On Wednesday 16th October, His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew visited the jetty of Station Pier, in the Port Melbourne area where, for decades, countless Greek Orthodox migrants took their first steps on Australian soil.
His All-Holiness held a memorial service for the repose of the souls of the departed migrants, accompanied by His Eminence Archbishop Makarios of Australia, the Hierarchs, and clergy of his esteemed entourage, namely Their Eminences, Metropolitan Kyrillos of Imvros and Tenedos, and Metropolitan Filotheos of Thessaloniki, The Very Reverends, Grand Protosyncellus Archimandrite Gregory, and Grand Ecclesiarch Archimandrite Aetios, Director of the Personal Patriarchal Office, the Reverend Patriarchal Deacon Evlogios, Codifier of the Holy and Sacred Synod, along with Their Eminences, Metropolitan Ezekiel of Dervis and Metropolitan Seraphim of Sevasteia, the Venerable God-loving Bishops and Reverend Clergy of the Holy Archdiocese of Australia.
The Ecumenical Patriarch was welcomed by the Mayor of Port Phillip, Ms Heather Cunsolo, and also present at the memorial service were the Righteous Nun Iakovi, Abbess of the Holy Monastery of St John the Baptist in Akritochori, the Honourable Archon Didaskalos of the Nation Mr Konstantinos Delikostantis, Director of the First Patriarchal Office, and the Honourable Archon Didaskalos of the Church Mr Theodoros Yiangou, Professor of the Theological School at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the Honourable Mr Nicholas-George Papachristou, Director of the Patriarchal Press and Communication Office, and Mr Themistocles Karanikolas, from the Patriarchal staff, the Consul General of Greece in Melbourne, Mr Emmanuel Kakavelakis, Archons of the Great Church of Christ, the biological brother of His All-Holiness, Mr Nikolaos Archontonis, and the parents of Archbishop Makarios of Australia, Emmanuel and Fotini Griniezakis.
