Patriarchal visit

November 2024 By Kostas Karamarkos (Journalist – Melbourne) For a number of years now, I keep on arguing that the institutionally defined Greek-Australian community, as expressed through its organisations, schools, churches, media, etc, does not have any real influence and impact in the everyday lives of Greek- Australians. We address almost all of the fundamental issues in our lives, issues such as education, health, welfare, political representation, to name a few, and we make our claims via the institutions of mainstream society. Furthermore, our ethnic identity is experienced and celebrated mostly through the private sphere, that is, through our families. When this happens, it is happening through the intellectual, emotional, linguistic and others “tools” provided by the hegemonic Anglo-Celtic culture. I come back to this argument again, because, in my opinion, it was tested and verified once more, as a result of the recent visit to Australia of the Patriarch of Constantinople and New Rome Vartholomeos. Here is the case study… For months now, there was a huge mobilization by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia, aiming at successfully staging two mass events in Melbourne in the presence of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, a liturgy at the Tennis Centre and a school parade nearby, however… For the liturgy, only approximately 3,500 people turned up, the vast majority of them first generation migrants, whereas for the parade… The participation was significantly less… It is worth mentioning here that the Greek origin population in Melbourne, according to the 2021 census, is just over 180,000 people, that might reach or surpass the 200,000 mark, if we include the Greek Cypriot background members of the community. The vast majority of these people are second, third and fourth generation members of a multifaceted and diverse community that no longer exists, as a collective...

Greek Tribune Adelaide, South Australia