Greek Orthodox Archbishop Makarios of Australia awarded the Medal of the ‘Order of Philochrist’ to Catholic Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney during a formal dinner held at the hall of the Theological Seminary of Apostle Andrew last Saturday.
Archbishop Makarios expressed his gratitude to his Catholic counterpart who showed him love and trust from the first moment he arrived, he said.
The medal itself is an honorary award given in recognition of the fruitful cooperation between the two churches, and was offered as a token of friendship and brotherhood between the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Church of Rome.
Archbishop Makarios pointed to the times where the two churches acted together on issues of common interest, such as the recent legislation on abortions, euthanasia, secrecy of confession, vaccination against hte pandemic, etc.
The Greek church leader did not fail to convey the love of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew on the historic anniversary of the completion of 30 years since he rose to his role.
Catholic Archbishop Anthony thanked the Greek Orthodox Church and Archbishop Makarios for the cooperation and love he shows to both himself and Australia in general. He also expressed his wish for unity and peace between the churches, adding that this can only lead to positive results for the good of Australian society.
READ MORE: Archbishop Makarios does not want to separate people into “vaccinated and unvaccinated”
Also present at the official dinner were representatives from both churches, including Metropolitan Ezekiel of Dervis, the Bishops Iakovos of Miletoupolis, Emilianos of Meloa, Elpidios of Kyanes, Silouan of Sinope, Kyriakos of Sozopolis. Nominated Bishops-elect Christodoulos of Magnesia, Evmenios of Kerasous and Prochoros of Charioupolis, the Protosyncellus of the Holy Archdiocese of Australia, Archimandrite Christoforos Krikelis, the Archdeacon Athenagoras Karakonstantakis, as well as the brother of the Ecumenical Patriarch, Nikolaos Archontonis, and his wife Catherine, while respectively Archbishop Antonios was accompanied by his Assistant Bishop Richard Umbers and Fr. Lewi Barakat, and the leaders of the Maronites, Bishop Antoine-Charbel Tarabay, of the Chaldeans, Archbishop Amel Nona, and the Melchites, Bishop Robert Rabbat.
