Epitaphios

The United States was traumatized by 9/11 and by the April 15th, 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. Can anyone feel safe in an urban event? The 114th New York City Police Precinct conducted an exceptional police effort in protecting thousands of Greek Orthodox worshipers on Good Friday, May 3rd.  The Sacred Patriarchal and Stavropegial Orthodox Monastery of St. Irene Chrysovalantou, Sts. Catherine and George Church and St. Markella Epitaphios (Holy Tomb) moved peacefully through Astoria under the vigilant eyes of police and auxiliaries.

I attended the deeply moving St. Irene’s Epitaphios Procession from 23rd Ave in front of St. Irene Chrysovalantou Monastery, along 31st St to Ditmars, ending at St. Irene’s Church. Cars attempted to interrupt the procession and cross police barriers. The NYPD 114th Precinct kept order and did not allow penetration of the police lines. I was totally amazed by the order and safety. One participant said, “We want to worship our Good Friday service to show we are dedicated to our Greek Orthodox faith.” And that they did. Thousands from New York City, New Jersey and Long Island came to support their beloved monastery. Many parishioners expressed deep love for the founder of their monastery.

The worshipers entered with three generations of their family. Well-dressed worshipers proceeded in order to venerate the Epitaphios, while V. Rev. Archimandrite Ierotheos Zacharis, Abbot, anointed their hands with cologne. I personally never witnessed this ceremony before. “His Grace is anointing our hands as Magdalini (Mary Magdalene) did the body of Christ,” explained Dr. Vasia Filiotis, Principal of St. Irene Chrysovalantou School and President of the Prometheus Greek Teachers Association. My gaze on old icons from the 1960’s with silver overlay, as the icons from Ieron Parthenon St. Constantine and Helen Monastery in Chios, impressed me. I saw a never-ending stream of worshipers for over an hour. Children holding yiayia and papou’s hands kissed the Epitaphios with sincerity. Images of my Greek speaking family with yiayia and papou came to my memory. A time of deep religious faith with belief in “one’s church, right or wrong.”and Orthodoxy perpetuating Hellenism lost on the shores of Asia Minor. The gift of St. Irene’s Monastery on Good Friday gave these children a precious memory of worshiping Christ with their beloved, Greek speaking grandparents.

V. Rev. Archimandrite Ierotheos Zacharis, Abbot.

The Epitaphios Procession, quiet, orderly, with young and hold holding banners fanaria (six foot lanterns, flowing white ribbons preceded the Epitaphios. Manolis Kouroupakis on his Good Friday Hellas FM radio program said “Lefkos Pyrgos on the corner of 23rd Ave. and 31st. St. is where I will be watching all three churches Epitaphios Procession.” As we were passing, the Café was packed with standing room only.”

I saw U.N. diplomat Georgia Filiotis outside. “We must keep up with St. Irene’s Epitaphios. We will pass under the Epitaphios at the church’s entrance. Now we will see the Thyranixia (Opening of the Doors).” The Doors would not open until a young man, called Thanasi, would carry the eight foot cross to entrance. A Byzantine hymn was chanted saying “Open the doors to Jesus Christ (basically).”  Thanasis Dhamoon is an Indian who married his college sweetheart, Sophia. He was given the distinct honor of standing next to Abbot Ierotheos during the Lamentations and holding the Cross. “I was in the military,” he said. “I served in Afghanistan.”

Thanasis Dhamoon carrying 8 foot cross in Procession.

His maturity and deep religious faith reflect his wartime experiences. The trend in New York City is mixed marriages with Latinos, Hindus and Moslems. St. Irene’s welcomes all. “Interfaith marriage is a positive, spreading Greek culture,” said Art Demopoulos of ODYSSEY magazine at Hermes International Expo 2013. “It is a positive…. The Greek American experience is assimilation with retention of Greek identity.” Orthodoxy is a unifying factor.

 Mike Marounas, of Queens and the Transfiguration Church in Mattituck, L.I. participated in the Epitaphios Procession with his wife, young son and koumbaro George Fuiaxis.”I want my son to experience Greek Orthodoxy in an urban environment.”

“Tonight we hold on to our Greek Orthodox faith in Astoria among multi-ethnic communities,” said Abbot Ierotheos.  “Before a multitude of diverse people, we showed our commitment to our faith. Only the Church is our refuge, holding on to Greek Orthodoxy.” Thousands marched in Astoria, with the help of the NYPD 114th Precinct, to hold on to their right of freedom of religion.

