After the service, Archbishop Makarios addressed the faithful, and expressed his deep emotion over the fact that he is the first Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Australia to visit parish in the 67 years since its establishment.
The Saint Andrew’s parish and community is comprised mainly of Australian faithful of Greek-Cypriot origin, and as His Eminence underlined, “…you will remember that the first Archbishop who visited your community was called Makarios, calling to mind the great Makarios, the Ethnarch of Cyprus.
During his sermon, Archbishop Makarios also urged the faithful not to forget the “open wound”, as he said, that remains visible on the body of Cyprus, and not to accept the reality of the island’s division, the product of a continuing illegal occupation of Turkey of one-third of Cyprus’ territory.