POLICE are examining alleged threats made to a Greek priest and the bugging of a church house in which he was living.
The alleged threats, involving an unnamed priest from the Autocephalic Greek Church of America and Australia, were reported a fortnight ago while the discovery of the concealed listening device was reported to police in late March.
The alleged threats are related to the controversial ordination of Father Prokopios Kanavas as bishop of the AGCAA last August.
Father Kanavas resigned in acrimonious circumstances in April – just eight months after he was ordained. He has been stripped of his titles and moves are now being made to expel him from the Greek Orthodox Community of South Australia.
While GOCSA executives believe they know who made the unlawful threats to the priest, the precise motive and culprit responsible for the bugging remain unclear.
The listening device was hidden in the rangehood of a church house in Grattan St, in the city, adjacent the Greek Orthodox cathedral. Such devices, which are freely available for purchase on the internet, have a range of around 50m.
Listening device found hidden in the range hood.
The priest who has been subjected to the threats was staying there after returning from Greece, where he fled after receiving the initial threats.
The Sunday Mail has also learned that the Office of Consumer and Business Affairs has launched an investigation into a new church organisation led by Father Kanavas and an associate. It is based in Ridleyton.
An application to have the new church incorporated as an association – the Holy Orthodox Church Mission of Australia and New Zealand – was lodged in April. It names a Peter Jones as the public officer and lists his occupation as “clergy”. Peter Jones is an alias used by Father Kanavas and the mobile phone number on the application is Father Kanavas’s.
The Sunday Mail revealed in February 2011 that Father Kanavas had been sacked as an SA Police chaplain for undisclosed reasons and, in February 2012, that his tertiary qualifications and references were fake. The ordination of Father Kanavas as bishop last August was controversial with many senior members of the Greek community opposed to the move. Supreme Court action was launched against GOCSA seeking an injunction, but Justice Trish Kelly ruled there was no case to stop it proceeding.
A GOCSA spokesman on Saturday conceded the executive had been “deceived’’ by Father Kanavas.
He said there were “many elders in the community’’ who urged the executive to assess Father Kanavas for a year before considering any ordination but “these wishes were disregarded’’.
“It appears many community members were mesmerised by him,’’ he said. “We were deceived by him. It is a huge let down.”
“We put bread on his table in an uncompromising manner, we did what he wanted.’’However, some community members believe the GOCSAexecutive failed to act in their interests of members and are angry the $60,000 spent on the ordination “has been wasted’’.
One member of the community has written to Attorney-General John Rau and OCBA requesting that Father Kanavas’s new church be investigated.
The member, who declined to be identified, said there was “clear evidence’’ about Father Kanavas’s character that was “simply ignored’’ by the executive prior to his ordination.
“The executive was aware of many of the allegations surrounding this man, but allowed the ordination to proceed. The organisation needs scrutiny to see if there have been any breaches of the Incorporations Act,’’ the community member said.