The St. Nikola Macedonian Orthodox Church ( mk, Македонска Православна Црква "Свети Никола", ''Makedonska Pravoslavna Crkva "Sveti Nikola"'') is the
Macedonian Orthodox church located in
Preston
Preston is a place name, surname and given name that may refer to:
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England
*Preston, Lancashire, an urban settlement
**The City of Preston, Lancashire, a borough and non-metropolitan district which contains the settlement
**County Boro ...
,
a suburb of northern
Melbourne
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,
Victoria
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,
Australia
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. First consecrated in 1978, after a fire, the church was rebuilt and reconsecrated in 1996.
Attendance by parishioners averages at some 200 per liturgy.
History
The Community of St.Nikola, a church organisation was founded (1974) in Preston by the
Macedonian community.
The St. Nikola community had arisen from the Cyril and Metodius Cultural Association.
The initiative committee of the organisation was composed of Gorgi Pisevski, its president, along with Mile Panov, Gorgi Petro and Nikola Vasilevski.
The consecration of St. Nikola church took place during 1978 by Archbishop Dositej and the Metropolitan Kiril.
St. Nikola was a wooden building, and a fire (February 1995) left it in ruins.
The Arson Squad of Victoria Police considered the fire suspicious and the Macedonian community felt despondent by the event.
Tensions existed at the time between the local Macedonian and
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
communities, and within that context the fire was viewed to have been a deliberate act.
Some people in the St. Nikola Church Committee attributed responsibility for the fire toward the Greek lobby.
President Pisevski led efforts of the local Preston Macedonian Community to reconstruct the church as a brick building.
Funds were collected from the Macedonian community, who assisted by providing labour as well.
Following nearly 6 months of reconstruction, the new church of St. Nikola was consecrated (May 1996) by Bishops Peter and Stefan, along with Protogeacon Ratomir Grozdanovski, the Macedonian Holy Synod secretary.
The consecration ceremony was attended by over 10,000 people and their donations amounted to some $100,000.
In early 2016, the nearby church residence building caught fire, due to the electrical switchboard being exposed to a water leak and Father Nikodim Solunchev was rescued when he leapt 3.5 metres into the arms of police.
In early 2018, amid efforts by the
Republic of Macedonia
North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Yugoslavia. It ...
and
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
to resolve the
Macedonia naming dispute
The use of the country name "Macedonia (terminology), Macedonia" was disputed between Greece and the North Macedonia, Republic of Macedonia (now North Macedonia) between 1991 and 2019. The dispute was a source of instability in the Balkans#W ...
, the St. Nikola church was vandalised with racist and violent graffiti.
The incident was reported by the Macedonian community to Victoria police and the
local council removed the graffiti.
The Macedonian community celebrated the fortieth anniversary of the church's founding in late 2018.
See also
*
Macedonian Australians
Macedonian Australians (Macedonian language, Macedonian: Македонски Австралијанци) are Australians, Australian citizens of Macedonians (ethnic group), Macedonian descent. Many arrived in the 1920s and 1930s, although larg ...
References
External links
Facebook
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Nikola Macedonian Orthodox Church, Preston
Macedonian Orthodox churches in Melbourne
1978 establishments in Australia
1996 establishments in Australia
Churches completed in 1978
Churches completed in 1996
Macedonian-Australian culture
Buildings and structures in Australia destroyed by arson
Buildings and structures in the City of Darebin