A pastoral tour to all Australian districts was set up by Archbishop Makarios to meet those who couldn’t attend his enthronement ceremony on June 29, and, at the same time, to see the problems and needs of parishes and communities, Monasteries and charitable institutions of these areas.
The first destination of his tour was Perth of Western Australia. The main reason for this choice was that Perth was the first destination of the Greek immigrants, 2,500 of whom arrived from Greece each time, after a long trip, with the ocean liner “Patris”.
From Perth, most of the population of Greek immigrants were scattered across the continent of Australia.
Archbishop Makarios arrived at the airport of Perth in the afternoon of July 11, where he was welcomed with enthusiasm, joy and emotion from the clergymen, the monks of St. John Holy Monastery.
During the Holy Synaxis, the Archbishop stressed the importance of the priestly ministry, asked the priests to pay attention to the programs of youth, and referred with warm words to the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
Moreover, Archbishop Makarios announced that Archimandrite Elpidios Karalis will serve as the new Archieratic Commisioner at the Perth region.
It is worth noting that the Perth region has so far been a part of the Adelaide region.
On July 12, Archbishop Makarios and those accompanying him, visited the World War II Monument, at King’s Park, and then the Churches of Saint Nektarios, where the Archbishop also had the chance to see the works of the new “Basiliada”, St. Constantine and the Annunciation of Virgin Mary.
On Saturday, July 13, the Archbishop held meetings at the Holy Monastery with expatriates and officials of the Archdiocese of Perth, and in the afternoon he returned to his seat in Sydney.
