Orthodox Observer - May 2010 by Orthodox Marketplace

MAY 2010 • Vol. 75 • No. 1257

www.observer.goarch.org • e-mail: observer@goarch.org

Archbishop Meets with Ecumenical Patriarch, Greek Prime Minister ISTANBUL – Archbishop Demetrios traveled to Istanbul on April 23 to participate in a joint meeting with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos II on the resolution of pending issues regarding the Palestinian– Jordanian communities in the United States. The Archbishop’s five–day trip included a stop in Athens, where he met with Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and All Greece, and also with Prime Minister George Papandreou and other government officials. Archbishop Demetrios attended the welcoming ceremony on April 24 for the Patriarch of Jerusalem and his delegation of hierarchs and clergy who arrived from the Holy Land for the re–opening of the Jerusalem Patriarchal Metochion of St. George in Neochori. After the formal reception for His Beatitude, the Archbishop participated in the successful meeting with the two Patriarchs and other hierarchs. On Sunday, April 25, the Patriarch of Jerusalem and his synodal hierarchs celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the St. George metochion with the Ecumenical Patriarch and His Eminence in attendance. That afternoon, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, in a special meeting with the Archbishop, reviewed the arrangements for the forthcoming Episcopal Assembly of North and Central America scheduled for May 26–28 in New York. Archbishop Demetrios traveled to Athens on April 26. His meeting with the prime minister also included Alternate Minister of Foreign Affairs Dimitris Droutsas, and Foreign Affairs Chief of Protocol Ambassador Aikaterini Boura (formerly the Consul General in New York). Their discussions concerned Greece and the Greek American community in the U.S. On the same day His Eminence had two meetings with the advance teams preparing Ionian Village for the summer sessions.

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40th Clergy–Laity Congress Features New Format

Receives honorary doctorate

University of Notre Dame photo

SOUTH BEND, Ind. The University of Notre Dame honored Archbishop Demetrios at its May 16 Commencement with an honorary Doctor of Laws degree at the ceremony attended by more than 15,000. With His Eminence are Richard Notedaert, chairman of the board of trustees, and university President Fr. John Jenkins (right). Story on page 2

First Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Hierarchs in North and Central America Convenes NEW YORK – More than 50 hierarchs will take part in the first Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in North and Central America, to be convened by Archbishop Demetrios May 26-28. The three-day series of meetings is the result of the decision of the Fourth Pre-Conciliar Pan-Orthodox Conference, which met in Chambésy, Switzerland in June 2009, after the extraordinary Synaxis of all the Heads of the Autocephalous Churches previously convened by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. This Assembly, one of 12 that will be convened around the world in regions where there is no single Orthodox presence, will consist of the active canonical bishops who reside in the region designated as North and Central America. In every Assembly, the chairman will be the senior bishop of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. The Assembly will convene at the

Helmsley Park Lane hotel in Manhattan, where accommodations and arrangements have been coordinated by the staff of the Archbishop. The Archdiocese, through the Leadership 100 grant to the Office of Inter-Orthodox, Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations, is underwriting much of the expense, with other funds coming from a variety of Pan-Orthodox sources. In discussing the Assembly at the May 7 meeting of the Archdiocesan Council in Atlanta, Archbishop Demetrios explained that the nature of the assembly is as “a temporary, not a permanent institution. It is simply preparatory to facilitate the process of an ecumenical council (in the future) that will decide the final form of the existence of the Church in a particular country.” His Eminence further explained that the assembly is to meet annually and

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ATLANTA – Delegates to the 40th Clergy-Laity Congress will notice major changes in the format and program over past years when it convenes on July 4. It will be one day shorter, which will result in the saving of thousands of dollars for the delegates. It will end with the banquet on Wednesday evening, July 7. Location will be the Marriott Atlanta Marquis hotel at the Peachtree Center near Downtown. Co-chaired by Atlanta attorneys Nicholas Moraitakis and William B. Marianes, the Congress will begin with the official opening on Monday, July 5. Archbishop Demetrios will deliver the keynote address focusing on the expanded theme: “Gather My People to My Home – Come and See.” Afterward, as was the procedure initiated at the 2008 congress in Washington, delegates will break into eight groups presided over by one of the Metropolitans who will discuss the theme as it applies to the Church and answer questions. The sessions will be interactive and analyze the main thoughts of the theme. In his address, the Archbishop will elaborate on the theme and identify where the Church is making progress. The keynote speech also will introduce the concept of “Global Orthodoxy,” focus on Orthodox unity in the United States and discuss the pan Orthodox movement and the importance of the new Episcopal Assembly held in May. His Eminence’s speech also will serve to introduce the Hierarchal and Forum sessions. Hierarchal sessions Following His Eminence’s presentation, the Metropolitans of the Holy Eparchial Synod will lead discussions of the keynote address and offer delegates the opportunity to reflect on the speech. Two forums With the exception of the Administration, and the Finance and Stewardship committees, no other committee meetings will take place. Instead, two forums will be held, Orthodoxy: Yesterday and today, and Orthodox Reality in America.

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Archbishop Demetrios Attends White House Easter Prayer Breakfast WASHINGTON –Archbishop Demetrios attended the Easter Prayer Breakfast at the White House for 70 Christian leaders on April 6. where he had a seat of honor at President Obama’s table. After welcoming the religious leaders as “brothers and sisters in Christ” the President said he wanted to join them and “continue the Easter celebration of our risen Savior, and to reflect on the work to which His promise calls all of us.” He further noted: “For even after the passage of 2,000 years, we can still picture the moment in our mind’s eye. The young man from Nazareth marched through Je-

rusalem; object of scorn and derision and abuse and torture by an empire. The agony of crucifixion amid the cries of thieves. The discovery, just three days later, that would forever alter our world – that the Son of Man was not to be found in His tomb and that Jesus Christ had risen.” “We are awed by the grace He showed even to those who would have killed Him. We are thankful for the sacrifice He gave for the sins of humanity. And we glory in the promise of redemption in the resurrection.” He continued, “As Christians, we believe that redemption can be delivered

– by faith in Jesus Christ. And the possibility of redemption can make straight the crookedness of a character; make whole the incompleteness of a soul.” The president also said that of all the Gospel stories, Jesus’ last words on the cross – “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” --especially resonate with him during the Easter season. “These words were spoken by our Lord and savior, but they can just as truly be spoken by every one of us here today,” Obama said. Archbishop Demetrios, immediately following the breakfast, said: “We had the honor of being in a two-hour gathering

hosted by President Obama, filled with the joy of the Resurrection of the Lord and with multiple expressions of faith in Him. Particularly impressive were the opening remarks by the President which constitute a strong declaration of this faith in the Resurrection of Christ and in its healing consequences for the world of today.” In reflecting on the event a few days later with members of the Archdiocese staff, His Eminence noted that, unlike prayer breakfast in past years, the composition of the attendees was “strictly Christian” and that the President’s comments were “a purely religious speech.”

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Detroit Metropolis, National Philoptochos Help Nashville Flood Victims

In the wake of disastrous flooding of the Cumberland River brought about by torrential rains in early May that devastated much of central Tennessee, especially Nashville, the Metropolis of Detroit has been working with Holy Trinity parish in doing what it can to help the general population of the city. Much needed assistance has also come from the National Philoptochos Society. At the May Archdiocesan Council meeting in Atlanta, Metropolitan Nicholas issued a plea for assistance to the stricken area. Although members of the Nashville parish and the church itself, with the exception of one family, were not adversely affected, thousands of other residents of the city sustained major losses. “Some people lost their homes entirely,” the Metropolitan said. “Many homes had to be gutted.” Metropolitan Nicholas further stated that, despite the effects of the depressed economy on his Metropolis,

particularly Michigan, the faithful recently were able to send $100,000 for earthquake relief to Haiti and would do what they could to help the flood victims. “But we need your help as well,” he said. He also noted the efforts of Holy Trinity Church’s pastor Fr. Gregory Hohnholt in assisting the local community. The National Philoptochos responded immediately to the needs of victims of the Nashville Flood with $15,000 in aid from the Society’s Emergency Fund, National President Aphrodite Skeadas announced in a press release. The Metropolis of Detroit has established a special “Nashville Fund” and National Philoptochos joined the Detroit Metropolis parishes and chapters to assist in this flood relief effort. The Nashville Philoptochos appealed directly to the National Philoptochos for assistance stating, “This is a heartfelt plea to my sisters in Christ, there is suffering here, let us be the

hands of the Church.” Many families have been devastated by the loss of homes. Philoptochos chapters are also encouraged to continue to send emergency kits to IOCC to support the Nashville Flood Relief since emergency kits are needed at the many shelters. At least 19 people in Tennessee have been killed, according to published news reports. In Nashville, city officials are asking residents to cut their water use in half, after flooding shut down one of only two water treatment plants. Even the heart of country music is still underwater. The Grand Ole Opry, along with the Country Music Hall of Fame, are both flooded. No one has been able to get in to see if the priceless music memorabilia including recordings of stars like Hank Williams, Patsy Klein and Dolly Parton are still intact. It may be months before anyone sings at the Opry again. As many as 29 total deaths were reported in the Mid-South.

MAY 2010

Archbishop Receives Honorary Degree from Notre Dame SOUTH BEND, Ind – The University of Notre Dame bestowed an honorary Doctorate of Laws degree upon Archbishop Demetrios on May 16, during the university’s 165th Commencement Ceremony attended by more than 15,000. Keynote speaker was Brian Williams, anchor and managing editor of “NBC Nightly News who was also the recipient of an honorary degree. Following the ceremony Archbishop Demetrios visited the Greek Orthodox Church of St. Andrew in South Bend, Indiana and met with the priest and the members of the parish to whom he offered paternal words of care and edification in Christ. According to the Notre Dame website, other honorary degree recipients included: Steven J. Brickner, a leader in the field of antibacterial drug development; Scott Cowen, president of Tulane University; and Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, former Roman Catholic Archbishop of England.

Final Preparations Underway for St. John Chrysostom National Oratorical Festival by Presbytera Margaret Orfanakos and Dorothy Poli

NEW YORK – For the first time in the history of the 27-year-old event, Holy Trinity Archdiocesan Cathedral will host the 2010 St. John Chrysostom National Oratorical Festival weekend June 4-6. Archbishop Demetrios will be in attendance. The host committee, co-chaired by Fr. Frank and Presbytera Haidee Marangos, has planned several events surrounding the festival. Upon their arrival in New York, the 18 finalists and their families will be welcomed at the Marriott New York East Side hotel. A paraklesis service followed by a dinner and social will officially begin the festivities. The festival itself will take place Saturday, June 5, in the Cathedral Sanctuary located at 319 East 74th St. The 18 young people from across the nation, representing their respective Metropolises, will deliver their orations

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beginning at 9:30 a.m. They will be evaluated by a panel of eight judges. Some of the topics the youth will present include: • Present some teachings of the Orthodox Church that support environmental protection and explain how it should be practiced today • What is the Christian understanding of friendship and how do social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace help or hinder true friendship? • Explain why human virtue is something truly heroic and divine, especially in our days and in our world. An awards luncheon will follow in the Cathedral Center Ballroom with Mike Emanuel, White House correspondent for FOX News, serving as master of ceremonies. The Festival and Awards Luncheon are open to all. Anyone interested in attending may call the Cathedral for reservations.

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After the luncheon, participants will go on a bus tour of the city, followed by a harbor dinner cruise later in the day. The Festival weekend will close on Sunday, June 6; with a Hierarchical Divine Liturgy officiated by Archbishop Demetrios. The Archdiocese Department. of Religious Education sponsors the festival. Introduced in 1983, it provides teenagers nationwide the opportunity to learn, write and speak about their Orthodox faith. The program begins at the parish level and consists of two divisions: junior division for students (7th to 9th grades), and senior division for teenagers (10th to 12th grades). At the national level, each firstplace speaker receives a $2,000 college scholarship; the second-place speakers receive a $1,500 college scholarship and the third-place speakers each will be awarded a $1,000 college scholarship.

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All other finalists will earn honorable mention and a $500 US Savings Bond. Anyone wanting to underwrite the festival activities, to donate to the Oratorical Festival weekend expenses and/ or the Oratorical Festival Scholarship Foundation may contact the Festival cochairs or send in check donations made payable to: Holy Trinity Cathedral 319 East 74th St., New York, NY 10075. Attention: Oratorical Festival For more information on this year’s Festival, contact Fr. Frank or Presbytera Marangos at 212-288-3215; e-mail: sjcof@thecathedralnyc.org or visit www. thecathedralnyc.org For general information on the Festival, visit:www.goarch.org/archdiocese/ departments/religioused/sjcof

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MAY 2010

Communiqué

of the Holy Eparchial Synod NEW YORK - The Holy Eparchial Synod of the Holy Archdiocese of America convened its regular spring session in the Synodal Chamber of the Archdiocese on April 21–22, under the chairmanship of Archbishop Demetrios. The Holy Eparchial Synod deliberated on the following issues: Liturgical Issues: It was announced that the Ecumenical Patriarchate approved the submitted text of the Holy Prothesis and the Divine Liturgy, with liturgical rubrics by the Synod, so that it may be translated into the English language. Additionally, the Synod assigned to the Synodal Committee in charge of liturgical issues the responsibility to prepare similar texts for Sacred Services, Orthros and Vespers. Furthermore, the Synod completed its work on the text of the Service of Receiving non-Orthodox Christians into the Orthodox Church through Chrismation. Canonical Issues: The final approval of the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate for the submitted Regulations of the Holy Eparchial Synod was communicated. The work on the Regulations of Spiritual Courts was continued with the assistance of specialists in Law and Canon Law and with the formation of a list of reasons for issuing ecclesiastical divorces. Furthermore, the Synod approved a new Certificate for Baptism and Chrismation for use in parishes of the Holy Archdiocese. Finally, the Holy Synod discussed canonical issues pertaining to the clergy, and made relevant decisions in regard to issues of pastoral and disciplinary nature. Educational and Youth Issues: There was extensive discussion on Religious Education and the youth. The observation was made that the number of camping facilities has increased, as well as the youth participating in them. It has been realized that camping is a very successful tool in formulating a religious character in the youth. It was also noted that there is a need to educate parents and attempts are made for the participation of youth and parents in family programs at the camps. Priests should use all pastoral opportunities of athletic, dancing, and other youth programs for the cultivation of Orthodox character in the youth. Inter-Orthodox Issues: There was extensive discussion on the upcoming panOrthodox Assembly of Bishops which will take place on May 26-28 in New York City. The formation of such an Assembly was decided by the Pre-Synodal Pan-Orthodox meeting in Chambesy, Switzerland, in June 2009. Clergy-Laity Congress: In reference to the upcoming Clergy-Laity Congress in Atlanta, in July, the importance of the theme “Gather My People to My Home – Come and See” was underscored, as well as a need for a wider participation of parishes. A more direct involvement of the members of the Holy Eparchial Synod in the analysis and application on the theme of the ClergyLaity Congress was planned by means of a special meeting to be convened at its commencement. Finally, the Holy Eparchial Synod designated Sept. 19 as a day of commemoration of the Asia Minor Holocaust, by organizing lectures and special programs for this purpose. The Synod members also participated in the Archdiocesan Council Executive Committee meeting on April 19.

ARCHIEPISCOPAL ENCYCLICAL

Honor AHEPA for Its Service To the Most Reverend Hierarchs, the Reverend Priests and Deacons, the Monks and Nuns, the Presidents and Members of the Parish Councils of the Greek Orthodox Communities, the Distinguished Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Day, Afternoon, and Church Schools, the Philoptochos Sisterhoods, the Youth, the Hellenic Organizations, and the entire Greek Orthodox Family in America Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ, We as the Holy Archdiocese of America recognize the members and service of the American Hellenic Educational and Progressive Association. The AHEPA family has a long history of promoting Hellenism, education, philanthropy, civic responsibility, family and individual excellence in a spirit of true diakonia and community. Through national and international programs, initiatives, and annual meetings, the members of AHEPA continue to enhance the well-being of so many. They are also members of the parishes and organizations of our Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, worshipping and serving in

our sacred mission to share the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is in this way that the goals of AHEPA represent the nature of the relationship of our Orthodox faith and Hellenic heritage. With a tradition of compassion for those in need, a dedication to the highest ideals, and a commitment to offering so that others might succeed in life, the members of AHEPA are able to provide a witness of the attributes of our faith and heritage that nurture our potential and affirm our need for God and one another. This is a witness that we can all offer as Greek Americans, Philhellenes, and Orthodox Christians, sharing with everyone the great inheritance we have received. We thank the AHEPA family for their significant contribution in our communities, this country, and around the world. I ask all of our parishes to recognize the members of AHEPA and promote the work of this esteemed organization. As brothers and sisters in Christ and as beneficiaries of a great and beautiful tradition of faith, truth, knowledge and life, let us pray to God for the vital work of AHEPA and may we labor together for His honor and glory

With paternal love in Christ,

† Archbishop DEMETRIOS of America

Archons Push for Religious Freedom for Ecumenical Patriarchate In his report to the May 6 Archdiocesan Council meeting, Archons National Commander Dr. Anthony Limberakis discussed several recent accomplishments and initiatives of the Order of St. Andrew. The Archons, whose mission is to serve the needs of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, have been promoting the passage of a Religious Freedom Resolution in the 50 state Legislatures around the country. Thus far, it has been introduced in 29 states. “Delaware was the first state to pass the Religious Freedom Resolution,” Dr. Limberakis noted. The Order also is pursuing religious freedom initiatives overseas. A delegation of Archons led by Dr. Limberakis recently undertook a mission to Madrid, Spain, which holds the European Union presidency and to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the world’s largest regional security organization whose 56 participating States span

the geographical area from Vancouver to Vladivostok, Russia, to push for religious freedom in Turkey, which has aspirations of joining the EU. Another initiative has been pursued in Washington. This November, the Archons are sponsoring an International Religious Freedom Symposium to be held at the EU Parliament in Brussels. Dr. Limberakis also reported that the 60 Minutes broadcast in December of the interview with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew resulted after “several years work” by the Archons. The dissemination of a DVD of the interview was underwritten by the FAITH Endowment. The national commander added that the Archons last year donated $100,000 to the Archdiocese in honor of Archbishop Demetrios’ 10th anniversary as head of the Church in the U.S.

CLERGY UPDATE Ordinations to the Diaconate Mark Lichtenstein–Metropolitan Maximos of Pittsburgh–St. Anthony Church, Clairton, Pa. 01/17/10 Kyriakos J. Shiepis–Metropolitan Maximos of Pittsburgh–St. George Church, Massillon, Ohio 03/06/10 Nebojsa Pantic–Metropolitan Gerasimos of San Francisco–Ascension Cathedral, Oakland, Calif. 03/27/10 Mamangakis, John–Bishop Andonios of Phasiane–Holy Trinity Church, New Rochelle, N.Y. 05/01/10 Ordinations to the Priesthood Deacon Mark Lichtenstein–Metropolitan Maximos of Pittsburgh–St. George Church, Massillon, Ohio 01/17/10 Deacon Barnabas Powell–Metropolitan Alexios of Atlanta–Annunciation Cathedral, Atlanta 03/07/10 Deacon Panteleimon Maillis–Metropolitan Maximos of Pittsburgh–St. George, Massillon, Ohio 03/16/10 Assignments Deacon Clifford Macarius Ayres–Holy Trinity Church, Roanoke, Va. 11/16/08 Deacon. Chris Wallace–St. Katherine Church, Falls Church, Va. 11/15/09 Fr. Evdokimos–Martin Harding–Holy Trinity, Bluff City, Tenn. 12/20/09 Fr. Joseph DiStefano–St. Spyridon Church, Monessen, Pa. 01/01/10 Fr. Chrysanthos Kerkeres–St. Basil Church, Chicago 02/22/10 V. Rev. Fr. Peter D. Costarakis–Sts. Anargyroi, Marlboro, Mass. 03/01/10 Fr. Nikitas Theodosion–St. Elizabeth the Wonderworker Church, Gainesville, Fla. 03/01/10 Fr. Iulian Damian–Holy Trinity & St. John the Theologian Church, Jackson, Miss. 03/08/10 Fr. Eugen Rosu–St. John the Divine Church, Wheeling, W.Va. 03/15/10 Fr. Nathanael Symeonides–Annunciation Church, New York 04/19/10 Offikia Fr. Brian Mark Sietsema–Office of Economos, bestowed by Metropolitan Nicholas of Detroit 12/13/09 Fr. Dionisios Marketos–Office of Economos, bestowed by Metropolitan Evangelos of New Jersey 03/24/10 Fr. John Vlahos–Office of Economos, bestowed by Archbishop Demetrios of America 04/11/10 Retired Priests Fr. George Prassas 02/28/10 V. Rev. Fr. Frank Kirlangitis 04/04/10 Receptions Fr. Vladimir Chominski, July 28, 2001 (from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA)

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Assembly of Hierarchs Convenes   page 1 is not a continuation of SCOBA. Rather, it works to “prepare a plan for dealing with anomalies, such as more than one bishop in a given locale and other things that interfere with the life of the Church.” It is also designed “to project a unified witness of the faith.” As such, the Archbishop called the work of the Assembly “tremendously important. The function and outcome of this first meeting will determine how it continues in the future.” The Archbishop also said the following: “The leadership of Ecumenical

Patriarch Bartholomew in convening the Heads of world Orthodoxy is truly visionary. This vision of the unity of the Church has been confirmed from ages past, and with the Ecumenical Patriarchate leading the way, we will aspire to manifesting our unity in Christ based on the greatest commandment of all; to love one another.” Corrections In the March-April issue’s San Francisco Clergy–Laity Assembly story, Fr. Peter Stratos’ clerical designation had not been included. In the Leadership 100 advertisement, the correct spelling for the vice chairman’s last name is Cotros.

The Center for Studies at the Holy Monastery of Kykkou in Cyprus recently published “Αιώνιες Παραδόσεις” (Eternal Traditions), a new book by Archbishop Demetrios of America that will be exhibited at the Clergy-Laity Congress in Atlanta, along with his other academic works.

MAY 2010

Marriott Atlanta Marquis, Atlanta,GA > July 4 - 8, 2010

“Gather My People To My Home”

Visit www.clergylaity.org and: > Register for Clergy-Laity ONLINE! > Obtain CLC 2010 ofﬁcial forms: Exhibit Contract Delegate Registration Form Delegate Reporting Form Commemorative Album Form > The most up to date information about the 2010 Clergy-Laity Congress: Ofﬁcial Dates Congress Agenda Ministry Reports Hotel Reservations Congress Registration Miscellaneous Information > Contact for further information: e-mail: clergylaity@goarch.org tel.:(212)570-3549 fax:(212)570-3587

Icon by the hand of Athanasios Clark

Highlights of the Congress include: Sunday - July 4 > Divine Liturgy 8:30 am July 4 Celebration (Immediately following Liturgy) Annunciation Cathedral, Atlanta Monday - July 5 > Congress Opening & Keynote Address 8:30 am > Hierarch Sessions 11:00 am - 12:30 pm > Strategic Forums 1:30 pm - 4:30 pm > Congress Social Event 7:00 pm Tuesday - July 6 > Strategic Forums on Orthodoxy 9:00 am - 12:00 pm > Ministry Strategic Planning Sessions 2:30 pm - 4:00 pm > Clergy & Presvyteres Workshops 3:30 pm - 6:00 pm Wednesday, July 7 > Speaker on Global Orthodoxy 9:00 am > Plenary Session 10:00 am - 4:00 pm > Grand Banquet 7:00 pm Thursday, July 8 > Clergy Breakfast with Archbishop Demetrios 9:00 am - 11:00 am

MAY 2010

The Faithful Can See Many Applications of the Faith at Atlanta Congress by Archbishop Demetrios of America

On July 4-8 we will gather in Atlanta as the clergy and laity of the Greek Orthodox Church in America for a blessed occasion of unity, fellowship, and commitment to the saving will of God and to witness and service in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. As previously announced, our theme for this 40th Biennial Clergy-Laity Congress of our Holy Archdiocese will be “Gather My People to My Home: Come and See.” The encyclical on the Congress in the March-April issue of the Orthodox Observer offered a reflection on the biblical context for our theme. In the Gospel of John 1:35-49 we read concerning the encounter of Philip with Christ, and Philip’s response to our Lord by seeking out Nathanael and inviting him to “come and see.” Nathanael’s acceptance of the invitation led to his encounter with Christ and his proclamation of faith in the Son of God. Over the past two years we have had an intense focus on our calling to gather God’s people to His home. Through reflection on the nature and goal of this calling and application of this theme in our parishes and in our programs, we have helped many to find healing, peace, salvation, and their spiritual home in the Orthodox Church. For this Congress and for our focus in the coming months and years, we will continue to devote our time and resources to gathering the people to God’s home. This is our divine mission in this world. We will also be challenged to apply our now expanded theme to our lives and to our communities of faith. First, as we live in communion with God our lives should be an invitation to all around us to “come and see” the source of the joy, peace, and hope that fills our hearts. Second, our response to the presence of Christ in our communities should lead us to invite all to “come and see” the power, truth and beauty of our Orthodox Christian faith. Come and See Jesus Christ When we follow the example of Philip and invite those around us to “come and see,” we are inviting them to a personal encounter with Jesus Christ. Through faith in Him and the experience of His transforming presence in our lives, we know the One who meets the needs of our souls and who blesses us with the love of God. As a consequence, we seek out others who do not know Christ or who have not experienced the healing and life that come from Him. We extend an unselfish invitation to others to come to Christ and see who He is and what He offers to those who believe. The priority of our invitation is a meeting of the people with the living Christ. Our goal is that each and every person comes to Jesus Christ and responds to Him with a life-changing faith. Come and See the Power of Faith If we are living in daily communion with our God, and if our lives and communities are focused on His will, then the power of faith will be evident to all. When we invite others to “come and see,” we invite them to come into our communities for an encounter with

Christ and for an experience of the power of faith which transforms lives, directing them to love and holiness. They will see the power of faith creating a unity that transcends race, age, vocation, gender and status. They will see faith that offers strength and healing in the midst of sorrows and the wounding struggles of life. They will see faith inspiring a continuous service of love and care of others. They will see faith in the lives of the people of God who look upon the reality and challenges of this world and journey through life with a hope in His promises of eternal peace and life. They will see and know that the power of faith is the power of Christ in our lives and in our midst as His Church. Come and See the Truth and Beauty of Orthodox Christianity Our invitation to others to come and meet Christ and see the power of faith is even more significant for what

we have been given by God to offer to the world. As Orthodox Christians we are blessed with a depth of truth and beauty in the divine services, teachings, and traditions of the Holy Orthodox Church. Our services affirm the sanctity of the time and space dedicated to the worship of God. Our hymns, prayers, and our use of Holy Scripture illuminate the saving truth of the Gospel. Our faithfulness both to Scripture and the wisdom of great Teachers of the Church provides us with a firm foundation for thought and life. The daily life of prayer, the teaching and study of theology and the emulation of the holy lives of a multitude of Saints equip us to address the issues and challenges of contemporary life. All of this and much more is the great treasure of faith that we have to offer. Our Orthodox Faith is truth and beauty that resonates with our humanity and our longing and need for God, and it is within this truth and beauty that people can come and see Christ and have their lives changed forever.

