The Greek Orthodox Church of St. George is a church in the suburb of Mile End, in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. It is under the auspices of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia and spiritual direction of Archbishop Makarios of Australia [1] and is the largest Greek Orthodox church in Adelaide. This is partly due to the high population of Greek Australians in the area, mostly from Thebarton, Torrensville and Mile End.
Throughout the 1950s the area became home to a large number of Greek migrants, and by 1966 they formed 13.4 per cent of the population in Thebarton.
The "Greek Orthodox Community and Parish of Saint George Thebarton and Western Suburbs Inc." was formed in 1960 to help the expatriate Greeks, and in 1965 the members of that community built St. George's church.
Today, the suburbs of Torrensville and Thebarton have a significant Greek Australian population, with 4,471 Greek Australians living in the area, that is 18.7 per cent of the total population, according to census data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in 2001.
Sunday services begin at 8:00 a.m. and end at approximately 11:00 a.m. Weekday services are held on major feast days between 8:00 a.m. and 9:30 a.m.
Holy Week Services are especially solemn and are the highlight of the Orthodox Church calendar.
The Good Friday evening service, which is officiated by the Assistant Bishop to Archbishop Nikandros of Dorylaeon, includes an anticlockwise procession on the streets with an epitaph being carried from the church at approximately 9:30 p.m. Police accompany the clergy and crowd for the entire procession, and close down the southbound lanes of South Road while the crowds walk behind the clergy and the epitaph.
On Holy Saturday evening, the midnight office begins at 11:00 p.m. At midnight the priest lights the trikeria (three candles) and invites the people to "Come, receive the Light from the light that is never overtaken by night". The people rush to be first to receive the flame in order to pass it on until the entire crowd (inside and outside) have their candles lit from the holy flame. This is followed by the priest going outside on to a temporary stage to read the Paschal gospel and the traditional Paschal hymn "Χριστός Ανέστη". The Paschal Sunday service continues until approximately 2:30 a.m.
School services are held four times a year, where all students and teachers from St. George College attend a liturgy for communion. As the number of students at the college exceed the seated capacity of the church, the school now holds separate liturgies for the school. One for the primary students and one for the high-school students.
The Community and Parish publishes a quarterly magazine, "St. George Community News".
Sunday morning service attendance is approximately 300 - 500, which is the approximate capacity of the church. Celebrations such as the feast day of St. George usually have over 1000 people attending, and the outdoor sound system is turned on for the benefit of the hundreds outside. By far, the Good Friday evening service and the midnight Easter service have the greatest attendance of the year, with upwards of 5000 having attended in the past.
Between 1964 and 1970, Father Panteleimon Sklavos served as parish priest. He would then be elevated to the episcopate serving as an assistant Bishop within the Archdiocese of Australia with the title Bishop of Theoupoleos.
Father Diogenis Patsouris, Protopresbyter of the Ecumenical Throne OAM was then appointed parish priest of Saint George in 1970. Father Konstantinos Skoumbourdis was appointed assistant priest on 1 August 2012. [2] The Head Chanter at the church was Ilias Frangoulis, Archon Protopsaltis of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia [3] until his retirement on 26 October 2011; he was succeeded by John Saredakis who was then succeeded by Con Psaromatis in January 2023. The Left Chanter is John Archontoulis who has been a Chanter at St George since its establishment in 1960. The chanters and assistant chanters form the choir, which chants every Sunday at St George Church.
Great Lent, or the Great Fast, is the most important fasting season of the church year within many denominations of Eastern Christianity. It is intended to prepare Christians for the greatest feast of the church year, Pascha (Easter).
Divine Liturgy or Holy Liturgy is the usual name used in most Eastern Christian rites for the Eucharistic service.
Holy Week is the most sacred week in the liturgical year in Christianity. For all Christian traditions, it is a moveable observance. In Eastern Christianity, which also calls it Great Week, it is the week following Great Lent and Lazarus Saturday, starting on the evening of Palm Sunday and concluding on the evening of Great Saturday. In Western Christianity, Holy Week is the sixth and last week of Lent, beginning with Palm Sunday and concluding on Holy Saturday.
In the practice of Christianity, canonical hours mark the divisions of the day in terms of fixed times of prayer at regular intervals. A book of hours, chiefly a breviary, normally contains a version of, or selection from, such prayers.
Holy Saturday, also known as Great and Holy Saturday, Low Saturday, the Great Sabbath, Hallelujah Saturday, Saturday of the Glory, Sábado de Gloria, and Black Saturday or Easter Eve, and called "Joyous Saturday", "the Saturday of Light", and "Mega Sabbatun" among Coptic Christians, is the final day of Holy Week, between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, when Christians prepare for the latter.