For more information, contact The V. Rev. Archimandrite Ierotheos Zacharis, Abbot at The Sacred Patriarchal and Stavropegial Orthodox Monastery of St. Irene Chrysovalantou, 36-07 23rd Avenue, Astoria, NY 11105-1916, Telephone: (718) 626-6225, Facsimile: (718) 626-7669 and E-mail: Sacred Patriarchal Monastery of St. Irene Chrysovalantou

Epitaphios Procession

Epitaphios Procession

 

The Abbot anointing the hands of Educator Vasia Filiotis.

The Epitaphios at the Thyranixia (Opening of the Doors).

Catsimatidis is a Republican who has developed a habit of suggesting new, often off-beat policy proposals in response to questions. For example, he has suggested that police ride three-wheeled vehicles to improve their mobility, while he wants the city to consider allowing casinos in hotels and would like to launch a program to give free pet food to people who adopt homeless animals. He would like a police officer in each of the city’s public housing projects, as reported in The Wall Street Journal.

His Red Apple Group owns the Gristedes supermarket chain, oil and gas business and convenience stores. It can cause problems for Catsimatidis and could be contributing to the perception in the city’s political classes that he isn’t a serious candidate. He has trailed former Rudy Giuliani aide Joe Lhota in recent polls of the Republican primary.

Catsimatidis rejected the notion that his ideas would hurt him: “Everybody has counted me out for the last 40 years in every category. And guess who the winner is?” he said in an interview. “I know what I’m saying, and I know what I’m doing, and I have the courage to say it.”

Earlier this month, Catsimatidis brought up his ideas for tweaking, but not abolishing, the Central Park carriage-horse industry in front of a crowd of animal-rights activists at a forum sponsored by the group leading the charge to eliminate it, according to the article.

“When those horses are ready to retire, you know what I’d like to do? Build a small stable and have them as part of the zoo,” he said. “It’s only a suggestion. That’s the way I feel personally. Because I love animals and I think they should be well treated,” he continued.

As reported in the article, Ester Fuchs, a public affairs professor at Columbia University who has advised Mayor Michael Bloomberg on policy, said Catsimatidis at least deserves credit for suggesting ideas: “He is much more interesting and creative than most people realize,” she said. “You would not necessarily want to implement everything he says, but has anyone else made proposals in those forums that are original or memorable?”

Catsimatidis has based his campaign in part on dreamy ideas, kicking it off with a promise to bring the World’s Fair to New York for a third time in 2014. He said he has a group of 100 leaders in various fields with whom he meets regularly to talk about politics. He declined to name them, according to the newspaper.

At the forums, he said he sometimes comes up with ideas as he sits onstage.

Catsimatidis pointed to an example from his experience running Gristedes. When roast-chicken restaurant Boston Market started expanding its Boston Chicken shops in the city, he had Gristedes start advertising Philadelphia Chicken and selling it at a lower price.

“I’ve been a salesman all my life,” he said. “I know how to market New York City.”

The report identifies Golden Dawn as  “a political party openly espousing anti-Semitism and racism and linked to violent attacks against individuals perceived to be immigrants, were elected to Parliament.”

The group, which got only 0.29 percent of the vote in the 2009 elections, won 6.97 percent to gain 18 seats in Parliament in 2012 but has risen as high as 13-14 percent in some recent surveys. It opposes the austerity measures being imposed by the government on the orders of international lenders and sends out vigilante patrols into high-crime areas to search for illegal immigrants it blames for the trouble.

The Greek government publicly condemned some anti-Semitic and racist incidents, states the report, though “observers called on the authorities to do more to counter hate speech and the violent actions of Golden Dawn members.” Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has been reluctant to after the party as he also wants all illegal immigrants out of the country and an anti-racism bill has been stalled in Parliament over debate whether it would make martyrs out of Golden Dawn.

There were also reports of “harassment and increasingly violent physical attacks against individuals perceived to be immigrants and refugees, many of whom were Muslim,” states the report, while “expressions of anti-Semitism increased after voters elected members of Golden Dawn to parliament.”

“(Golden Dawn’s) official newspaper attacked the teaching of the Holocaust in schools and, on the occasion of a visit by the executive director of the American Jewish Committee, stated that the Jewish lobby and Zionism conspired against Greek wealth,” notes the report, adding that some members of the Greek Orthodox clergy condemned violent attacks against immigrants, while others expressed their support for Golden Dawn.

The report further notes that the Greek Orthodox Church exercised considerable influence, while some non-Orthodox citizens complained of being treated with suspicion when they spoke of their religious affiliations.