We must, of course, recognize that the invitation “come and see” presents us with several significant questions. First: are we extending this invitation to others? Have we identified those around us--in our homes, communities, associations, workplaces--who are in need of the presence of Christ in their lives? Are we finding the strength through faith and prayer to ask them to attend a service, to talk about faith and how it relates to life and issues, or to show compassion and to offer prayers and assistance when they are in need? Second: when people accept the invitation and come to our parishes, what do they see? Do they find a loving atmosphere filled with joy and expectation of the great blessings of God? Do they see brothers and sisters in Christ, united in faith, offering sacrificially for the needs and well-being of each other? Do they encounter teaching and ministry that addresses their struggles and spiritual needs? Do they see Christ? As we prepare for our 40th ClergyLaity Congress and, once again, for a time for study and planning related to the ministries of our Archdiocese at all levels, let us reflect on these questions, on the theme “Gather My People to My Home: Come and See,” and on the urgent nature of our times. Let us come together in Atlanta in a spirit of love and unity, ready to plan and offer ourselves to the great task ahead. We have met Christ. He is in our midst guiding and inspiring us to share the Gospel of love and life. Now is the time for us to go and seek out others and invite them with the words of Phillip to Nathaniel “come and see.”

40th Clergy-Laity Congress Features New Format   page 1 They will be repeated on Tuesday, so that those delegates attending the committee meetings will be able to attend the forums on the day when their committee doesn’t meet. “Orthodoxy: Yesterday & Today” will highlight the leadership role of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, while “Orthodox Reality in America” will discuss the new Episcocpal Assembly and the Chambesy process. The sessions will be conducted as lectures with a main speaker and a supporting panel. Panel members will answer questions submitted by delegates. Mr. Stefanis emphasized that follow up after the Congress will be critical. Delegates will be responsible for presenting the information from the discussions to their parishes. National Ministries Planning Sessions The directors of the Archdiocese ministries will make presentations focusing on the two-year strategy of their ministry. The presentations will include input received from parishes that incorporate suggestions from the ministry evaluations that had previously been sent. There also will be presentations from model parishes identified in each Metropolis that have strong ministry programs, which will be presented by the parish priest and parish council president. They will provide “How to” suggestions for adopting successful parish ministry programs with their successful ministries serving as examples. Presentation Format With an Archdiocesan council committee member serving as moderator,

each ministry director will present the two-year strategy and answer questions. A panel of parish priests and lay people from at least two parishes will discuss their successful ministry program, followed by discussion and feedback. Suggestions are to be recorded. The following eight ministry sessions are planned: Stewardship Outreach, evangelism and missions Family/marriage and interfaith marriage Youth/Young Adult/OCF/Camping Ministries, and Ionian Village Religious Education Greek Education Communications/Internet Ministries “Social” Ministries (addiction, nursing, special needs, bereavement and elderly). Global Orthodoxy The session on Global Orthodoxy that will take place Wednesday morning will present highlights of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew’s leadership role, focusing on his interview on 60 Minutes that aired in December. Plenary agenda Only one plenary session is scheduled at this Congress. The agenda will include the finance report, administration report, national ministry reports and various endowment and institution reports, remarks by Vice Chairman Michael Jaharis and the closing remarks offered by Archbishop Demetrios. Other activities Sunday, July 4 will include the Archierarchal Divine Liturgy at Annunciation Cathedral. A “Southern-style” barbecue will follow on the grounds of the Cathedral that will include entertainment by the Cathe-

dral orchestra and a Blue Grass band. Sunday evening, delegates are welcome to view the City of Atlanta’s fireworks event. The Congress social event will take place Tuesday evening at the Georgia Aquarium, the world’s largest indoor aquarium that includes eight whales and more than 375,000 fish. The Grand Banquet will be held at the hotel, officially ending the Congress. The Archbishop will meet with clergy on Thursday morning for the traditional clergy breakfast. In his remarks following the presentation at the Archdiocesan Council meeting, Archbishop Demetrios urged members “to have better participation” and “to have as much parish participation as possible.” He said those parishes that have not been attending past Congresses “need to be attending.” The co-chairs Mr. Moraitakis is senior partner in the law firm of Moraitakis, Kushel, Pearson & Gardner, LLP, is a member of Annunciation Cathedral in Atlanta, and is a former parish council president. He is president of the Atlanta Metropolis Council. Mr. Marianes is a member of the law firm of McGuire Woods LLP, which has offices in 18 U.S. and foreign cities, including New York, Chicago, London, Brussels, London, Los Angeles and Washington. His church activities include membership in the Archdiocesan Council and the Order of St. Andrew-Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and is a past parish council member of Atlanta’s Annunciation Cathedral.

MAY 2010

HC/HC Awards 48 Degrees at 68 Commencement th

by John Papson

BROOKINE, Mass. -- Hellenic College- Holy Cross School of Theology held their 68th commencement on May 15. The College conferred the Bachelor of Arts degree on twelve graduates. The School of Theology conferred the Master of Theology degree on eight graduates, the Master of Theological Studies on six graduates and the Master of Divinity on twenty two graduates. Commencement week began, as is customary, with HC-HC Alumni Association meetings on Wednesday and Thursday, May 12-13. Fr. Byron Papanikolaou was honored as Alumnus of the Year at a dinner Thursday evening. Archbishop Demetrios, presided at Great Vespers on Friday evening at the Holy Cross Chapel. The graduating seniors of Holy Cross received crosses from the Archbishop at the conclusion of the service in the Stavrophoria ceremony. Following vespers, Archbishop Demetrios and members of the Board of Trustees of Hellenic College and Holy Cross hosted a dinner for the three honorary degree recipients, Metropolitan Gennadios of Sassima, who has represented the Ecumenical Patriarchate in various capacities for many years, and prominent Greek-American businessmen and philanthropists Andrew A. Athens and Chris P. Tomaras of Chicago. Commencement Day began with Orthros and a Hierarchical Divine Liturgy presided over by the Archbishop in the chapel. The graduation ceremony followed in the Pappas Auditorium which was filled with families and friends of the graduates. The commencement address was given by Metropolitan Gennadios, who was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity. Mr. Athens and Mr. Tomaras were each awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Humanities. The Hellenic College valedictorian was George Tsongranis and the Holy Cross valedictorian was Andrew Williams. Aphrodite Skeadas, President of the National Greek Orthodox Philoptochos Society, presented the Rev. Nicholas Triantafilou, president of Hellenic College and Holy Cross, with a check for $94,800, continuing a long tradition of strong financial support of the school by the Philoptochos Society. Fr. Triantafilou made several announcements of great importance for the school. He announced the retirements of Dr. Lily Macrakis, dean of Hellenic College, and Dr. Lewis Patsavos, professor of Canon Law. Dr. Macrakis was dean of the College for eight years, the last six serving pro bono. Dr. Patsavos, who also served as director of Field Education for 35 years, is retiring after more than 40 years as a professor at the school. Dr. Demetrios Katos, program chairman of Religious Studies, was granted tenure and promoted to associate professor. Dr. Mata Dova was also granted tenure and

Graduates of Holy Cross School of Theology (above) and Hellenic College.

promoted to associate professor of Classics and Modern Greek Studies. The program concluded with the Paterexhortatory given by Archbishop Demetrios. Holy Cross graduates are as follows: Master of Divinity Rev. Demetrios Antonopoulos, Rev. Aristidis Arizi, Deacon Evagoras Constantinides, Christopher Gilbert, Rev. James Mackoul, John Mahfouz, Rev. Panteleimon Maillis, Rev. Christopher Moody, Alexandros Demetrios, Adam Pantazelos, Thomas A. Papagiannis, Rev. Barnabas Powell, Jason

Schrik, Mihai State, Peter Stathakos, Eric Strosnider, Deacon Ivan Synevskyy, Rev. Evangelos Thiani, Chryssanthy Tiggas, Paul Truebenbach, Andrew Williams, and Christopher Xanthos. Master of Theology Matthew Baker, Rev. Nikitas Marakis, Bogomil Sabtchev, Eva Stathi, Rabee Toumi, Rev. George Tserevelakis, Christopher Tsichlis, and Sofia Matzarioti-Kostara. Master of Theological Studies Philip Abrahamson, Zachary Kostopoulos, Zipporah W. Mwaura, Rev. David

Niktasson, Matthew Simington and Lavinia Christiana Truebenbach. Hellenic College graduates Bachelor of Arts Ian Abodeely, Samuel Johnson, Anastasia Loukanaris, Thomas Minetos, Francis Ochom, Bogoljub Ogarevic, Andrew Pavlakos, Lily Pelekoudas, John Smyrni, Nicole Smyrni, Nikki Stournaras and George Tsongranis. John Papson is the HC/HC Director of Public Relations and Marketing.

(Left) Students received their Crosses at the Friday Stavrophoria ceremony. (Right) School oďŹ&#x192;cials and honorees, from left, Dr. Thomas Lelon, vice chairman of the Hellenic College and Holy Cross Board of Trustees. HC/HC President the Rev. Nicholas Triantafilou, Andrew A. Athens, Metropolitan Methodios of Boston, Archbishop Demetrios, Metropolitan Gennadios of Sassina, Chris P. Tomaras and Consul General of Greece Constantinos Orfanidis.

MAY 2010

The Voice of Philoptochos

Members Invited to ‘Come and See’ National Philoptochos’ theme for the 2010 National Philoptochos Biennial Convention July 4-7 is “Come and See… Witnessing our Faith in Christ through Works.” Understanding the importance of this spiritual calling and its relevance to the Philoptochos mission, National Philoptochos President Aphrodite Skeadas, along with the Convention Chairmen Helen Ballerano, Diane Tseckares and Georgia Vlitas, and Evangeline Mekras Scurtis, the host chairman for the Metropolis of Atlanta Philoptochos, have all enthusiastically adopted this theme, which will serve as the framework for the Convention deliberations. On March 23, the convention planning committee met at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis to finalize details. With the gathering just weeks away, the Convention Committee is eagerly organizing a four-day program that promises spiritual, philanthropic, leadership, and social fulfillment to all of the delegates present. From the opening day festivities on July 4 until the Grand Banquet finale on July 7, each day will be defined by valuable information, learning opportunities and sisterly fellowship. Social Services, Membership and Leadership will be the core focus of this year’s National Philoptochos Convention program. An inspiring panel discussion on Social Services will address the importance of philanthropy in today’s struggling economic climate and how women can benefit from coping strategies with a spiritual application. Increasing and retaining committed members is a vital concern of every Philoptochos chapter and a membership presentation will tackle this issue followed by a breakout session that will encourage delegate input and full participation. On the subject of leadership, Evelyn Ploumis-Devick Ph.D. will be one of the Convention’s speakers. Her extensive professional expertise and experience will bring invaluable training and insight to all of the delegates on the principles of effective leadership. As to social fellowship, the National Philoptochos, along with the Metropolis of Atlanta Philoptochos, have planned a private event at the Carlos Museum at Emory University solely for the Philoptochos delegates. Registration packets have been mailed to all Philoptochos chapters and are available at www.philoptochos.org

Participants in the “Walk for a Cure” event in Salt Lake City in support of the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation.

National Philoptochos, Denver Metropolis, OCF Promote Membership Drive and Walk for a Cure SALT LAKE CITY -- The Metropolis of Denver held its third Metropolis Philoptochos membership celebration April 23-25, hosted by the Salt Lake City Philoptochos chapters with more than 150 individuals attending. National Philoptochos President Aphrodite Skeadas, Metropolis President Barbara Latsonis and members of the National and Metropolis Philoptochos joined the chapters and the Salt Lake City OCF, to celebrate the spirit of Philoptochos for nearly 80 years and their partnership with the Orthodox Christian Fellowship (OCF). Barbara Hillas and Shelly Anderson along with Angeliki Bolos, Transfiguration Philoptochos president, chaired the weekend activities. A highlight for the Philoptochos members was joining “Team Dynamis” to walk in the annual Multiple Sclerosis Walkathon, walking under the slogan “We Walk for a Cure. We Walk For Those Who Can’t. We Walk For Hope.” The slogan was created by Lauren Holmgren, event chairman for the OCF Salt Lake City chapter. The team raised close to $5,000 and included over 70 participants from the community who joined the 4,000 Walkathon participants for this successful event to support the Multiple Sclerosis Foundation. After the walk the National and Metropolis of Denver members were hosted

at a luncheon at Prophet Elias Church in Holladay, Utah. Speakers included Fr. Michael Kouremetis, proistamenos of Prophet Elias in Holladay, Fr. Matthew Gilbert, proistamenos of Holy Trinity Cathedral, National Philoptochos President Aphrodite Skeadas, Kathy Gabriel, national 3rd vice president and national membership cochairman; Elaine Cladis, national secretary and Metropolis of Denver treasurer; Martha Stefanidakis, national assistant treasurer, and Deacon Paul Zaharas, vice chair to the OCF board of directors. The focus of the event was the importance of Philoptochos for nearly 80 years, and its new partnership with OCF under the “Find Them, Greet Them, Love Them” campaign. President Skeadas stressed the important mission to engage members in Philoptochos. “We must expand our membership by enlisting college students, tomorrow’s bride and her yiayia as every person wishes to give back in a way to which she relates. We must return to basics and begin at the chapter level, because that is where our stewardship is and where our strength is. “Our responsibility as Philoptochos women is to be evangelists and proclaim our purpose. We want everyone because there are many tasks to perform. Each member offers something unique. The

established members have invaluable experience for sustaining the organization together with newer members who may offer imaginative ideas to create new programs designed for growth. Our duty as seasoned Philoptochos members is to mentor and to welcome the future generations of Philoptochos women. “Working side by side, Philoptochos shall grow.” “The women of the Greek Orthodox Ladies Philoptochos Society do so much and they are fearless and strong as were the women at the tomb of the Lord. As the myrrh-bearing women went so zealously to anoint the precious body of our Lord despite the great risk so many years ago, we too must continue to anoint the body of the Lord through our love for all humanity.” President Skeadas also said the National Philoptochos is creating a nationwide member database as an invaluable resource for all levels and as a tool to communicate instantly with all members “so that we are environmentally responsible and so that we save precious resources.” Everyone was urged to share an e-mail address and, for those with no e-mail, to create an e-mail address and to use all resources available including using a friends, a child’s or grandchild’s, the church’s or the public library computer to be connected to this important source of information.

National Philoptochos Supports ‘Real Break’ trip to Ecumenical Patriarchate The National Philoptochos Society provided support for the second year in its partnership with the Orthodox Christian Fellowship (OCF) for the Real Break Program at the Ecumenical Patriarchate from March 13-20. Fr. Mark Leondis, chairman of

the OCF Board, led 17 enthusiastic college students and leaders who traveled to Constantinople as part of the Third Orthodox Christian Fellowship’s Real Break Program. Real Break is an OCF program that serves as an alternative to spring break, offering our students on the college

campus the opportunity to do “something real.” Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew assigned the group to the Holy Metropolis of Chalcedon, under the spiritual jurisdiction of Metropolitan Athanasius, to work on two cemeteries. The first cemetery was in the

Scouteri region and the second cemetery was outside the Church of St. George. For four days the students and leaders worked to restore the cemetery as they cleaned, scraped, cemented, re-constructed graves and tombstones, weeded and dug up roots.

Commentaries and Reflections TALES FROM L.A.

A Whale of a Blessing by Fr. John S. Bakas

On a recent visit to the Metropolis offices in San Francisco, I took a few hours of down time to go to the Gas House Cove Marina, to watch the migration of humpback whales coming south from Alaska. What a majestic sight! There were several dozen people there with binoculars taking in this spectacle of nature. In such circumstances there is always someone with a story or two about these massive creatures. Over a cup of coffee, a local veteran whale watcher told a particular story which touched and inspired me very deeply. It happened on Dec. 13, 2005 and reported in great detail by the San Francisco Chronicle and other outlets in the national media. It seems that just east of the Farallon Islands facing San Francisco (outside the Golden Gate), a 50-ton female humpback whale had become entangled in a spider web of crab traps and lines. She was weighed down by hundreds of pounds of traps that caused her to struggle to stay afloat. She also had hundreds of yards of line rope wrapped around her tail, her flippers, her torso and a large line tugging in her mouth. A fisherman spotted her and radioed the U.S. Coast Guard and the Marin County Marine Mammal Center, an environmental group, for help. Within a few hours, a rescue team of nine master divers arrived and determined that she was so bad off with wounds and deep gashes over her entire body that the only way to save her was for the rescuers to dive in the choppy sea and untangle her. They worked carefully for hours with curved knifes and eventually freed her. When she was free, the divers say she swam in what seemed like joyous circles. She came back to each and every one of them and nudged them gently around as though… she was “thanking them.” The divers said it was the most incredibly beautiful experience of their lives. The man, who cut the heavy rope out of her mouth, said her eyes were following his every move the whole time, and he will never be the same. I Googled the story to get the details I am sharing with you and the more I read, the more my eyes teared up and I began to see a very deep spiritual parable in this event that applies to each of us as we look back on the experience and the meaning of the fundamentals of our theology. It is the message of corruption and death overcome and human deliverance assured. In reality, we reaffirm this message in every Divine Liturgy. Humanity, you and I, are metaphorically that whale. We are trapped and entangled and weighed down by sin…by what the Holy Fathers of our Church call the “passions”…and they are many. The “crab lines and traps” that choke us are greed, avarice, excessive pride, uncontrolled ego, gluttony, self indulgence, an assortment of lusts, hate, gossip, malice, violence, the idolatry of things in our shallow materialistic culture and so much more that only our hearts acknowledge in the sleepless nights of our existence. It is then when our conscience wakes us up to our own personal en-

tanglements and life choices. In the middle of the night our wounds become so self-evident. In the middle of the night our souls sigh for relief. The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews 12:1 reminds us that we are to “lay aside every weight and sin which so easily ensnares us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” But the good gospel news proclaimed by the Church is that God our heavenly Father saw us drowning and struggling to stay afloat in the dark sea of our sinful nature. He saw us entangled by the traps, lines and hooks of the devil. And He sent us the Master Rescuer, His only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ who dove into the heavy murky seas of our fallen and drowning state and by the cross carefully cut away and continues to cut away the myriad of death lines and traps of sin and corruption from our wounded souls. What an ineffable miracle! What an act of Love of eternal and cosmic proportions! Our participation in the Divine services of our Faith is a time for us to “swim” in our own joyous circles of thanksgiving, acknowledging our Rescuer, and Savior, Jesus Christ. He is the sinless Master Diver who dove into our humanity and assumed our nature so that we would not drown in the abyss…the darkness and isolation of hell. He has set us free and healed our self-inflicted gapping wounds. That is why we can totally rejoice with St. Gregory the Theologian when he said: “He who is without flesh becomes incarnate: the Word puts on a body; the Invisible is seen: he whom no hand can touch is handled: the timeless has a beginning; the Son of God becomes the Son of Man—Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and for ever. Light from light, the Word of the Father comes to his own image, man. For the sake of my flesh he takes flesh; for the sake of my soul he is united to a rational soul, purifying like by like. In every way he becomes man, except for sin. O strange conjunction! The Selfexistent comes into being; the Uncreated is created. He shares in the poverty of my flesh that I may share in the riches of his Godhead.” To our “Master Diver” be the glory, thanksgiving and honor forever and ever. Fr. Bakas is dean of St. Sophia Cathedral, Los Angeles and a faculty member of the Loyola Marymount University School of Theology.

MAY 2010

Are You Religious, Spiritual or ... None of the Above? by Rev. Dr. Frank Marangos

A recent edition of USA Weekend magazine article titled “How Spiritual Are You?” detailed an uncomfortable truth that, for some, is best ignored. The article focused on a significant conclusion reported by the American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) that reveals the fastest growing religious groups in America are those that regard themselves as spiritual yet not religious. The survey also indicates that of the 15 percent of Americans (30 million) who consider themselves spiritual, the same group simultaneously does not identify with any formal religious organization. What is especially troubling is that this group has more than doubled in the 20 years. A close review of ARIS and other polling data makes many Christian leaders uneasy. A recent Gallup survey of American religious attitudes, for example, indicates that nearly 30 percent say that religion is “out of date” or has “no answers for today’s problems.” The LifeWay Research Group reports that 72 percent of young adults (18-29-years) say they are “more spiritual than religious.” Finally, the 2010 Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life found that young adults today are “significantly more likely than those in early generations to say that they do not identify with any religious group.” Yet, while we may want to ignore the itchy feeling that such statistical values create, the manner in which we choose to respond to this reality will determine the direction and quality of Orthodoxy in America for decades. The painful truth ironically provides a most valuable opportunity for the Orthodox Church to both define and defend Her distinctiveness. Recent headline newspaper and magazine discussions concerning the juxtaposition of religious and spiritual affiliation of Americans fortunately occur during the Orthodox Christian liturgical cycle commonly referred to as the Pentecostarion. This 50-day season between Pascha (Easter) and Pentecost provides the perfect opportunity for the Orthodox Church to suggest an alternative to the religion/ spirituality divide posited in the ARIS, Gallup, LifeWay and Pew surveys. One of the more fascinating Biblical accounts considered during this liturgical period is the story of Jesus speaking with the Samaritan woman at the well of Jacob (John 4:1-42). During her conversation with Jesus, this Samaritan woman confessed to having had five husbands (John 4:18). Jesus informs the woman that her need for husbands is a result of an inner spiritual thirst that can only be quenched by understanding Who He is. Her “drought of ignorance” insists a hymn of Matins, “comes to an end when she discovers Jesus as the Water of Life!” Many contemporary individuals seek to satisfy their respective spiritual thirst by repeatedly joining different religious affiliations. As soon as the flaws of their most recent allegiance are discerned, however, they, like the Samaritan woman, seek the embrace of another. It is therefore significant that Jesus probes the woman’s current religious relationship by asking her if she really understands His true identity (John 4:10).

