About our Parish
St Michael the Archangel Orthodox Church falls under the juristiction of the Antiochian Archdiocese of Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines under Metropolitan Archbishop Paul (Saliba).
The parisioners of our church are drawn from
many other juristictions so the church uses English, Greek and Church
Slavonic in its services to make them feel at home.
We use the Liturgy of St John Chrysostom for most of the year. During Lent we worship according to the Liturgy of St Basil the Great.
Our church uses the revised Julian Calendar (NS) but also commemorate the fixed Feasts of the Church according to the Julian Calendar (OS) to cater for those who follow this.
The feast day of our Patron Saint, St Michael the Archangel, is celebrated on November the 8th each year.
Our church was originally built by Syrian
immigrants to Dunedin in 1911 and some of the descendants of
those who built the church still worship here today.
St Michael's is the oldest purpose built Orthodox Church in Australasia and is registered with the Historic Places Trust as a category II building of significance. It is currently in need of significant restoration and work on this is ongoing, with particular attention being paid to preserving the original craftmenship of the original builders.
Since Dunedin is a Univerity town many people who have attended St Michael's over the years have been students and visiting lecturers who attend our church while they are resident here before returning home. Many of those who have worshipped here over the years maintain contact with the Parish
Mission in Invercargill
St Michael's also operates a mission in Invercargill for the Orthodox of that city.
Fr Ilyan celebrates the Liturgy in Invercargill once a month, although this has not been so frequent in recent times due to Fr Ilyan suffering from serious illness. The Anglican Church of St.Luke at Otatara is used for this purpose
The Faithful from Invercargill and other parts of Otago and Southland often travel to Dunedin to celebrate important feast days in the Liturgical Calendar at St Michael's Church.