The date was 26 July 1970 when the late Archbishop of Australia Ezekiel presided over the service of the official opening of the Parish of St Nectarios, in the Sydney suburb of Burwood.
Half a century later, on the exact same day, the parish celebrated the important anniversary for their community as well as the commemoration of the feast-day of the Righteous Martyr Paraskevi together with the Chancellor of the Holy Archdiocese of Australia, Bishop Emilianos of Meloa.
His Grace Bishop Emilianos, who attended the parish for the first time, presided over the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy together with Parish Priest Fr George Liangas and his immediate predecessor, Fr John Kapetas.
In his sermon, Bishop Emilianos spoke to the flock about an aspect of spirituality that characterised St Paraskevi but also St Nectarios and all the saints of our Church. He explained that we can all become more spiritual people in our lives, as long as we struggle against vanity. “That is, our actions should not be in vain. Our thoughts should not be about vain things. Our life should not be vain, but it must have meaning”, he stressed.
“It must be oriented towards God”, he added, underlying that “only in this way can we become like St Paraskevi and like St Nectarios, the Patron saint of your Parish.”