Mar Meelis Zaia

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Mar Meelis Zaya, is the Assyrian Church of the East's Bishop of Australia and New Zealand. He was ordained a priest of the Church in 1982 in California. He was appointed Bishop of the Church’s diocese of Australia and New Zealand in 1984 and arrived to take up that position in March 1985 which he has held up until the present time.

He is the chairman of the Board of Trustees which controls the financial affairs of the Church. Since his arrival, as head of the Church he has steadily built up the diocese in Australia. His duties include fundraising, active pastoral work, and arranging for the purchase of property and the construction of buildings when required. In 1990 he played a central role in obtaining a donation of $1.1 million to build a cathedral in Greenfield, and in 1999 assisted in the raising of funds for the construction of a reception hall on the cathedral property. In recent times, he played an important part in raising funds from private and government sources for the construction of classrooms and an administration facility for a primary school.

In his affidavit of 3 August 2005 the plaintiff said that his diocese includes all of southeastern Australia, including Sydney and Melbourne, and New Zealand. He said that there are about 19,000 registered adult members who contribute financially to the Church, and about 4,500 registered non-paying members under the age of 18 years. Of the adult members there are approximately 13,000 in Sydney/New South Wales, 3,500 in Victoria, and 2,500 in New Zealand. He says that the Assyrian community includes about 6,000 people who are not members of the diocese.

His Grace Mar Melis Zaia was honoured by the Queen of Australia her majesty Queen Elizabeth on the January 26, 2007 in the Australian day honours list and awarded an Order of Australia AM medal for his community service throught the Assyrian Church Of East and for educational facilities his established. ^[1]

His Grace Mar Melis Zaia is also viewed by many in the Sydney Assyrian community as one of the pioneers of The Assyrian Church of the east in Australia, by expanding and contributing to the growth of the church and its activities. His Grace also helped establish the first Assyrian school outside the Assyrian homeland (Iraq).

In 2004 His Grace Mar Melis Zaia also started the Ss. Peter and Paul english parish which is the centre of the Assyrian church youth, which has grown from only 50 to more than 300 congregation in less than two years. He has also set up a number of programs for the troubled youth and drug and alcohol addicts.