Undeterred by the rain forecast, the faithful gathered en masse outside the Kogarah Greek Orthodox Church in Sydney for the Resurrection (Anastasi) service presided by Archbishop Makarios.
When the clock hit midnight, the crowd’s voice became one joining the Archbishop chanting ‘Christos Anesti ek nekron…’
But the hymn was also heard from the lips of the Australian Prime Minister who was present at the service, accompanied by his wife Jenny.
And the effort he put in pronouncing in full the lyrical ‘thanato thanaton patisas, kai tis en tis mnimasi zoin harisamenos’ in Greek before citing the translation in English seemed to be appreciated by the crowd with some even cheering.
“Friends, this is a time of great hope. A time of overcoming. A time of looking forward to the future with confidence. I want to thank you for your faith. I want to thank you for your great sense of community. Faith and community has sustained our country over these past many difficult years,” Mr Morrison said in his address to the crowd on day 14 of his federal election campaign.
He then went on to call for peace in Ukraine before concluding his message.
Greece’s Minister of Culture and Sports, Dr Lina Medoni, who was in Sydney as part of her visit to Australia, also addressed the crowd, saying that “our prayers and thoughts these days are with the people of Ukraine”.
In attendance were also Consul General of Greece in Sydney, Christos Karras as well as the MPs joining Mr Morrison, Assistant Minister David Coleman and Labor Member for Barton Linda Burney.
Speaking to the gathered crowd moments before the ‘Christ is Risen’ proclamation, Archbishop Makarios highlighted the special significance of this year’s Easter celebrations.
“We give glory to God who has made us worthy this year to celebrate Pasha after the difficulties brought about by the pandemic which now seems to be slowly fading away.”
But Archbishop Makarios’ Paschal message released on video on Easter Sunday takes a different approach referring instead to the “historical objectivity” of the resurrection and the invitation to the faithful for an “existential transcendence”.
Listen to the full message below:
