HISTORY

          The Antioch Orthodox Church in Australia

St Nicholas Parish

Father John Shehadie

In 1973, in order to alleviate the problems of one priest serving all of New South Wales, Bp Gibran gave a blessing for a new church in the western suburbs of Sydney to be built.  Fr John Shehadie, son of Exarch Nicholas Shehadie, was appointed priest of St Nicholas Church, Punchbowl, which he served until his 1987 retirement.
Father John Shehadie was the younger brother of the Very Reverend Father Michael Shehadie who served at St George Cathedral at Redfern.
Father John Shehadie who had also studied at the Balamand before arriving in Australia, together with his wife Olga, and children Anthony, Michael and Louise served at St George Church for a short while, then founded St Nicholas Church in Punchbowl. 
The last of a Shehadie generation that entered the Holy Order.

Very Reverend Father Elias Khoury

Very Reverend Father Elias Khoury, as we know him today, was born o­n the 8th of March 1948 in the seaside city of El Mina, Tripoli in Lebanon, to his parents Moses and Helen Khoury who both emigrated from their original birth place of Alexandron in modern day Turkey in 1938 before the Second World War. He is the first born of seven children.

In the year 1962, at an early age of thirteen, Father Elias received his calling to a life dedicated to God and left his parents home to pursue this, against the wishes of his mother.

He attended clergical school at the Monastery of Balamand in North Lebanon under the headmaster Bishop Ignatius Hasim, today's Antiochian Orthodox Patriarch, until 1968. In 1963 while studying at Balamand, Father Elias was ordained a Deacon.

After graduating from Balamand, Father Elias began work in the Archdiocese of Tripoli as secretary to the Archbishop.
While doing this he was also a teacher of English, History and Geography in various schools belonging to the Archdiocese.

On Monday the 25th of March 1974, Father Elias and his family arrived in Sydney Australia.
His plan was to stay in Australia for a short amount of time and then return to Lebanon, but this plan was destroyed with the outbreak of the Lebanese Civil War.

In his early years, Father Elias worked as a receiving Clerk for a company named Outboard Marine Australia, while at the same time serving as Deacon at St George Cathedral in Redfern with the Very Reverend Father Nicholas Mansour.

On the 2nd of September 1979, he married Venezuelan born Soumaya Kilzi, whom he met at St George Cathedral while serving.

With the retirement of the late Father Nicholas Shehadie in 1982, Father Elias was ordained a Parish Priest o­n the 28th of March by his Grace, the late Bishop Gibran Remlawi and appointed the position of Parish Priest of St. Nicholas Punchbowl. That year Father Elias left his job at Outboard Marine Australia and dedicated all his time and efforts to the parish of St Nicholas, which up until 1994 spread all the way to the Blue Mountains.

On the 25th of August 1985 Father Elias was elevated to the rank of Archpriest, a title he considers a great honour.

Up until today Father Elias has been the parish priest for St Nicholas for 24 years. During this time, he has worked to help his community and serve God by serving his people. Over the years, he has trained 5 priests in Australia, performed clergical duties, counselled those who need guidance, visited the sick, helped the needy and generally been there for anybody who needed his help and guidance.

In 1994 Father Elias began to work for DOCS and created a program called Ortho-Care which is designed to help those in need by offering financial and spiritual assistance. Also in 1994 Father Elias joined forces with Church Community Housing, an organisation that provides shelter for those who are less fortunate.

Father Elias has been dedicated to his church for 43 years and we hope that with the grace of God, he will be for many years to come.

The Future

St Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Church is a living and breathing thing that is represented by the people it serves. To allow the church to serve its parishioners more
beneficially it must grow on a number of fronts, including but not limited to the following aspects:
          o Spiritually and in fellowship and Unity.
          o Leadership and Succession Planning.
          o Education.
          o Communication.
          o Provision of services to our youth and seniors including government schemes and facilities and Charity services.