Jesus’ question needs clarification, as our respective answer determines the framework of whom and how we worship. Our answer, like that of the Samaritan woman will, to a large extent, establish whether we are religious or spiritual, for the worship of anything less than the Holy Trinity turns faith into fable, the sacred into social humanism, the eternal Church into an temporal institution. It is against this theological background that we may understand the woman’s response that delineates between two types of worship. “There are those who say we should worship God in Jerusalem while others insist we should do so on this mountain. What say you,” asked the woman? Although Jesus is here presented with a no-win scenario – he wonderfully avoids falling into the trap by providing a third alternative. “The hour is coming,” he insists, “and now is, when they will neither worship him in Jerusalem nor on this mountain for true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23-24). Jesus’ reply is truly instructive, as it seems that Americans are currently polarizing between two similar poles. Worshiping God on the “mountaintop” may represent the spiritual among us who desire to be liberated from formal constraints. On the other hand, those who prefer “Jerusalem” may be characterized as the “religious” who desire to approach God through the formality of ritual, tradition, institution, and sacred texts. The truth of the matter is that both spiritual as well as religious experiences alone do not satisfy. Only the truth of a shared faith relationship in the Holy Trinity provides the deep satisfaction that humanity desires. No amount of extraordinary mountaintop experiences or majestic cathedral appointments can provide the truth, beauty and love that God alone can provide through Christ Jesus. Those that refer to themselves as spiritual and not religious tend to be individuals who have had a sour experience with specific mainline faith organizations and now seek a respite from their institutional governance and traditional liturgical encumbrances. In time, we may justifiably suspect that they, too, will develop and codify their own set of rituals, special places, personal songs and texts and friends with whom they “share” their spirituality. In time such experiences become less spontaneous and more tradition-based. In the end, they will discover that spiritual extremism is just as dangerous as the religious elitism they sought to escape. What then is the alternative? Orthodox Christians believe that Jesus came to offer humanity an option to the existing spiritualities and religions of His day. As many patristic theologians have reminded us throughout the ages - Orthodox Christianity is not a religion that should be delineated solely in terms of organizational or institutional definitions. It is an epiphany of the Kingdom of God . . . a way of life that sacramentaly fuses the physical with the divine. This is the “water” that Jesus offered the Canaanite woman at the well of Jacob. It is the only Truth that truly satisfies. Fr. Marangos is dean of the Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in New York. He is also an adjunct assistant professor at St. John’s University (NY).

A RCHDIOCESE N E WS

MAY 2010

FAITH Endowment Expands Scholarship Program Support The founders of FAITH: An Endowment for Orthodoxy and Hellenism have announced the continuation and expansion of their annual scholarship programs through the Archdiocese. In 2010, the endowment fund will underwrite two scholarships (one graduate student scholarship and one senior lecturer research fellowship) through the U.S.-Greece Fulbright Exchange program in commemoration of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew’s visit to the United States and in honor of the 10th anniversary of Archbishop Demetrios’ archiepiscopacy this past year. Since its inception, grants from FAITH funded many merit-based scholarships to high school students graduating from public, parochial and private high schools across the country for academic excellence. In 2010, a generous grant from FAITH will support the expansion of the Archdiocese scholarship program which originally only included valedictorians and salutatorians to also include students who display extraordinary academic achievement and display an acute need for financial support for their university studies. In 2009, a total of 37 young people received FAITH Scholarships for Academic Excellence through the Archdiocese. FAITH President Peter Kikis remarked on behalf of the founders, “Past scholarship recipients, all of whom are now attending the country’s leading colleges and universities, are especially impressive young people. In addition to their exceptional intellectual abilities and academic achievements, they have also actively participated in programs for the young people of the Hellenic American community and dedicated their skills and time to several extracurricular school activities, athletics, and community service initiatives. FAITH scholarship recipients display the extraordinary scholarly intellect lauded by our Hellenic ancestors and a magnificent spirit of charity, philanthropy and altruism which is at the very core of our Christian Orthodox humanitarian values.” This summer, FAITH: An Endowment for Orthodoxy and Hellenism will continue to underwrite a series of financial aid scholarships to students traveling to Ionian Village to experience Greece and learn more about their Hellenic heritage

I n

through visits to ancient sites, monasteries, and cultural institutions. In 2009, FAITH supported 34 scholarships for young people to participate in Ionian Village; in commemoration of the 40th anniversary celebration of Ionian Village, FAITH has increased its budget for the 2010 scholarships. In 2010, FAITH will continue to support approximately several scholarship awards to the winners of the St. John Chrysostom Oratorical Festival. In summary, FAITH will underwrite the following 2010 Archdiocese Scholarship Award programs: FAITH Scholarships for Academic Excellence – A series of merit-based and need-based scholarships awarded to graduating high school seniors for their university studies. Deadline: June 25. FAITH Ionian Village Travel Scholarships – A series of need-based scholarships awarded to young people who wish to participate in the Ionian Village Summer Camp. Deadline: May 27. FAITH sponsored US-Greece Fulbright Scholarships – Scholarship opportunities for graduate students and/or professional scholars/lecturers to travel to Greece for research, Deadlines: tba FAITH St. John Chrysostom Festival Scholarship Awards – A series of scholarships awarded to the top–ranked festival participants The core mission of FAITH: An Endowment for Orthodoxy and Hellenism is to promote Hellenism and an understanding of the Greek Orthodox FAITH through a series of high quality educational programs and cultural initiatives through an endowment for the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. For more information about these programs and the application process, please visit the FAITH website: www.FAITHendowment.org

M e m o r i a m

Presbytera Stella Constantelos EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP, N.J. -- Stella (Croussouloudis) Constantelos, 82, wife of the Rev. Dr. Demetrios Constantelos for 56 years, died March 25 of multiple myeloma. She was born in New York in 1928 and was raised on the island of Chios. She returned to New York in 1946. She was a presbytera since 1955 in parishes her husband pastored, including Holy Trinity in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey; she also was president of the St. Elpis Philoptochos Society at Holy Trinity and was a volunteer at Shore Memorial Hospital. She also volunteered for many years at Caring Adult Medical Daycare Center.

In addition to Fr. Constantelos, survivors include children, Christine (Robert) Simms, John (Polly) Constantelos, Eleni Constantelos and Maria (Peter) Loukeris, several grandchildren; sisters Mary Giannaris and Despina Croussouloudis; sisters-inlaw, cousins, nieces and nephews. Funeral services took place March 27 at Holy Trinity Church in Northfield, N.J. Memorial donations may be made in her name to the St. Elpis Philoptochos Society of Holy Trinity Church (PO Box 769, Northfield, NJ 08225) or the International Multiple Myeloma Foundation,12650 Riverside Dr., Suite 206, North Hollywood, CA 91607.

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MAY 2010

Celebrating Pascha “... sing and make melody to the Lord with all your heart.” Ephesians 5:19

Archbishop Demetrios of America invites you to join the newly established Archdiocesan School of Byzantine Music (ASBM) in the Direct Archdiocesan District. The school’s mission will be to teach Byzantine Music to anyone interested in learning this ancient form of ecclesiastical chant.

Archbishop Demetrios (top) celebrates the Resurrection Service on East 74th Street in front of the Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Manhattan amidst a crowd of faithful. (below) His Eminence distributes a red egg to a happy little girl. (Panagos photos)

For more information and to register in ASBM, visit: www.asbm.goarch.org or call: 212-570-3591. Also in

Congratulations to the Recent Graduate of St. Stephen’s Course in Applied Orthodox Theology upon his ordination into the Holy Diaconate!

At Annunciation Orthodox Church, Winston-Salem, NC The Laying of Hands by Metropolitan Alexios of Atlanta on January 24, 2010

Rev. Deacon Constantine Shepherd For the past 30 years, the St. Stephen’s Course in Applied Orthodox Theology has been educating men and women – Orthodox and non-Orthodox – from all parts of the world. It is, as one of our faculty members, Metropolitan Maximos of Pittsburgh labeled it, a theological “school without walls” – a directed distance reading program with an integrated three year program. The students are from Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, Mauritius, Turkey, England, South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Armenia, Uganda, The Middle East, North and South America. These students have had a strong desire to learn more about the Greek Orthodox Church, its faith, doctrine and traditions. They are not, or were not, able to attend a seminary or an Orthodox Theological School due to pursuing a secular career or family obligations, etc. There are over 1,000 graduates who now serve, not only as deacons, but also the local parish as church school directors, teachers, youth ministers, etc. If you are interested in learning more about the program, please fill out the form below or contact the St. Stephen’s Office at 201 569 0095 or HYPERLINK “mailto:theoedu1@aol. com”theoedu1@aol.com for a catalogue. Name:___________________________________________________________________

Metropolitan Methodios of Boston , as he does every Holy Wednesday, spent the morning at the Hellenic Nursing Home in Canton, Mass. where he presided at the Service of Holy Unction and anointed the residents who eagerly anticipate his visit.

Address:_____________________________________City:________________________ State:____________________Zip Code:______________Country:__________________ Telephone:_____________________E-Mail_______________________________ Mail to St. Stephen’s Course, 385 Ivy Lane, Bergenfield, NJ 07621 USA

Metropolitan Gerasimos of San Francisco participates in the Holy Thursday Morning Service of Niptir (Washing of the Feet), at Holy Apostles Church in Shoreline, Wash.

MAY 2010

Stewardship a Major Topic of Discussion at District Clergy-Laity Assembly NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. – A recent study on the effectiveness of stewardship in the Direct Archdiocesan District revealed that parishes on stewardship have increased their membership rolls, while those relying on members’ dues have decreased. Those were the findings presented in a report by Anthony X. Brigis and Nicholas Sialmas to the District’s Clergy-Laity Assembly held in early April. “Stark differences exist between dues parishes and stewardship parishes,” said Mr. Brigis. According to their report, membership parishes lost 723 families between 2005 and 2008, representing 90 percent of the decline in parish members. Stewardship families lost 83 families. The churches in the District gaining the most families were Holy Trinity Cathedral in New York, 124; St. Nicholas Shrine Church in Flushing, 113; Holy Resurrection Church in Brookville, 86; and Holy Trinity in New Rochelle, an increase of 60 families. In 2008, parishes supported by dues averaged $276 per family and derived 16 percent of their income from its members. Communities on the Stewardship program averaged $539 per family and derived 35 percent of their income from members. Mr. Brigis also said that, “The proper model for the funding of a parish’s ministries and operating costs is simply that they be covered 100 percent by its stewards. Other fund-raising could then be applied to capital expenditures, improvements and iconography. His report noted that the District parishes coming close to meeting the ideal situation of 100 percent financing of parish ministry expenses and operating costs were Archangels Church, Stamford, Conn., with 73 percent; St. Paraskevi, Greenlawn, N.Y., 65 percent; Assumption Church, Danbury, Conn., 61 percent; and, at 60 percent each, St. Barbara Church, Orange, Conn., and Archangel Michael n Roslyn, N.Y.

Albany and the U.S. Department of Education in Washington. The Office also is a member of the Standing Committee of NYC Religious Schools officials that includes representation from Roman Catholic, Jewish, Lutheran and Islamic school organizations. Philoptochos outreach Metropolis Board President Maria Skiadas reported that the District’s 61 parishes have 3,425 members and have fulfilled their commitment to the National Philoptochos. The District Philoptochos also continues its commitments to St. Michael’s Home in Yonkers and the Hellenic Cultural Center in Astoria. The organization recently held a meeting at Zoodochos Peghe parish in the Bronx to invite members to bring in young women and to learn computer technology.

Anthony X. Brigis discusses the findings of a stewardship survey among parishes of the Direct Archdiocesan District.

Other reports District Clergy-Laity representatives also heard from ministries and organizations that included the Office of Education, Youth, Philoptochos and others. In his brief report, Bishop Andonios of Phasiane, chancellor of the Archdiocese, noted that he has met with over 60 clergy to open communications with them, and is working to strengthen relationship with seminarians and offer assistance to parochial schools. Education Maria Makedon, director of the Direct Archdiocesan District Office of Education reported that the District has 11 parochial day schools and 46 Greek afternoon schools, with a total enrollment of 5,705 students. She noted the schools attract a diverse group of students, including those

of Greek and non-Greek descent, of the Orthodox Christian faith and other faiths. Mrs. Makedon said the parish-sustained schools “are distinct in terms of their curricula and objections. They have only one common characteristic: the program of Greek studies which aims at cultivating and fostering the teaching of the Greek language and culture.” In her report, she stated that the parochial day schools’ Greek studies program is one part of their academic curriculum. Mrs. Makedon said the curriculum “must adhere to state regulations and guidelines for designing curricula and evaluating student progress.” Her report said that the District Office of Education plays a leading role in representing the day schools at the New York City Department of Education, the New York State Education Department in

Youth reports Fr. Constantine Lazarakis discussed the Youth Ministry efforts in the Direct Archdiocesan District and Fr. Elias Villas spoke about the continuing progress of Camp St. Paul. Fr. Lazarakis reported that the District has formed a 13-member youth commission that includes clergy and laypersons already involved in youth ministry. Among its projects will be to create a coordinated schedule of activities and a Youth Ministry website. Fr. Villas said that Camp St. Paul, which takes place over the summer in Connecticut, has greatly increased its numbers over the years to where several hundred youth participate. Assembly delegates also heard brief reports on St. Michael’s Home and the Hellenic Cultural Center, and elected Stephen Cherpelis of Holy Trinity Cathedral in New York, James Gabriel of Resurrection Church in Brookville, N.Y., and Fr. Nicholas Anctil of Holy Trinity in New Rochelle, as representatives to the Archdiocesan Council.

Archons’ Symposium Addresses Ecumenical Patriarchate’s Religious Freedom Crisis

D. PANAGOS

Teachers with Maria Makedon, director of the Direct Archdiocesan District Office of Education.

Math and Science Workshops Held in Astoria

The Direct Archdiocesan District Office of Education recently organized workshops on math and science for the teachers serving in the Greek Orthodox parochial day schools in New York. Fifty-one teachers and administrators benefited from these hands-on workshops, which were held on April 12, 13 and 21, at St. Demetrios School in Astoria. In science, participants were introduced to sorting classification; exploring colors and light; magnets, nature, and shadows.

In math, participants were introduced to sorting and counting; size and comparison; addition and subtraction; measurement and attributes. The Greek Orthodox parochial day schools in New York received educational materials worth $17,850.00 paid by federal funds earmarked for this purpose. The workshops were organized with the collaboration of Childcraft Co., a New York City Department of Educationlicensed vendor, which does staff development and sells educational materials.

BROOMALL, Pa. - A religious freedom symposium titled “The Great Schism and the Current Dialogue of Love and Truth,” took place May 8 hosted by Metropolitan Evangelos of New Jersey and Archons from the Greater Delaware Valley. Several National Council members, Archons, and Orthodox faithful of all ages from throughout the area attended the symposium at St. Luke Church’s Education and Cultural Center in Broomall. Dr. George E. Demacopoulos, associate professor of historical theology and co-founding director of the Orthodox Christian Studies Program at Fordham University, offered insight on the historical and theological origins of the schism as well as surveyed some recent scholarly reappraisals of the East/West divide. Dr. Demacopoulos also detailed the recent developments in the Orthodox/Catholic dialogue. Archon Regional Commander Dr. Cary Limberakis thanks Dr. George Demacopoulos of Fordham University for his insightful presentation on the history of The Great Schism held at St. Luke’s Education and Cultural Center. In the afternoon session, National Commander Anthony J. Limberakis, M.D., discussed the five major issues confronting the Ecumenical Patriarchate in its struggle for religious freedom in Turkey: 1) Government interference in Patriarchal elections, 2) Non-recog-

nition of “Ecumenical” status, 3) No legal identity, 4) Closing of seminary and inability to train new clergy, and 5) Confiscation of property. He concluded by describing the initiatives being pursued at the highest level by the Order here in the United States and in Europe, which included their January mission to Madrid, Venice, and Athens. Metropolitan Evangelos offered his gratitude to both presenters, Archon Regional Commander Dr. Cary Limberakis, symposium moderator, and to Fr. Christ Kontos and the parish community for hosting the event. His Eminence concluded by commending the Archon’s efforts in pursuit for religious freedom of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

Archbishop to Speak at St.Vladimir Symposium Archbishop Demetrios will deliver the main address at the Symposium on Hellenism and Orthodoxy at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in Crestwood, N.Y., June 11 at 7:30 p.m. The talk is free and open to the public. The entire symposium will take place June 10-12 and will examine the topic broadly, in terms of time and place. It will analyze the role of Hellenistic culture in the spread of the early Christianity and look at how Hellenistic thought influenced and contrasted with the biblical Scriptures.

MAY 2010

Seminarians Receive Orientation to the Archdiocese’s Mission

Seminarians with Archbishop Demetrios, Bishop Savas of Troas and Bishop Andonios of Phasiane, chancellor of the Archdiocese.

Fifteen seminarians from Holy Cross School of Theology attended the traditional four-day orientation at Archdiocese headquarters in mid-April. The students received briefings on topics that included the administration and financial aspects of the Church, the FAITH endowment, ecumenical relations, clergy sexual misconduct policy, communications, Ionian Village, internet ministries, youth and young adult ministries, Greek education, stewardship, outreach and evangelism, Church and society, the Philoptochos, stewardship, archives, marriage and family and Leadership 100. They also toured the Holy Trinity Archdiocesan Cathedral, St. Nicholas Church in Flushing, St. Michael’s Home and St. Basil Academy. On their way to New York, the group visited St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Seminary in Crestwood, N.Y. Later in the week, they went on a private tour of the Jaharis Byzantine Galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The seminarians mostly represented parishes of the Archdiocese, with the exception of one student from the Antiochian Orthodox jurisdiction and another from Kenya, under the Patriarchate of Alexandria. They were as follows: John Mahfouz, St. Nicholas Antiochian Cathedral, Los Angeles; Jason Schrik, Sts. Constantine and Helen, Cardiff-By-The-Sea, Calif.; Paul Truebenbach, Holy Trinity, Spokane, Wash.; Miha State, St. Demetrios, Concord, Calif. Tom Papagiannis, St. John the Baptist, Des Plaines, Ill.; Agape Whisenant, Assumption Cathedral, Denver; Christopher Gilbert, Holy Trinity Cathedral, Salt Lake City; Deacon Evagoras Constantinides, Holy Trinity; Alexandros Mousis, St. Catherine’s, Braintree, Mass. Fr. Chris Moody, Holy Trinity, Lewiston, Maine; Thomas Pantazelos, St. Vasilios,

Peabody, Mass.; Michael Strosnider, Holy Mother of God, Tallahassee, Fla.; Perikles Kallis, Nativity of the Virgin Mary, Plymouth, Mich. Fr. Evangelos Thiani, Metropolis of Kenya, Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa; and Fr. Panteleimon Maillis, Archangel Michael, Campbell, Ohio. After the visit, two of the seminarians reflected on their experience in response to questions from the Observer. Deacon Evagoras Constantinides, whose namesake grandfather is still serving the Church at age 91, commented, “It was so nice to be able to visit with all of the people that run the various ministries of the Archdiocese and hear more about what is done in New York and in all of the national ministries. Of special highlight was the presentation on Ecumenical Relations by Fr. Mark Arey and the lunch with the Archbishop.” He said that the most surprising aspect of the trip, which he did not expect, was the size and scope of the community and ministries of St. Nicholas Shrine Church in Flushing. “When Fr. Paul (Palesty) told us about the size of the community and especially the youth programs, it brought to light how big our job really is.” Deacon Evagoras is the son of Fr. Christopher and Presbytera Angie Constantinides of Holy Trinity Church in Dallas. Seminarian John Mahfouz from Los Angeles noted, “As a student from the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese it was a really great opportunity for me to learn about all the programs of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese as well as its internal structure and organization of ministries. It was all very beneficial and informative. I really didn’t expect to find so many people working at the Archdiocese level but I realize how necessary it is with everything that is being developed and coordinated.”

ORTHODOX OBSERVER photos

Executive Director of Administration Jerry Dimitriou discusses the operation of the Archdiocese.

The Very Rev. Sebastian Skordallos, chief secretary of the Holy Eparchial Synod, speaks with the students in the library near the Synod meeting room.

MAY 2010

O rthodoxy in W ashington

Church Leads Hellenic Community to Its ‘Finest Hour’ by Andrew Manatos

Part of an occasional series of articles about the Greek Orthodox presence and activities in our nation’s capital. “If the Greek-American community lasts for a thousand years, men will say this was their finest hour.” This paraphrasing of Winston Churchill’s statement at the outset of World War II describes a recent Washington event that stands out as among the best in my 45 years of such events. I refer to this year’s annual White House event on March 9 at which the President of the United States and first lady honored Archbishop Demetrios and the Hellenic Republic’s Prime Minister and first lady. This occurred before 300 U.S. senators, members of Congress and distinguished guests, who are more used to standing at a podium than sitting in an audience. Substance in addition to stature made this the “finest hour.” America had just stopped it’s half-decade of anti-GreekCypriot activities. President Barack Obama announced that our Greek allies would no longer need a visa to visit the U.S. Also, our government has caused actual positive movement in Turkey for the religious freedom of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. Finally, uncharacteristically for U.S. presidents, Barack Obama did not pressure Prime Minister George Papandreou to move toward the Skopjeans on the

Macedonian issue. Why do Hellenism and Orthodoxy receive such treatment when we are only one-half percent of America’s population? Washington is filled with languishing meritorious issues and an old joke says that the last time anything happened spontaneously in Washington was when George Washington’s horse bucked, and he fell off. So then, what brought about this “finest hour?” The answer has a lot to do with religions playing an active role in our nascent democracy and our Founding Fathers insisting that this involvement continue. The Greek Orthodox Church of America has carefully limited its involvement to religious and human rights issues it knows well. Washington’s officials value our churches as shepherds of their religious flocks and the venue for 95 percent of Greek festivals, classes in the Greek language, culture, cooking, and dancing, as well as organization meetings and sports. As former Ambassador to Greece Nicholas Burns said, we value the additions to our understanding about the Patriarchate, Greece and Cyprus received through the Greek Orthodox Church of America. Profoundly important are the spin-off benefits that come from our Archbishop enabling our community to meet for 24 consecutive years directly with the President of the United States. We are the only nationality group other than the second largest nationality in America, the Irish, to do this. Five largely unknown elements enable

this rare privilege. The first is the touching personal relationship Archbishop Demetrios has developed with each president. The second is the decades of unsurpassed behind-the-scenes work of the Archdiocese’s Fr. Alex Karloutsos. The third is the great work of our priests in our 500 churches, whose parishioners’ income and education ranks them ahead of all other religions except Judaism, along with the great work of the Order of St. Andrew, the Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. The fourth is the hours of daily work finding opportunities in Washington, coordinating our world-class network and realizing our goals that I am proud to say Manatos & Manatos (M&M) contributes for free. The fifth enormously essential element is kept scrupulously separate from the church. Orthodox individuals began in 1983 to seriously use targeted political contributions to members of both political parties and to contribute daily behind-thescenes Washington work. Motivated by the military occupation of Cyprus nationally prominent GreekAmericans and Cypriot-Americans joined together in the Coordinated Effort of Hellenes (CEH). Recently younger Greek and Cypriot Americans have raised even higher CEH’s already high bar so that CEH leaders are listed by national publications among America’s top political contributors. On religious and human rights issues, CEH coordinates closely with the Archdio-

cese. And, like today’s church CEH eschews the all-too-frequent Greek-American practice of attacking other Hellenes rather than focusing on making progress. Without CEH/M&M having written and enacted the enabling legislation, neither our Archbishop-led annual meeting with the President, nor enabling Greeks to come to America without visas could have happened. CEH/M&M’s intense daily work in Washington played a similar role in recently ending America’s anti-Greek-Cypriot policies, helping the Church improve religious freedom of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and keeping pressure off of Greece regarding the Macedonian issue. CEH/M&M effectiveness became clear in 1999 when Cyprus separated from these efforts. Eighty percent of Cyprus’ Congressional support disappeared, America tried to force an unfair Annan plan on GreekCypriots, and when the Greek-Cypriots rejected it, they were punished for a halfdecade. Taken alone, each of our issues may have had a greater moment over the decades. But never in my 45 years of involvement have they all together had such favorable treatment and ceremony as during our March 9, 2010 “finest hour.” Andy Manatos served as chairman of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew’s visit to Washington, is a member of the Archdiocesan Council, regional commander of the Order of St. Andrew, president of Manatos & Manatos, and a former Assistant Secretary of the Department of Commerce.

