Commemoration of St George Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral at Redfern

Sir Nicholas Shehadie A& Ron Hoenig MP

The commemoration of St George Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral at Redfern was such a significant community event today. Established by Father Nicholas Shehadie in 1920 who was sent to Australia in 1913 as the Patriarchal Exarch for Australia and New Zealand in order to determine the extent of the problems caused for Arabic-speaking Orthodox.

The commemoration celebrated a refurbishment funded by the Community Building Partnership Program of which I was pleased to be able assist with as part of a state government program.

I was delighted to catch up the grandson of Father Shehadie, Sir Nicholas Shehadie AC OBE who is much revered in the community, and Emil Dan who has spent 50 years as a member of the community publishing the very historic nature not only of the buildings but the the preservation of the rare set of icons brought by Father Shehadie in 1920 from Russia at the time of the Bolshevik revolution, all harmoniously added, forms the iconostasis.