The Metropolitanate Day celebration of the Serbian Orthodox Church for Australia and New Zealand was held in the beautiful historic building of Perth Town Hall.
The celebration was held in a very pleasant atmosphere that was immediately established by a charming young Ana Davogic, MC. The guests have enjoyed the program that exceeded all expectations and everything that the Serbian community had opportunity to offer to local public in the past.
It is difficult to say who amazed everyone: beautiful music of pianist Mladen Petrovic or angelic sounds of the St Lazarus Church Choir. It was obvious that the beauty of their music and architecture and acoustics of the monumental Town Hall go hand-in-hand and everyone appreciated this unique opportunity. World-renowned opera singer Milijana Nikolic, mezzo soprano, simply impressed everyone with her performance and two arias from the opera Carmen. Also she performed with the choir Lazarica and her charming personality won the hearts of all present. There is no doubt that she will eagerly be welcomed in December, when she returns to Perth to perform with WA symphony.
Representatives from federal government and Western Australia as well as from City of Perth in their presentations emphasized the contribution of the Serbian community to the development of Australia’s society and economy.
His Grace Bishop Irinej in his address emphasized that the Serbs had always been loyal members of the Australian community and willing to contribute, while at the same time being very proud and loyal to their Serbian roots and always with Serbia in their hearts. He pointed to a number of links that Serbs had with other communities e.g. Greeks, and the royal family of the United Kingdom.
The celebration was attended by many representatives from other WA institutions, churches (Greek, Ukrainian and Coptic), from Serbian embassy in Canberra and numerous friends of the Serbian community.