MAY 2010

Detroit’s Annunciation Cathedral Celebrates 100th Anniversary DETROIT – Often referred to as the “mother church” by the Greek Orthodox faithful in Michigan, Detroit’s own Annunciation Cathedral has reached a significant milestone in the church’s history. 100 years ago on March 25, 1910, the State of Michigan chartered the new Church of the Evangelismos. The articles of association of the church members were drafted and the Association was incorporated under the provisions of Chapter 225 of the Compiled laws of 1897 and is known in law as “Evangelismos Theotoku.” A second story auditorium was rented at 42 Broadway to conduct church services. The first priest to serve was Fr. Nathaniel Sideris. A parish council composed of President Demetrios Liskas and councilmen P. Maroudas, S. Athanasoulias, John Kyriakakos, Athan Barbayiannis and treasurer, Nicholas Parentesis, began the organizational journey for the fledgling congregation. Significant is the date, March 25, as it also celebrates the Annunciation of the Theotokos religious holiday and church nameday as well as Greek Independence Day. For further description of the holiday’s significance, go to the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America website at www.goarch.org. 100 years have brought many changes to Detroit’s Greektown landscape. The original Annunciation Church in 1910 became the center of commerce for the hundreds of Greeks who immigrated to America for a better life and a promising future. At the same time, the downtown area surrounding the church also became its own metropolis with families of original families settling in and growing a community. Some milestones 1906 – The Barbas brothers, John, Christos and Tom open a candy store at 33 Cadillac Square and continue their business until 1961.

1909 – Beginning of 1910–250 Greeks settle in Detroit on Monroe Sreet between Beaubien and St. Antoine. 1910 – by the end of the year, 884 foreign –born Greeks live in Detroit, according to U.S. Census records 1910 – Greektown becomes a distinctive Detroit neighborhood. Two newspapers and Evangelismos Church are part of the community. The church was and still is a place for all of “life’s celebrations,” the center of activity, education and fellowship for those who embraced their treasured Greek Orthodox religion and for those who passed this love for the church and its splendid traditions from generation to generation. The first marriage of record took place in 1912; the earliest baptism in 1913. The original church was constructed at 660 Macomb St., thus starting its long history. In 1914, a day school is erected on newly-acquired land just east of the church with second priest, Fr. George Petrides overseeing its building. Fr. Petrides became the pastor in 1912 and served for 24 years, the longest of any Annunciation priest. Religious and social contributions are many. Annunciation Cathedral provided a hub, a place of worship for all Greeks in the Metro Detroit area. It has led to cultural and religious development by maintaining the Greek heritage and customs, perpetuating the Orthodox faith for 100 years. Recognized as a historic site, Annunciation has made a commitment to the City of Detroit by remaining downtown even as other Greek Orthodox churches relocated, first on the east, west and north sides of Detroit and then into the suburbs. The rest, as they say, is history. From small markets and bakeries to restaurants and coffee houses, Monroe became the main street of Greektown and continues to this date. Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathe-

Annunciation Church in the 1930s.

dral is, as was stated before, the “mother church.” 2010 CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION CALENDAR OF EVENTS Events scheduled during the year in commemoration of the cathedral’s centennial are as follows: MAY 15 – Centennial Celebration Banquet at the Atheneum International Banquet and Conference Center in Detroit’s Historic Greektown. MAY 16 – Divine Liturgy Celebration with Metropolitan Nicholas of Detroit, former Cathedral staff, deans and altar boys who will celebrate the Divine Liturgy with Fr. Athanas G. George. JUNE 20 – Anniversary Sunday – all spouses who were married at the Cathedral are invited to return to celebrate their years together. A special service will honor all participants. JULY 4 – Family picnic and reunion at St. George Church Park located at 16300 Dix–Toledo, Southgate, Mich. 48195. AUG. 22 – Annunciation Cathedral

Tiger Day baseball game at Comerica Park in downtown Detroit. SEPT. 19 – Children’s Sunday reunion inviting all former Sunday School teachers and students to return to the “mother” church. This day will also honor all godparents and persons baptized at the Annunciation Cathedral. OCT. 3 – Philoptochos Sunday in honor of all past and present members and officers. OCT. 17 – Pioneers Sunday – Annunciation’s precious pioneers take over the duties of the Parish Council and read the Epistle and Gospel in English. NOV. 6 – Centennial Dance – Greektown Casino Ballroom event celebrates the year with an evening of dance and music provided by the Levendes DEC.12 – “TO THE NEXT 100 YEARS” – Annunciation parishioners will create a time capsule to reflect the first 100 years and how it was celebrated in 2010 as a tribute to the past, present and future generations. For more information, 313.965.2988.

Baltimore Parade Held 1st Day of Spring

Photo by George Sillas

Greek Orthodox Clergy from throughout southern California kneel in the altar of Saint George Greek Orthodox Church in Downey during the Consecration Service.

California Church Consecrated DOWNEY, Calif. – The Consecration of St. George Church on April 24 highlighted several days events in connection with the “baptismal” service for the 140-family parish. Metropolitan Gerasimos, assisted by Bishop Anthimos of Olympos, Fr, John Constantine, pastor, and several other clergy celebrated the service. A hierarchical Divine Liturgy followed the Saturday morning consecration. Other participants included Deacon John Alecvizos of St.

George Church, and Deacon Niko Bekris, Metropolis of San Francisco youth director. The parish was organized in 1982 and the church was completed in 1996, when a Thyranoixia (door-opening service) took place with the late Metropolitan Anthony officiating. The sanctuary, a 10,000 square foot 6th century Byzantine-style church, was designed by the late Sam Grillias of GPRA Architects in Irvine, Calif. Consecration event co-chairs were Georgia Covell and Sasha Vithoulkas.

Baltimore’s officially designated “Greektown” was festooned with Greek and American flags on March 21 for the annual Greek Independence Day Parade honoring the sacrifices and efforts of the forbears of modern Greece to preserve the ideals of Freedom and Democracy. Hundreds of faithful viewed the many marching groups in ethnic costumes representing their churches and various regions and islands of Greece. Among them were dance groups, Ahepans, Daughters of Penelope, the “300 Spartan Warriors of Thermopylae,” Evzones and others. Among the key dignitaries were retired Sen. Paul Sarbanes, Ambassador of Greece Vasilis Kaskarelis, Baltimore City Mayor Stephanie RawlingsBlake, Aris Melissaratos, special advisor to the President of Johns Hopkins University and officials and military attaches from the Greek and Cypriot embassies. Grand Marshal was Col. Nicholas Vamvakias, supreme treasurer of AHEPA. Parade chairmen were Emmanuel Matsos and George Stakias. – Contributed by Georgia Vavas

Retired Sen. Paul Sarbanes, Ambassador of Greece Vasilis Kaskarelis, Baltimore City Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and other dignitaries lead the parade.

A marching unit from Baltimore’s Annunciation Cathedral.

The “300 Spartans” marching unit.

ΜΑΪΟΣ 2010

ΕΤΟΣ 75 • ΑΡΙΘΜΟΣ 1257

ΣΥΝΕΔΡΙΑΣΕ ΤΟ ΑΡΧΙΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΙΚΟ ΣΥΜΒΟΥΛΙΟ ΣΤΗΝ ΑΤΛΑΝΤΑ ΝΕΑ ΥΟΡΚΗ – Συνήλθε υπό την προεδρία του Σεβασμιωτάτου Αρχιεπισκόπου Αμερικής κ. Δημητρίου στην Ατλάντα, το Αρχιεπισκοπικό Συμβούλιο της Ελληνικής Ορθοδόξου Αρχιεπισκοπής Αμερικής για την προγραμματισμένη εαρινή του συνεδρία το διήμερο 6-7 Μαΐου 2010. Η συνεδρίαση πραγματοποιήθηκε στο ξενοδοχείο Marriott Marquis της Ατλάντα, όπου πρόκειται να πραγματοποιηθεί η 40η Κληρικολαϊκή Συνέλευση της Ιεράς Αρχιεπισκοπής μεταξύ 4-8 Ιουλίου τ.έ. Οι Κληρικολαϊκές Συνελεύσεις της Ιεράς Αρχιεπισκοπής Αμερικής πραγματοποιούνται ανά διετία. Οι επί μέρους επιτροπές του Αρχιεπισκοπικού Συμβουλίου, οι οποίες συνεδρίασαν την πρώτη ημέρα του διημέρου, παρουσίασαν στο Σώμα δώδεκα συνολικά εκθέσεις των διαφόρων Εθνικών Διακονιών και υπηρεσιών της Αρχιεπισκοπής. Το Αρχιεπισκοπικό Συμβούλιο διεπίστωσε μια συνεχώς βελτιούμενη κατάσταση των οικονομικών της Αρχιεπισκοπής την οποία καταδεικνύει η αυξητική τάση των εσόδων από τη μια και η σταθερή μείωση των λειτουργικών εξόδων και των εκκρεμοτήτων από την άλλη. Τα μέλη του Αρχιεπισκοπικού Συμβουλίου είχαν την ευκαιρία να εξακριβώσουν την επιτευχθείσα πρόοδο και με τις παρατηρήσεις και συμβουλές τους να συμβάλλουν στη διαμόρφωση των νέων πρωτοβουλιών και εξελίξεων. Στις εισαγωγικές του παρατηρήσεις ο Αρχιεπίσκοπος Δημήτριος ευχαρίστησε πρώτα τα μέλη για την συμμετοχή και αφοσίωσή τους στο έργο της Εκκλησίας και μετέφερε τις πατρικές και πατριαρχικές ευλογίες του Παναγιωτάτου Οικουμενικού Πατριάρχου κ. Βαρθολομαίου. Ο Σεβασμιώτατος αναφέρθηκε σε δυο σημαντικά γεγονότα που θα λάβουν χώρα

 óåë. 16

Η Εθνική Παρέλαση στην 5 η Λεωφόρο της Ν.Υ.

 óåë. 20

Α ΡΧΙΕΠΙ ΣΚΟΠΙΚΗ Ε ΓΚΥ Κ ΛΙΟΣ

Κυριακή τῆς ΑHEPA Πρός τούς Σεβασμιωτάτους καί Θεοφιλεστάτους Ἀρχιερεῖς, τούς Εὐλαβεστάτους Ἱερεῖς καί Διακόνους, τούς Μοναχούς καί Μοναχές, τούς Προέδρους καί Μέλη τῶν Κοινοτικῶν Συμβουλίων, τά Ἡμερήσια καί Ἀπογευματινά Σχολεῖα, τίς Φιλοπτώχους Ἀδελφότητες, τήν Νεολαία, τίς Ἑλληνορθόδοξες Ὀργανώσεις καί ὁλόκληρο τό Χριστεπώνυμον πλήρωμα τῆς Ἱερᾶς Ἀρχιεπισκοπῆς Ἀμερικῆς.

ÍÉÊ. ÌÁÃÃÉÍÁÓ

Στα ερείπια της Βασιλικής στην Πέργαμο της Μικράς Ασίας, όπου φυλασσόταν το σκήνωμα του Αγίου Ιωάννου του Θεολόγου και Ευαγγελιστού, τελέσθηκε Θεία Λειτουργία επί τη μνήμη του, υπό του Μητροπολίτου Περγάμου Ιωάννου, παρουσία του Οικουμενικού Πατριάρχου Βαρθολομαίου.

Οικουμενικός Πατριάρχης Βαρθολομαίος:

Η Ρωμιοσύνη θα μείνει όρθια ôïõ Íéêüëáïõ Ìáããßíá

Το ξεκάθαρο μήνυμα πως η Ρωμιοσύνη θα μείνει όρθια έστειλε από την Πέργαμο ο Οικουμενικός Πατριάρχης Βαρθολομαίος, ο οποίος υπενθύμισε πως στον τόπο αυτό, παρά το γεγονός ότι σήμερα δεν ζουν ρωμιοί, «υπάρχει ένα κομμάτι της ψυχής μας». Όπως είπε στον τόπο αυτό «ευρίσκονται οστά πιστών δούλων του Θεού, ευρίσκονται αίματα άγια, ευρίσκονται δάκρυα ιερά, ευρίσκονται θυμιάματα

προσευχών, ευρίσκονται αρώματα ευαγγελικής αρετής». Ευχόμενος στον εορτάζοντα Μητροπολίτη Περγάμου Ιωάννη εξέφρασε την πεποίθηση ότι η Θεία Λειτουργία που τελέσθηκε στα ερείπια της Βασιλικής του Αγίου Ιωάννου του Θεολόγου θα αποτελέσει τη «χρυσή γέφυρα στην προαγωγή της φιλίας και της αγάπης μεταξύ του Ορθοδόξου και μουσουλμανικού στοιχεί-

 óåë. 16

ΕΠΙΣΚΕΨΗ ΤΟΥ ΑΡΧΙΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΥ ΔΗΜΗΤΡΙΟΥ ΣΤΟ ΟΙΚΟΥΜΕΝΙΚΟ ΠΑΤΡΙΑΡΧΕΙΟ ΚΑΙ ΣΤΗΝ ΑΘΗΝΑ ΝΕΑ ΥΟΡΚΗ – Ο Σεβασμιώτατος Αρχιεπίσκοπος Αμερικής κ. Δημήτριος στις 28 Απριλίου ολοκλήρωσε το πενθήμερο ταξίδι στην Κωνσταντινούπολη και στην Αθήνα. Ο Αρχιεπίσκοπος έφθασε στο Φανάρι την Παρασκευή 23 Απριλίου, εορτή του Αγίου Γεωργίου του Τροπαιοφόρου, με σκοπό η επίσκεψή του να συμπέσει με την επίσκεψη στο Οικουμενικό Πατριαρχείο του Μακαριωτάτου Πατριάρχου Ιεροσολύμων κ. Θεοφίλου. Την επομένη, ο Αρχιεπίσκοπος παρευρέθη στην επίσημη υποδοχή του Πατριάρχου Ιεροσολύμων και της ακολουθίας του στο Φανάρι. Ο Πατριάρχης Ιεροσολύμων και οι Ιεράρχες και κληρικοί που το συνόδευαν, ταξίδεψαν στην Πόλη για τα εγκαίνια του ανακαινισθέντος Ιερού Ναού του Αγ. Γεωργίου στο Νεοχώρι του Βοσπόρου, Mετοχίου του Πατριαρχείου Ιεροσολύμων. Αμέσως μετά την υποδοχή ο Αρχιεπίσκοπος Δημήτριος συμμετέσχε σε σύσκεψη με τους δύο Πατριάρχες και άλλους Ιεράρχες η οποία πραγματοποιήθηκε στο Πατριαρχικό Γραφείο και απέβλεπε στην τελική διευθέτηση εκκρεμών θεμάτων τα οποία σχετίζονται με τις Παλαιστινιακές-Ιορδανικές κοινότητες στις Ηνωμένες Πολιτείες. Η συνάντηση ολο-

κληρώθηκε με επιτυχία. Την Κυριακή 25 Απριλίου ο Αρχιεπίσκοπος παρακολούθησε την Θεία Λειτουργία μαζί με τον Οικουμενικό Πατριάρχη στον Ιερό Ναό του Αγίου Γεωργίου στο Νεοχώρι, στην οποία προεξήρχε ο Πατριάρχης Ιεροσολύμων Θεόφιλος. Το απόγευμα της ίδιας ημέρας ο Οικουμενικός Πατριάρχης κ. Βαρθολομαίος σε ιδιαίτερη συνάντηση με τον Αρχιεπίσκοπο Αμερικής εξέτασαν τα θέματα και τις προετοιμασίες για την προσεχή Συνέλευση των Ορθοδόξων Επισκόπων της Βορείου και Κεντρικής Αμερικής. Την επομένη ημέρα, ο Αρχιεπίσκοπος μετέβη στην Αθήνα όπου την Τρίτη 26 Απριλίου είχε διαδοχικές συναντήσεις με τον Μακαριώτατο Αρχιεπίσκοπο Αθηνών και Πάσης Ελλάδος κ. Ιερώνυμο, τον Πρωθυπουργό της Ελλάδος κ. Γεώργιο Παπανδρέου, τον Αναπληρωτή Υπουργό Εξωτερικών κ. Δημήτριο Δρούτσα και την Διευθύντρια Πρωτοκόλλου του Υπουργείου Εξωτερικών Πρέσβη κυρία Αικατερίνη Μπούρα (πρώην Γενική Πρόξενο στη Νέα Υόρκη). Σε όλες τις παραπάνω συναντήσεις ο Αρχιεπίσκοπος είχε ουσιαστικές

 óåë. 16

Ἀγαπητοί Ἀδελφοί καί Ἀδελφές ἐν Χριστῷ, Ἡ Ἱερά Ἀρχιεπισκοπή Ἀμερικῆς ἀναγνωρίζει κατά τήν ἡμέρα αὐτή τά μέλη καί τήν προσφορά τῆς Ἑλληνοαμερικανικῆς Ἐκπαιδευτικῆς καί Προοδευτικῆς Ἐταιρείας. Ἡ οἰκογένεια τῆς AHEPA ἔχει μακρά ἱστορία στήν προαγωγή τοῦ Ἑλληνισμοῦ, τῆς ἐκπαιδεύσεως, τῆς φιλανθρωπίας, τῆς κοινωνικοπολιτικῆς εὐθύνης, τῆς οἰκογενείας καί τῆς ἀτομικῆς ἐπιδόσεως μέσα σέ πνεῦμα ἀληθινῆς διακονίας καί ὁμαδικότητος. Μέσα ἀπό ἐθνικά καί διεθνῆ προγράμματα, πρωτοβουλίες καί ἐτήσιες συγκεντρώσεις, τά μέλη της ΑΗΕΡΑ συνεχίζουν νά συντελοῦν στήν βελτίωση τῆς ζωῆς πολλῶν ἀνθρώπων. Εἶναι ταυτοχρόνως μέλη ἐνοριῶν καί ὀργανισμῶν τῆς Ἑλληνικῆς Ὀρθοδόξου Ἀρχιεπισκοπῆς Ἀμερικῆς, διότι πιστεύουν καί ὑπηρετοῦν στήν πραγματοποίηση τῆς ἱερᾶς ἀποστολῆς μας πρός διάδοση τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου τοῦ Κυρίου μας Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. Μέ αὐτόν τόν τρόπο, οἱ στόχοι τῆς ΑΗΕΡΑ ἀπεικονίζουν τήν φύση τῆς σχέσεως τῆς Ὀρθοδόξου πίστεώς μας καί τῆς Ἑλληνικῆς κληρονομιᾶς. Μέ τήν παράδοση φιλανθρωπίας γιά τούς ἐν ἀνάγκῃ εὑρισκομένους, ἀφιερώσεως στά ὑψηλά ἰδεώδη, καί δεσμεύσεως παροχῆς προσφορᾶς στούς ἄλλους οὕτως ὥστε νά ἐπιτύχουν στή ζωή των, τά μέλη τῆς ΑΗΕΡΑ προσφέρουν μαρτυρία τῶν χαρακτηριστικῶν τῆς πίστεως καί κληρονομιᾶς μας. Χαρακτηριστικῶν τά ὁποῖα καλλιεργοῦν τό δυναμικό μας καί ἐπιβεβαιώνουν τήν ἀνάγκη τῆς κοινωνίας μας μέ τόν Θεό καί μεταξύ μας. Πρόκειται περί μαρτυρίας τήν ὁποία ὅλοι μποροῦμε νά προσφέρουμε ὡς ἙλληνοΑμερικανοί, Φιλέλληνες καί Ὀρθόδοξοι Χριστιανοί, μοιραζόμενοι μέ ὅλους τήν ὑπέροχη κληρονομιά τήν ὁποία ἐλάβαμε. Αὐτή τήν Κυριακή, εὐχαριστοῦμε τήν οἰκογένεια τῆς ΑΗΕΡΑ γιά τήν σημαντική συνεισφορά της στίς κοινότητές μας, σ’αὐτή τήν χώρα καί σ’ ὁλόκληρο τόν κόσμο. Ζητοῦμε ἀπ’ ὅλες τίς ἐνορίες μας ν’ ἀναγνωρίσουν τήν προσφορά τῶν μελῶν τῆς ΑΗΕΡΑ καί νά προαγάγουν τό ἔργο αὐτῆς τῆς σημαντικῆς ὀργανώσεως. Ὡς ἀδελφοί καί ἀδελφές ἐν Χριστῷ καί ὡς δωρεοδόχοι μιᾶς μεγάλης καί ὡραίας παραδόσεως πίστεως, ἀληθείας, γνώσεως καί ζωῆς, ἄς προσευχηθοῦμε στόν Θεό γιά τό ζωτικό ἔργο τῆς AHEPA καί ἄς ἐργασθοῦμε ἀπό κοινοῦ γιά τήν τιμή καί τήν δόξα Αὐτοῦ.

Με πατρική ἐν Χριστῷ ἀγάπη,

ÿ ὁ Ἀρχιεπίσκοπος Ἀµερικῆς ∆ηµήτριος

ΟΡΘΟΔΟΞΟΣ ΠΑΡΑΤΗΡΗΤΗΣ

ΣΥΝΕΔΡΙΑΣΕ ΤΟ ΑΡΧΙΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΙΚΟ ΣΥΜΒΟΥΛΙΟ ΣΤΗΝ ΑΤΛΑΝΤΑ  óåë. 15 προσεχώς. Πρώτον, στη Συνέλευση των Κανονικών Ορθοδόξων Επισκόπων της Βορείου και Κεντρικής Αμερικής η οποία θα συγκληθεί στη Νέα Υόρκη μεταξύ 26-28 Μαΐου υπό την προεδρία του Αρχιεπισκόπου Δημητρίου, ως Εξάρχου του Οικουμενικού Πατριαρχείου και δεύτερον, στην 40η Κληρικολαϊκή Συνέλευση της Ιεράς Αρχιεπισκοπής, στις αρχές Ιουλίου στην Άτλαντα. Ο Αρχιεπίσκοπος παρότρυνε τα μέλη του Συμβουλίου να ενθαρρύνουν και να συνδράμουν τις ενορίες της Αρχιεπισκοπής ώστε να αυξηθεί στο μέγιστο δυνατό η συμμετοχή στην προσεχή Κληρικολαϊκή. Τόνισε ότι καμιά ενορία δεν πρέπει να απουσιάσει. Η πρόσκληση του Φιλίππου προς τον Ναθαναήλ: «Έρχου κι Ίδε» (Ιωαν. 1:46), όπως παρουσιάζεται στο Κατά Ιωάννη Ευαγγέλιο, είναι το θέμα της εφετεινής Κληρικολαϊκής και αποτελεί συνέχεια του θέματος της προηγουμένης Κληρικολαϊκής «Συναγάγετε τον λαό μου εις τον Οίκο μου». Είναι μια πρόσκληση στην οποία πρέπει πρώτα οι ενορίες μας να ανταποκριθούν. Ο Αρχιεπίσκοπος κάνοντας χρήση της προτροπής του Αποστόλου Παύλου προς τους Εφεσίους να είναι συνετοί και εν εγρηγόρσει «εξαγοραζόμενοι τον καιρόν ότι αι ημέραι πονηραί εισι», είπε ότι οι καιροί απαιτούν όχι μόνο επαγρύπνηση αλλά μια θετική και δυναμική αντιμετώπιση. Ο κ. Εμμανουήλ Τζαχάρης, αντιπρόεδρος του Αρχιεπισκοπικού Συμβουλίου, εξέθεσε τις απόψεις και τις παρατηρήσεις του για τα θέματα της Αρχιεπισκοπής και

επανέλαβε την ανάγκη για εκατό τοις εκατό συμμετοχή των ενοριών στην προσεχή Κληρικολαϊκή. Σε άλλο σημείο των παρατηρήσεών του αναφέρθηκε στις προσπάθειες ενίσχυσης της Νεολαίας, και ως παράδειγμα ανέφερε την στήριξη των κατασκηνωτικών προγραμμάτων της Αρχιεπισκοπής από το ταμείο «Πίστις: Ταμείο για την Ορθοδοξία και τον Ελληνισμό». Παρουσιάστηκαν εκθέσεις και αναφορές των παρακάτω επιτροπών: Επικοινωνιών, Κέντρου Φροντίδος της Οικογένειας, Τεχνολογίας, Μικτών Γάμων, Διοικητικών θεμάτων, Νεολαίας, κατασκηνωτικών προγραμμάτων και Ιονικού Χωριού, Οικονομικών θεμάτων, Λογίας και χριστιανικής συνεισφοράς, Ιεραποστολής, Ελληνικής παιδείας και Κατηχητικής παιδείας. Ο διοικητής του Τάγματος του Αποστόλου Ανδρέα των Αρχόντων του Οικουμενικού Πατριαρχείου κ. Αντώνιος Λυμπεράκης ενημέρωσε το Συμβούλιο για το έργο των Αρχόντων. Τέλος, ο Σεβ. Μητροπολίτης Ντιτρόϊτ κ. Νικόλαος ζήτησε τη συνδρομή όλων στον έρανο που πραγματοποιεί η Μητρόπολη Ντιτρόϊτ προς βοήθεια των πληγέντων από τις πρόσφατες καταστρεπτικές πλημμύρες στην Πόλη Nashville. Στον επίλογο της συνεδριάσεως ο Αρχιεπίσκοπος επανέλαβε με έμφαση την ανάγκη στήριξης των προγραμμάτων της Αρχιεπισκοπής για τη Νεολαία. Τόνισε επίσης ότι στην παρούσα διεθνή συγκυρία έχουμε αυξημένη την ευθύνη να διατηρήσουμε, να προστατεύσουμε και να μοιραστούμε την Ορθόδοξη πίστη μας και την παγκόσμια Ελληνική μας κληρονομιά.