“Members of non-Orthodox religious groups reported incidents of societal discrimination. Members of the Muslim minority in Thrace were underrepresented in public sector employment, and no Muslim military personnel advanced to officer ranks,” says the report.

The report further notes that planning for a government-funded mosque in the Greek capital continued, while some Muslim leaders had expressed their concern with regard to the lack of an Islamic cemetery in Athens, prompting members of the Muslim communities in the Greek capital and other cities to travel to Thrace for Islamic burial of deceased relatives or have the remains repatriated.

US Secretary of State John Kerry presented the report which indicates a sharp rise in displays of anti-Semitism worldwide. Special mention is given to Golden Dawn leader Nikos Michaloliakos who “had publicly and repeatedly denied the Holocaust, while he had made Nazi salute to greet his supporters in many occasions in the past”.

The report also notes that human rights organizations, such as Human Rights Watch, criticize Greek Police for making “little effort” to scale down Golden Dawn’s violent actions.  The Greek government has condemned the anti-Semitic and racist attacks. However, international observers have asked Greece to be more “active” in its dealing with Golden Dawn’s violent attacks.

The State Department’s report finally mentions that the American ambassador in Athens and American officials held meetings with their Greek counterparts and asked from the Greek government to publicly and strongly disapprove of Golden Dawn and its anti-Semitic actions.

According to two recent articles published in the US, Greece has not only failed to improve its economic condition, but also faces at any given time the danger of exiting the Eurozone. This time it will not be the partners that will call the country to do so, but its people.

As Wall Street Journal reports, the countries of southern Europe continue to suffocate under the German strategy that implies large cuts in public spending and wages in order for these countries to increase their competitiveness. Furthermore, the newspaper refers to a survey carried out by Goldman Sachs that suggested that this difficult situation of Greece is going to last for more than ten years.

In the same wavelength, Bloomberg doubts that Greece’s situation shows any signs of recovery and adds that progress is just a drop in the ocean and that the current euphoria is exaggerated.

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The Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES) is organizing for the first time outside NYC an exhibition of almost 50 artworks crafted by awarded African-American writer and artist Romare Bearden (1911-1988). The Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, Texas, will run Bearden’s, A Black Odyssey, until August 11.

Homer’s epic The Odyssey, where the Greek king Odysseus tries to return home after the Trojan war is over, acted like a source of inspiration for Bearden, who integrated his African-American heritage and culture into the Homeric work in an attempt to explain how every man is in search of his own way home. The exhibition includes collages and drawings depicting black people set in the Greek antiquity theme.

Curator of this new exhibition is Robert G. O’Meally, Zora Neale Hurston Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. According to SITES website, the latest publication of this prolific author, Romare Bearden: A Black Odyssey, will be available for purchase at museum venues. An ambitious program of talks, panels, and performances that explore many of the themes raised by the exhibition is envisioned to accompany the exhibition at each location.

Speaking to the congregation, Ieronymos said that in Greece “There’s a lot of pain, but all this will pass, we are sure,” and added, “We will keep our soul strong.” Furthermore, he highlighted the need for unity stressing that, “We are all necessary.” Referring to the Diaspora of America he said that “Here is a Greece, outside of Greece, that has all the characteristics of Greeks of all time.”

As a personal gift Demetrios offered Ieronymos a charm with Apostle Paul.

Among those present was the Ambassador of Greece to the USA Christos Panagopoulos, the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Cyprus to the UN, Ambassador Nicos Emiliou, the consular authorities of the two countries, directors of Greek services, other religious leaders and clerics and representatives of Diaspora organizations.

Many young and middle-aged men flocked to Paddles, an after-hours sex club in Chelsea, at around four on a Saturday morning, to be vaccinated.

According to the New York Times, this is about a new, casually transmittable infection, a unique strain of bacterial meningitis, which has cast a pall over gay night life and the dating scene. Seven men have died in New York City, about a third of diagnosed cases, since 2010. In the last few months, the contagion seems to be accelerating. It has targeted gay and bisexual men, and the exact reason remains unknown.

“I’m hitting more than 700 today, my injections have gotten really good,” Daskalakis said. The owner of the club, Michael Aulito noted, “Dr. Demetre told me every person who gets a shot saves four other people.” He concluded, “If he gives 700 shots, that’s 2,800 people that he saved, an amazing number.”

Meningitis is an inflammation of the lining that surrounds the spinal cord and brain. Symptoms, such as fever, headache, stiff neck and a rash, appear fast and seem ordinary. The bacteria is carried in the nose and mouth. Though not as contagious as a cold or flu, it can be spread through kissing, sneezing or sharing a spoon, as reported in the NYT.

