- (07) 5574 0777
- (07) 5574 0434
- 31a Crombie Ave, Bundall, QLD 4217
Introducing the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint Anna on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. Our beautiful church is steeped in history dating back to 1965. Originally, the spiritual needs of the Greek Orthodox of the Gold Coast were by means of Divine Liturgy services celebrated by the Very Reverend Father Gregory Sakellariou who traveled from Brisbane. Father Gregory conducted services on many Saturdays at either the Anglican Church of St John, Surfers Paradise or at the Anglican Church of St Peter, Southport. In 1964-65, Mr Peter Vaggelas pledged that once a canonically legal community was established, he would donate a block of land at Biggera Waters and that a Church would be built on this land. The Church would be dedicated to St Anna, a promise made by Peter and his wife, Stamatina (Betty).
The community was recognized by the State Government of Qld as a legal entity in 1965, under the Religious, Charitable and Other Institutions Act. In the meantime, Peter Vaggelas had purchased land for development at Bundall and a swap was organized – the land at Biggera Waters remained with the Vagge-las family and 2 blocks on Crombie Ave were donated to the Greek Community. These blocks are the ones which currently hold the Greek Community Centre, driveway and car park. In 1976, as the construction of the Community Centre progressed with many local Greek Orthodox assisting Peter Vaggelas with labour and materials, it was decided to partition a section at the back of the Community Centre to become the Church of St Anna. Father George Papoutsakis was St Anna’s first serving priest. The St Anna Parish-Community extends from Beenleigh, through the length and breadth of the Gold Coast and across the New South Wales border into the towns of the Northern Rivers as far south as Coffs Harbour. After the establishment of the original Church and Community, a thriving little community started to grow with Peter Vag-gelas as its President. The Community offered all the associated activities both religious and cultural – Sunday School, Greek School, Greek dancing, Greek National Day celebrations and all the celebrations of the Orthodox calendar. Much gratitude is owed to the many locals who devoted years of volunteerism to enable the Parish-Community of St Anna to strengthen its roots and flourish. The original Church was the spiritual home of the Greek Orthodox on the Gold Coast for 13 years.
In 1984, Mr Jim Raptis became the second President of the Community after Peter Vaggelas’ 20 years of leadership and service. As the Parish-Community’s numbers in-creased, the President and Committee discussed the need for a new permanent Church of St Anna. In 1987, Jim Raptis purchased 2 blocks of land on the Community’s behalf. They are the block where today’s Church now stands and the land behind the Community Centre. With the blessing of His Eminence Archbishop Stylianos, plans were drawn for a new Church. The architecture was co-designed by Jim Raptis architectural division and no costs were borne by the community. The slab was poured and on Sunday 7th August 1988, Archbishop Stylianos conducted the service for the Laying of the Foundation Stone. Five hundred parishioners attended this milestone occasion. On this day, the President Jim Raptis announced that he would donate the Church block of land to the Parish-Community of St Anna and the Community. The majority of the construction costs at that time was donated by Jim Raptis and in addition, the Project Management was also taken care of by Mr Raptis building company. A number of large pledges were made during the course of the day, including the Ladies Auxiliary who donated $80,000. In addition many offers of workmanship and materials were generously made to help further the construction. Together with these, hundreds of smaller pledges were offered. On the day, 5 Sanctuary bricks were purchased and placed and 3 Ceremonial trowels were auctioned.