ΕΠΙΣΚΕΨΗ ΤΟΥ ΑΡΧΙΕΠΙΣΚΟΠΟΥ ΔΗΜΗΤΡΙΟΥ ΣΤΟ ΟΙΚΟΥΜΕΝΙΚΟ ΠΑΤΡΙΑΡΧΕΙΟ ΚΑΙ ΣΤΗΝ ΑΘΗΝΑ  óåë. 15 συζητήσεις επί θεμάτων που αφορούν την Ομογένεια και την Γενέτειρα. Τέλος, την ίδια ημέρα, ο Αρχιεπίσκοπος είχε δύο επιπλέον συναντήσεις με τις ομάδες προετοιμασίας του θερινού κατασκηνωτικού προγράμματος του Ιονικού Χωριού. Κατά την άφιξη του χθες στη Νέα Υόρκη, ο Αρχιεπίσκοπος πληροφορήθηκε σχετικά με κάποιες ανυπόστατες διαδόσεις που εμφανίστηκαν στο διαδίκτυο και στον Τύπο για δήθεν παραίτηση ή αποχώρησή του από τη θέση του ως Αρχιεπισκόπου Αμερικής. Ο Σεβασμιώτατος δήλωσε κατηγορηματικά ότι η σχετική φημολογία είναι εντελώς αβάσιμη και προφανέστατα ψευδής. Επιπλέον, ο Αρχιεπίσκοπος πρόσθεσε ότι επ’ ουδενί λόγω τίθεται θέμα οιασδήποτε συζητήσεως περί παραιτήσεως.

Είπε δε ότι προσβλέπει στα επόμενα χρόνια στη συνέχιση της ιερής και ζωτικής αποστολής και του έργου της Ιεράς Ελληνικής Ορθοδόξου Αρχιεπισκοπής Αμερικής, με την ίδια πίστη, τον ίδιο ζήλο, τον ίδιο μεθοδικό σχεδιασμό και την ίδια αγάπη, ειδικά τώρα εν όψει των ποικίλων δυσκολιών που αντιμετωπίζει ο κόσμος μας σήμερα.

Για ερωτήματα σχετικά με τον Κανονισμό για θέματα επιλήψιμης σεξουαλικής συμπεριφοράς κληρικών της Ιεράς Αρχιεπισκοπής Αμερικής ή για σχετικές καταγγελίες καλέστε χωρίς χρέωση τον ειδικό αριθμό (877) 554-3382 Όλες οι καταγγελίες θα ληφθούν σοβαρά υπ’ όψιν και θα διερευνηθούν πλήρως και με απόλυτη αμεροληψία. Μπορείτε να μιλήσετε Αγγλικά ή Ελληνικά σε εθελοντή ή εθελόντρια.

ΜΑΪΟΣ 2010

Η Ρωμιοσύνη θα μείνει όρθια

 óåë. 15 ου». Η Θεία Λειτουργία τελέστηκε προεξάρχοντος του Μητροπολίτη Περγάμου και παρέστη συμπροσευχόμενος – μαζί με τον Οικουμενικό Πατριάρχη, ο Μητροπολίτης Ζακύνθου Χρυσόστομος, η Γενική Πρόξενος στης Ελλάδος στη Σμύρνη Χαρά Σκολαρίκου, και πλήθος προσκυνητών από την Μυτιλήνη και από άλλες περιοχές της Ελλάδος. «Βεβαίως η λυχνία της Περγάμου, «κρίμασιν οις οίδεν ο Κύριος», δεν ευρίσκεται πλέον εις την φυσικήν θέσιν της. Μετεκινήθη, όπως και αι υπόλοιποι εξ λυχνίαι του τελευταίου βιβλίου της Αγίας Γραφής, το οποίον η θεοκίνητος χειρ του εορτάζοντος Ευαγγελιστού συνέγραψεν εν Πάτμω. Όμως κάτω από την βάσιν των ιερών λυχνιών αυτών ευρίσκονται τάφοι! Ευρίσκονται οστά αγίων Μαρτύρων, όπως ο πολύς Αντίπας, «ο μάρτυς του Κυρίου ο πιστός», τον οποίον με τόσην τρυφερότητα μνημονεύει η φωνή του Θεού υπαγορεύουσα εις τον Ιωάννην την επιστολήν προς τον Επίσκοπον της Περγάμου. Ευρίσκονται οστά πιστών δούλων του Θεού. Ευρίσκονται αίματα άγια, ευρίσκονται δάκρυα ιερά, ευρίσκονται θυμιάματα προσευχών, ευρίσκονται αρώματα ευαγγελικής αρετής, ευρίσκονται μύρα χριστιανικής αγάπης! Το μαρτυρούν τα ερείπια των θυσιαστηρίων μας και των ναών μας. Το βεβαιώνουν τα βιβλία της ιστορίας και τα ευρήματα της αρχαιολογικής σκαπάνης! Εδώ υπάρχει ένα κομμάτι της ψυχής μας! Ένα κομμάτι της Ορθοδόξου ψυχής της Ρωμηοσύνης! Εδώ είναι «η Ζωή εν τάφω», αλλ’ η Ζωή δεν αποθνήσκει, καν εν τάφω οική!» σημείωσε στην ομιλία του ο Πατριάρχης. «Ήλθαμε, λοιπόν, δια να φανερώσωμε την Εκκλησίαν, δια της Θείας Λειτουργίας, εις μίαν από τας αρχαιοτέρας κοιτίδας της, και μάλιστα ιερουργούντος του «αγγέλου της εν Περγάμω Εκκλησίας». Ήλθαμε δια να πούμε εις τους πατέρας μας ότι δεν τους ελησμονήσαμεν. Ότι εις την καρδιά μας ζουν πάντοτε, όπως και αι ψυχαί των ζουν αιωνίως εν χειρί Θεού, μαζί με τα άλλα πνεύματα δικαίων τετελειωμένων! Ήλθαμε δια να τους ψάλουμε το «Χριστός ανέστη!», να τους τραγουδήσουμε τον παναρμόνιον ύμνον της ακαταλύτου ελπίδος, να τους πούμε ότι δεν ελησμονήσαμε την παρακαταθήκην της πίστεως εις τον Αναστάντα, την οποίαν εκείνοι μας άφησαν. Ήλθαμε να τους πούμε ότι είμεθα όρθιοι και αποφασισμένοι να μείνωμεν όρθιοι, «κρατούντες το όνομα» του Πρώτου και Εσχάτου, του Ζώντος, του γενομένου νεκρού και ιδού Ζώντος εις τους αιώνας των αιώνων!» πρόσθεσε και ευχήθηκε στον εορτάζοντα Περγάμου Ιωάννη. «Συγχαίρομεν τον άγοντα τα ονομαστήριά του Ιερώτατον Μητροπολίτην Περγάμου κ. Ιωάννην και του ευχόμεθα μακροημέρευσιν εν υγιεία αμφιλαφεί, φωτισμόν άνωθεν πλούσιον, πάσαν δόσιν αγαθήν και παν δώρημα τέλειον παρά του Πατρός των Φώτων, δια πρεσβειών του Ευαγγελιστού Ιωάννου και του Μάρτυρος Αντίπα, ώστε αξίως να φέρη έως βαθυτάτου γήρως και πρεσβείου το τίμιον και σεβάσμιον όνομα του αγγέλου της εν Περγάμω Εκκλησίας, καρποφορών θεολογίαν ακριβή και προσφέρων τας πολυτίμους υπηρεσίας του εις την ποτνίαν Μητέρα Εκκλησίαν, εις έπαινόν του και ψυχικήν σωτηρίαν του», είπε ο Πατριάρχης και κατέληξε: «Πιστεύομεν ότι η σημερινή Θεία Λειτουργία θα λειτουργήση ως χρυσή γέφυρα φιλίας και αγάπης του Ορθοδόξου Χριστιανικού στοιχείου με το εντόπιον μουσουλμανικόν στοιχείον, όπερ και ευχό-

μεθα. Ως Εκκλησία πάντοτε αγωνιζόμεθα δια την συμφιλίωσιν, την ειρηνικήν εν δικαιοσύνη και αγάπη συνεργασίαν ανθρώπων και λαών». Προηγουμένως ο Μητροπολίτης Περγάμου Ιωάννης εξέφρασε την βαθύτατη συγκίνησή του για την τέλεση της Θείας Λειτουργίας στον ιστορικό αυτό τόπο. «Σ’ αυτόν το χώρο πρωτοακούσθηκε η μεγαλύτερη σοφία των αιώνων, μία σοφία που ο αρχαίος ελληνικός κόσμος, ο αρχαίος κόσμος δεν μπόρεσε ποτέ να την προσεγγίσει, παρ’ ότι έφτασε σε ύψη της γνώσεως και είναι η σοφία μιάς λέξεως μόνον. Της λέξεως “Αγάπη”. Εδώ κηρύχθηκε αυτή η μεγάλη σοφία, σ’ αυτό το χώρο από τον Ιωάννη τον Ευαγγελιστή, ο οποίος περιήρχετο κατά την παράδοση και εις βαθύτατο γήρας ακόμη όλες αυτές τις περιοχές, για να ιδρύσει εκκλησίες και να μεταφέρει το μήνυμα της Αγάπης. Αυτό το μήνυμα, Παναγιώτατε Δέσποτα, μεταφέρετε και εσείς εις την διαδρομήν της Πατριαρχίας σας, εκδαπανάσθε για να μεταφέρετε το μήνυμα της ειρήνης και της αγάπης, της καταλλαγής εις όλο τον κόσμο. Και ιδιαιτέρως εις τον χώρον αυτόν. Σ’ ένα χώρο ο οποίος θα πρέπει να είναι χώρος ειρηνικής συνύπαρξης και αγάπης. Αυτό είναι το μήνυμα που φέρνει η Ορθόδοξη Εκκλησία μας και αυτό εσείς, Παναγιώτατε, περισσότερο από κάθε άλλον ετάξατε ύψιστον σκοπόν της Πατριαρχίας σας. Ευαγγελίζεσθε τον διάλογο μεταξύ των διηρημένων χριστιανών, καλλιεργείτε τον διάλογο μεταξύ των θρησκειών, μεταφέρετε το μήνυμα της ειρήνης και της αγάπης κυρίως σ’ αυτούς τους γειτονικούς λαούς». Επίσης ο Μητροπολίτης Περγάμου εξέφρασε την ευνωμοσύνη του προς τον Πατριάρχη «διότι με τη δική σας πρόνοια και μέριμνα αρχισαν πάλι να τελούνται εδώ οι Θείες Λειτουργίες και με την διαρκή παρουσία σας στις Λειτουργίες αυτές, να ευλογείτε, να στηρίζετε και να αγιάζετε τον λαό του Θεού, ο οποιος συρρέει από διάφορα μέρη για να προσκυνήσει τους ιερούς αυτούς χώρους». ΣΤΗ ΣΜΥΡΝΗ Την επομένη, Κυριακή 9 Μαϊου, ο Οικουμενικός Πατριάρχης χοροστάτησε στη Θεία Λειτουργία που τελέστηκε στην νέα Αγία Φωτεινή της Σμύρνης. Ο Πατριάρχης αναφέρθηκε στην Αγία Φωτεινή, προστάτιδα της Σμύρνης. «Εκείνη ήκουσε τας τελευταίας προσευχάς, τους στεναγμούς και τας οιμωγάς των Σμυρναίων Χριστιανών και του τελευταίου Ποιμενάρχου των. Εκείνη συνέλεξε τα δάκρυά των και τα προσεκόμισεν εις τον Θεόν. Εκείνη συνώδευσε τους εκπατρισθέντας εις τας νέας εστίας των, και εκείνοι της ύψωσαν νέον Ναόν, νέον κωδωνοστάσιον - αντίγραφον του παλαιού, εις την Νέαν Σμύρνην των. Και εκεί τους σκέπει μητρικώς, αλλά και ενταύθα δεν παύει να περιπολή μυστικώς, και πανταχού προφθάνουσα υπενθυμίζει προς πάντας την αποκαλυπτικήν επιταγήν του Χριστού: «Γίνου πιστός άχρι θανάτου, και δώσω σοι τον στέφανον της ζωής»! (Αποκ. 2: 10)» είπε στην ομιλία του ο Πατριάρχης και κατέληξε: «Αι ευχαί της Αγίας Φωτεινής και πάντων των «μεγάλων στοιχείων» της Σμύρνης και όλης της Ιωνίας, ας μας συνοδεύουν και ας μας καθιστούν πάντοτε αξίους της μεγάλης και ιεράς κληρονομίας, την οποίαν μας εκληροδότησαν. Ας συνοδεύουν και τους εν Ελλάδι αδελφούς, κατά τας δυσκόλους ώρας, τας οποίας διέρχονται. Συμπάσχομεν μαζί των, προσευχόμεθα δι’ αυτούς, αλλά και πιστεύομεν ότι ο Αναστάς Χριστός, εν τη αγάπη Του, δεν θα επιτρέψη να πειρασθούν πέραν των αντοχών των».

ΜΑΪΟΣ 2010

ΟΡΘΟΔΟΞΟΣ ΠΑΡΑΤΗΡΗΤΗΣ ORTHODOX OBSERVER

Οι πιστοί μπορούν να γίνουν μάρτυρες των πολλών εφαρμογών της Πίστεως στην Κληρικολαϊκή Συνέλευση Του Αρχιεπισκόπου Αμερικής Δημητρίου

Με την ευκαιρία της επερχόμενης Κληρικολαϊκής Συνελεύσεως η οποία θα πραγματοποιηθεί στην Ατλάντα της πολιτείας της Γεωργίας, 4 με 8 Ιουλίου τρέχοντος έτους, ο Σεβασμιώτατος Αρχιεπίσκοπος Αμερικής κ. Δημήτριος ανέφερε μεταξύ άλλων πως “θα συγκεντρωθούμε στην Ατλάντα ως κληρικοί και λαϊκοί της Ελληνορθοδόξου Εκκλησίας Αμερικής για μια ευλογημένη ευκαιρία ενότητος, προωθήσεως του πνεύματος αλληλεγγύης, και δεσμεύσεως στο σωτήριο θέλημα του Θεού και στη μαρτυρία και υπηρεσία στο όνομα του Κυρίου μας Ιησού Χριστού. Όπως έχει ήδη ανακοινωθεί, το θέμα μας, σε αυτήν την 40ή Κληρικολαϊκή Συνέλευση της Ιεράς Αρχιεπισκοπής μας η οποία συγκροτείται ως σώμα ανά διετία, θα είναι «Συναγάγετε τόν λαό μου στον Οίκο μου: Ερχου και ίδε”. “Η Αρχιεπισκοπική Εγκύκλιος, η οποία στο προηγούμενο φύλλο του Ορθόδοξου Παρατηρητή (Μαρτίου-Απριλίου 2010) αφιερώθηκε στην Κληρικολαϊκή συνέλευση της Ατλάντα, προσέφερε έναν στοχασμό στο βιβλικό πλαίσιο για το φετεινό θέμα”, τόνισε ο Σεβασμώτατος. “Στο Κατά Ιωάννην Ευαγγέλιο 1:35-49 διαβάζουμε σχετικά με τη συνάντηση του Φιλίππου με τον Ιησού Χριστό. Μετά τη συνάντηση αυτή ο Φίλιππος έσπευσε να βρει το φίλο του Ναθαναήλ, καλώντας τον να συναντήσει κι εκείνος τον Ιησού, με τα λόγια «έρχου και ίδε, έλα να δεις». Η αποδοχή της πρόσκλησης από το Ναθαναήλ οδήγησε στη συνάντησή του με τον Ιησού και τη διακήρυξη της πίστης του στον Υιό του Θεού. “Κατά τα τελευταία δύο χρόνια είχαμε δώσει μια έντονη έμφαση στο κάλεσμά μας να συγκεντρώσουμε όλους τους ανθρώπους του Θεού στον Οίκο Του. Διά της μελέτης περί της φύσεως και του σκοπού αυτής της κλήσεως και της εφαρμογής του εν λόγω θέματος της Κληρικολαϊκής στις ενορίες μας και στα προγράμματά μας, βοηθήσαμε πολλούς να βρουν θεραπεία, ειρήνη, σωτηρία και το πνευματικό σπίτι τους μέσα στους κόλπους της Ορθόδοξης Εκκλησίας. Για το επερχόμενο συνέδριο και για την επικέντρωση του ενδιαφέροντός μας μας κατά τους προσεχείς μήνες και έτη, θα συνεχίσουμε να αφιερώνουμε χρόνο και πόρους στη σύναξη των ανθρώπων στον Οίκο του Θεού. Αυτή είναι η θεία αποστολή μας σε αυτόν τον κόσμο. “Επίσης θα κληθούμε να εφαρμόσουμε το διευρυμένο ήδη θέμα μας στην καθημερινή μας ζωή και στις κοινότητες της πίστεώς μας. Πρώτον, καθώς ζούμε σε κοινωνία με το Θεό, η ζωή μας θα πρέπει να είναι μια πρόσκληση σε όλους τους ανθρώπους γύρω μας να «έλθουν και να δουν” την πηγή της χαράς, της ειρήνης και της ελπίδος που γεμίζει τις καρδιές μας. Δεύτερον, η ανταπόκρισή μας στην παρουσία του Χριστού στις κοινότητές μας θα πρέπει να μας οδηγήσει στο να καλέσουμε όλους να “έλθουν και να δουν” τη δύναμη, την αλήθεια και την ομορφιά της Ορθοδόξου Χριστιανικής πίστεώς μας”, συμπλήρωσε ο Αρχιεπίσκοπος Δημήτριος. Ελάτε να δείτε τον Ιησού Χριστό “Όταν ακολουθούμε το παράδειγμα του Φιλίππου και καλούμε τους ανθρώπους γύρω μας να “έλθουν και να δουν”, τους καλούμε σε μια προσωπική συνάντηση με τον Ιησού Χριστό. Μέσω της πίστεως σ’Αυτόν και την εμπειρία της μεταμορφώσεως της ζωής μας διά της παρουσίας Του, γνω-

ρίζουμε Αυτόν τον Ενα και Μοναδικό, που πληρεί τις ανάγκες των ψυχών μας και μας ευλογεί με την Αγάπη του Θεού. Κατά συνέπεια, θα αναζητήσουμε άλλους που δε γνωρίζουν το Χριστό ή που δεν έχουν την υπέρτατη εμπειρία της ίασης και της ζωής που προέρχονται από Αυτόν. “ Έχουμε απευθύνει μια ανιδιοτελή πρόσκληση σε άλλους για να έλθουν στο Χριστό και να δουν Ποιος είναι και Τι προσφέρει σε όσους πιστεύουν. Η προτεραιότητα της προσκλήσεως μας είναι μια συνάντηση των ανθρώπων με το ζώντα Χριστό. Στόχος μας είναι όλοι να έλθουν στον Ιησού Χριστό και να απαντήσουν στην πρόσκλησή Του με την πίστη που έχει πραγματικά τη δυνατότητα να αλλάξει τη ζωή τους. Ελάτε να δείτε τη δύναμη της Πίστεως “Εαν ζούμε σε καθημερινή επικοινωνία με το Θεό μας, και εαν οι ζωές και οι κοινότητές μας επικεντρώνονται στο θέλημά Του, τότε η δύναμη της Πίστεως θα είναι εμφανής σε όλους. Όταν καλούμε άλλους να «έλθουν και να δουν”, τους προσκαλούμε να επισκεφθούν τις κοινότητές μας για μια συνάντηση με το Χριστό και για την εμπειρία της δυνάμεως της Πίστεως, η οποία μεταμορφώνει ζωές, κατευθύνοντάς τις στην αγάπη και αγιωσύνη. Θα δουν τη δύναμη της Πίστεως να δημιουργεί μια ενότητα που ξεπερνά φυλή, ηλικία, επάγγελμα, φύλο και οικονομική κατάσταση. Θα δουν την Πίστη που προσφέρει δύναμη και θεραπεία εν μέσω θλίψεων και τραυματισμών από τους αγώνες της ζωής. Θα δουν την Πίστη να εμπνέει μια συνεχή υπηρεσία Αγάπης και φροντίδας των άλλων. Θα δουν την Πίστη στην καθημερινή ζωή των ανθρώπων του Θεού που αντιμετωπίζουν θετικά την πραγματικότητα και τις προκλήσεις αυτού του κόσμου και πορεύοται στη ζωή τους με την Ελπίδα στις υποσχέσεις Του της αιώνιας ειρήνης και ζωής. Θα δουν και θα ξέρουν ότι η δύναμη της Πίστεως είναι η δύναμη του Ιησού Χριστού στη ζωή μας και στην Εκκλησία Του. Ελάτε να δείτε την Αλήθεια και την ομορφιά της Ορθοδοξίας Η πρόσκλησή μας στους άλλους να έλθουν και να συναντήσουν το Χριστό και να γνωρίσουν η δύναμη της Πίστεως γίνεται ακόμη πιο σημαντική, λόγω των όσων μας έχουν δοθεί να προσφέρουμε στον κόσμο από τον ίδιο το Θεό. Ως Ορθόδοξοι Χριστιανοί έχουμε την ευλογία του βάθους της

αλήθειας και της ομορφιάς της Θείας λατρείας, της διδασκαλίας και των παραδόσεων της Αγίας Ορθοδόξου Εκκλησίας. Οι λειτουργίες μας επιβεβαιώνουν την ιερότητα του χώρου και του χρόνου αφιερωμένου στη λατρεία του Θεού. Οι εκκλησιαστικοί μας ύμνοι, οι προσευχές μας, και η χρήση της Αγίας Γραφής μας διαφωτίζουν ως προς την αλήθεια της σωτηρίας που προσφέρει το Ευαγγέλιο. Η πιστότητα μας τόσο στην Αγία Γραφή, όσο και στη σοφία των Μεγάλων Διδασκάλων της Εκκλησίας μας, μας προσφέρουν μια σταθερή βάση για σκέψη και ζωή. Η καθημερινή ζωή της προσευχής, η διδασκαλία και μελέτη της θεολογίας και η μίμηση της Αγιας ζωής πληθώρας Αγίων μας, μας προσφέρουν τα εφόδια να αντιμετωπίσουμε τα ζητήματα και τις προκλήσεις της σύγχρονης ζωής. Όλα αυτά και ακόμα πολύ περισσότερα αποτελούν τον μεγάλο θησαυρό της Πίστεως που έχουμε να προσφέρουμε. Η Ορθόδοξη Πίστη μας είναι αλήθεια και ομορφιά που συνάδει με την ανθρωπιά μας, τη λαχτάρα μας και την ανάγκη για το Θεό, και είναι μέσα σ’αυτή την αλήθεια και την ομορφιά που οι άνθρωποι μπορούν να έλθουν και

να δουν το Χριστό και να αλλάξουν τις ζωές τους για πάντα. “Πρέπει, βεβαίως, να αναγνωρίσουμε ότι η πρόσκληση “ελάτε να δείτε” μας θέτει αρκετές σημαντικές ερωτήσεις. Πρώτον: άραγε επεκτείνουμε αυτή την πρόσκληση σε άλλους; Έχουμε αναγνωρίσει τους γύρω μας -στα σπίτια μας, στις κοινότητές μας, στους συλλόγους μας, στους χώρους εργασίας μας- οι οποίοι έχουν την ανάγκη από την παρουσία του Χριστού στη ζωή τους; Βρίσκουμε τη δύναμη μέσω της Πίστεως και της προσευχής για να τους ζητήσουμε να συμμετάσχουν σε Θεία λειτουργία, να μιλήσουμε για την Πίστη και πως σχετίζεται με τη ζωή και τα προβλήματα, ή να δείξουμε συμπόνια και να προσφέρουμε προσευχές και βοήθεια όταν έχουν ανάγκη; Δεύτερον: όταν οι άνθρωποι αποδεχθούν την πρόσκληση και έλθουν στις κοινότητες μας και στις ενορίες μας, τι είναι αυτό που βλέπουν; Βρίσκουν μια ατμόσφαιρα αγάπης γεμάτη χαρά και προσδοκία της μεγάλης ευλογίας του Θεού; Βλέπουν τους αδελφούς και τις αδελφές εν Χριστώ, ενωμένους στην Πίστη, προσφέροντας με αυτοθυσία στις ανάγκες και την ευημερία του άλλου; Βρίσκουν την διδασκαλία και τη διακωνία που μπορούν να καλύψουν τις πνευματικές τους ανάγκες και τους αγώνες τους στη ζωή; Βλέπουν τον Χριστό; “Καθώς ετοιμαζόμαστε για την 40ή Κληρικολαϊκή Συνέλευση και, για άλλη μια φορά, για περίοδο μελέτης και σχεδιασμού που συνδέονται με τις ιερές διακονίες της Ιεράς Αρχιεπισκοπής μας, σε όλα τα επίπεδα, ας εξετάσουμε τα ζητήματα αυτά, στο θέμα: «Συναγάγετε το λαό μου στον Οίκο μου : Ελάτε να δείτε», και για τον επείγοντα χαρακτήρα της εποχής μας. Ας συγκεντρωθούμε όλοι μαζί στην Ατλάντα με πνεύμα Αγάπης και ενότητας, έτοιμοι να σχεδιάσουε και να προσφέρουμε τους εαυτούς μας στο μεγάλο έργο που ανοίγεται μπροστά μας. Έχουμε συναντήσει το Χριστό. Είναι ανάμεσά μας και μας καθοδηγεί και μας εμπνέει ώστε να μοιραστούμε τις Αλήθειες του Ευαγγελίου, αλήθειες Αγάπης και ζωής. Τώρα είναι η ώρα για μας να πάμε και να αναζητήσουμε άλλους και να τους καλέσουμε με τα λόγια του Φιλίππου στον Ναθαναήλ «Ερχου και ίδε».

