Public Lecture in Honour of the Three Hierarchs Feast Day

On 30 January, St Andrew’s Greek Orthodox Theological College, in collaboration with The Australian Hellenic Educators’ Association (AHEA), organised a public lecture delivered by Dr Vassilis Adrahtas (Western Sydney University) to commemorate the Feast of the Three Hierarchs: Sts Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, and John Chrysostom. Dr Adrahtas’ talk was entitled ‘Hellenism Transformed in the Light of Christ: The Three Hierarchs in World History Perspective.’

His Eminence Archbishop Makarios of Australia, Dean of St Andrew’s, was represented by the Very Revd Archimandrite Fr Melchizedek Ambelikakis, who opened the evening with prayer and offered some brief remarks concerning the significance of the feast day.

The gathering was honoured, amongst others, by the presence of Mr Kostas Giannakodemos, Director of Communications, representing the Consul General of Greece in Sydney, Mr Christos Karras, as well as Professor Diane Speed, Dean of the Sydney College of Divinity.

In his presentation, Dr Adrahtas aptly demonstrated how these fourth and early fifth century saints of the Church transformed Hellenism in a way that made it permanently relevant for Christian theology, and in turn how their contributions to theology are relevant for world history. He argued that by integrating positive aspects of Hellenism in light of the salvific experience of Christ as God, they gave a new history to Hellenism within the Church. Dr Adrahtas ended with the moving reflection that the three hierarchs should inspire us to transform the culture of today according to their example in light of the Gospel of Christ.

His lecture was introduced by Dr Philip Kariatlis, Academic Director and Senior Lecturer in Theology at St Andrew’s; Dr Panayiotis Diamandis, president of AHEA, made closing remarks. A Q&A sessions ensued and the talk was well received by all who attended.

         to view the gallery

  for the video recording of the lecture.