# Archbishop Makarios of Australia

Archbishop Makarios Griniezakis (Greek: Μακάριος Γρινιεζάκης; born 15 March 1973) is the current archbishop of the Greek Orthodox Church of Australia and the primate of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia, succeeding Archbishop Stylianos of Australia.

## Studies and career

Prior to serving in the Greek Orthodox Church, Archbishop Makarios completed his elementary studies in his birthplace and at the Rizarios Ecclesiastical School of Athens. He is a graduate of the Higher Ecclesiastical School of Athens and of the Theological School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. He completed postgraduate studies at the Universities of Boston (Master of Sacred Theology), Harvard University (Master of Arts), and Monash University, (Master of Bioethics), whilst his doctoral dissertation was received and passed as “Excellent” by the Medical School of the University of Crete. The work was published under the title, “Cloning: Social, Ethical and Theological Components”.
He became a monk and deacon in 1993, a presbyter in 1997 and an archimandrite in 1998 at the Holy Monastery of Saint George Epanosifi, whilst on Easter Sunday of 2008, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I bestowed upon him the office of Archimandrite of the Ecumenical Throne.
Since 2003, Archbishop Makarios has been teaching at the Patriarchal Academy of Crete. In tandem, he has served as a visiting professor to various universities, amongst which are the Theological College of Holy Cross in Boston, the University of Tartu and the Medical Schools of the Universities of Crete, Thessaly and Athens. In May 2015, he was elected the first Dean of the Department of Orthodox Studies of the Autonomous Church of Estonia.

## Archbishop of Australia

On 9 May 2019, Archbishop Makarios was unanimously elected as the new archbishop of Australia, by the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, succeeding Archbishop Stylianos of Australia, who died earlier that year (on March 25).
On 18 June 2019, Archbishop Makarios arrived in Australia to be enthroned and begin his duties as the archbishop. On 29 June he was enthroned.

## Views
### Youth in the Greek Orthodox Church

In July 2024, His Eminence attended the Orthodox Youth of South Australia conference at the Greek Orthodox Church of Prophet Elias in Norwood, SA. He spoke to the youth explaining to them that "staying in the Church means being in the harbour and when someone is in the harbour, they do not suffer shipwrecks". He has stated that he wants to dedicate his position as Archbishop of Australia to keeping the youth within the Greek Orthodox Church and encourage more to get involved.

### Abortion

Archbishop Makarios has taken a very strong pro-life stance on abortion. On multiple occasions, he has compared abortion to "not fulfilling the duties of a mother", he also compared it to murder and that it is a shame.
In August 2019, Archbishop Makarios attended a pro-life rally in Sydney and spoke in front of roughly 10,000 people who attended. Archbishop Makarios stated that "a child has the right to life" and "no law should take away a child's right to life". He compared the late-term abortion bill to "the re-introduction of the death penalty" which was abolished in 1955 in New South Wales. The rally was in regard to a bill to make abortion legal for up to 22 weeks of pregnancy.

### Homosexuality

After the 2024 Olympic Games held in Paris, France, Makarios had a very strong reaction to the opening ceremony. He stated: “You have the freedom to live as you choose; you have the right to be homosexual, but you do not have the right to impose your way of life on our society.” This was after the depiction of drag queens that were present at the opening ceremony and the adult-type content that was aired.