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Συνάντηση με τον Οικουμενικό Πατριάρχη Βαρθολομαίο είχε στις 27 Απριλίου η Γενική Κυβερνήτης της Αυστραλίας Κουέντιν Μπράις η οποία επισκέφθηκε την έδρα της πρωτόθρονης Εκκλησίας της Ορθοδοξίας στο Φανάρι. Η κυρία Μπράις, συνοδευόμενη από τον σύζυγό της Μάικλ, συζήτησαν εκτενώς με τον Οικουμενικό Πατριάρχη ζητήματα που άπτονται των πρωτοβουλιών του Οικουμενικού Θρόνου. «Είναι μεγάλη τιμή και προνόμιο να βρίσκομαι εδώ και να συναντώμαι με τον Παναγιώτατο, ο οποίος είναι μια πηγή έμπνευσης και κουράγιου καθώς και στήριγμα για τόσους πολλούς ανθρώπους σε όλο τον κόσμο» σημείωσε η κυρία Μπράις η οποία υπενθύμισε τους δεσμούς της με την ελληνική κοινότητα του Μπρίσμπεϊν, πόλη από την οποία κατάγεται. Προσκάλεσε δε τον Οικουμενικό Πατριάρχη να επισκεφθεί και πάλι την Αυστραλία σημειώνοντας ότι έχει μεγάλη σημασία η παρουσία του στην χώρα αυτή.

ΟΡΘΟΔΟΞΟΣ ΠΑΡΑΤΗΡΗΤΗΣ

ΜΑΪΟΣ 2010

Η ΓΑΛΑΖΙΑ 5 ΛΕΩΦΟΡΟΣ ΤΗΣ ΝΕΑΣ ΥΟΡΚΗΣ

ΝΕΑ ΥΟΡΚΗ.- Στην ετήσια Εγκύκλιο του για την Παρέλαση της Ἐθνικῆς Ἀνεξαρτησίας, ο Σεβασµιώτατος Αρχιεπίσκοπος Αµερικής ∆ηµήτριος τόνισε µεταξύ άλλων πως “αὐτή θά εἶναι µιά ἔντονα ἰδιαίτερη ἡµέρα γιά τόν ἑορτασµό τῆς κληρονοµιᾶς µας, τήν ἰσχυροποίηση τῶν δεσµῶν ἀδελφότητος µεταξύ µας καί τήν προσφορά µαρτυρίας τῆς ζωτικότητος τῆς Ὀρθοδόξου Πίστεώς µας καί τῆς Ἑλληνικῆς ταυτότητός µας. “Ἡ παρέλασή µας κάθε χρόνο ἀποτελεῖ ἰσχυρό δηµόσιο ἑορτασµό µίας κληρονοµιᾶς ἡ ὁποία εἶναι ὄντως πολύτιµη γιά τόν καθένα καί γιά ὅλους µας. Ἡ ὁδός πρός τήν ἐλευθερία ἡ ὁποία ἐπελέγη ἀπό τούς πατέρες καί µητέρες µας τήν 25η Μαρτίου 1821, ἦταν δεῖγµα γενναιόδωρης προσφορᾶς καί ἐντυπωσιακῆς θυσίας. “Τήν ἡµέρα αὐτή ἑορτάζουµε τή µνήµη τῶν ἡρωϊκῶν µορφῶν τοῦ 1821, καί τιµοῦµε τήν ἀνεκτίµητη προσφορά των στήν ἵδρυση ἑνός ἐλευθέρου καί ἀνεξαρτήτου κράτους. Ἑορτάζουµε, ἐπίσης, αὐτό τό ὁποῖο ἐπετεύχθη σ’ αὐτό τόν µεγάλο ἀγώνα γιά ἀνεξαρτησία. “Ἡ κληρονοµιά τῆς ἐλευθερίας καί αὐτοδιαθέσεώς µας ἔχει ἀµφισβητηθῆ καί παραβιασθῆ κατά καιρούς ἀπό τυραννικές δυνάµεις. “Παρά ταῦτα, οἱ Ἕλληνες παρέµειναν πιστοί στήν ἀγάπη καί τή δέσµευσή τους

γιά προάσπιση τῆς ἐλευθερίας. “Ἡ παρέλασή µας ἀποτελεῖ ἐπίσης µιά ἰδιαίτερη εὐκαιρία νά συγκεντρωθοῦµε ὅλοι µαζί µέ ἀγάπη καί ἀδελφοσύνη. “Οἱ εὐκαιρίες οἱ ὁποῖες µᾶς δίδονται, ὡς ἐνορίες καί κοινότητες, νά συγκεντρωνόµεθα σέ µεγάλες ὁµάδες εἶναι περιορισµένες. Αὐτός εἶναι καί ὁ λόγος γιά τόν ὁποῖο ἡ συγκέντρωση ὅλων µας στά πλαίσια αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἑορτασµοῦ µᾶς ἐνδυναµώνει καθώς ἐπιβεβαιώνουµε τήν κοινή κληρονοµιά µας καί τή σηµασία της στή ζωή µας. “Ἀποτελεῖ, ἐπίσης, εὐκαιρία µαρτυρίας. Αὐτή ἡ παρέλαση καί ἄλλες παρόµοιες ἑορταστικές ἐκδηλώσεις οἱ ὁποῖες λαµβάνουν χώρα σ’ ὅλο τό ἔθνος θά ἀποτελέσουν µαρτυρίες τῆς δυνάµεως τοῦ ἀρρήκτου δεσµοῦ µεταξύ τῆς Ὀρθοδόξου Πίστεως καί τῆς Ἑλληνικῆς κληρονοµιᾶς µας. “Αὐτή τήν ἡµέρα τῆς παρελάσεώς µας, εἴθε οἱ καρδιές µας νά γεµίσουν χαρά, γνωρίζοντας τήν µεγάλη κληρονοµιά τήν ὁποία ἔχουµε νά προσφέρουµε καί βιώνοντας τήν ἀγάπη καί τήν παρουσία τοῦ Θεοῦ στίς καρδιές µας. Προσκαλῶ ὅλες τίς ἐνορίες µας νά συµµετάσχουν στήν ἐφετινή παρέλαση, καθιστῶντας την µεγάλη εὐκαιρία ἑορτασµοῦ τῆς ἐνδόξου κληρονοµιᾶς µας ἡ ὁποία µᾶς χάρισε ἐλευθερία καί τῆς ἱερᾶς πίστεώς µας ἡ ὁποία µᾶς δίδει ζωή”, ολοκλήρωσε στην Εγκύκλιο του ο Σεβασµιώτατος ∆ηµήτρος.

MAY 2010

A ‘Real Break’ Pilgrimage of Service to the Holy Land by Bishop Savas of Troas

From March 14-21, 15 Orthodox Christian college students (and their two clergy leaders), spent their spring break, the fifth week of Great Lent, participating in Real Break, the Orthodox Christian Fellowship (OCF) program that provides dozens of college students each year with several service-learning alternatives to “traditional” spring break. The program serves to strengthen their faith and broaden their world-view. All are members of OCF, the official campus ministry of SCOBA. Students are responsible for paying their own expenses for travel, accommodation and supplies. Many are supported in part or entirely by their home parishes. For the first time, one of the teams spent the week in the vicinity of Jerusalem.Other teams traveled to Alaska, San Francisco, Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Greece, Romania and Constantinople, helping to renovate churches and monasteries, work with orphans, or minister to the disabled and working on other projects. The Jerusalem team, led by Bishop Savas of Troas and Fr Nicholas Andruchow of Holy Cross Church in Flagstaff, Ariz., included young men and women from California, Kentucky, New York, New

A Palestinian woman and her child staying at Four Homes.

Jersey, Oregon, Arizona, Nevada, Maryland and Indiana, with backgrounds in business, art history, Spanish, forensics, psychology and counseling. For many this was their first Real Break experience; for others, their second or third. Part of their travels took them to the present-day city of al-Eizariya, on the Israeli-occupied West Bank, two kilometers southeast of Jerusalem. The Arabic name – it is inhabited entirely by Palestinian Arabs – means “Place of Lazarus,” as it was there that Jesus’ friend Lazarus lived with his sisters Mary and Martha. The biblical name of the village, Bethany, comes from the Aramaic “beth ‘anya,” meaning “house of the poor” or “house of affliction.” Scholars believe that the area was associated from antiquity with care for the sick and destitute. The Four Homes Al-Eizariaya/Bethany is the site of the Four Homes of Mercy, an institution established and operated by Palestinian Arab Christians of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Four Homes was founded in 1940 by Katherine Siksek, a Palestinian Arab Christian whose family has lived in the Old City for more than six centuries, simply because, in her words, “there was a need.” Mrs. Siksek’s home for the destitute began as a few beds in a tiny apartment in Beit Sahour, the village near Bethlehem that grew up around the field where, 2,000 years ago, shepherds were told of the birth of the Christ. By 1950, when King Hussein of Jordan made a gift to Mrs Siksek of the property in Bethany where the institution now stands, it had grown into a complex of four homes (hence the name) serving the needs of 180 people. According to its website, Four Homes “provides specialist residential services and respite care for people with congenital and acquired neurological disorders.” More than 18,000 healthy babies have been born at Four Homes since it

OCF members on the Real Break pilgrimage gathered on a boat on the Sea of Galilee.

moved to Bethany in 1953, and nearly 8,000 invalids have lived there in a clean and loving environment. Currently, nearly 100 residents, ranging in age from 3 to over 90, reside there. All are Palestinian Muslims, most of them abandoned by their families because of the severity of their disabilities. During their five days at the Four Homes, the team interacted with the residents, working closely with the staff to help feed the most severely disabled and entertain the more ambulatory with games and music. They also worked on several maintenance projects. Workdays began and ended with prayer in the Four Homes’ modest chapel, and evenings were spent learning from a wide range of Palestinian Orthodox Christians about the plight of the Church in Israel and the West Bank. There were afternoon excursions as well, to the tradi-

tional site of the Tomb of Lazarus, a few hundred meters from the Four Homes, and into the Holy City of Jerusalem. The final two days of the week-long Real Break took the group north to Galilee, where they worked for a day clearing the grounds of an Orthodox church in an inhospitable Israeli settlement, and in the evening took part in the chanting of the Akathist Hymn in a church near Nazareth. The final day included a visit to the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth, an hour-long boat-ride on the Sea of Galilee, and a visit to the site of the Sermon on the Mount. Real Break ended with the celebration of the Divine Liturgy in the early hours of the Sunday of St Mary of Egypt in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. In the words of Christine Whitton of Portland, Oregon, “It was, from start to finish, an epic experience!”

(Left) Baptisms taking place in the Jordan River on the West Bank. (Center) One girl at the entrance to the Tomb of Lazarus in Bethany (Right) The site of Jesus' Crucifixion on Golgotha, contained within the Church of the Holy Sephulchre.

(Left) Bishop Savas celebrates a service in the Church of St. James the Brother of the Lord with Archbishop Theodosios of Sebasteia. (Center and Right) Bishop Savas joins the Real Break students who worked for a day clearing the grounds of an Orthodox Church near an Israeli settlement in Galilee.

MAY 2010

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The Three R’: Recognition, Remorse and Repair by Fr. Charles Joanides, Ph.D., LMFT

The other day I was working with a couple who were especially angry at each other. Try as I did to get them to focus on something other than their anger, nothing I did and said seemed to resonate. After trying almost everything I knew and with only about 10 minutes left, it seemed to me that nothing significant was going to be accomplished in this session. Not wanting to see them depart in such an angry state, I made one last attempt by offering the following information. “I don’t know if what I’m about to share will help, but I’m going to share it anyway, since I don’t want you both leaving in such a conflicted state.” I then launched into an explanation of a technique that I had used with other couples called, “The Three R’s.” For more information about this technique, consider reading Patricia Love and Steven Stosney’s book How To Save Your Marriage Without Talking About It. What follows are some of the nuts and bolts of this technique from a decidedly Christ-centered perspective. Recognition Spouses who are locked in conflict are usually only focused on their partner’s shortcomings and transgressions and generally don’t spend much quality time considering how their own actions and remarks have contributed to their problems. Even when they are partly aware of their contributions, most would steadfastly rationalize their actions with statements such as the following: “I really feel like my reactions are justified, especially in light of what he or she has done to me.” Such injured spouses can wax eloquently for hours describing their partner’s transgressions, while trying to convince anyone who might listen how horrible their partner is and how much of a martyr they have been for enduring their partner’s insensitivity for years. As good as it may sometimes feel to vent, these strategies are self-destructive and counterproductive. Moreover, until one or both partners recognize their personal shortcomings and transgressions, nothing will change and the couple will continue to slip-slide toward marital meltdown and divorce. So, it is that our Lord offered the following counsel: “…first take the log out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye”(Mt. 7:5). He knew very well that unless we are willing to take this first step and recognize our shortcoming, our efforts to improve any relationship will fail miserably. Remorse But recognition isn’t enough. Partners must also experience remorse. Spouses who are locked in conflict must discern how their actions and caustic remarks have hurt their partner, then actually feel the pain as well as the painfully destructive consequences that their actions have had on their partner. By the way, the level of remorse that I am describing here is deep and profound. It rivals the level of remorse and shame that St. Peter felt after denying Christ three times. It also rivals the depth of remorse that prodigal son must have felt upon returning to his father penniless and full of shame. Repair Recognition and remorse are powerful allies in any couple’s efforts to neutralize the toxicity that has emerged from

unresolved conflict, but these first two steps are insufficient in helping to turn a conflicted marriage around until partners engage in some repair. This requires that partners ask for forgiveness and receive forgiveness. But make no mistake about it, as easy as this may sound, this last step can be a very difficult one to take for people who have been angry at one another for days, months and even years. As a result, in your efforts to take advantage of The Three Rs, don’t forget to enlist God’s help. God can help Each of the above steps requires a great deal of personal strength and resolve – strength and resolve that conflicted couples generally don’t possess. In your efforts to take each one of these three steps, don’t forget to enlist God’s help. You’ll need it. For example, when taking the first step toward recognizing their own shortcomings and faults, many spouses have stated that it was easy for them to lose focus, and quickly refocus their attention on their partner’s misdeeds. That’s when God’s help proved indispensible in their efforts to stay on track. Should you get past the first step, you might have difficulty with the second step, since remorse is not an easy feeling to sit with for any length of time. To complete this step, you’ll need to sit with certain very uncomfortable feelings, thoughts and memories long enough to feel a deep sense of remorse and not simply a superficial sense of remorse – feelings like shame, guilt and resentment. That’s when you’ll want to enlist God’s help. Asking God to help you stay with these feelings, thoughts and memories long enough so that you feel a deep sense of remorse is crucial to helping you sustain the needed momentum to get you through this stage and onto the next step. Finally, many people report getting through the first two steps, but are unable to complete the last step. Once again, that’s because it’s very hard to ask for forgiveness and to forgive. That’s where our faith in God can give us the needed nudge we’ll need to complete this exercise. Epilogue As I shared this information with the couple I introduced at the beginning of this article, both stopped arguing; seemed to settle down and left in a more settled state. As they departed, I was left wondering if this intervention would have any lasting effects. Two weeks later, I received my answer when I asked for an update. They both stated that The Three Rs helped. The frequency and intensity of their arguments dramatically lessened, along with the anxiety and stress associated with their arguments. They also stated that with God’s help they were committed to integrating The Three Rs into their arguing style. Two final thoughts In many cases, when couples understand and embrace the value and wisdom behind The Three Rs, amazing change and healing often result which leads to increased oneness. However, if you try this technique and experience little or no success, it may be that you need some outside help. In this case, I would suggest you consult your pastor for help. He might either be willing to provide some help or offer a helpful referral.

MAY 2010

PEOPLE

Editor honored

Tony Phyrillas of Reading, Pa., managing editor of The Mercury, a daily newspaper in Pottstown, Pa., has won a first-place award for column writing in the 2010 contest sponsored by the Pennsylvania Associated Press Managing Editors. The entries were judged by editors at AP member newspapers in Colorado and Utah. He was honored May 14 at the annual PAPME awards dinner in Harrisburg, Pa. This is the fourth time in four years that Mr. Phyrillas has received recognition for his political columns. A member Sts. Constantine & Helen Church, in Reading, he serves on its parish council and is a past president.

Choir director honored Constantine Gajdjis, choir director of Sts. Catherine and George Church in Astoria, recently was awarded the Lifetime Patriarch Athenagoras I Medallion Award for his significant contribution of his talent and service to the development and perpetuation of the Metropolitan Music Ministry. Archbishop Demetrios presented him with the award at Assumption Church in Port Jefferson, N.Y.

Chicago podiatrist elected Matthew Garoufalis DPM, of Chicago, was elected treasurer of the American Podiatric Medical Association’s (APMA) Board of Trustees during the organization’s 90th session of the House of Delegates in Bethesda, Md. He is recognized by Podiatry Management magazine as one of the 175 most influential podiatrists in the nation. Dr. Garoufalis is a member of the Illinois Podiatric Medical Association, where he served as president from 1997 to 1998. He earned his Doctor of Podiatric Medicine degree from the Illinois College of Podiatric Medicine in 1982. Additionally, he is a member of the American Diabetes Association and American College of Sports Medicine.

Retirement fund president Ruth E. Faklis, director of the Prairie Trails Public Library District in Burbank, Ill., was elected board president of the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund (IMRF). The fund serves over 2,900 local units of government in Illinois and has approximately $23 billion in assets. Ms. Faklis is the first librarian to serve on the eight –member board. She is an active steward of St. Spyridon Church in Palos Heights, having served as a former Philoptochos president, and is a member of the choir.

Tennessee honoree Xrista Christopoulos, a high school sophomore in Farragut, Tenn., near Knoxville, daughter of Lambros and Stavroula Christopoulos and granddaughter of Archon Harry Moskos, has been honored by the Tennessee Legislature with a House Resolution for her work with “Special Spaces”, a non-profit organization that creates dream bedrooms for children with life-threatening illnesses. She has created 25 such dream spaces in the last five years, her hometown paper, the farragutpress, reported. Xrista has also received President Barack Obama’s Volunteer Service Gold Award and Prudential Financial’s “2010 Prudential Spirit of Community Award.” Xrista and her family are members of St. George Church in Knoxville.

Norfolk Cathedral Oﬀers an Abundance of Ministries P A R I S H

profile

Name: Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral Location: Norfolk, Va. Metropolis of New Jersey Size: about 600 members Founded: 1911 Clergy: Very Rev. Archimandrite Ambrosios Bitziadis-Bowers (Masters in Theology and Ph.D candidate in Theology-University of Thessaloniki. Fr. Constantine Rogakis, associate pastor (formerly proistamenos of the parish from1990-2000, theology degree from Greece’s National University School of Theology; (Holy Cross ’04) E-mail: frseraphim@cavtel.net Web: www.annunciation.va.goarch.org Noteworthy: a dynamic community offering a wealth of ministries. For a church of its size, Annunciation Cathedral offers a tremendous number of programs and ministries to its parishioners at a prime location for a broad outreach that is international in scope. The cathedral serves the second largest city in Virginia (pop. About 250,000) in a metropolitan area of 3 million that is home to the world’s largest naval base and the home of the defense headquarters for NATO and the company that manages the world’s largest fleet of U.S.-flag vessels-the Maersk Line. Many parishioners are connected professionally to these three major institutions. Parish membership is highly diverse, consisting of second and third-generation Greek Americans, Orthodox Christians of Romanian, Russian and Middle Eastern backgrounds, many converts and a small number of Greek immigrants, mostly over age 70. Fr. Ambrosios, who arrived at the church in November, estimates that about 90 percent of the marriages are inter-church. Sunday Divine Liturgy is bilingual, with 70 percent in English. Annunciation has one of the largest AHEPA chapters, with 300 members. One of its members, attorney Gus James, recently served as Supreme President of AHEPA and currently serves as parish council president. The chapter also established an AHEPA House for senior citizens. Numerous ministries There’s a program or ministry to serve every group and individual of the parish, according to the parish website. Youth ministries alone include religious education, the Greek school, HOPE and JOY, GOYA, Altar Boys, Greek Dancers, College Ministry and Young Adult Ministry. Sunday school has about 275 students; Greek school has 62. Fr. Ambrosios described the Greek Dancers as “a very good dance group.” The GOYA dance group has earned “a lot of respect” and accolades at Metropolislevel competitions. Two women’s organizations exist – the Philoptochos chapter, which was founded shortly after the establishment of Philoptochos in 1931 by Archbishop Athenagoras, and the Hellenic Women’s Club, which dates to the beginnings of the parish. Locally, the Philoptochos supports organizations including UNICEF, Cardiac Fund, Cancer Fund, Joy Fund, Samaritan House, Ronald MacDonald House, Habitat for Humanity, Union

ANNUNCIATION CATHEDRAL AND ADJOINING CHAPEL OF ST. THEODORE Mission, Support a Mission Priest, Project Life Saver, Peace Corp, Holy Cross/Hellenic College, Seaman’s House, Judeo-Christian Outreach, Orthodox Christian Mission Center, St. Basil Academy, Tidewater Food Bank, Youth Challenge, and Children’s Hospital of the Kings Daughters. The Hellenic Women’s Club also supports philanthropic, scholastic and charitable objectives, purposes and obligations of the community, assistance to the poor, sick, widowed, and orphans of families of Greek-American descent. It has also established scholarships, prizes, and awards for needy and meritorious students of Greek birth, Greek descent, or Greek Orthodox faith, and gives support to the Church and its schools. Rounding out the offerings are a cathedral library, book store, Golden Years Club and Cultural Committee. Stewardship program The stewardship program includes several sub-committees whose purpose is to reach out to individuals. These include the Welcome Committee that greets anyone who enters the church; the Hospitality Committee extends fellowship through the coffee hour; the Outreach and Evangelism Committee promotes the church’s charitable presence in the Tidewater community (region of the state near the Atlantic coast); the Website Committee which provides information and educational tools to the faithful through the Annunciation website; the Publicity Committee that provides information in events and activities; the Wish List Committee, which provides stewards with the opportunity of offer more financial assistance beyond their pledges; and the Speaker Program that brings in national and international Orthodox speakers during the year. The community also uses its annual Greek festival on the first weekend in May as an opportunity to acquaint patrons with Orthodox Christianity. Long–time existence According to a parish history, the first Greek immigrant of record in Norfolk was John Gretes, who arrived in 1898. Another immigrant, George Christopoulos and his wife, Paraskevi, arrived soon afterward. Their place of origin is not recorded, but several of their descendents with those surnames are currently members of the parish. Fr. Ambrosios said many parishioners have Cypriot, Cretan and Peloponnesian backgrounds. In the early years, a priest from Baltimore, Fr. Constantine Doropoulos, would

occasionally travel to Norfolk to hold services at a local Episcopal church, St. Paul’s. On the Sunday of Orthodoxy in March 1911, the community’s first appointed priest, Fr. George Smyrnakis, began celebrating the Divine Liturgy at another Episcopal church, St. Luke’s. There were 25 members in the congregation. The small community eventually purchased the church in 1919 and held services there until the present church was built in the early 1950s. The first service took place on March 27, 1955. The priest was Fr. Peter Bithos. An adjoining Hellenic center was added in 1959 and, in the 1990s, the Chapel of St. Theodore was built through donations from great benefactors. The chapel, which can seat 130, is used for weekday services. The cathedral seats about 750 and can accommodate up to 1,000. The church was elevated to cathedral status in the 1990s, through the efforts of Fr. Rogakis and Metropolitan Silas of New Jersey. Under Fr. Rogakis, a highly decorated retired U.S. Army officer and chaplain who helped gain Army recognition for the Orthodox faith, the parish membership nearly doubled. Fr. Ambrosios, a native of Thessaloniki, came to the U.S. in 1994 as the chief secretary of the Archdiocese and secretary of the Holy Synod. At the same time he attended the Master of Theology program at Princeton University Theological Seminary. He served as a pastor at Hagia Zoni, in Kypseli, Athens, Greece; in America at St. George in Asbury Park, N.J., Koimisis tis Theotokou, Brooklyn, N.Y., and St. George, Clifton, N.J., before coming to Norfolk. He also is a licensed nursing home administrator and is currently pursuing his Doctor of Theology degree at the Theological School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He interrupted his Ph.D. studies at the Immaculate Conception Theological Seminary, at Seton Hall University, N.J. due to his current assignment. He also completed the Harvard University School of Business executive management program, The priest said the parish, though isolated from large ethnic enclaves in metropolitan areas, maintains its cultural heritage and is “more closely unified spiritually and culturally.” — Compiled by Jim Golding

