Australian Greek Orthodox Leaders Participate in Middle East Christian Rally

Approximately 3,000 participants rallied against the treatment of Christians by the ISIS.  Participants included Bishop Suriel of the Coptic Orthodox Church, Father Emmanuel Lykopantis of the Greek Orthodox Church, Victorian Coalition MP Bernie Finn, and Victorian Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Scrutiny of Government Frank McGuire.

Panepirotic Federation of Australia spokesman Dean Kalimniou stated, "There are many Assyrians who lived in Greece and who migrated to Australia and speak Greek and they are integrated within the Greek community, so those contacts are there", as reported by Neos Kosmos.

Kalimniou added, "People have become sensitized to this issue, which is a terrible humanitarian catastrophe and they want to do something about it, and the easiest way to do that was to turn up to the rally and voice support for the plight of the Christians in Iraq".

The Penepirotic Federation of Australia spokesman described, "If you notice some of the Greeks that were there, like the Pontian group, they feel very strongly about this issue because they're united with the Assyrian community in campaigning for the recognition of the genocide (of Greeks, Assyrians and Armenians by the Ottoman Turks). So they feel that in many ways they're a kindred community, that their faith has been the same one, so there are historical and social ties".

Father Lykopantis commented to Neos Kosmos, "They (Assyrians) were very appreciative that we as a church were there to show support on their behalf. It's very hard because this is a conflict where people are fighting with guns and to be quite honest there's not really much that we can do, we can only put pressure on politicians and say 'look, you have to somehow intervene in this matter and bring a result to it".

The Greek Orthodox priest discussed further actions being undertaken, "The other thing that we're actually doing as a whole group of Christian churches is we're trying to get a response from the Islamic Council to see where they stand with these groups, because this ISIS group is also killing moderate Muslims as well. It's not just the Christians they're chasing after, they're chasing their own. So we're asking them to take a stance, are they supporting this?"

However, the Islamic Council has not yet answered their plea. Father Lykopantis stated that although Australia's Greek Orthodox Church faces limitations regarding political and legal sectors, the Greek Orthodox Church in Greece along with its government, is assisting the Middle Eastern Christian victims as much as possible.

The Greek Orthodox priest stated, "This is where the filoxenia comes in, (the church) has decided with the Greek government to take on some refugees, some persecuted Christians, and to sort of bring them into Greece and look after them whilst they're getting kicked out of their homeland...The Greek Orthodox Church is standing side-by-side with those that are suffering in Iraq and as a church we sympathise. We pray that these debacles that are happening in north Africa all the way through to Syria, including in Gaza, will cease and we can all live together harmoniously".