“This is the final arbiter,” Harry Danalis, President of the Greek Orthodox Community of New South Wales (GOCNSW) told Neos Kosmos, after last week’s historic election finally endorsed a binding agreement between the community and the Archdiocese.
At the Extraordinary General Meeting of the Community that took place at Lakemba on 3 July, 78.3 per cent of the members present voted in favour of restoring relations between the Archdiocese and the Greek Orthodox Community. GOCNSW’s constitution enables a vote of 75 per cent and above to be binding and the result finally puts an end to the schism between the GOCNSW and the Archdiocese which has existed for over 50 years. Over 800 people attended the meeting which debated the issues for three hours before the votes were cast. In the end, 678 voted with 531 supporting the motion to end to the longstanding division. 133 voted against and there were 14 invalid votes.
Danalis admits he was pleased and relieved at the mandate given. “It means that we’re no longer isolated ecclesiastically by 90 per cent of those that follow the official church, and that people who felt before that they couldn’t attend our functions, our hostels, our child-care centres, and our schools can now attend, because there’s no prohibition as such.”
The next step, Danalis says, is sorting out the fine details of how the agreement will work in practice. “There’s work to do. We have to sit down with the Archdiocese and work out how it’s going to be implemented.” Peter Theophilou OAM, President of the Inter-Communities Council of the Archdiocese described the election as an “historic day” and the beginning of “a new era” for Greek people in NSW. “We’ll all celebrate together,” says Theophilou, who is also the President of St Efthemia College.
“Every year on the 25th of March (my students) would ask me why the Community celebrates separately from the Archdiocese; this decision puts an end to all that. We’re not divided anymore. We don’t have to pray separately.” Speaking as an elder member of the community, Theophilou said many like him looked forward to once again attending services in churches they have not set foot in for a generation or more.
“It’s been 30 or 40 years since I have been to my church. We married in these churches, baptised our children in these churches. This benefits the whole community.” Theophilou expressed disappointed with those who voted against the agreement, but holds out an olive branch, saying the fears of those who voted against are groundless.
“They have nothing to fear from the Archdiocese. Things change. You can’t live in the past for heaven’s sake.”
GOCNSW will now register the historic amendments to their constitution with Australian Securities and Investment Commission, after which the implementation process will begin.