Greek Culture and Sports Minister Lina Mendoni will be concluding her Australian tour this Friday 29 April.
Ms Mendoni has spent the Easter weekend in Sydney, attending the Resurrection service led by Orthodox Archbishop of Australia Makarios at the Church of Resurrection in Kogarah, where she also met with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
On Easter Sunday, Archbishop Makarios presented her with a decoration of the Archbishopric of Australia for her contribution to the protection and promotion of Greece’s cultural and religious heritage.
Before officiating the Vespers of Love, in the Holy Cathedral of the Annunciation of the Theotokos, the Archbishop addressed the Greek Minister and praised her service, specifically referring to her “remarkable sensitivity in matters concerning the Church and the ecclesiastical” in arranging for the renovation of “many of the ecclesiastical and religious monuments of our beloved homeland, Greece.”
“Throughout Greece there are monasteries, churches, chapels, cemeteries and other ecclesiastical monuments, which were abandoned and handed over to the decay of the pandamator of time[…]Mrs. Mendoni is the reason for many Holy Altars that were unused for many years, being reopened and regaining their liturgical character.”
Ms Mendoni was then awarded the ‘Order of the Christ-loving with Star’ of the Holy Archdiocese of Australia.
As part of her visit to Australia, the Minister attended an event for ANZAC Day on Monday.
She also discussed with the NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet on the day about a nascent program on Lemnos to be funded by the Australian government as part of a memorandum of understanding signed with the Greek National Defense Ministry.
The Culture Ministry is involved due to a section of the island having been designated a protected monument of modern Greek history.
The program Open Air Museum will highlight the role of the island as a base, supply station, hospitalisation and final resting place for Australian and New Zealand troups in WWI.
Ms Mendoni also met with NSW Minister for cultural issues Ben Franklin and discussed collaboration, including an agreement on preventing illegal movement of cultural items.
