An elderly grandmother has been violently bashed while opening her local church in Melbourne.

Penelope Katsavos was attacked while opening the Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox church at 6 am on Saturday morning.

The grandmother of six recalled seeing a man standing by her shopping trolley that doubles as her walker.

She asked the man what he was doing and he started yelling at her.

"She couldn't understand what he was saying ... she put her hand on the trolley and he hit her in the face," daughter in law Erin Katsevos said.

"He punched her once and she didn't fall, so he pushed her to the ground and she remembers him kicking her."

Penelope was left on the ground for half an hour before anyone saw her and passed out following the assault.

She now has a fractured pelvis, broken wrist and two bleeds on her brain.

Her daughter-in-law said that the family is heartbroken.

"We are so upset ... couldn't believe someone could do that to her," Erin Katsavos said.

"She's the best ... she's everything you could want in a mother in law or a grandmother."

"She didn't deserve this."

Penelope has been a member of her church for the last 40 years, and Erin says she has no words for the offender.

"Nothing you can say to them ... what can you say to someone who could do something like this?

"She loves that church more than anything ... for her to be like that in a place that she is so dedicated to and loves so much ... it's awful."

Photo credit: 9NEWS