The ideal seal of a week of great spiritual joy and blessing, which the Orthodox Church of Australia experienced with the successful organisation of the 12th Clergy-Laity Congress, was the ordination to the Diaconate of the subdeacon Mr. Dimitrios Karakiozis, which was held on Saturday, 30 September 2023, by His Eminence Archbishop Makarios of Australia, at the Cathedral of the Annunciation of Our Lady in Sydney.
The new Deacon, who will serve at the Cathedral, is a husband and father of three children, while he is also studying the Sacred Science of Theology at Saint Andrew’s Theological College in Sydney. Present also at the service of ordination were, among others, His Spiritual Father, His Grace Bishop Kyriakos of Sozopolis, and Their Graces, Bishop Iakovos of Miletoupolis, Bishop Bartholomew of Charioupolis, as well as his wife, Orsia, their three children and other members of his family.
Coming forward with emotion before his Shepherd, the ordinand assured that he will use all his strength to humbly serve the Church and the people of God. At the same time, he expressed his gratitude that he will have the guidance and support of the Archbishop Makarios, to whose person he referred to with words of filial love and profound respect. “From the moment you arrived in Australia, your love, kindness, spirit of unity and tireless efforts to spread the message of love are evident. When I am near you, I experience a sense of peace and calm,” he said, among other things, addressing His Eminence Archbishop Makarios.
In addition, Deacon Dimitrios made special mention to His Grace Bishop Kyriakos of Sozopolis, with whom he had been spiritually connected during the period of His Abbotship at the Holy Monastery of Saint George, in Yellow Rock, New South Wales. As he acknowledged, his acquaintance with His Grace Bishop Kyriakos was decisive for the subsequent course of his life and for his decision to dedicate himself to the priesthood.
For his part, His Eminence Archbishop Makarios addressed the new Deacon with words of paternal affection and appreciation, characterising his ordination as “an event of spiritual joy and blessing for our entire local Church”. And this, because, as he pointed out, “a young and cultured person enters the ranks of the holy Clergy to minister to the people of God. Our hopes that the new Deacon Dimitrios will be a worthy clergyman of the Mysteries of Christ, do not only stem from the fact that he has a blessed family, but are mainly based on the fact that he has a stable spiritual life and course within our local Church. A journey that reveals spiritual maturity, cultivation, prudence and a settled and loyal person”.
“Your spiritual relationship with the Holy Monastery of Saint George and your love for monasticism, know that these grant me a lot of peace and fill me with good hopes for your future”, pointed out the Archbishop, addressing the ordinand, while closing, he fatherly advised him to walk in the priesthood with confidence in the presence and power of Christ, and with his guarantee of the virtues of forbearance, forgiveness, mercy and humility.
