Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Small Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On Sunday it was a great pleasure to join the Greek Orthodox parish and community of St Ioannis in Parramatta at an incredibly important event. It was the first service at the site of their new church, which they will build in the years to come on what was the old Parramatta Workers Club site on the banks of the Parramatta River. The service was held in a temporary church. It was officiated by His Grace Bishop Seraphim I, and it was an extraordinary event. They will build a Byzantine church on that site that will serve the Greek Orthodox parish for centuries, and it was an absolute pleasure to be there on the first day of those centuries.

It was only last week that the parish held its final service in the old St Ioannis church in Hassall Street. It was officiated by Father Nicholas Tsouloukidis. Following that service they collected the holy items from the altar and processed them, with a police escort, on foot through the streets of Parramatta to the site of the new church. To their delight, they were able to bring them all. About 60 years ago, I think it was, when they painted the icons in the old church, they intended to paint them directly onto the walls, but there was still some moisture in the wall so they put up canvas and painted the icons on canvas. They discovered only over the weekend that they could actually remove them, and it was a very long process to peel the canvas very slowly and with great trepidation, thinking they had lost them altogether. But they had this second chance at saving these wonderful paintings that were done so long ago in that church, and they all came off. They rolled them up and took them down to the new site. Then they spent a week turning what was an old function room in the workers club into a temporary church, and it looks spectacular. Again, as a pleasant surprise, so many of the icons that were high up in the old church, well above eyesight, are now within clear vision as you sit in that church.

It was an extraordinary day. People from the Greek community came from all over Sydney to share in the special day. The new location solves many of the problems they had in their old one, particularly parking—they were totally parked out. I arrived at about 10 o'clock, and I got a spot right outside the front gate, because there is parking on-site. But perhaps the most important thing about this site is that a parish named after St John the Baptist is on the banks of the Parramatta River. So, when they hold their vigil for St John the Baptist later this month they will do so on the banks of a river. It was a very special day, the first of centuries, the beginning of something quite wonderful, and I congratulate the Greek Orthodox parish for making it happen.