With due ecclesiastical splendour and solemnity, in an atmosphere of spiritual joy and deep reverence, the consecration of the Church of Saint Paraskevi in the suburb of Taigum in Brisbane was held on Saturday, 26 July 2025, the feast day of the Holy Virgin and Martyr Saint Paraskevi. The consecration service was presided over by His Eminence Archbishop Makarios of Australia, who was joined by Their Graces, Bishop Bartholomew of Brisbane, Bishop Iakovos of Miletoupolis, and by clergy of the Holy Diocese of Brisbane.
As the Typikon of our Church states, after the end of the Matins Service, the consecration prayers were read and the procession of the holy relics followed three times around the Church, led by His Eminence Archbishop Makarios. With the command “Lift up your gates, you princes, and be ye lifted up, you everlasting gates, and the King of glory shall enter” (Psalm 24. Psalm of David), the doors of the Holy Church were opened and the triumphal entry of the Hierarchs, the Clergy and the People took place, which was followed by the placement of the holy relics in the centre of the Holy Table, in the “phyton” (the cavity in the altar table).
The Archbishop, after sealing the “phyton”, read a special prayer on his knees, praying for the descent of the Holy Spirit and the consecration of the Holy Church. Then, the Holy Table was washed and anointed, the antiminsions were consecrated and, finally, the Holy Table was dressed and adorned. Before the end of the Service, the monogram of Christ was drawn on the walls of the Church with Holy Myrrh and the Archbishop lit the never-extinguishing oil-lamp of the Holy Table. The hundreds of faithful who had flooded the celebrating Church watched the services with deep reverence, as devout hymns were chanted by young people of the Greek Orthodox Christian Society of Sydney.
After the Consecration Service, the first festal Divine Liturgy was celebrated at the consecrated Holy Table, where His Eminence Archbishop Makarios presided and was joined in concelebration by Bishop Bartholomew of Brisbane and Bishop Iakovos of Miletoupolis. Before the Dismissal of the Divine Liturgy, His Grace Bishop Bartholomew of Brisbane appropriately addressed the Archbishop, expressing the grateful feelings of the Holy Clergy and the pious flock of the Holy Diocese in Queensland, as well as in particular the Parish Council, the Philoptochos Association and all the parishioners of Saint Paraskevi, Taigum. “We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for this great joy and blessing that we experienced today,” His Grace said, among other things, and prayed that God, through the intercessions of Saint Paraskevi, would grant health and many blessed years to the Chief Shepherd of Australia.
In response, His Eminence Archbishop Makarios returned similar wishes and spoke of a great ecclesiastical event, explaining that with the consecration “we deliver the Holy Church to the All-Holy Spirit, who, from now on and for evermore, will act and sanctify all that is performed in this Temple.” “And through the All-Holy Spirit and the priests, who become instruments of God,” he pointed out, “Divine Grace is transmitted to the people.” In conclusion, His Eminence emphasised the historic nature of the event of the Consecration of the Church of Saint Paraskevi, as this was the first Consecration of a Greek Orthodox Church in Brisbane after more than 65 years.
Present at the consecration were, among others, the Archon of the Great Church of Christ. and President of the Parish of St. John the Baptist in Cairns, Mr. Theo Bacalakis, the President of the Parish of St. Paraskevi, Taigum, Mr. Costa Stratikopoulos, the President of the Parish of the Dormition of Our Lady in Mt Gravatt, Mr. Luke Comino, the President of the Parish of St. Anna on the Gold Coast, Mrs. Sandra Voukelatos and the Director of the Greek Welfare Centre, Mr. Steve Magdas.
