Author: admin

In the Greek Orthodox church, every diocese is a Metropolis, headed by a Metropolitan. The term Metropolitan derives from the Greek word for the capital of a province where the head of the episcopate resides. 

In 2021 the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew proposed to the Holy and Sacred Synod that the Diocese of Dervis (Melbourne) be elevated to the rank of a Metropolis, and His Grace Bishop Ezekiel of Dervis to the position of Metropolitan of the Ecumenical Throne.

“With great joy we announce that during today’s deliberations, the Holy and Sacred Synod, at the recommendation of His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, decided to elevate the once glorious Diocese of Dervis to a Metropolis with His Grace Bishop Ezekiel becoming an active Metropolitan of the Venerable Ecumenical Throne”

His Eminence Metropolitan Ezekiel of Dervis was born in 1938 in Akrata Kilkis of Macedonia, graduated from the Theological College Halki (Constantinople) in 1962. Ordained a deacon, he arrived in Sydney that same year where he was ordained a priest on Sunday, 30 September, at Dubbo, NSW, during the consecration of the Church of Panagia Myrtidiotissa. He later served at churches in Leichhardt and Belmore before being elected Bishop on 1 March, 1977, with the honorary title of Dervis. He was appointed Assistant Bishop to the late Archbishop Stylianos and served for three years in Perth, five years in Adelaide and in Melbourne from 1984.

On Sunday, July 24, 2022, the Cretan Village in Wantirna South will host an event in honour of Metropolitan Ezekiel of Dervis, on the occasion of the celebration of his name day. The honorary event is organized on the initiative of Archbishop Makarios of Australia, who, together with the Assistant Bishops and the Intercommunal Committee of Victoria, invites everyone to participate.

At the request of His Eminence Archbishop Makarios of Australia, the Holy and Sacred Synod elected four Assistant Bishops for the Holy Archdiocese of Australia, including the Very Reverend Archimandrite Evmenios Vasilopoulos who was elected with the title of Bishop of Kerasounta*. 

In May he was invited to represent the Greek Orthodox Church at at a special event to celebrate the visit to Australia of Mar Awa III, Catholicos-Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East.

During his speech, Bishop Evmenios of Kerasounta* referred to the common historical course of the Orthodox Church and the Assyrian Church of the East, but also to the common challenges they are called to face on the fifth continent (Australia): “To preach our faith and maintain our cultural traditions in a society that is becoming increasingly secular and hostile to Christianity”.

“We have a lot to learn from each other because we are related communities in Australia. Not least because so many members of the Assyrian community found refuge in Greece before coming to Australia and speak better Greek than many of us. But these are bonds that go back millennia. We cannot forget that some of the most revered saints of our church were Assyrians”. 

(* Kerasounta is located in what is modern Turkey. A Greek Orthodox church was built in the 17th century about 45 km southeast of Kerasounta. According to reports, the church is adorned with rich iconography, a product of the Greek craftsmen who lived there and the faith of the parishioners that filled it. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were around 800 Greek residents. However, the village was destroyed in the summer of 1916 and its inhabitants were slaughtered by Topal Osman, an Ottoman officer who was a perpetrator of the Armenian and Pontic genocides. Those who survived sought safety elsewhere).

Victoria has become Australia’s first state to specifically ban the display of the Nazi swastika.

Sources
BBC
SBS News
The Age

Under a new law, the Summary Offences Amendment (Nazi Symbol Prohibition) Bill 2022, people who intentionally exhibit the symbol face up to a year in jail or a A$22,000 fine. The bill, hailed as a “thunderous blow” to white supremacists was passed in the Victorian Parliament on 21st June 2022.

The legislation was introduced in May 2022 to Parliament, when deputy opposition leader David Southwick, who is Jewish and has campaigned for the ban for a number of years, urged the government to have the new laws come into effect immediately.

The Bill was passed with bipartisan support.

Ros Spence, Minister for Multicultural Affairs, said, “These laws are part of our unwavering commitment to challenge antisemitism, hatred and racism wherever and whenever they occur.”

Victorian Premier Dan Andrews said “nobody has the right to spread racism, hate or anti-Semitism”. (Statement from Premier’s Department here).

Like many places globally, Australia has seen a sharp rise in anti-Semitic incidents in recent times.

Victoria already has anti-hate speech laws – but they have been criticised for having “gaps”. 

A push for reform intensified in 2020 when a couple raised a swastika flag above their home, angering the local community.

State officials called the new legislation a “proud moment”. Three other states have said they will introduce similar laws.

The Nazi swastika has become internationally recognised for representing anti-Semitism and racism after Adolf Hitler adopted it as the Nazi Party symbol in 1920.

