Constantinople bishop: If the Church loses its Greek spirit, what will remain?

Archbishop Makarios. Photo: VEMA NEWS

On Great Friday, during a pastoral visit to Melbourne, Archbishop Makarios of Australia of the Constantinople Patriarchate publicly urged the priest of St. Nektarios Parish in Fawkner to reduce the use of English in worship, warning that it threatens the preservation of Greek identity.

“Here, in the great and truly Greek parish of St. Nektarios, I would like to ask you, Father Constantine: we are Greeks here. Who is it that does not understand Greek? I did not like that the service was divided – half in Greek and half in English,” the hierarch said.

The archbishop stressed that the parish must preserve its ethnic identity: “We are Greeks, and we must preserve and safeguard that. For if the Church loses its Greek identity, then what will remain for us to preserve?”

Makarios said that “a little English” could be used, but only as a tool to bring children into the church, not as an equal liturgical language. “We will find chanters who will sing in Greek, and we will add a little English – for the sake of our children, to attract them and bring them to church. But not half and half,” he emphasized.

Concluding his remarks, the hierarch directly reminded the priest of his duty: “Father Constantine, you are obliged – I ask you very much – to make sure that we preserve our distinct identity. And I am glad that you accept this and honor it.”

Notably, this concerns a parish in Australia – a country where Greek is neither the state language nor the native language of a significant share of the faithful, including the children of Greek immigrants themselves, who were born and raised in an English-speaking environment.

Earlier, the UOJ wrote that, according to Archbishop Makarios, Orthodoxy and Hellenism are like two wings of a single body.

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