With due ecclesiastical splendour and in the presence of a large congregation, the Great Vespers for the feast of the Annunciation of the Theotokos was celebrated on Monday, 24 March 2025, with His Eminence Archbishop Makarios of Australia, officiating, at the Cathedral of Sydney. Joining His Eminence Archbishop Makarios in co-officiating were His Eminence Metropolitan Seraphim of Sevasteia, and Their Graces, Bishop Prodromos of Toliara and Southern Madagascar, Bishop Elpidios of Perth, Bishop Iakovos of Miletoupolis and Bishop Christodoulos of Magnesia, Chief Secretary of the Holy Eparchial Synod of the Archdiocese of Australia. Participating in the Service were the Chancellor and Cathedral Dean, Archimandrite of the Ecumenical Throne Christophoros Krikelis, Hieromonk Fr. Antipas, Elder of the Iviron Cell of St. Anna in Karyes on Mount Athos, and a number of clergy from the city of Sydney.
At the end of Vespers, before the sermon, His Eminence Archbishop Makarios greeted the presence of the co-officiating Hierarchs with warm fraternal words, as well as the Hieromonk Fr. Antipas from Mount Athos, who is visiting Australia to minister the Mystery of Holy Confession during the period of Holy and Great Lent.
Then, praising the Most Holy God, Archbishop Makarios expressed his joy and satisfaction for the progress of the work of renovating the Holy Cathedral, a demanding undertaking which is now heading towards its completion. “This is the house of the Virgin Mary,” he noted characteristically, “and the house of the Virgin Mary must be the most beautiful in all of Australia.” “And it will be,” he pointed out emphatically, “because it deserves a brilliant testimony to the immigrants who came here and worked and toiled and struggled.”
Focusing, then, on the world-saving event of the Annunciation of the Theotokos, His Eminence emphasised the obedience shown by the ever-virgin Mary to the will of God. He pointed out that, unlike Eve, who through her disobedience drove the human race out of Paradise, the Virgin Mary, as the “new Eve,” reopened the doors of Paradise with her response: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to your word.”
Finally, Archbishop Makarios spoke with pride about the National Anniversary of the Greek Revolution of 1821 and highlighted the primary role played by the Orthodox faith in the uprising and liberation of the enslaved Greeks. Referring to the testimony of the Chief General of the National Revolution, Theodoros Kolokotronis himself – that “when we seized the chariots, we said first for faith and then for the country” -, His Eminence urged everyone not to forget this historical truth, which formed the foundation for the subsequent course of the Greek nation. “When we forget this”, he emphasised, “we do not lose our faith – because faith will exist for ever and ever – but we lose our Greek identity. There can be no Greek identity without Orthodox faith. There can be no Hellenism without the Gospel. There can be no Greece without Christ. And if we try to separate Hellenism from faith in Christ in the name of modernism, progress and all that is said from time to time, then we will fail. The Church will exist, but our Nation, our country, our language, our traditions, our morals and customs will be lost. Therefore, we must listen to this word of Theodoros Kolokotronis at every opportunity.”
