SAINTS RAPHAEL, NICHOLAS and IRENE ORTHODOX CHURCH
ATHELSTONE GREEK ORTHODOX
PAUL SCOTT
INDEX
This interesting Church sits on the corner of Gorge and Stradbroke Roads in Athelstone. The sanctuary of the Church faces almost exactly east, so it is a simple matter for us to identify geographical directions with our conventional liturgical directions. From force of habit we shall continue to use capital letters (East, North etc) for our (liturgical) directions. The Church has the shape of a simple rectangle with an impressive central dome, two square towers at the Western corners, and a semicircular apse at the Eastern end, with a smaller semicircular extension on either side.
In exploring this Church we shall begin at the Western end, walk right around in a clockwise direction, and enter through the West door.
A brief history of this Church is given below. However, if you want to begin your tour of the Church immediately, tap / click on START below. You can also access intermediate points in the tour by a tap / click on the following links:
PLAN
The layout of an Orthodox Church is given at left, and our present Church of Saints Raphael, Nicholas and Irene follows this pattern. We shall find that the narthex here is narrower (in an East -West direction) and the nave longer. At the front of the nave is an icon wall (iconostas, iconostasis) which separates the nave from the sanctuary (altar). The layout of the sanctuary of the present Church is very similar to that shown, but with small semicircular additions on the East side near the corners.
HISTORY
Year Built: 2019
Address: 232 Gorge Road, Athelstone, South Australia 5074
A new Greek Orthodox Church opened its doors in Adelaide’s Athelstone area earlier this year.
Following years of efforts to complete the construction, the Orthodox Christian community of Athelstone can now celebrate liturgies in the brand-new building, which is one of just a few churches in Australia featuring a true Byzantine dome.
With a cost reaching approximately $2.5 million, the new Church was characterized as a ‘jewel’ by the local people, who have waited for more than eight years for the project to be completed.
The new church is dedicated to the saints Raphael, Nicholas and Irene.
The three are venerated as saints and new martyrs by the Orthodox Christian Church.
According to a legend, Raphael, Nicholas, and Irene lived on the island of Lesbos in the fifteenth century, where they were killed by Ottoman raiders in April of 1463.
The new church’s first liturgy took place in January 2019, with hundreds of worshippers in attendance.
Greek immigrants have been residing in Adelaide’s Athelstone area since the early 1900s, where they established a vibrant Greek community, whose presence still gives a unique character to the region.
The building was erected by a company called Carumag and the owner is Minas Makridis, a Greek born elder from Kings Park Community Church, which is a member of Baptist Churches of SA.
– Independent Source
The Church Dedication ... Saints Raphael, Nicholas and Irene
The holy, glorious and right-victorious New Martyrs Raphael, Nicholas and Irene suffered martyrdom by the Turks on the island of Lesbos (or Lesvos), Greece, on Bright Tuesday (April 9, 1463), after the fall of Constantinople. St Raphael was the Abbot of Karyes near the village of Thermi on the island. St Nicholas was a deacon at the monastery, and St Irene was the 12-year-old daughter of the mayor of Thermi. The three saints were at the monastery with the village teacher and St Irene's father when the Turks raided it. Sts. Raphael, Nicholas, and Irene of Lesbos are remembered by the Church on April 9 and on the Tuesday of Bright Week along with St Eleni, New Martyr of Lesbos (who was also called Susanna).
These saints were unknown for about 500 years after their martyrdoms during the Turkish occupation of Lesbos. In 1959 the three saints appeared to the people on Lesvos in dreams and visions. They guided excavations of their own graves, called people to repentance, and cured many kinds of diseases.
The saints revealed how they were cruelly tortured at the monastery, calling it a "second Golgotha" (in the words of St Raphael). St Raphael's torture ended when his head was sawn off. St Nicholas died of heart failure when he was being tortured and Irene was tortured in front of her father and burnt alive in a clay cask, where her charred bones were later found. The teacher's head was cut off and placed between his legs when he was buried. A great deal of blood was shed at the monastery; the saints were martyred for the sake of their Christian faith and fatherland.
https://orthodoxwiki.org/Raphael,_Nicholas_and_Irene