“The Nazi symbol glorifies one of the most hateful ideologies in history – its public display does nothing but cause further pain and division,” said Victorian Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes. “It’s a proud moment to see these important laws pass with bipartisan support. I’m glad to see that no matter what side of politics, we can agree that this vile behaviour will not be tolerated in Victoria.”

There are exemptions for showing the symbol in historical, educational and artistic contexts. It can also be used in Hindu, Buddhist and Jain religious contexts, as it has been for millennia, where it represents peace and well-being.

Faith groups in Victoria have welcomed the state government’s decision to pass legislation banning the public display of the Nazi symbol.

Surinder Jain, Vice President of the Hindu Council of Australia says the Bill will help battle public confusion around the difference between the Nazi symbol and the ancient Indian swastika. “Because when we display it people misunderstand it to be the Nazi hate symbol Hakenkreuz – the hooked cross. This Bill makes a clear distinction between the two. It does the right thing by banning the hate symbol. And it does the right thing by exempting sacred symbols used by Hindus, Buddhists and Jains.”

“The bill will help battle public confusion around the difference between the Nazi symbol and the ancient Indian swastika”

(Surinder Jain, Vice President of the Hindu Council of Australia)

Victoria’s Jewish community also welcomed the bill. Chairman of the Anti-Defamation Commission (a Jewish organization founded to fight antisemitism) Dvir Abramovich began campaigning for the ban five years ago. He said a Jewish person being confronted by the Nazi swastika is “as threatening as being confronted by a gun”.

“I think people often forget what the Nazi swastika represents – the final solution. That is, the extermination of six million Jews in gas chambers. It represents the desire by the Third Reich to eliminate every single Jewish person on earth. It is the ultimate emblem of evil”.

Andy Meddick MP, addressing the Victorian Parliament, said: ‘This Bill today is not just about a symbol but about an ideology that took an ancient and respected symbol, perverted it, warped it and desecrated it so deeply that the world has come to see it almost exclusively as a symbol of a regime of such deep rooted hatred, murder, rape, genocide, and acts so vile that it’s hard to believe the human species could be capable of them”.

People will be prosecuted only if they defy a first request to remove the symbol.

Anti-Defamation Commission chairman Dvir Abramovich – who campaigned for the law – called it a “thunderous blow” to the neo-Nazi movement.

“As our nation confronts the deep stain of a resurgent white-supremacist movement that peddles a dangerous and dehumanising agenda, this parliament has declared that the symbol of Nazism will never find a safe harbour in our state,” he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

The number of anti-Semitic incidents around the world dramatically increased last year, according to a study by Tel Aviv University. Australia had 88 in one month alone – a national record.

In 2020, Australia’s intelligence chief warned of a “real threat” to the country’s security from neo-Nazis. He said “small cells” of right-wing extremists were meeting regularly to salute Nazi flags and share their ideology.

Since the pandemic began, unions and others have also accused far-right groups of “infiltrating” large protests about lockdowns and other restrictions.

The new laws will come into effect in six months to allow for a campaign about the origins of the religious and cultural swastika to be rolled out. The government says it has brought forward the date when the legislation will come into effect, originally planned to take 12 months, based on feedback from religious, legal and community groups.

Find out what the (August) 2021 Census of Population and Housing data reveals about where we live, our ancestry and what languages we speak. 

10am, Tuesday 28th June 2022 at the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra and live streamed on Tuesday 28 June 2022 at 10:00am AEST. A link to the live stream will be made available on the ABS webpage.

If you are unable to tune in on the day, the launch will be recorded and available on the ABS website and the ABS YouTube channel after the event.

For the first time, the Census will also provide information about long term health conditions and service in the Australian Defence Force.

Presenters include:

• Hon Dr Andrew Leigh MP, Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury
• Dr David Gruen AO, Australian Statistician
• Professor Sandra Harding AO, Emeritus Professor, James Cook University and former Chair of the Australian Advisory Council (2001-2006)
• Teresa Dickinson PSM, Deputy Australian Statistician and Senior Responsible Officer for the 2021 Census.

An audience question and answer session will follow from 10:30am AEST. A platform to ask questions will be available from this page until the end of the session. If you would like your name and organisation read out with your question, please add this to the top of your question. Questions will be moderated.

The ABS will release 2021 Census data in a staged approach. There will be three key release phases.

1. 28 June 2022 – most topics will be released for almost all geographic outputs for place of usual residence and for place of enumeration on Census night.
2. October 2022 – a smaller number of topics including employment and location-based variables will be released.
3. Early to mid-2023 – complex topics that require additional processing such as distance to work, socio-economic indexes for areas (SEIFA) will be released.