With due ecclesiastical splendour and grandeur, and in an atmosphere of great reverence, the Great Feast Day of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ was celebrated at the headquarters of the Holy Archdiocese of Australia, in Sydney.
On Tuesday evening, 24 December, at the Cathedral of the Annunciation of Our Lady, the Feast Day Divine Liturgy took place, presided over by His Eminence Archbishop Makarios of Australia, who was joined in concelebration by Their Graces, Bishop Iakovos of Miletoupolis and Bishop Christodoulos of Magnesia, Chief Secretary of the Holy Eparchial Synod. Among the clergy participating in the Eucharistic Synaxis was Fr. Vlado Nedeski, a clergyman from the Holy Archdiocese of Ohrid, whom His Eminence warmly welcomed.
The Archbishop also welcomed the presence of the Ambassador of Greece to Australia, His Excellency Mr. Stavros Venizelos, who attended with his wife, Ms. Larissa Tikaidi, and their son, Angelos, as well as the Archon Dikaiophylakos of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, Criminologist from Greece, Mr. Athanasios Kehagioglou.
During the Divine Liturgy, the Encyclical Message of His Eminence Archbishop Makarios of Australia for the feast of Christmas was read in both Greek and English.