MAY 2010

STEWARDSHIP, OUTREACH and

EVANGELISM

How Do I Make My Church Grow? by Fr. Jonathan Ivanoff & Fr. James Kordaris

This is a much-repeated phrase heard in many Orthodox parishes across the country, from small to large, and from ethnic to assimilated. It really doesn’t matter what type of parish it is, the common link between all of them is the desire of the parishioners to see their parish become a healthy, vibrant place of worship, fellowship, service, and outreach. That which characterizes a “healthy” church may be understood differently from community to community. To some, lots of programs and a full calendar of events and activities are signs of a healthy church. Others might see philanthropy and community outreach as foundational. But what are the characteristics of a healthy church? Is there a way to objectively evaluate, assess, and measure that health? The answer is yes, there is a way to find out not only how healthy your parish is, but even how healthy it is in relation to other Orthodox churches. The process of doing so is called Orthodox Natural Church Development (ONCD). ONCD is a method of assessing and growing healthy churches that has been around for almost 20 years, and its use among Orthodox parishes here in North America is increasing. The process itself is elegantly simple while the benefits of ONCD are many --a select number of active parishioners take a survey which evaluates their parish’s health in eight areas of ministry. The eight quality characteristics are: empowering leadership, gift-based ministry, fervent spirituality, effective structures, inspiring worship, holistic fellowship groups, need-based evangelism, and loving relationships. Every parish has relationships that exist between its members, but how loving are they? All our churches have worship, but does it inspire, edify, and uplift the faithful? Every church community has some form of ministry, but do parishioners know what their God-given spiritual gifts are, and are they using them within the life of church in the right ministry areas? These are some of the questions the ONCD process seeks to identify and evaluate. Since the survey is taken by parishioners and not by an outside church consultant, the survey evaluation is truly owned by the parishioners themselves. The process of evaluating church health is not that different from that of personal health. No one goes to the doctor and says, “My foot hurts, give me some pills for my headache.” We will want the doctor to diagnose the problem and identify that area which is weakest, or holding the patient back from achieving full health, and to respond by saying,

“Well, don’t worry about your headache, you have diabetes and that’s why your foot hurts. Let’s address that right away!” Proper evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment are essential to helping a person achieve good health; the same can be said for our parishes. Inevitably, one of the eight quality characteristics will be the lowest, and it is to this particular characteristic that the attention of the church is drawn, on the assumption that this minimum factor can, or will continue to inhibit the parish from fully realizing its God-given potential for growth and full health. The parish then works through the results, identifying core issues and strategically addressing them while involving the entire congregation in the process of analysis, evaluation, planning, and prayerful support. Since 2002, 16 Orthodox parishes have begun the ONCD process. This process is in no way a template approach to solving a church’s problems in health and growth. Since the minimum factor, root causes, and strategic answers are always going to be unique to each parish, it follows that each parish’s approach to the changes it must embrace to achieve their spiritual potential will be unique and particular, tailored to the needs of that parish and not to any other. In the Direct Archdiocesan District, three Greek Orthodox parishes have been selected to pilot the ONCD program. One is 18 months into the program, a second is in the initial stages, and a third is waiting to finish a building project before turning its attention to ONCD. The Metropolis of Boston has offered information on the ONCD program for consideration by all of its parishes. We can’t make the Church grow. But we can remove impediments to growth and improve the way in which we carry out our ministries. And if we do this in an organized and methodical way, we should be able to say, as we read in Acts 2:47, “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” For more information and a free booklet on Orthodox Natural Church Development, contact the Department of Stewardship, Outreach & Evangelism at Outreach@goarch.org or 646/519-6160 Fr. Jonathan Ivanoff serves as secretary of the Department of Evangelization of the Orthodox Church in America and is rector of St. John the Theologian Orthodox Church on Long Island, N.Y. Fr. Jim Kordaris serves as the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese director of Stewardship, Outreach & Evangelism and is pastor of St. George Church in New York City.

MAY 2010

‘hellenicare’ Humanitarian Distribution Revives Georgian Handicrafts A new generation of young women in the historic town of Aspindza, Georgia, are reviving the art of hand-crafted items with the help of ‘hellenicare.’ Recently, hellenicare conducted a humanitarian distribution at the state orphanage in Aspindza donating school kits, personal hygiene packages and sewing kits and sewing machines for the students. Aspindza is known for women’s groups who create some of the best handmade quilts, table cloths, purses, carpets and embroidered pictures in Georgia. The town has its own craft museum. “The director of the school was especially happy about the sewing kits,” said Alina Papanidi, regional coordinator of hellenicare. Keeping the tradition of hand-made items is important to our heritage. The children are learning the art of embroidery and sewing that Aspindza is famous for. They have already created many table cloths, wall hangings, quilts and purses that they can sell to raise funds for the school. It is remarkable that all of the materials that hellenicare has provided have yielded such a wonderful outcome,” continued Ms. Papanidi. As is the case in many rural towns in Georgia, Aspindza has been hard hit by the loss of jobs. Despite the fact that the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline and the

South Caucasus natural gas pipeline pass through the region, the average salary of most workers is only $46 per month. The Samtskhe-Javakheti region is home to Pontian Greeks, Ossetians, Georgian and ethnic Armenians. In addition to the humanitarian distribution, hellenicare also sends it mobile medical unit to the school. The state school in Aspindza is one of three schools that hellenicare regularly visits assisting children with medical care and humanitarian aid. The other two schools are located in Kodjori and Telavi. The organization is also conducting a renovation project at the Telavi school by remodeling the laundry facilities. This project is funded in part by the U.S. Department of State and is one of six projects that hellenicare will conduct in 2010. Aspindza is also the site of the famous battle led by King Erekle II who in 1770 defeated Ottoman forces by blowing up the only bridge crossing the Kura River. The two major tourist attractions are the cave of monasteries of Vardzia, which were founded by Queen Tamar in 1185 and Vanis Kvabebi, which dates back to the 8th century. More information: Contact hellenicare at: 600 West Jackson Boulevard, Suite 550, Chicago, IL 60661; Tel.: (312) 7759000, Fax: (312) 775-9100; E-mail: info@ hellenicare.org • www.hellenicare.org

Metropolitan visits school PALOS HILLS, Ill – Koraes Elementary School, aﬃliated with Sts. Constantine and Helen Church, received a visit from Metropolitan Nektarios of Kerkyra(Corfu) on April 16. The students greeted the Metropolitan with “Christos Anesti,” presented him with flowers and also performed Greek dancing and singing. He is shown here with the kindergarten class.

FOS Retreat Focuses on Avatars of Spirituality by Stavroula Savelidis

CONTOOCOOK, N.H. – A joint Lenten retreat of young adults and professional from New York and the Metropolis of Boston took place here March 13-14 weekend under the theme “Avatars of Spirituality: Rediscovering the Parable of the Prodigal Son.” The retreat, held at the St. Methodios Faith and Heritage Center Retreat House in Contocook, was attended by more than 60 participants under the sponsorship of FOS (Forum on Orthodox Spirituality), a ministry of Holy Trinity Archdiocesan Cathedral in New York and organized by the Rev. Dr. Frank Marangos, Cathedral dean and Dorothy Poli, FOS director. Also attending were five other clergy: Fr. Demetrios Costarakis, Fr. Luke Veronis, Fr. Ted Barbas, Fr. Stephen Lawrence and Fr. Alex Chetsas, Metropolitan Methodios and three board members from Manchester, N.H. The retreat topic explored the parable of the Prodigal Son in relation to James Cameron’s recent Hollywood blockbuster Avatar. Following the themes of Learning, Illumination, Fellowship and Eucharistic (LIFE), the four retreat sessions focused on avatars found in the Church; that we use to represent ourselves, while exploring various prodigals throughout the Bible and contemporary stories. After a Lenten dinner at the center on March 12, Fr. Frank discussed the topic “The Nature of Avatars in the Church.”

Participants engaged in a group activity as an icebreaker before attending the first session on Old Testament Prodigals, conducted by Fr. Chetsas of St. Demetrios Church in Weston, Mass. Fr. Chetsas discussed the original prodigals and avatars of humanity, Adam and Eve, who gave up their birthright of paradise and learned about the pain of separation from God, a common theme also prevalent in the stories of Isaac and Esau, and King David. Following a brief prayer service and breakfast Saturday morning, Fr. Veronis, of Sts. Constantine and Helen Church in Webster, Mass., spoke about The New Testament prodigals, the importance of finding and bringing forth the beauty and good we see in each other, as Jesus saw the good in many people and drew forth this good in them. Fr. Veronis drew upon examples such as Mary Magdalene and the Samaritan woman. Metropolitan Methodios visited the retreat center on March 13, welcoming everyone to the new facility. Recreational activities in the afternoon included skiing or snow tubing at nearby Pat’s Peak, or exploring the wooded area on a guided hike. Saturday evening’s sessions and discussions, led by Fr. Frank, continued with Contemporary Prodigals and concluded with Paradise or Pandora, focusing on the choices we make as we can compare ourselves to the prodigals. This was followed by an in-depth discussion and group activity examining both sons in the parable, and how this story often plays out and

Retreat participants with Metropolitan Methodios, Fr. Ted Barbas (Boston Metropolis chancellor), Retreat Master Fr. Frank Marangos, Presenters: Fr. Luke Veronis and Fr. Alex Chetsas with Boston area clergy and New York and Boston participants.

its importance during the Triodion in the weeks leading up to Pascha. The retreat concluded with Divine Liturgy on March 14, followed by brunch. Commenting on the success of this joint event, FOS Director Dorothy Poli said, “The first retreat was wonderful in that it brought us closer together in a beautiful, far-away and intimate setting. “It also provided an opportunity for us to meet people from other locales. The structure and length of the retreat allowed us to delve deeper into the faith and ourselves than even possible at the 1½ -hour FOS sessions on Tuesday nights.” Another participant said, “I was reminded of how important it is to continuously learn more about our rich faith, to reflect on our own lives and live with humility and a deep caring for our fellow man’. The speakers were all excellent and led the participants in this exploration and inspiration.” FOS is geared toward New York-area professionals seeking to enrich their lives by coming into a deeper meaning of Orthodox Christian faith and worship while

at the same time creating community and relationships. By tapping into Orthodox spirituality, FOS makes faith contemporary and relevant to their lives. More information on the retreat and summaries on each session can be found at http://www.thecathedralnyc.org/forumorthodox-spirituality. Ms. Savelidis is a member of the Archdiocese Communications Dept. staff.

Ionian Village We Need Your Camp Photos! In celebration of our 40th Anniversary, we’re asking YOU to send us your favorite photos from your time at our beloved camp. Please email in JPG format to: ionianvillage@goarch. org or mail to: Office of Ionian Village, 40th Anniversary Project, 83 Saint Basil Road, Garrison, NY 10524 Photos will be used for a special project. Photos sent by mail will not be returned.

MAY 2010

Boston Parade Held April 25

Photos courtesy of the Metropolis of Boston and Alex Mavradis

BOSTON – Greek Independence celebration events began April 23 with an oﬃcial program at the State House, including a performance by local dance groups and an address by Metropolitan Methodios. Joining him were Mayor Thomas Menino, Consul General of Greece Constantinos Orphanides and Eleni Vidali, president of the Greek “Omospondia” of the Metropolis, who also were grand marshals, along with the Metropolitan. The parade took place on April 25 with a procession along Boylston Street. For the first time, the Metropolis entered a float in the parade. A “glendi” followed on the Boston Commons.

San Francisco’s Cultural Parade SAN FRANCISCO – The Metropolis’ annual cultural parade on April 18 featured 50 units, including nine floats. Eight Bay Area parishes were represented and total participants and observers along the two-mile route on Market Street were estimated at 2,500. Following the program, everyone gathered at the San Francisco Civic Auditorium for refreshments and a cultural program which included recitation of poems, songs, and Greek Folk Dancing. The following day was Greek Heritage Night at the Golden State Warriors basketball game (NBA). On March 25, Metropolitan Gerasimos participated in a flag-raising ceremony at the San Francisco City Hall. Two other flag raisings were held in northern California on that same day – San Jose (city hall) and Sacramento (state Capitol). A doxology service was also held following Divine Liturgy on the Feast of the Annunciation in celebration of Greek Independence Day.

MAY 2010

72 annual Greek Independence Parade Draws Thousands nd

Miss Greek Independence Anna Heliotis, age 19, a student at St. John’s University.

Metropolitan Evangelos of New Jersey leads a large contingent of New Jersey parishes up Fifth Avenue against a cold, stiﬀ breeze blowing out of the north.

Among the parade marshals were the Boy Scouts of America, with representatives from several troops, along with Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts and Brownies.

Cyprus Federation of America President Panikos Papanikolaou and other oﬃcers led several Cypriot organizations. The Chios contingent was well represented by this float and numerous marchers that followed.

The Kastorians are celebrating their 100th anniversary.

100 marching units and floats highlight parade

Fr. Luke Melackrinos, dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral in Hempstead, Long Island, bears the tearing icon of the Theotokos that is enshrined at the cathedral.

The 72nd annual Greek Independence Day parade attracted more than 100 marching units, floats and other participants from the Direct Archdiocesan District and Metropolis of New Jersey on a cold, blustery April 18. It was the culmination of Greek heritage celebrations hosted and organized by the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York that included dinners, a White House gathering, a beauty pageant, City Hall celebrations, a ceremonial flag-raising and numerous other activities. Grand marshals included: New York FOX 5 news anchor Ernie Anastos; PanCyprian Society and International Coordinating Committee on Justice President Philip Christopher, the first Greek Cypriot grand marshal of the parade; Matthew Bogdanos, an assistant district attorney in Manhattan and a U.S. Marine Corps Reserves colonel; and the Boy and Girl Scouts of America, who celebrate their 100th year. Co-chairs of this year’s parade were the presidents of the two prominent Greek American professional organizations: George Tsioulias, M.D. (Hellenic Medical Society) and Mamie Stathatos-Fulgieri (Hellenic Lawyers Association).

The Cretans were among the largest groups represented.

Members of St. Sophia Church in Albany. They and members of St. George in Schenectady, travel the farthest to participate.

A Voliotissa carries the Greek flag as part of the “Argonaftes” group from Magnisia.

Members of the Pontion Society from Norwalk, Conn.

A Samiotissa holds up part of the banner at the head of a large contingent of Samians.

Among the New Jersey parishes represented in the parade was St. George Church in Piscataway.

Quinnipiac University Greek students traveled from New Haven, Conn.

Among the several school groups marching was the Hellenic Cultural Society of Bronx High School of Science.

A group of Armenian girls on the float of the Knights of Vartan.

Students from Baruch College Hellenic Society in New York.

MAY 2010

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On the Frontier of Orthodox Missions: Northern Kenya by Fr. Martin Ritsi

There are places that remain hidden to most – where no roads lead, where survival is a daily struggle, and where people live on the fringe of hopelessness. There are places where the light of the Gospel has yet to shine. In October 2009, the small plane I flew on from Nairobi, Kenya, touched down in the small frontier town of Lodwar. Amidst this thirsty landscape, an OCMC Mission Team had worked to build a church for a community of Orthodox Christians from the Turkana tribe – a people indigenous to the region. This was not the first time I had been among the Turkana. When my family and I served in Kenya as missionaries in the late 80s we had met several Turkana – distinctive from other Kenyan tribes in both appearance and custom. The expansion of the Church into Turkana lands, however, is a more recent development. Evangelistic efforts of charismatic preachers had planted the seeds of Orthodoxy among a handful of Turkana in Lodwar. Two of these men (Fr. Vladimir and Fr. Zachariah) attended seminary in Nairobi and are now serving as Orthodox priests in this arid northern region. It was for the community, under the pastoral care of Fr. Vladimir, that the first OCMC Mission Team came to build a church. Inspecting the stone edifice of the structure that this Team worked so hard to build, I was stricken by how close we as the faithful of North America have come to the frontier of missions. This one physical manifestation of the Church was like a gateway beckoning us to take the Gospel to the thousands of people just over the horizon living without hope in Christ. The following day I traveled out of Lodwar with Fr. Vladimir and Fr. Zachariah to meet with some of these people now within reach of the Church. The three–hour jeep ride to the village of Loupala across the deserts of northern Kenya hinted at how far removed the Turkana are from the rest of the world and what struggles they face. The soft contours of the pale red earth were sun-baked with merciless intensity; the color green was conspicuously absent from the scenery I watched fly by through a film of dust that covered the windows. In Loupala, we met a burgeoning community of Orthodox Christians evangelized by Fr. Zachariah. Before his arrival, 75 percent of the village was not Christian. Fr. Vladimir asked that we preach and teach, so under a shade tree about 200 people gathered as we spoke about God’s plan for salvation and the importance of baptism. Men, women, and children lis-

tened attentively, and some asked very good questions, even though many of them looked tired and weak. Fr. Zachariah shared that some of the people who attended our catechetical seminar began the day with a 15-mile walk just to fetch water. Rain, as it turns out, is a very rare and precious resource for the Turkana people. They are plagued with cyclical drought. The fatigue of dehydration and starvation could be seen on the faces of malnourished children and parents feeling powerless to change the situation. Many Turkana lose loved ones to these harsh conditions. Some have taken to violence and banditry among their own people as a means to escape the extreme poverty that surrounds them. Could Christ and His Church be an answer to these problems and a source of hope for the Turkana people? In February another OCMC Mission Team ministered to the Turkana. This team continued the evangelism and catechism initiated by Fr. Vladimir and Fr. Zachariah and that I participated in last October. This team also continued building the bonds of love that have begun to take hold, offering encouragement and fellowship as we are able. OCMC is committed to partnering with the Church in Kenya to share Christ with the Turkana people. We will continue exploring new ways of serving the people of northern Kenya in order to make the Gospel known and to address the significant spiritual and physical needs that exist there. In our efforts to develop ministries aimed at welcoming people who, until now, have been beyond reach into the Body of Christ, the OCMC will be coordinating mission walks across the country this summer. A portion of the $100,000 we hope to raise will be used to bring water to the Turkana and broaden the evangelistic efforts taking place in the region. Contact Kenneth Kidd at the OCMC by e-mail at Kenny@ocmc.org, or by phone at 1-877-GO-FORTH, if you and/or your community are interested in participating in bringing the light of Christ to the Turkana. Pray for the Turkana people, for the OCMC Mission Team that is preparing to serve them, and for the Church and Her ministries in Kenya. May the mercies of God the Father, the salvation of His only begotten Son, and the blessings of the Holy Spirit be with the Turkana. The Orthodox Christian Mission Center (OCMC) is the official missions agency of the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA) dedicated to fulfilling Christ’s last command to make disciples of all nations. Fr. Ritsi is the executive director.

Building Up a Healthy Church MAY 2010

by Fr. Luke Veronis

Over a two-year period, a church goes from having an average of 40 to 120 parishioners on Sunday and its budget increases from $60,000 to $155,000. The Sunday School grows from 5 to 35. Most importantly, though, a spirit of familial love becomes tangible; the faithful begin to understand the beauty of worship; a thirst for spiritual knowledge develops; an interest in sharing one’s faith with others takes root; and people catch a healthy vision of what it means to be the Church. This is a true story of how our churches can become healthy, vibrant, and even growing communities. The problem is that many of our churches forget their central calling to continue the ministry of Jesus Christ and become hospitals of healing to a hurting world. The Church is all about witnessing to and sharing the Good News of God’s love to all people. We must recapture this vision, and instill its mandate within our people. There were five integral characteristics in the early Church. The Apostolic Church spent time in prayer and worship daily. A loving fellowship took care of all its members, and even welcomed outsiders. The entire Body of Christ had a passion to share its faith with others. The people of God longed to learn and grow in their knowledge of and relationship with divine Truth. And the first Christians not only served one another, but even served those outside its community. From these central characteristics, my parish created the following mission statement: The mission of Sts. Constantine and Helen Church is to proclaim the Good News of Salvation through the Orthodox Christian Faith for the glory of our Triune God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We are a community of believers who journey towards our Lord Jesus Christ and towards one another through our Worship, Fellowship, Spiritual Growth, Witness, and Service. We invite all people to join us on this journey towards the Kingdom of Heaven. Using such a mission statement, a church can then focus on developing each of the core characteristics. How can we make worship more understandable, relevant, vibrant and alive for everyone? Offering a “teaching liturgy” regularly can help people better understand what we do in worship. In such a teaching service, the priest may interrupt the Liturgy numerous times to explain what is happening, and what is expected of the people. Encourage the faithful to wholeheartedly participate in singing, saying various prayers aloud as a community, offering the kiss of peace to one another, and partaking frequently in Holy Communion. Such participatory worship should take place in an ever–increasing cycle of weekly and daily worship. In the area of Christian fellowship, how can we promote events that celebrate a spirit of unity and love? Can we offer fun and exciting activities and excursions that are also spiritual and educational? One important aspect of fellowship for the priest should be annually visiting every home in his community. During the Epiphany season, I visit and

bless 160 homes. I publish a schedule of the general areas where my parishioners live and then go to all the homes uninvited. Sometimes I offer an “unexpected” visit. At times, I visit people who have not been to church for years. All of that is ok, because it is showing people that the Church cares! Spiritual Growth: For church members of all ages it is essential for a healthy, vibrant, growing community. Can we offer a variety of educational opportunities for people of all ages. When we arrived in our present church, very few children came. So we had to become creative. We introduced Grandparents Sunday, to get the grandparents to bring their grandchildren who had left the church long ago. We developed a puppet ministry to attract the children, and for the first six months of our renewal, we actually had more puppets than children. We developed an exciting week-long Summer Vacation Church Camp, and encouraged our youth to invite their non-church friends to participate. In adult education, we focused on a weekly Bible study group, while offering an Introduction to Orthodoxy Catechism group and a small Agape Circle prayer group. We brought in great speakers for Lenten retreats twice a year. Our monthly bulletin, The Light, became a 24-page plethora of spiritual education, inspiring meditations and general information about our faith. And our weekly bulletin summarizes well prepared sermons. One of the more challenging aspects of our mission statement has been in the area of Witness and Service. Too often, churches hold on to a parochial spirit. “Charity begins at home,” is a common mantra, as churches reject reaching out beyond themselves. Of course, a clear sign of a healthy church is when it reaches out beyond itself, sharing God’s love with others. During our first year of renewal, our budget committee accepted to put three specific line items of $1,000 each supporting missions and outreach on a local, national and global level. I heard more than once, “Father, how can we give globally when we’re not sure if we can pay our bills?” Yet, our council learned an important lesson - the more we gave to others, the more richly God blessed us. Three years later, our church actually sent its first missions team to Project Mexico. And this year, we are sending our third team of 13 on a crosscultural mission, with our parishioners raising an additional $15,000 for this trip. Such cross-cultural mission teams have inspired our community to get involved in outreach to the local soup kitchen and to volunteer in a neighboring homeless shelter. The road to renewal is not easy and does not happen fast. Yet with patience, love, and discernment, combined with prayer and an openness to God’s Spirit, positive change can happen. Fr. Veronis presently pastors the Sts, Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church in Webster, Mass. and teaches as an adjunct instructor at Holy Cross School of Theology and Hellenic College. He and his wife served as OCMC missionaries for 12 years in Albania and parts of Africa.

AHEPA and the Archdiocese: ‘Twin Pillars of Hellenism’ by Supreme President Nicholas A. Karacostas

The Order of AHEPA has an 88-year history of standing with the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, a relationship that has depicted the two entities as being “the Twin Pillars of Hellenism” in America. This relationship has blossomed over

the past 11 years with Archbishop Demetrios, during which AHEPA joined Leadership 100. In addition, the AHEPA family has made invaluable contributions to the Greek Orthodox faith and the Archdiocese at all levels: chapter, district, and national. As a whole, the AHEPA family’s contributions range from the building of St.

