Free Serbian Orthodox Church St. Nicholas Monastery (South Brisbane, Queensland)
| St. Nicholas Monastery (Светониколајевски манастир) | |
| Jurisdiction | Free Serbian Orthodox Church - Diocese of Australia and New Zealand |
| Type | Monastery and cathedral |
| Founded | 1976 (as a parish church) |
| Superior | Archimandrite Dr. Simeon |
| Approx. size | unknown |
| Location | 243-247 Vulture Street, South Brisbane, Queensland, Australia |
| Liturgical language(s) | Serbian |
| Music used | |
| Calendar | |
| Feastdays celebrated | St. Nicholas |
| Official website | freesoc.org |
| This article forms part of the series Orthodoxy in Australia | |
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St. Nicholas Monastery, also known as the St Nicholas Free Serbian Orthodox Church, is a monastery and church in South Brisbane, Queensland. It is the cathedral and headquarters of the Free Serbian Orthodox Church - Diocese of Australia and New Zealand.[1] Its church, built in 1933 for a Congregational congregation, has served a Free Serbian Orthodox community since 1976 and is listed by Brisbane City Council as a local heritage place.[2]
History
Serbian Orthodoxy in Brisbane
Serbian migrants began arriving in Brisbane around 1948. A church-school community was formed in 1953 and registered in 1955 as the Serbian Orthodox Ecclesiastical School Community of St Nikolas - Queensland. It bought land in Bayliss Street, Toowong, where a hall opened on 3 May 1959 for services, schooling and social functions.[3]
The 1963 schism in the Serbian Orthodox Church abroad split the Toowong congregation, and three groups formed their own churches: one at Wacol (now Richlands), one in a former Methodist church in Woolloongabba, and a third in Vulture Street, South Brisbane, which became the St Nicholas Free Serbian Orthodox Church.[3] The South Brisbane congregation belonged to the Free Serbian Orthodox Church Diocese for Australia and New Zealand, formed in 1964 by the Australian communities that sided with Bishop Dionisije (Milivojević) against the Patriarchate in Belgrade.[4]
The Vulture Street church
The church was built in 1933 for the South Brisbane Congregational Church, after fire destroyed its previous church on the site in 1931. It was designed by the Brisbane architect T. B. F. Gargett, and its unusual octagonal plan is said to have been suggested by the builder, E. W. Hiley.[2] As attendance declined, the Congregationalists merged with the Mount Gravatt congregation, and after their last service in December 1975 the building passed to the Serbian Orthodox community. It was renamed the Saint Nicholas Free Serbian Orthodox Church, and two towers topped with cupolas were added.[2]
A plaque blessed on 19 September 1976 by Bishop Dimitrije, the Free Serbian bishop for Australia and New Zealand, dedicates the church as a memorial to the Serbian defenders of the faith who died at the Battle of Kosovo in 1389 and in later battles.[5]
Brisbane City Council listed the church as a local heritage place on 30 October 2000. It describes the building as a local landmark whose cupola-topped towers accentuate "the multi-cultural identity of this area", and as a church adapted "to meet the spiritual needs of an increasingly multi-cultural population during the 1970s".[2]
The monastery today
The church is the cathedral of St. Nicholas Monastery and the seat of Bishop Hristifor (Christopher), First Hierarch of the Free Serbian Orthodox Church.
See also
- Free Serbian Orthodox Church - Diocese of Australia and New Zealand
- St. George Free Serbian Orthodox Church (Forrest, Australian Capital Territory)
- Serbian Orthodox Metropolitanate of Australia and New Zealand
- Orthodoxy in Australia
References
- ↑ Free Serbian Orthodox Church, official website (in Serbian).
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Brisbane City Council, "South Brisbane Congregational Church (former)", Brisbane Heritage Register.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Brisbane City Council, "Serbian Orthodox Church of St Nicholas", Brisbane Heritage Register.
- ↑ Serbian Orthodox Metropolitanate of Australia and New Zealand (OrthodoxWiki article).
- ↑ "St Nicholas Free Serbian Orthodox Church", Churches Australia.