignation, especially among the Melbourne expatriate community, who have been using harsh (even abusive) comments for months against Archbishop Makarios for the treatment of a priest whose great “sin” was expressing his thoughts freely, without passing them through the “filter of fear and expediency”.

The case of Father Eleftherios Tatsis is still pending.

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Vaso E. Moralis
Vaso E. Morali is a journalist and lawyer, with a long tenure at ERT (among other things, she was the first correspondent of ERT in Australia since 1989) and in other Greek media. For eight years she lived in Sydney and worked with the Australian state broadcaster SBS (Director of the Greek Program 2011 – 2015).