Source: Greek Reporter USA The Greek community in USA and people from all around the world mourned his death, including heads of States, countless political figures, and organizations. Supreme President of AHEPA, Dr. John Grossomanides has issued the following statement: “The members of the American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association mourn the passing of Life Member Andrew Athens, a true pillar of global Hellenism, a highly-decorated World War Two veteran, an unwavering community activist, ardent philanthropist, and a successful businessman who truly realized and fulfilled the American Dream.” “Brother Athens will be sorely missed by all Hellenes as his kind and…
Browsing: Greek Orthodox Church
Source: MYSTAGOGY The following essay was recently written by His Eminence Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos in response to a scandal that has been occurring in his Metropolis which also recently brought him to break communion from one of his local monasteries, the well-known Monastery of the Holy Transfiguration in Nafpaktos. Yet it still provides an excellent template to distinguish generally what healthy and sick monasticism is according to Orthodox tradition. By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou Monasticism is the glory of the Church, and the monks, as taught by St. Gregory of Nyssa, are the crown of the…
Source: Tampa Bay Times By Stephanie Wang and Keyonna Summers, Times Staff Writers TARPON SPRINGS First-time diver Vassilios Harding, 16, crouched Sunday atop an overturned dinghy in Spring Bayou. He worried the position put him at a disadvantage in diving with 46 other Greek boys for the Epiphany cross. “I want this,” he thought to himself, “and I want this bad.” Archbishop Demetrios, primate of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, blessed the waters, then dropped the coveted cross into Spring Bayou. Ahead of the other divers, churning through the water, Vassilios reached the bobbing white cross within seconds. “God…
By STELIOS BOURAS ATHENS—In the basement of St. Varvaras church, Rev. Theodoros Georgiou issued instructions on a recent morning to volunteers preparing hundreds of packages of food for local families, as two phones on his desk buzzed with more calls about supplies for Greece’s growing ranks of the needy. “We do not solve the problems here,” Father Theodoros said. “We put out fires.” As unemployment has mounted in recession-hit Greece, so have poverty and hunger in Father Theodoros’s once firmly middle-class parish in the Greek capital. His congregation’s philanthropic resources have been stretched to the limit, he says, as it…
Source: Brooklyn Daily By Colin Mixson THREE HIERARCHS GREEK CHURCH DONATES TO GERRITSEN BEACH A Midwood parish has done its part to prove that the ancient axiom “beware of Greeks bearing gifts” doesn’t ring true. The Three Hierarchs Greek Orthodox Church, working with the Greek Orthodox Church of St. Nicholas and the Volunteer Fire Department of Bethlehem, Pa., sent a box truck and three Suburbans stuffed with desperately needed supplies to Gerritsen Beach on Dec. 1, a neighborhood that still lacks even the most basic supplies more than a month after it was ravaged by Hurricane Sandy. “The whole community…
Source: Greek Reporter Europe By Nicky Mariam Onti The municipal council of Istanbul has decided to give the permission to rebuild the St. Stefanos (Yeşilköy) Church, the first time the Turkish Republic has allowed an Orthodox religious institution to be renovated. The church is under the aegis of the Arab-Orthodox community which had asked many times for their own place for prayer. According to the Turkish newspaper STAR, the temple’s rebuilding can be initiated after taking the formal approval of the Council on Monuments. Churches in Istanbul date back to 1923, when the Turkish state was founded, and until recent…
Source: The National Herald by Constantinos E. Scaros Special to The National Herald Part 2 A few weeks ago, part one of this story appeared in this space (TNH, Sept. 29), and a sizable number of readers responded and contributed to a lively exchange of ideas. Part 2 was to appear sometime after the presidential election and, as promised, here it is. To summarize Part 1, the question posed was why here in the United States – a predominantly Christian nation – are so few Christian Americans even aware of, let alone belong to, the Orthodox Church, considering that Orthodoxy…
Source: Huffington Post BEIRUT [AP] — The patriarch of a Damascus-based Eastern Orthodox Church, Ignatius Hazim, has died in a Beirut hospital. He was 92. Hazim was named Eastern Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and all the East for the Greek Orthodox in 1979. His church is known as the Greek Orthodox Church of the Antioch. He died of a stroke in Beirut’s St. George’s hospital on Wednesday, Syria’s state-run news agency SANA said. Hazim hailed from the Syrian town of Maharda in the central province of Hama. SANA said his remains will be brought from Lebanon to Syria for burial.…
Source: Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America – Office of Interfaith Marriage by Mr. Peter Kehayes In open pluralistic societies, intermarriages tend to become the rule, not the exception as growing majorities intermarry with the result that many religions are at a critical juncture in deciding how best to address a challenge which is at the heart of so many families and so critical to the religious community’s well being and growth. Among Greek Americans, the intermarriage rate is between 75 and 85%; with a projected attrition of communicants of greater than 60% over the next generation. America’s unique place in history…
Source: The Harrow Times By Emma Innes A new Greek orthodox church was officially opened in Harrow on Saturday. The Church of St Panteleimon and St Paraskevi, in Kenton Road, is the first Greek orthodox church to be built in London in 134 years. It was formally blessed and opened by Archbishop Gregorios of Thyateira and Great Britain and there was a reception following the service. Bob Blackman MP, who attended the opening, said: “It was an honour to be asked to attend this historic occasion. “I am delighted that such an important building of such great significance has been…
Source: Mansfield News Journal By Anthony Conchel COLUMBUS — A Greek Orthodox Church priest who served in Mansfield as late as 2009 has been arrested by the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office on sex charges. Patrick Hughes, also known as the Rev. Nicholas Hughes, was arrested Wednesday night. Police said he was arrested by the Franklin County Internet Crimes Against Children task force on suspicion of attempted rape and attempted unlawful sexual conduct with a minor. Hughes, a native of Alabama, served at Sts. Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church in Mansfield for about 18 years. He had lived at St.…
Source: News24 Saidnaya – Divine intervention prevented a shell that pierced the walls of a Syrian convent from detonating, swears the mother superior of Our Lady of Saidnaya, a spiritual retreat near Damascus. “The Virgin Mary stopped the shell from exploding with her own hands,” said Mother Verone, who interpreted the close call as a divine message that “God is watching over sacred places” amid the unprecedented unrest rocking Syria. The sound of explosions and gunfire from nearby towns echoes around the normally tranquil convent. The nuns say the blasts come from the neighbouring towns of Rankus and Talfita, focal…