Annual Metropolis of Chicago Junior Olympics Slated PALOS HILLS, Ill. Sts. Constantine and Helen Church again will host the annual Memorial Day weekend Metropolis of Chicago Junior Olympics event on May 28-30. More than 2,000 young people ages 7-18, from over 30 parishes of the six-state Metropolis are expected to participate in individual and team athletic events. This years program will include swimming, track & field, soccer, softball, basketball, volleyball, 10K run, tennis,

chess, checkers, backgammon, wrestling, bowling, and table tennis. Moreover, four collegiate scholarships totaling $2,000 will be presented on behalf of the Junior Olympics to athletes showing a strong spiritual life, academic record, community involvement and writing skills. The facilities being used include the church complex, A. A. Stagg High School, and Moraine Valley Community College.

Basil Academy’s dormitories and its other facilities (more than $1.75 million raised) to helping pay off the mortgage at St. Photios National Shrine. Many AHEPA chapters were instrumental in establishing a church in their communities or have contributed in the simple ways by donating uniforms for church basketball teams or new robes for altar boys. This historic cong has transcended borders and extends overseas to our Ecumenical Patriarchate. AHEPA has remained a steadfast and unwavering supporter of the Phanar. This is demonstrated annually as His All Holiness has hosted the AHEPA family at the Ecumenical Patriarchate. In November 2009, the AHEPA family reciprocated by hosting Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Archbishop Demetrios at AHEPA headquarters in a historic and cherished first-ever event for the organization.

MAY 2010

Diﬀerent Approaches of Monasteries, Parishes by Bishop Savas of Troas

During their last semester at Holy Cross School of Theology, the graduating class visits the Archdiocese headquarters in Manhattan and other Archdiocesan institutions like St Basil Academy and St Michael Home for the better part of a week, to learn about the various national ministries from the directors themselves. The highlight of the visit is a meeting with the Archbishop himself. Twenty-five years ago, I visited the Archdiocese for the first time with another 20 or so members of the Class of 1985. I remember as if it was yesterday our climactic meeting with Archbishop Iakovos of blessed memory, which took place in his office. He had carefully reviewed all of our files, and began by challenging us, individually and collectively, in a variety of ways. He had noted, for instance, that several of us, myself included, believed we had monastic vocations. “This is not the time for monks,” he told us, in a manner that brooked no dissent; “This is a time for missionaries. If you want to be monks, you can do so in South America, while building parishes.” I’m not sure where I found the courage to challenge him, but I did. “Your Eminence,” I said, “with all due respect, monks and missionaries are both needed for a healthy church. They’re not interchangeable. They’re like cows and horses. You don’t go to a horse for meat or milk, or to a cow for labor or transportation. But you need both to run a healthy farm.” The Archbishop signaled his displeasure by changing the subject. I believe the same is true for monasteries and parishes. I believe they embody two basically different but ideally complimentary approaches to manifesting the Church in the world. The fact that there is often tension between these two types of Christian living is perhaps understandable but nonetheless regrettable. We here in America are currently living through a time of such tension. Some, both within the monasteries and within the parishes, imagine the monastic way to be the only way, and work to make the parishes outposts of monastic practices in a fallen world. Some priests and parishioners, reacting to what they perceive to be a belittling of their efforts by maximalists, are critical of certain practices and beliefs associated with many of the monastic communities in this country. These differences have been exaggerated and exacerbated by the climate of cultural warfare that affects nearly every aspect of our life in America these days. Part of the problem is that each side tends to caricature the other, and that these caricatures circulate, as it were, secretly. Some parishioners believe monastics to be cultists who are victims - many willing but some not - of mind control, while some monastics consider the parishes to have abandoned Orthodoxy by their adaptation of “Protestant” teaching methods and ministerial models. The tensions, I fear, are becoming more pronounced with time. I can think of no better way of diffusing what threatens to become a dangerously divisive issue than to provide a forum for an open exchange of opinions on what are the proper missions of the monastery and the parish. I hope to dedicate a portion of my forthcoming blog, “Living in the Logosphere,” to such a forum. Until then, please continue to write to me at bishopsavas@goarch.org.

MAY 2010 by Paula Marchman M.A.,L.A.P.C.

When I ponder the blessings of parenting, I begin with Adam, as written in the Book of Genesis, and how the Scriptures describe his walks in the garden with God. How engaged every aspect of his senses must have been with all the beauty he beheld! Can you imagine how every second was full of total presence and mindfulness? Adam must have felt understood in the deepest sense of the word and greatly loved. Adam responded to God not only with his human ears but also with the heart and soul of his being. This is how our children listen to us. Children, when we capture their attention, are models of “active listening.” They listen with their eyes, their minds and hearts, as well as their ears. Children need to belong, and they learn how to belong as they grow. They discover that certain responses from others give them a feeling of belonging and connection. Through our relationship with them they also experience God’s presence and love in their lives. Children are tuned into the tone of our voice, the gentleness of our face and eyes as we look into their faces. We begin to communicate with them long before we even open our mouths to speak. Children need safety from their parents, which allows them to thrive and experience childhood. Our children need to know that we “know them,” their strengths, their weaknesses, how they express themselves, how they learn, play, and cry. It is important that each child realize his or her uniqueness and the traits that make him or her like no one else in the world. As parents, we are called to encourage them and recognize their efforts rather than to demand perfection. Comparisons can lead children to believe that their worth depends on being better than others, while encouragement helps each child to appreciate his or her own unique qualities. When we teach our children that their thoughts and feelings are important, they experience the gift of truly being understood and heard. Giving another human being our whole attention is a healing form of Christ’s love. With this giving, our children also learn how to communicate their needs and desires in a healthy way and come to know themselves better. As children experience positive regard for their feelings, they grow in self-awareness and self-esteem.

Family Connections UnderneathYour Child’s Misbehavior When they believe their feelings are worthy of respect, they learn to respect others’ feelings too. “Good listening requires that we be sensitive to the needs of others. We cannot be sensitive unless we have anchored our lives in the love of Christ,” writes Fr. Anthony Coniaris in his book, Making God Real in the Orthodox Christian Home. Family dinner hours and meetings where every child feels heard and respected for his or her ideas help our children experience being a valued individual within the framework of a family. Parents have a great influence in building positive beliefs in their children. When children have positive beliefs about themselves they practice positive behaviors. These behaviors then reinforce the beliefs about themselves, which strengthens the desired behavior. We must be intentional and purposeful in our lives because the society we live in doesn’t nurture this way of communicating or parenting. In fact, it drives us to the other side of the paradigm. We are encouraged to stay busy, strive for material gain, and fill our time with so many worldly distractions. These distractions not only tug but painfully jerk our focus from each other and onto what the world tells us is important. I once counseled a family with a 15-year-old son during a period of time when he was “acting out” with behaviors such as skipping school, smoking, and stealing with his “new found friends.” We were into our third session when he spoke the words that will forever be engraved in my memory. He said, “You know, I hear you, Mom, every night as you sit at the kitchen table with your Bible talking to God. As I lay in bed I can hear you pray for all of us one by one. I know you want what is best for me; I hear you, Mom. I know how much you love me and I love you too. I understand why you are so worried about me, and I see the problems with what I’m doing, and I don’t want that either.” Their eyes connected and the room lit up with this amazing clarity and warmth. We all knew that they were back on the path together, and it would be the path God has chosen for this boy’s life. This family did not freeze. They took action when they realized that their son was in trouble and they needed extra help. They looked at their resources: family, friends, church, and professional counseling. They were proactive, and it helped them get to a healthier place. The mother “preached” to her children daily by being a living example, a powerful guide in the way she chose to live her life. Instead of nagging, she faithfully shared her values and

beliefs by her words and actions. She was not critical or condemning but firm and genuinely concerned for her son’s welfare. Most importantly, she did not get stuck on his bad behavior. She knew his God-given gifts and looked beneath the bad behavior by speaking to his heart and encouraging him to honor himself. This is huge even when your children are very young. We hold the mirror that tells them who they are in their early years of development. Children need to know that we love and honor them, but as their parents we are called to provide them with a consistent and appropriate structure that allows them to grow and develop in a healthy way. Parents need to

Resources for Parents Living a Balanced Life in an Unbalanced World by Father Anthony M. Coniaris—Written in “Cliffs Notes” style, encouraging readers to become aware of the importance of balance and boundaries in their lives. Published by Light & Light. Taming the Spirited Child by Dr. Michael Popkin—An insightful parenting resource that assists parents with direct steps for understanding their children and their behaviors. Published by Simon & Schuster.

be firm yet loving, honest yet kind, with their children. Every family needs a leader, and it should not be a child. Fathers and mothers need to take their rightful place in the family as leaders, protecting and nurturing their children. Children need Church traditions, healthy family interactions, and boundaries to feel safe enough to grow and thrive. They need faithful and present parents who realize the importance of validating the fears and hurts that lie beneath their children’s misbehaviors. We as parents guide our children in discovering their God-given talents, by being attentive when we communicate with them and by encouraging them to grow in their uniqueness in God’s Kingdom. Paula Marchman is a Christian counselor in private practice in Atlanta where she resides with her family. She also organizes and teaches programs in Marriage & Family for the Metropolis of Atlanta.

What’s New from the Center for Family Care Family Link E-mail Ministry Through the Family Link e-mail ministry, we hope to bring you practical ideas, inspiration, and upcoming events to assist your family as you grow in the Orthodox faith. Additionally we will provide ways to assist both your family and your parish’s ministry to families. Through the Family Link, we hope to encourage you to share your resources for family ministry so that we in turn can share them with others. To subscribe to Family Link, visit www. family.goarch.org

MAY 2010

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GUIDELINES FOR SUBMITTING PHOTOGRAPHS 1) Conventional photographs: We accept Color or Black & White photos, printed on photographic paper. Photographs should be sharp and clear. Pictures printed on color printers, either Inkjet or Laser and photocopies or clippings of previously published photos are NOT accepted. 2) Digital photographs: We accept digital pictures if they conform to the following specifications: • Minimum resolution 1600 pixels wide x 1200 pixels high (approx. 2 mega pixels, digital cameras should be set to high resolution, high quality. If you scan a standard photograph -usually 4x6”- use a minimum of 300 dpi. We discourage scanning your own photos, send the actual photo.) • File format JPEG or TIFF (JPEGs are smaller files and easier to e-mail, TIFFs are better quality) • Color mode RGB, color depth minimum 8-bit. • Image files placed within any word-processing file or any other application are not accepted. • Digital pictures can be submitted by e-mail, CDROM, Zip, Floppy Disk (Disks can not be returned). • E-mail to: observer@goarch.org. In the subject line write only the word “photos” VERY IMPORTANT: Attach the image files and do not include them in the body of the e-mail or they will not be usable. 3) Please include information about the photo(s); place, time and event as well as the names of all persons shown, left to right.

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MAY 2010

Songs in the hallways, dialogue replaced with duets, dance breaks in the middle of the cafeteria… and all this happens before 3 p.m. when the bell rings to go home. Following the hugely-popular American Idol, GLEE has undeniably permeated our television culture with contagious songs and memorable characters. GLEE airs Tuesday nights on the FOX Network and gives us a glimpse into life at William McKinley High School in Ohio. More specifically, it chronicles the creation and growth of the newly-created glee club, “New Directions.” The members of “New Directions” include every possible stereotypical “group”: preps, cheerleaders, rebels, jocks, nerds, the obligatory diva, etc. Seems unlikely that a group this diverse could come together to make great music without killing each other. But they do… learning a bit about themselves and others in the process. The show is not solely about teens with squeaky-clean images and picture perfect unity between different types of people. GLEE also deals with difficult issues: teenage pregnancy, inequality, greed, pride, jealousy, hyper-sexuality, body image, self esteem, and peer pressure… just to name a few. And, as in real life, not every teen makes the best decision. The adults in the show have just as many issues as the teens, if not more. Glee has its share of fans and critics… Some feel that it is a fun show with an overall good message. Others might feel it does not provide enough of a good, wholesome message. Either way, it is important to discuss the issues and themes seen on GLEE with teens from an Orthodox perspective. Here are some discussion questions that can help guide a conversation among friends, families, and youth groups: 1) In what ways does GLEE accurately

GLEE: Review and Discuss

depict life in high school? How accurate are they? 2) In what ways does GLEE inaccurately depict life in high school? What makes them inaccurate? 3) What Orthodox Christian messages can one get from GLEE that can help us in our everyday lives? 4) What messages from the show conflict with what the Church teaches?

Why do they conflict? 5) In what ways are the adults in the show role models? Are there times when they are not? If so, how? 6) In what ways do the students serve as role models to each other and the adults? 7) How can Jesus Christ and the Church help us get through the complicated years of high school?

ABUSE IN RELATIONSHIPS: Physical and Digital? Yeardley Love, a 22-year-old University of Virginia student and lacrosse player, will be receiving her degree with the rest of her graduating class. Sadly, she will only be receiving this degree posthumously since her life was tragically cut short. It is alleged that her ex-boyfriend, fellow U.VA. student and men’s lacrosse team member, had beaten her to death a few days after they had broken up. In fact, rumors are beginning to surface about the history of violent abuse within their relationship. Although investigations are underway and no one knows the reason for Love’s death, the case brings abuse awareness back to the forefront. In fact, violence and abuse within teen romantic relationships is rising at an alarming rate. According to 2009 report by CBS’s Evening news anchor Katie Couric, the National Teen Dating Violence Hotline reported a 600 percent increase in calls and e-mails between March 2007 and March 2009. Also, Couric sites a recent study that indicated 25 percent of “tweens” (approximately ages 9-12, between middle childhood and adolescence) reported they had experienced physical violence in their “romantic relationships.” In addition to the physical violence,

the growing digital communication of our society is seeing rises in what’s called “digital abuse.” The texts, social networking websites, and instant messaging are making it easier for abusers to stalk, harass and victimize. In response to this growing trend, Capitol Hill released a “Digital Dating Abuse” curriculum. It is available free of cost to every school in the U.S. to help

FIVE GREAT THINGS ABOUT THE SUMMER TIME !!! 1. You have time to read books about your faith. Try reading as much as you can of the Bible! 2. Church is quieter -- take advantage of that -- listen to God and prayerfully follow the Divine Liturgy. 3. Summer Camp! Faith, fun, fellowship…. What more could you ask for!? 4. Vacation time can means checking out other Orthodox Churches throughout the U.S. 5. You can really focus on your faith without the chaos of school, sports, peer pressure!

educators bring knowledge and awareness to teens and adults. Sometimes it is not easy to understand or recognize the signs of abuse. However, no one has to be alone in learning about and preventing abuse. If you believe that someone you know might be a victim of domestic violence or dating abuse, there are signs and proper ways to take action. For example, the Love is Not Abuse website (www.loveisnotabuse.com) offers advice and helpful information for adults and teens regarding abuse. You can learn about warning signs, steps to take action against abuse, and resources for teaching others about preventing abuse. Also, we must never forget the safety of the Church. Abuse does not only affect an individual’s physical wellbeing. It also deeply affects that person’s spiritual health and safety. So look to the Church for advice, counsel, and additional assistance in taking action against abuse. Contact one of the following agencies or speak to a trusted individual who can offer even more information regarding violence and abuse in relationships: National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233 or National Teen Dating Abuse Helpline: 1-866-331-9474.

In the News NOW... • Teens get high from Choking? It sounds crazy, but some teens are taking part in this dangerous and potentially fatal activity just for the chance to get high. Teens and young adults are getting a “high” from temporarily cutting off the air supply of a friend or their own. Unfortunately, the result is serious injury and death in some cases. According to the DB Foundation, over 500 deaths since 2004 have been attributed to this “choking game.” Visit www. chokinggame.net or www.gaspinfo.com to read more about the dangers and lethal consequences of this activity. • OCF is reaching out and teaching about Orthodoxy! – An OCF (Orthodox Christian Fellowship) chapter at Hope College in Michigan hosted the 2nd Annual Encountering Orthodoxy Conference. • All were welcome to attend the keynotes and discussions about Orthodox Christianity. Increasing in attendance, many students learned more about this ancient Christian faith. Some have even converted as a result of this conference. Check out the article in The Holland Sentinel (http://

www.hollandsentinel.com/news/ x1520942813/Digital-nativesembrace-ancient-church?img=1)

• Young Adult Ministries “10 in 10 Campaign” – Calling all young adults… Are you looking for an opportunity to meet new people and serve your community? Don’t forget to check out www. youngadult.goarch.org for a list of service projects throughout the U.S. for young adults. If there is no service project in your area, talking to your parish priest or Metropolis youth director and help plan one today!

CLERGY UPDATE   page 3 Medical Leave Fr. Chris P. Kerhulas 02/21/10 Suspensions Rescinded Fr. Ignatios Achlioptas 03/24/10 Releases Fr. Stavros Rousos – to the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia 03/05/10 New Communities Holy Apostles Mission, Greenville, N.C. A Reminder Gregory Constantios, a former priest of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese was returned to the status of layman in July 2002. (First reported in the December 2002 Orthodox Observer).

MAY 2010

The Corsica-Mani Connection to the St. Photios National Shrine by Polexeni Maouris Hillier

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. -- Every June 26th the faithful chant the solemn hymns of the memorial service celebrated by the Shrine chaplain at St. Photios Greek Orthodox National Shrine. We pray for the rest and repose of the souls of the Greek colonists who in 1768 came to the New World, settling what was to be called the New Smyrna Colony. Who were the Greek colonists? Where did they come from? Who do we count in that number? In New Smyrna: An Eighteenth Century Greek Odyssey, Dr. Epamonides Panagopoulos writes, “Among the new arrivals, many came from Corsica. Surprisingly enough, however, the names of most of them were Greek, such as Nicholas Stefanopoli, Georgios Stefanopoli, Petros Drimarachis, Petros Cosifachis and Michael Costas. Their unexpected presence in Corsica was but a small part of those dramatic movements of people who are uprooted by war and conquest and are tossed to a foreign land.” St. Augustine resident, Roy O. Barnes Sr. is the great-great grandson of one of those New Smyrna survivors, a Greek Corsican whose name was Elias Medici. Elias Medici was the grandson of one of the refuges from Laconia, Greece. Mr. Barnes was born in Flagler Hospital. At that time it was located on Tremerton Street in St. Augustine. Elias was born in Paomio, Corsica. Elias Medici lived a long life in Florida. A miracle considering he was sentenced to death for being a key conspirator in the first revolt in the new found colony. Panagopoulos writes of the upstarts’ sentencing held Jan. 1, 1769: “Elia Medici, however, was lucky. According to British practice, Chief Justice William Drayton spared his life under the condition that he should execute the other two. When the day of the execution came, a tragic incident took place, which was vividly described by the contemporary Dutch surveyor, Bernard Romans who witnessed the account: ‘On this occasion I saw one of the most moving scenes I ever experienced; long and obstinate was the struggle of this man’s mind, who repeatedly called out, that he chose to die rather than to be executioner of his friends in distress: this not a little perplexed Mr. Woolridge, the sheriff, till at last the entreaties of the victims themselves, put an end to the conflict…….” Mr. Barnes dreams that one day history will put the Greeks and Greek Corsicans on equal footing with the Minorcans who have a place of prominence in St. Augustine history. Barnes has chronicled his family history at St. Photios Shrine and has availed his family history to Medicis throughout the United States. But wait. How is it that Medici is a Greek surname? The Medici family can be traced to the clan known in Corsica as ‘di Medici Iatrako.’ Medici – doctor; Iatrakos – doctor. People with this surname migrated from Mani, Greece to Corsica from the late 1600’s to the mid 1700’s. Two of their descendents, Elias and Pedro di Medici along with 200 other men from the west coast of Corsica decided to try their luck in the New World. The promise of a few pounds and 50 acres of land for a few years work was very seductive. Barnes is not the only one to underscore his Greek Corsican roots. Carl Bonaparte, father of the emperor, Napoleon, was Greek, and we learn much through the undisputed diaries of the Duchess D’Ambrante. “In Bonaparte’s

house we spoke Greek with Napoleon’s father…Bonaparte’s ancestor by the name of Kalomeros had moved from Aiaccio (the capital of Corsica) to the Toscana region. There his Greek name was literally translated into Italian - Bona Parte.” As a child, she knew Napoleon. As an adult she traveled in Napoleon’s social and political circles. Her husband, 1st duc d’Abrantes, was General Jean-Andoche Junot. His military service spanned the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. The beautiful but prodigal Laure was a consummate reader, personal friend of Balzac, and known for the undisputed copious notes on the family of Napoleon’s life. Her mother, Panorea Comnene Martin de Permond, was related to the renowned Paleologos family. She was first cousins to George Stephanopoli who migrated to Florida. The widow Panorea was also Carl’s confidante. Laure Junot wrote in her acclaimed Memoirs – ‘my mother was present at Napoleon’s father’s death, she closed Carl’s eyes.’ Dr. Peter Marifoglou was born in New York City in 1954. He is currently living in Europe. He is a film historian, filmmaker-

(Above) The Chapel at St, Photios National Shrine. (Right) One of the exhibit rooms of the Shrine with artifacts and information on the New Smyrna colony.

photographer, a professor of history in film. His most recent exhibit showed at the BildForum Zentrum in Mannheim, Germany in 2005. His new body of research and photographs are the result of his 14-month stay in Cargese, Corsica. As a result, Dr. Marifoglou is driven to tell the story of the Greeks in the Diaspora, especially the Greeks in Corsica. It is no wonder. His “Byzantine” parents migrated from Constantinople in the early 20th century. He has lived outside the United States. The visualized exhibit will soon be up in Athens. He will not be done with this project until he realizes his dream which is to ‘reincarnate this migration of Maniots from the Peloponnesos towards the west in Florida.’ Dr. Marifoglou is now writing a book regarding his Corsican experiences. In 2009 he celebrated Easter in Cargese. He writes: “I have contact with the Stefanopoli, Cosma and most of the Giatracchi (Medici) families; unfortunately many are not with us any longer. I have just had the loss of a great friend from the Giatracchi family at the age of 96. She was like a mother to me all of the 14 months that I was in Cargese. It was her wish that,

hopefully, all of the photographs that I’ve taken would be shown publicly one day. I was very moved and upset of her absence. I have contact with her nephew who is writing at the moment a dictionary of the language they used when they came from Mani over 300 years ago. Benaki has asked me many times if your community would be interested in having the exhibition over in Florida after Athens. St. Augustine is very closely connected with the Cargese story.” What a joy for us to connect Peter Marifoglou and Roy O. Barnes Sr. They affirm one another and provide a much needed link from the present to the past. I wrote to Sheila and Paul Langdon who also were touched by the established Greeks among Caregese society. They write: “Cargese has a fascinating history: most of its inhabitants are descended from Greek refugees who were settled here in 1676 by the Genoese as part of their policy of diluting Corsican nationalist sentiment by implanting colonies of foreigners. 730 Greeks, fleeing a destructive inter-clan vendetta in the Mani of southern Peloponnese settled here, you might say a somewhat ironically unwise choice of new homeland given that Corsica was the land of origin for the word vendetta. The Greeks had a rough time from Corsican antagonism, but during the 19th century an uneasy coexistence emerged between the two opposing communities who each built their own churches on hillocks facing one another across the valley. Some 300 Greek families still live in Cargese, the blue and white Greek flag flies over the houses, and the local priest uniquely is licensed by papal decree to pronounce both the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox services in the village’s two churches. It was sheer delight to wander through the sleepy village with its pastel colored houses and flower-filled gardens, all bright with fig trees, bougainvillea and cycad-palms.” Who were the Greek colonists? Where did they come from? Who do we count in that number? They were intrepid, brave, entrepreneurs who hailed from Greece: Mani, Crete, and Santorini. They were Greeks from Asia Minor – Smyrni, Tripoli and Morea. They were adult children of refugees who came from Corsica. We count them all amongst our ancestors whom we celebrate; grateful for the rich history they weave in the historical fabric of not only this great country but also in our history as Greeks in the Diaspora. These and other historical connections are recounted each year at the Greek Landing Day celebration at the St. Photios Greek Orthodox National Shrine in St. Augustine, when descendents of the original colonists in 1768 gather with proclamations and memorials, and with honor and respect for not only the courage and faith of the Greeks and all the Mediterranean people who were part of that endeavor. It is also the time we set aside each year to honor all our ancestors who came to this country in search for a life of political and economic freedom. This year’s festivities will begin with Great Vespers and artoclasia on Friday, June 25 at 5 p.m., followed by the Glendi until 9 p.m. On Saturday, Greek Landing Day, will be celebrated with Orthros and Divine Liturgy, beginning at 8:30 a.m. The Glendi will follow. In conjunction with St. Augustine youth we will sponsor a youth rally at 10 a.m. on June 25. Polly Hillier is director of the St. Photios Greek Orthodox National Shrine.