His surname may be typically Greek because you’re likely to struggle pronouncing it but George Haralambopoulos isn’t phased because the former actor who once boasted an impressive resume in movies, among them starring Meryl Streep and Sam Neill, is now on a mission inspired by a vision, or more specifically, an epiphany.

“As an actor, I went by the name ‘George Harlem’ as in the Harlem Globetrotters,” he said smiling while reflecting back to the 1980s and 90s when he appeared in various movie roles including some by acclaimed Melbourne-born director Ana Kokkinos and in TV shows including Prisoner and Special Squad.

After having worked for more than a decade as an actor, George remains accustomed to the limelight although these days his attention has turned to a more niche audience, predominantly Greek Orthodox Christians, by somewhat educating and enlightening them with his translations of the cryptic meanings and nuances of their religion.

Those of us familiar with this domain can relate to the distinct emotion which is subconsciously embedded in our psyche, triggered from the moment we step into a Greek church, perhaps for a Sunday service or religious event, such as a wedding or christening.

This is when the senses become captivated by a combination of the cantors’ alluring sounds, the rhythmic clanging of the priest’s censer, the smell of incense and burning wax from candles, the commanding religious artwork that surround the church’s interior or the many icons that visually reinforce the Gospel’s readings. But despite the repetitive exposure to these rituals and their mesmerising stimulants, most of us in any congregation remain oblivious to its ecclesiastical significance or broader religious meaning.

Take for example the censer (θυμιατό) which the priest methodically swings around the church. We’ve all seen one countless times and have heard its tiny bells as it’s swung from side to side and we inhale the smell of incense as its smoke-clouds waft through the church but remain oblivious to its symbolic meanings and are left asking ourselves – so what does it all mean?

It was this glaring void experienced by many Greek Orthodox Christians that prompted Yarraville’s St Nicholas Parish priest, Fr Alexandros Korlos to invite George, the former Forest Hill and later Burnley local and layman with an impressive acting resume, to lead a youth fellowship, also to front up to his church on Sundays to explain to the congregation relevant segments of the liturgy in English and more recently, to present a sermon through a weekly social media livestream.

Although he’s often mistaken for a priest, George is quick to point out that besides the fact he does not sport a mandatory beard, he has had no theological training or formal religious education. However, every Monday afternoon he dutifully appears at St Nicholas Church in Yarraville wearing a black vestment (blessed by Fr Alexandros) facing a video camera and unscripted with no notes, begins talking in a clear and commanding tone to a growing audience through a Facebook livestream under the banner – St Nicholas Fellowship Yarraville. His 30-minute storytelling sessions are unconventional but always interesting and relatable, even occasionally entertaining, with him explaining and demystifying the meaning of various Greek Orthodox religious topics which many find cryptic and profoundly complex through its mainstay symbolism and distinct language.

“I like to keep the narrative spontaneous, not pre-meditated or structured and if, for example, I’m talking about the θυμιατό (censer) the camera will be focussed on that and not me, while I explain the meaning of its four chains each symbolising the Evangelists and the 12 bells representing each one of the Apostles,” George said.

The significance of the liturgy read by the priest and the words sung by the cantors every Sunday in church became more obvious to his audience as George began communicating it in plain English.

“I started thinking that (until now) we’ve missed out, as we’ve been standing there in church like sitting ducks because the liturgy is in Ancient Greek,” he said.

“No one could explain it to you and our parents not being educated couldn’t explain it to us completely anyway and what followed was we had our own children and then lacked the knowledge to part on them and so we’d lose interest.”

The feedback from many of those who see him for the first time and are unacquainted with his voluntary work with the St Nicholas Fellowship or his livestream presentations is consistently positive and typically supportive for generating a renewed interest in Greek Orthodoxy.

“Over the years I’ve slowly understood there’s been a need for just simple lay talk to explain the more complex things so that people can more readily grasp it. Before that, they would often have to go to a dictionary to work out what was being said in church,” George said.

He credits the development of his religious knowledge predominantly on the influence of an uncle who became a priest and the brief period he spent as a teenager in Burnley at a local Salvation Army Sunday School, introduced to him by an Aussie neighbourhood friend. But also the many weekly episodes of the cult TV program Epic Theatre he had watched as a child with his brother on Sunday afternoons.

“It gave me the idea of the stories of the Bible and there was also movies such as the Ten Commandments which had a visual impact on me and so when someone asked me about Moses I could tell them from having watched Charlton Heston,” George said.

“The importance here is that typically in my father’s generation none of his peers were educated, none of them actually knew everything that was going on in church to impart on their children. To him, as long as we were learning about God, even at the Salvation Army, he thought – what the heck – it’s the same thing, it’s the Bible, so let them go.”

But the transition from his acting roles that often involved performing sordid characters, to someone ‘holy’ driven by a personal crusade to educate and explain the intense meanings of the Greek Orthodox Gospel, was as George explains, something that transpired literally by an unexpected quantum leap of faith, which people often find hard to accept or believe.

“I was in my thirties and living in Forest Hill,” he said. “Mid-week one day I had travelled to the Holy Trinity church (Αγία Τριάδα) at Box Hill where my mother knew the head chancer and who later became a priest at Balwyn,” he said.

“Soon after entering the church, I experienced a theophany when I suddenly found myself kneeling in front of the ιερό (altar) where I visualised Jesus with two angels besides his shoulder. He went like this (signalling with his hand) to come in as He was going towards the altar. I got out of this (vision) and then found myself sweating and crying.”

George said this experience had a profound effect on him and marked a turning point in his life that launched a commitment to serve the Greek Orthodox Church which he is now achieving at St Nicholas in Yarraville.

After having boosted the number of St Nicholas Fellowship participants to 80 people, the advent of COVID-19 and the enforcement of Melbourne’s lockdowns necessitated some improvising that led to the introduction of a weekly livestream service through Facebook.

“It was COVID-driven because we couldn’t use our classrooms anymore and in fact it improved our outcome,” George said.

“So now I do them live on Mondays on a different topic each week and with no notes and an understanding with my cameraman to keep it lively and make each presentation interesting. For example, I might talk about the iconography in the church and explain that this was how they communicated (the Gospel), as I did with one particular icon, when I explained why a Roman Centurion depicted at Christ’s crucifixion had a halo around him,” he said.

Although the weekly livestream has peaked to as many as 3,000 people George is happy to stick to the same format which he is confident from the feedback, is being enjoyed widely beyond the traditional reach of his Yarraville-based followers but also interstate and overseas.

“I really don’t look at the numbers much but it’s been quite positive because a lot of people are learning a lot of things they haven’t been able to get from their parents, and obviously are not going to get when they go to the liturgy because no one’s prepared to sit there and explain what’s going on.”

Reflecting back on his role, George often finds himself asking how he ended up where he has and always comes up with the same answer.

“I’d ask myself – why am I doing this? – when there’s other guys more qualified and educated with degrees but over the years I’ve slowly understood that there’s a need for lay talk. Just simple talk to explain the more complex things so that people can grasp it. Isn’t it more important to connect (with people) rather than not to?”

You can follow George’s Monday presentations on Facebook by searching “St Nicholas Fellowship Yarraville”.