Our History

St Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Church

Beginnings of the Antiochian Orthodox Community in Melbourne

St Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Church has served the Antiochian and other Orthodox in Melbourne for eighty-five years. From its beginnings in 1932 until the mid-1950s, St Nicholas was the sole religious and community centre for many immigrants from Lebanon and elsewhere in the Middle East

Over the years, St. Nicholas extended a welcoming arm to other newly arrived Orthodox such as the Russian, Ukrainian, Macedonian, Bulgarian, Serbian and Coptic communities. They would worship at St. Nicholas until they were able to establish their own churches.

St Nicholas continues to represent Orthodoxy to the wider Christian and Australian communities. It provides
a pathway for people to learn about Orthodoxy and to enter the Orthodox Church. In doing so it projects a pan-Orthodox vision of the Church, enabling it to extend and broaden the mission of Orthodoxy in Australia.

This role has made St Nicholas possibly the most well known of all Orthodox churches in Melbourne.