“It takes 7 to 10 days to take effect and provides up to five years of immunity,” Daskalakis informed the men handing them the consent form.

Daskalakis has 10 years of experience and practices in Internal Medicine and Infectious Disease. He has graduated from New York University and has received four awards. He has special expertise in five areas, including AIDS, HIV Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, HIV Infections, and Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy HAART.

Photo Credit: Jillian Nelson

On May 11, 2013, the 22nd annual Hellenic Times Scholarship Fund (HTSF) GALA was held at the Marriott Marquis in New York City, awarding 36 scholarships to raise the total over its 22 years to more than $2 million.

The event commenced with a video telecast that featured such previous honorees as Ernie Anastos, Bob Costas, Mike Emanuel, Alexis Christoforous, Nick Gregory and a special cameo from Nia Vardalos from My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

Special guests included Constantine Maroulis and Frank Dicopoulos. HTSF President Nick Katsoris and author of the Loukoumi book series, made the opening remarks.

This year, George Sakellaris, the Chairman and CEO of Ameresco, Inc., was honored with the prestigious Leadership Humanitarian Award that was presented by John Catsimatidis, the CEO of the Red Apple Group and publisher of the Hellenic Times.

Sakellaris remarked, “I am very blessed and thankful. We welcome all of our honored guests and scholarship recipients tonight. It’s an honor and a privilege to receive this award on behalf of the Hellenic Time Scholarship Fund.” “Thank you to the next mayor of New York,” he added referring to John Catsimatidis.

Katsoris introduced Margo Catsimatidis, the vice chair of the HTSF, as well as co-publisher of the Hellenic Times Scholarship Fund (HTSF) and president of MCV Advertising, as a “woman whose amazing spirit is something to be emulated by all.” Margo presented the scholarships to this year’s recipients. Anjelika Vayas was awarded the top Hellenic Times scholarship in the amount of $20,000.

The event also featured musical performances from JT Taylor, formerly of Kool and The Gang, a group that is best-known for their smash hit “Celebration,” as well as ALPHA Orchestra which included Katerina Tropazi and Thanos Tsiovas.

According to Joanna Kotrotsios, a 2013 HTSF honoree, she remarked, “This award feels amazing. I am so excited to be here and congratulations to all of the other honorees as well.”

For more information on the Hellenic Times Scholarship Fund, visit their official website.

Photo Credit: Jillian Nelson

Ieronymos visited the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston on May 16. On May 17 he was officially received in the Hellenic College and Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology (HCHC) in Brookline, Massachusetts.

He will be awarded with an honorary doctorate in Theology at HCHC’s graduation ceremonies on May 18 and he will be present at the Divine Liturgy at the Holy Cross chapel of the School and present a speech to the students.

On the evening of May 18, he will depart for New York, accompanied by Archbishop Demetrios. On May 19 Ieronymos will officiate at the Divine Liturgy at Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Manhattan. He will also attend a concert by the Archdiocesan Byzantine Youth Choir in the Holy Trinity Cathedral.

He will also visit the Cathedral and the community of St. Demetrios in Astoria, where a Greek school and the unique Greek high-school in the US operates.

Talking about her book which will soon be released in Greek, she referred to her personal opinion of the organization of the 2004 Olympics and the legacy left to the country, proving for the first time, as she said, that “we are not wretches.”

Angelopoulos answered many questions, refuting criticism on the organization of the games, stating that we should not blame the Olympic Games for the economic crisis, but the politicians and their choices.

While talking to journalists after the event organized by the Cultural and Educational Committee of the American-Hellenic Chamber of Commerce, the ambassador-at-large of the Greek State, answered a question posed by AMNA.

“First of all, I wanted to write this book and I did it in order to show the world and especially America another Greece. A Greece which is capable and has already accomplished excellent things, which made a miracle, the Olympic Games and has learned many lessons. But then the politicians took over and the life of the world changed.”

Angelopoulos said that she is presenting her book in many cities in America in order to stop blaming Greeks. “There’s no stereotype of the lazy or the failed Greek,” she stressed and continued, “I know the Greek who can do miracles and I’m proud. I talk about our country, about all the good things. I talk to people abroad and urge them to help Greece, to visit Greece, to help young people in Greece, as I do by financing projects for children and by sending them to the Clinton Global Initiative. But there are many more ways. I have served my country and I am proud. I have always wanted to help my country and I will be doing this forever.”