The oldest Ukrainian church in Australia marks its jubilee

In Australia, the 50th anniversary of St. Michael's Church in Quebec (UGCC) was marked by the solemn Liturgy. The event was attended by representatives of the Ukrainian Embassy in Australia, the Consulate General of Ukraine in Sydney, the high representative office of the UGCC in Australia and the numerous Ukrainian community of the Australian capital region, Ukrinform reported.

“It is great that so many Ukrainians gathered for today's holiday. St. Michael has a special place in Ukrainian history. Churches named after him have repeatedly been fortresses in defense of freedom and independence of Ukraine. The nearest historical example is St. Michael's Golden-Domed Cathedral, which became the main citadel of the heroes of the Revolution of Dignity,” said the Ambassador of Ukraine to Australia, Mykola Kulynych.

Vyacheslav Spesvyi, the head of the Ukrainian community of Queanbeyan, reminded us of the history of the temple built by the Ukrainian emigrants in 1967 with his own hands.

“There are about 40 families who came to Australia after the war, many of them had no homes of their own, but sacrificed their time, labor, or savings to build a church behind which the community would unite,” he said.

The years-long church pastors, Fr Oleg Stefanyshyn and Fr. Dmitry Senov also shared their memories of the ministry in St. Michael church.

Julian Romanyk, head of the United Ukrainian community of Canberra and Queanbeyan, stressed that St. Michael church was the basis for the rise of an organized community in the capital of Australia, and for a long time, until a church in Canberra was build, it had been the only center of Ukrainians in the metropolitan region.

“Significantly, the Ukrainian church in Australia still remains the place where Ukrainians gather the most often,” he said.

As part of the celebration, they organized an exhibition of photographs about the history of the construction and the activities of the church.