Walking around the block during Greek Easter’s Good Friday could be a thing of the past as councils boost costs of traffic management, while the church isn’t willing to pay more to keep the tradition around the block alive.
Bishiop Ezekiel of the Melbourne Archdiocese says this was the first year the church encountered problems with local councils forcing churches to employ proper traffic management staff to section off roads for the Friday night procession.
Notably, St Anthony’s church in Sunshine was forced to make do with a smaller procession -going up the street and back- after the local Brimback Council told the church it had to adhere to a traffic management plan to secure people’s safety.
Although the event permit is free, the church would have to hire a separate contractor to implement the traffic management along with Victoria police.
“The approach by Council to this matter is based on a concern for safety and the need to comply with statewide regulations about traffic management,” the Brimbank Council told Neos Kosmos.
The church paid $900 for the smaller walk instead of $4000 to do the whole block, the Herald Sun revealed earlier this week.
Neos Kosmos understands that the Archdiocese is investigating the matter and will be speaking with the council and the church to find solutions in the future to keep costs down.
A few churches in Victoria had similar problems, with parishioners forced to walk around their church early May. Keilor East’s Panagia Soumela and Fawkner’s St Nektarios weren’t able to secure permits and chose to walk around their church’s perimeter.
For St Anthony’s church on Armstrong St in Springvale, Father John Dermertzidis was shocked at the new measures and said many parishioners were upset at the break in tradition.
“I felt how any parishioner would feel. What I have understood is that the community was very upset with what happened. If you know any Greek Orthodox people, I’m sure they would say the same thing to you; it didn’t seem right to them. “
The church isn’t willing to fund the traditional procession around the block if other cheaper options are available, even if the public is unhappy.
Bishop Ezekiel says the walk around the church is more fitting in Australian communities.
“It’s not necessary to go around the block on the streets because here it’s not a really orthodox area, as we are in our country,” he tells Neos Kosmos.
“We go around the village or the cities and so on because the majority of people there, around 90 per cent are Orthodox and they enjoy this. But here, in some areas we don’t have Greek neighbours at all, so for this reason, if the church has plenty area around it, the can have this particular process around the building of the church.”
But for churches in overdeveloped suburban areas where space around the church is non-existent and the procession around the block is a must.
Even if the church doesn’t have the space for a procession and there’s community pressure to keep the block tradition, Bishop Ezekiel says funding still wouldn’t be an option
“If they can’t go around the block, or if they can’t go around the church they can have the procession inside the church. That is a solution,” he told Neos Kosmos.
The council is looking to help its traffic management plans, saying it is “currently exploring the possibility of subsiding the required 2-day management training course”.
“We have had discussions with several organisations who agree having trained members would be a worthwhile community investment.”