CATECHO
Fr Gerasimos Koutsouras
Parish Priest of St George Church Rose Bay
Fr Gerasimos Koutsouras is a graduate of Sydney University, a Historian and Byzantine Musician. He is currently the Orthodox Christian Chaplain at Sydney University and Parish Priest of St George Church Rose Bay.
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Born and bred in Sydney, Fr Gerasimo completed studies at the universities of Sydney and Thessalonica specialising in Byzantine History from the 13th to the 15th centuries. He has written two theses, one on the Council of Florence and the second on Natural Disasters in Late Byzantium. He was a lecturer for sixteen years in Church History at St Andrew's Theological College, specialising in the Byzantine and post Byzantine periods. After tutelage in Byzantine Music under the late Demetrios Sourlantzis, Archon Music Teacher of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, he was appointed protopsaltis of the Church of St Theodora in Thessalonica. On his return to Australia, he co-founded the School of Byzantine Music (2005-9) under the auspices of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese. Four years of school teaching at All Saints Grammar, Belmore, were followed in 2007 by ordination to the diaconate and then to the priesthood. Married with three children, he serves as the parish priest of the Greek Orthodox Church of St George, Rose Bay. He is the Greek Orthodox Chaplain at Sydney University and St Vincent's Hospital.
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Academic Classification: Lecturer
M.Th. (Thessalonica, 2005)
DipByzMus (Thessalonica, 2002)
M.A. (Sydney, 2000)
B.A. (Sydney, 1998)
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Fr Asterios Zouriakas
Parish Priest of St Raphael Church Liverpool
Born in Melbourne, Father Asterios Zouriakas learned at a young age, the art of Byzantine Chanting from his father Apostolos Zouriakas who currently serves as a Protopsalti (head chanter). Father Asterios moved to Sydney at the age of 18 to study at St Andrews Greek Orthodox Theological College in Redfern and complete his Diploma of Education at the University of Sydney.
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Father Asterios was then appointed as the Protopsalti at the Cathedral of the Annunciation in Redfern, Sydney in 2001, where he served for a further 20 years. He continued with his study of Byzantine chanting and became a member, and then Choir Master of the Australian Byzantine Choir.
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Professionally, Father Asterios worked as a high school teacher for many years, including St Euphemia Greek Orthodox School in Sydney.
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On the 26th December 2021, Father Asterios was ordained to the Holy Diaconate, and then to the Priesthood on the 10th January 2022, where he served Saints Constantine & Helen in Newtown and then the Parish Priest of Saints Raphael, Nicholas & Irene Church in Liverpool on the 11th April 2022. Father Asterios humbly serves the Parish and Community of Liverpool, along with his wife Presvytera Panayiota Zouriakas and their 4 children.