100,000 Dollar Jewelry Stolen from Greek Church in Red Hill

More than 100,000 dollars worth of jewelry was stolen from a Greek Orthodox Church in Melbourne. Members of the Greek community were devastated, because the items had been left in the church over the years as gifts to the Virgin Mary.

According to police reports, the burglars walked into the Monastery of Panagia Kamariani in Red Hill on Wednesday evening. After smashing a glass box that contained the icon of Virgin Mary, they stole items such as gold rings, bracelets, coins and crosses which had been donated to the church since 1987.

Georgie Marinis, secretary of the Church, stated: “In our religion, what we do is we make a promise to the saint, or Our Lady in our case, and if the problem or the issue comes good, then we give her a present in thank you.”

Furthermore, she added that around 100 to 300 people from the Melbourne area attend services in the church every Sunday.

“We’ve now seen people who have come and looked through the gold that has remained and I’ve seen the jubilation in them when they do see the piece they have donated has not been stolen,” she said.

“As people find out it’s becoming even more and more distressing for everybody.”