Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On Sunday 27 October, I, along with several parliamentary colleagues, including the member for Spence, attended the annual St Dimitrios Parish feast day, church service and celebration at Salisbury in honour of the church patron St Dimitrios. St Dimitrios was a 4th century AD Christian martyr and continues to be revered as one of the most important Orthodox military saints. The annual celebration is a significant event for Adelaide's Greek community, and particularly for Adelaide's northern suburbs' Greek community, many of whom were amongst the first post-World War II migrant settlers in the region.

As a regular attendee to the celebrations over the past three decades, I missed the presence of local Greek community leader John Gatzopoulos, who was tragically killed last year, and the past parish priest, church founder and longtime friend Father Christos Tsoraklidis, who has relocated to Darwin. My congratulations to Father Psaromatis, His Grace Bishop Silouan, who led the religious service on the day, and to the St Dimitrios parish team for putting on another wonderful celebration of Greek culture, food and dancing.