Melbourne's Greek Orthodox Church Locations Grow
- Written by Maria Athens
The Australian city of Melbourne is swiftly becoming the Greek Orthodox Church epicenter of the nation, with two new Churches opening their doors over the past two weeks.
Two Sundays ago, Frankston's Holy Epiphany Church held its first service, while this past Sunday, North Altona's The Dormition of Our Lady offered its initial service.
Victoria has the largest number of Greek Orthodox parishes and contains 44 Churches. NSW ranks second with its 38 Churches and South Australia encompasses 15. Melbourne is home to the largest number of Greek Orthodox Churches outside of Greece, per capita.
Father George Frangos of The Dormition of Our Lady believes that more Greek Churches will arise. Father Frangos stated to Neos Kosmos, "It's quite a large area, there's probably about 9,000 registered Greek Orthodox (parishioners) according to the data under our parish...And regular visitors of our parish are about 500 families."
Father Frangos added, "In adverse timeframes we see that other denominations (particularly Christian denominations) are starting to decline in numbers, but we're seeing the Orthodox Church still gaining ground and thriving."
Like many Greek Orthodox Churches outside of the homeland, The Dormition of Our Lady features both Greek and Australian components. All of its marble was hand-crafted in Greece to the Church's requirements and the remaining elements were created in Australia.
(Source: Neos Kosmos)