The Byzantine Rite, also known as the Greek Rite or the Rite of Constantinople, is a liturgical rite that is identified with the wide range of cultural, devotional, and canonical practices that developed in the Eastern Christian church of Constantinople.
The Easter Vigil, also called the Paschal Vigil, the Great Vigil of Easter, or Holy Saturday at the Easter Vigil on the Holy Night of Easter is a liturgy held in traditional Christian churches as the first official celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus. Historically, it is during this liturgy that people are baptized and that adult catechumens are received into full communion with the Church. It is held in the hours of darkness between sunset on Holy Saturday and sunrise on Easter Day – most commonly in the evening of Holy Saturday or midnight – and is the first celebration of Easter, days traditionally being considered to begin at sunset.
Orthros or útrenya in the Byzantine Rite of the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Eastern Catholic Churches, is the last of the four night offices, the other three being vespers, compline, and midnight office. Traditionally, in monasteries it is held daily so as to end immediately following sunrise, in contrast to parishes where it is held only on Sundays and feast days. It is often called matins after the office it most nearly corresponds to in Western Christian churches.
Easter Saturday, on the Christian calendar, is the seventh day of Eastertide, being the Saturday of Easter or Bright Week. In the kalendar of Western Christianity it is the last day of Easter Week, sometimes referred to as the Saturday of Easter Week or Saturday in Easter Week. It is the seventh day in the Octave of Easter too. In the liturgy of Eastern Christianity it is the last day of Bright Week, and called Bright Saturday, The Bright and Holy Septave Saturday of Easter Eve, or The Bright and Holy Septave Paschal Artos and Octoechoes Saturday of Iscariot's Byzantine Easter Eve. Easter Saturday is the day preceding the Second Sunday of Easter.
A Christian burial is the burial of a deceased person with specifically Christian rites; typically, in consecrated ground. Until recent times Christians generally objected to cremation because it interfered with the concept of the resurrection of a corpse, and practiced inhumation almost exclusively. Today this opposition has all but vanished among Protestants and Catholics alike, and this is rapidly becoming more common, although Eastern Orthodox Churches still mostly forbid cremation.
Bright Week, Pascha Week or Renewal Week is the name used by the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Rite Catholic Churches for the period of seven days beginning on Easter and continuing up to the following Sunday, which is known as Thomas Sunday.
The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia is the Australian archdiocese of the Greek Orthodox Church, part of the wider communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity. The archdiocese is a jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. As of 2023, there were over 130 parishes and eight monasteries in the seven diocesan districts of the archdiocese in Australia.
The Gospel in Christian liturgy refers to a reading from the Gospels used during various religious services, including Mass or Divine Liturgy (Eucharist). In many Christian churches, all present stand when a passage from one of the Gospels is read publicly, and sit when a passage from a different part of the Bible is read. The reading of the Gospels, often contained in a liturgical edition containing only the four Gospels, is traditionally done by a minister, priest or deacon, and in many traditions the Gospel Book is brought into the midst of the congregation to be read.
A Paraklesis or Supplicatory Canon in the Byzantine Rite, is a service of supplication for the welfare of the living. It is addressed to a specific Saint or to the Most Holy Theotokos whose intercessions are sought through the chanting of the supplicatory canon together with psalms, hymns, and litanies.
The Midnight Office is one of the Canonical Hours that compose the cycle of daily worship in the Byzantine Rite. The office originated as a purely monastic devotion inspired by Psalm 118:62, At midnight I arose to give thanks unto Thee for the judgments of Thy righteousness (LXX), and also by the Gospel Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins.
The Epitaphios is a Christian religious icon, typically consisting of a large, embroidered and often richly adorned cloth, bearing an image of the dead body of Christ, often accompanied by his mother and other figures, following the Gospel account. It is used during the liturgical services of Holy Saturday in the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic churches.
The Pentecostarion is the liturgical book used by the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic churches during the Paschal Season which extends from Pascha (Easter) to the Sunday following All Saints Sunday.
Eastern Orthodox worship in this article is distinguished from Eastern Orthodox prayer in that 'worship' refers to the activity of the Christian Church as a body offering up prayers to God while 'prayer' refers to the individual devotional traditions of the Orthodox.
The Paschal Hours are the form in which the Little Hours are chanted on Pascha (Easter) and throughout Bright Week in the Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic churches.