COPTIC ORTHODOX CHURCH, OAKLEIGH

The Oakleigh Coptic Orthodox Church church traces its beginnings to 1975 when the growing Coptic community of the south eastern suburbs began praying Saturday liturgies at a hall in Dandenong with Fr Tadros Yacoub Malaty (the then parish priest of St Mary’s Church). Services began taking place once a month and eventually became weekly. The church founders wished to name their church after Archangel Michael, and on one of his many pastoral visits to Australia HG Bishop Antionious-Morkos suggested the church be name after Archangel Michael and Saint Anthony (the angel of heaven and the angel of the desert).

Within 3 years the congregation multiplied, and a larger church and a place to permanently call home was required. Around this time the Presbyterian Methodist and Congregational Churches were uniting under the title of the Uniting Church of Australia and as a result many churches became vacant. A property in Oakleigh became vacant, and it was an old Presbyterian Church, which the congregation desired to purchase. The asking price for the church was $200,000 the cost of 8 average homes at that time. An offer of $150,000 was first refused by the trustee, but after negotiations by the clergy and congregation, the offer was accepted and the congregation moved into their current home in Oakleigh in May 1980. Information about the church and its activities can be found here.

This post is part of the inSPIREd Sunday meme.