OUR PRIESTS

Our Parish priest, the Very Rev. Fr. Demetrius Catrinei ministers to the faithful through regular Liturgical Services, Sacraments and group meetings including bible study, seniors group, youth and teen groups and a broad range of other events.

Father Demetrius Catrinei was born in 1970 in Targu Neamt, Moldova, Romania, to Dumitru and Ana (née Munteanu), both from the village of Pipirig-Neamt.
 

After high school, in 1987 he was admitted to the Theological Seminar of the Neamt Monastery, which he graduated in 1992. In the same year he became a student of the Theological School “Dumitru Staniloae” Iasi, which he graduated in 1996, with the dissertation “Saint Basil the Great and his relations with the North-of-Danube Provinces”.

In 1992, he married Daniela Atodosiei and they have been blessed with two sons, Octavian and Ioan Teodor. In 1993, with the blessing of the current Patriarch of Romania, Daniel, he was ordained as deacon and priest by the Assistant Bishop of the Metropolis of Moldova and Bucovina, Calinic Botosaneanu, and was appointed as priest of the St. Nicholas Mogosesti-Siret Parish in the County of Iasi.

In 1997, he was appointed teacher and chaplain of the Theological Seminary “Veniamin Costachi” of the Neamt Monastery. A year later, having received a scholarship from the Artos Zois Foundation in Athens, he studied Modern Greek at the Athens School of Philosophy. In 2001, the same foundation supported him to complete his postgraduate studies in the historical field of the Theological School of the Kapodistrian University of Athens. In 2005, under the supervision of Professor Vlasios Feidas, he received a Master's degree in Theology with the dissertation “The Organisation of Ecclesiastical Education in Romania under the Communist Regime”. In 2007, at the same Theological School, he became a PhD candidate, with the theme “Gabriel Kallimachis, Metropolitan of Thessaloniki and Moldova” under the supervision of Professor Dimitrios Gonis. In the period 2007-2011, after intensive research in Athens, Thessaloniki, the Ecumenical Patriarchate and Romania, he completed the thematic documentation.

In parallel with his postgraduate studies, he served under the blessings of the late Metropolitan Cyril of Kythira and later of Thessaliotis, as priest of the “Panagia Myrtidiotissa” Monastery of Kythira (2001-2005) and rector priest of the St. Nicholas Parish Karditsa (2005-2011).

In 2011, with the blessings of the late Archbishop of Australia Stylianos, he was transferred to Melbourne and served as priest of the St. Vasilios Parish Brunswick and, since 2015 at the Holy Monastery “Axion Estin” Northcote. 

In December 2019, the new Archbishop of Australia, His Eminence Makarios, appointed him rector of the “Dormition of our Lady" Parish in Altona North, Melbourne.
He was appointed as rector of the “Saint Haralambos” Parish in Templestowe, Melbourne, by His Eminence Makarios, in January 2026.

In Memory…

With deep sorrow, yet with hope in the Resurrection, we announce the repose of our beloved Proistamenos, Protopresbyter Elias Kentrotis.

He fell asleep in the Lord on 23 August 2025, having faithfully served the Holy Church for 49 years, including 37 years as the founding priest of St Haralambos in Templestowe.

His legacy of faith, love, and devotion to Christ and His Church will remain with us always.

May his memory be eternal. Αἰωνία του ἡ μνήμη.

Με βαθιὰ θλίψη, ἀλλὰ μὲ ἐλπίδα στὴν Ἀνάσταση, ἀνακοινώνουμε τὴν κοίμηση τοῦ πολυαγαπημένου μας Προϊσταμένου, Πρωτοπρεσβυτέρου Ἡλία Κεντρωτῆ.

Ἐκοιμήθη ἐν Κυρίῳ στὶς 23 Αὐγούστου 2025, ἀφού διακόνησε πιστὰ τὴν Ἁγία Ἐκκλησία γιὰ 49 χρόνια, ἐκ τῶν ὁποίων 37 χρόνια ὡς ἱδρυτικὸς ἱερεὺς τῆς ἐνορίας τοῦ Ἁγίου Χαραλάμπους στὸ Templestowe.

Ἡ παρακαταθήκη πίστεως, ἀγάπης καὶ ἀφοσιώσεως πρὸς τὸν Χριστὸν καὶ τὴν Ἐκκλησία Του θὰ μείνει πάντοτε μαζί μας.

Αἰωνία του ἡ μνήμη. May his memory be eternal.

Our Founding Priest, the Very Rev. Fr Elias Kentrotis studied at Thessaloniki University and was ordained by Metropolitan Ezekiel of Pisidia, former Archbishop of Australia in 1976 at the Holy Monastery of Vlatadon in Thessaloniki. Fr. Elias has served as a Priest since 1976, and established the Parish of St Haralambos in 1988, where he remained our head priest until his passing on 23 August, 2025.