It’s been brought to the attention of Neos Kosmos that assistance traditionally lent by the City of Yarra (CoY) to the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia’s (GOAA) Holy Trinity Parish of Richmond for yearly Easter celebrations has hit an impasse.

In a letter sent to our offices, local resident and prospective councillor Peter Razos, explained that the CoY had in the past “provided assistance” with the “organisation and funding” of traffic management plans and road closures for the Easter festivities “on an annual basis.”

This of course involved closure of the streets immediately surrounding the church “for approximately one hour” owing to Good Friday’s Epitaphio procession.

As well as the closure of a portion of Burnley St, directly in front of the church, for the safe occurrence of the Anastasi or Resurrection Mass.

Mr Razos claims that “approximately five years ago” the usual state of affairs changed.

“We were advised that the CoY would no longer be able to provide this, and we have been left to organise and fund it ourselves,” he says.

He explains that council advised the local Greek Orthodox community that they could apply for funding to cover the expenses of the religious events through their Annual Grants Program.

“We were advised that we could make a grants application for funding, however this only covered $3,000 of what was approximately $6,000 for this work,” Razos claims.

According to a 2022 report of the CoY detailing successful grant applications, the GOAA’s Parish of Holy Trinity Richmond Senior Citizens Club received $3,000 (the total requested amount) through the grants program for “Annual Easter Celebrations.”

The report outlined a total project cost of $7,460; with the grants panel describing it as “an important Greek community and cultural celebration which had been supported by Yarra Council for many years.”

Neos Kosmos sought a statement from the City of Yarra regarding these developments however we did not receive comment prior to our deadline; we intend to keep our readers updated on the situation.

A quotation for this year’s expenses seen by Neos Kosmos puts the cost estimate for this year’s events at $5,830.

Speaking with the GOAA’s Bishop Evmenios, Neos Kosmos learned that the Archdiocese and its parish churches have not encountered any similar problems in relation to this year’s Paschal festivities.