Minister of National Defence N. Dendias Attends Doxology at Cathedral of the Annunciation of Our Lady in Sydney and Meets with Archbishop of Australia

Minister of National Defence N. Dendias Attends Doxology at Cathedral of the Annunciation of Our Lady in Sydney and Meets with Archbishop of Australia

July 16, 2026

On the first day of his visit to Sydney, Australia, the Minister of National Defence, Nikos Dendias, attended a Doxology at the Cathedral of the Annunciation of Our Lady, officiated by His Eminence, Archbishop Makarios of Australia, Primate and Exarch of All Oceania. The Doxology was also attended by the Minister of Finance of New South Wales Courtney Houssos, as representative of the Premier of New South Wales.

The Greek Minister was accompanied by the Ambassador of Greece to Australia Stavros Venizelos, the Director of the Hellenic Navy General Staff Armaments Directorate, Rear Admiral Panagiotis Karavas HN, and the General Consul of Greece in Sydney Georgios Skemperis. Also present were Presidents and board members of the Greek communities of Australia, representatives of diaspora organisations, and Greeks living in Australia.

During the Doxology, Mr. Dendias was awarded by the Archbishop of Australia the Medal of the Order of the Christ-loving with Star, which is the highest honour of the Holy Archdiocese of Australia.

In his response to the Archbishop of Australia, after his decoration, the Minister of National Defence stated the following:

"First of all, Your Eminence, allow me to thank you for this great honour and the most kind words you used to so eloquently express your love.

I humbly accept this great honour which, I consider, is also conferred upon the Armed Forces of our country - which I have the exceptional honour to lead as their civil head - and the great effort made by the men and women of the Armed Forces of Greece to respond to their great constitutional duty, which is to protect the constitutional boundaries of our country, protect Hellenism and what it has represented, as you so eloquently said, through the centuries during our long historical continuity.

Unfortunately, proof of this historical continuity of Hellenism, our DNA, is, among others, the repetition of the same mistakes over and over again. And, in fact, the worst of all, discord, which has led to many woes.

So it brings me great joy and calm to see the Hellenism of Australia under your leadership, united and walking the path of Christ's Holy Church, which has always been the solid foundation on which Hellenism was based. The Church plays a significant role outside the borders of our country.

And I would like to say that it was particularly moving for me to see here in Sydney, where I found myself only for 36 hours, the Greek flag flying outside the Greek Orthodox church.

As was seeing the young people here wearing the Evzone uniform and the uniform of the Macedonian Struggle fighters. As I always say to foreign visitors to our country, the Evzone uniform is full of symbolisms. The 400 pleats of the fustanella which symbolise the 400 years of slavery, the red fez which symbolises the blood spilled during the struggles for freedom, even the sound of the tsarouchia which historically, if you've ever seen the march of the Evzones, has to do with the obligation to remind to our ancestors through the sound of the Evzone's tsarouchi that we are still free. The same is also true for the other two Evzone uniforms. The blue uniform, which is the uniform of Pavlos Melas, and the summer uniform, the Asia Minor uniform.

Your Eminence, I was greatly impressed by the iconographic decoration of your Church. From the honorary position you held for me, I was able to see the discovery of the Holy Cross and, next to it, the restoration of the Holy Icons. Saint Theodora dethroned, the Empress Theodora, her relics are in Corfu, where I come from, at the Metropolitan Church. Wherever we look, we can see the continuity of Hellenism. The common ground we stand on, our traditions, our religion, our love for Orthodoxy, our love for our country, our love for our language. It is very important and moving to hear Greek in the Orthodox Church in Australia.

So, in conclusion, I would like to thank you, Your Eminence, for your work, because your work serves Hellenism. For your great effort to keep the Diaspora closely connected to the Motherland. The Greek Diaspora of Australia is no small matter on this fifth continent, so far away from our country. In terms of numbers, it could be the third largest, if not second largest city of Greece; the Greek community enjoys a high status and appreciation.

I had the good fortune to discuss with the Prime Minister of Australia Albanese during a meeting, if I remember correctly, of NATO, and I still remember how kindly he spoke to me of the Greek presence here in Australia, something that is also proven by the presence of our fellow Greeks here today.

Your Eminence, Your Graces, dear Minister, fellow Greeks, even for just a few hours, it is a great pleasure and a huge honour for me to be here today in Sydney and the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation of Our Lady.

Your Eminence, I wholeheartedly thank you for this honour. Again, I only accept it as the civil head of those who work night and day to protect our country.

Thank you very much".

Mr. Dendias then had a private meeting with the Archbishop of Australia at the Holy Archdiocese, after which he made the following statement:

"It was my great pleasure, within the framework of my visit to Australia, to be blessed with the honour of attending the Doxology at the Church of the Annunciation of Our Lady and be received by His Eminence, Archbishop Makarios of Australia, with whom I discussed matters related to the presence of Orthodox Greeks here in Sydney and Australia in general.

I also had the opportunity to inform him on matters pertaining to our country, the reasons of my presence here, our relations with Australia. What gave my great joy was to find out that the Greek Diaspora in Australia is on the rise. It approaches, if not exceeds, 1 million. If it were in Greece, it would be the third largest city of our country. But what matters most is that it is an active diaspora. It stands beside the Church with unity and also creates bridges of communication between the fifth continent and Europe and in particular our country, Greece.

Thank you very much."