Canon Garland invested
On Sunday [ 10 July 1921 ] at St. Barnabas’ Church, Waterworks-road, the Rev. Canon Garland [ David John Garland ] was invested with the Gold Cross of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, conferred upon him by his Beatitude, Damianos [ Constantine Damianos ] Patriarch of Jerusalem.
The ceremony was performed on behalf of the Patriarch by Mr. C. Freeleagus [ Christy Kosmas Freeleagus ], Acting Vice-Consul of Greece, who read the diploma in Greek, and a translation of it in English.
He said that Canon Garland had the notable distinction of being the first Church of England priest to celebrate the Holy Eucharist at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre after the occupation of Jerusalem by the British troops.
The conferring of this honour should be taken as evidence of a link between the East and West, and another step towards the union of the peoples of the Earth in one great Christian brotherhood.
Mr. Freeleagus was accompanied by many members of the Greek Orthodox community, the church being overcrowded Canon Garland was the celebrant of the Holy Eucharist, and wore the vestments which had been used by priests of the Greek Orthodox Church in the Holy Sepulchre itself, and presented to him by the Patriarch.
In the sermon he took for his text, “O Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem” and dwelt upon “the love of the Jews of old for their holy city”.
It was to Jerusalem, not Rome or Canterbury or Geneva, Christians should turn – the mother of all the churches.
It was not to Pope or Archbishop, or reformer Christians should look, as the head of their religion, but to Christ himself.
He spoke of the Patriarch Damianos as a wonderful, and holy man, whose great desire was to see the Church of England and the Greek Orthodox Church united.
– from page 8 of “The Daily Standard” (Brisbane) of 12 July 1921.
PICTURED AT TOP OF THE PAGE: Canon Garland, resplendent in the vestments of a Greek Orthodox deacon and wearing the Pectoral Cross of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre around his neck, is pictured (front row, third from the left) with some of the choristers of Brisbane’s fledgling Parish of Saint George the Great Martyr – most likely around the time of the Eucharist Service held on Sunday, 12 October 1924 at St Barnabas’ Church, Red Hill. Beside Canon Garland (front, second from the left) stands Christy Kosmas Freeleagus, the Honorary Consul of Greece in Queensland, and the spiritual leader of Brisbane’s Greek community and its first parish priest, the Very Reverend Archimandrite, Father Daniel Maravelis. Such was Canon Garland’s passion for ecumenism with the fledgling Greek Orthodox Church – finally established in St George’s Church at South Brisbane by 1929 – that from 1920 he turned St Luke’s Anglican Church, located at 18 Charlotte Street, City, over to Greek Orthodox worship services. It used to be the nerve-centre of Canon Garland’s various wartime ministries and, since 1979, has been the home of The Pancake Manor.
