What a blessed weekend! Through the grace and blessings of our gracious Lord, our parish held its Annual Church Festival 2023 over the weekend of 9-10 September. As always the Festival is about engaging with the local and wider community surrounding our Parish within the City of Darebin, making them familiar with our Coptic Orthodox Church, the services that we do, our history, our rich Egyptian culture, heritage and delectable food. The success of the Festival is not measure by the amount of money raised but rather through the love, unity and fellowship showed amongst each other - and this was truly felt and visible.
We thank each person who attended and every servant who worked so hard and served. From our children to our elders who tirelessly served all weekend - your efforts, dedication and love for our church does not go unnoticed. May our loving and gracious Lord reward you all.
We send a warm thank you to the many guests, Victorian State Government and dear friends of our Parish that supported and visited across the weekend and shared in this blessed event with us. A special thank you to the following guests for the attendance across the weekend:
The Honourable Mrs Lily D'Ambrosio - Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change of the Victorian State Government
His Excellency Consul-General Mr Yasser Hashem - Consulate of Egypt in Melbourne
Consul Mr Ahmad Rafaat - Consulate of Egypt in Melbourne
Cr Julie Williams - Mayor of Darebin City Council
Commissioner Mohamed Mohideen OAM JP - Victorian Multicultural Commission
Imam Alaa El Zokm OAM - Imam of the El Sedeaq Mosque
Fr Saliba Noori - St Aphrem’s Syrian Orthodox Church
Fr Abanoub Attalla - Diocese Management Committee
First Constable Andrew Moreton - Victoria Police Youth Resource Officer
Mrs Ansam Sadik - Victoria Police Community Liaison Officer
Mrs Mona Radwan - Friendship Australian-Egyptian Association & Australian Arab Chamber of Commerce & Industry
We thank our Lord for a blessed weekend and pray that each and everyone person may be rewarded and may He continually bless, unite and protect our beloved Parish Family! #stmarkscocmelb
