A shock departure and striking return have created a stir around the elections for the committee of management of the Greek Orthodox Community of South Australia (GOCSA) that took place in Adelaide on Sunday 3 July.
At the same time, in Sydney a general meeting of the Greek Orthodox Community of New South Wales (GOCNSW) took place to ask its 2600 members whether or not to back an agreement to bridge a long-standing divide between the community and Archdiocese. Among the revelations in the Adelaide elections is the re-emergence of former secretary of GOCSA Vangelis Boyias as candidate, and the shock departure of long-standing president Vassilis Elovaris. This has caused a buzz with locals predicting a return to the previous mindset which may thwart a reconciliation between GOCSA and the Archdiocese.
Boyias is a well-known member of the Greek community who allegedly opposed a suggested reconciliation proposed by the tentative agreement of Athens in the late 1990s. It is likely that with him on board within the community again, any talks of reconciliation between both groups may be blocked, or will face a larger struggle. Boyias has a reputation of being outspoken in matters relating to an agreement with the Archdiocese and would like to see GOCSA create its own terms and conditions. Thirty candidates have nominated themselves for the 17 positions of the committee of management, including for the position of president and secretary.
The candidates include: Steven Aggelis; Panagiota Andritsakis; Vasilios Vagenas; George Vasileias; Karlyn Vasilaki-Starr; Alexandros Grigoriadis; Theofilaktos Grigoriadis; Argiros Kassouthaki; Valerie Kouraki-Germanou; Kokkinakis Trifonas; Panagiotis Lambropoulos; Ioannis Lesses; Stergios Magafakis; Ilias Mavrogiorgios; Vangelis Boyias; Ioannis Ninos; Emmanouel Papageorgiou; Antonios Papadopoulos; Nikolaos Portelos; Rozaklis Tina; Saripasoglou Nikolaos; Theodora Sarri; Elly Spei; Andreas Stathopoulos; Vangelis Stathopoulos; Betty Stavrou; Panagiotis Tsonis; Iakovos Hatzisimeon; and Stathis Psaltis.