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February 11-17, 2017

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By Theodore Kalmoukos

NEW YORK – St. Paul Cathedralin Hempstead, NY will continueto pay the salary of former priestRev. Luke Melackrinos until theend of March and allow him tolive in the parish home until theend of June, His Grace BishopAndonios of Phasiane, Chancel-lor of the Archdiocese, told TheNational Herald.

Fr. Melackrinos was sus-pended from his priestly dutieson January 13, as TNH had re-ported, because he was electron-ically sending inappropriate pho-tos of himself to a marriedwoman in his parish.

Bishop Andonios saysMelackrinos currently sees a psy-chotherapist, whose report theArchdiocese awaits.

Andonios also said that ex-perts had told him that “priestsdo these kinds of things as a wayof dealing with the pressuresthat they receive in the parish”and added that “the Archdioceseshould find other ways forpriests to relieve their pressures.”

Melackrinos wore an anteri(inner cassock) with a big redcross inwrought in front and alsothe kalimavhi (clerical hat)teaching and preaching to thefaithful about confession.

Andonios also made refer-ence to another priest, Fr.Demetrios Recachinas from HolyTrinity in Bridgeport, CT, whowas also suspended a few yearsago.

Andonios also questionedwhy the financial audit at St.Spyridon in Upper Manhattan,where the scandal involving Rev.George Passias surfaced almost

Update onSuspendedPriestMelackrinos


BOSTON, MA – Prominent busi-nessman and philanthropistGeorge Marcus and his family do-nated one million dollars to theHellenic College and the HolyCross Greek Orthodox School ofTheology (HCHC). The donationis unrestricted, to be used asHCHC sees fit.

Marcus, along with world-fa-mous surgeon Dr. Andreas Tzakis,was given an honorary doctorateduring HCHC’s graduation cere-monies last May.

Born George Moutsanas in Eu-boea, Greece, Marcus immigratedto the United States at age fouralong with his parents and sister.He completed his undergraduatestudies in economics at San Fran-cisco State University (SFSU) injust two and a half years, andfounded the University’s first eco-nomics club. He also served as amember of the Board of Trusteesof the California State University

System in 1981-89, and hashelped select several SFSU presi-dents. He was named SFSUAlumnus of the year in 1989 andone of its 11 Distinguished Cen-tennial Alumni in 1999.

He is Founder – together withhis partner, William A. Millichap– and Chairman of Marcus & Mil-lichap Company (MMC), one ofthe country’s premier providersof investment real estate broker-age services, and the parent com-pany of a diversified group of realestate, service, investment, anddevelopment firms. MMC’s fea-tured company, Marcus & Mil-lichap Real Estate Investment Ser-vices, has established itself as aleading real estate firm with morethan 1,200 brokers in marketsthroughout the United States andwith a significant presence inCanada.

Marcus and his wife, Judy,along with another Greek-Amer-ican couple opened the Evviarestaurant in Palo Alto, CA in1995, and four years later its sis-ter restaurant Kokkari in SanFrancisco. The two establish-ments are very successful, the lat-ter a favorite of the local Democ-ratic establishment.

The Marcuses helped createSFSU’s International Center forthe Arts with a $3 million gift.Marcus also helped developSFSU’s Greek Studies program,and chairs its Modern GreekStudies Foundation, which sup-ports the Nikos Kazantzakis Chairfor Modern Greek Studies.

In 2008, Marcus co-foundedthe National Hellenic Society.

Among Marcus’ professionalmemberships are the Board of Re-gents of the University of Califor-nia, the Real Estate Roundtable,and the Policy Advisory Board ofthe University of California inBerkeley’s Center for Real Estate& Urban Economics. He is an Ar-chon of the Ecumenical Patriar-

Philanthropist GeorgeMarcus Donates $1Million to HCHC

ATHENS – Greece’s governmentsays members of the Interna-tional Monetary Fund’s execu-tive are in disagreement onbailout measures required forthe debt-plagued country, fur-ther complicating efforts tobreak an impasse in talks.

Government spokesmanDimitris Tzannakopoulos lev-eled the accusation Feb. 7, hoursafter the IMF board issued agloomy statement on Greece’sdebt outlook.

The Greek government, hesaid, is opposed to demands be-ing made by the IMF, including

a contingency austerity programafter the current bailout pro-gram ends next year.

“Our aim is not to yield tothe irrational demands of theIMF,” the spokesman said.

Greece needs to agree withthe IMF and its European credi-tors on more reforms in orderto keep tapping its bailout pro-gram.

Although Greece insists itdoesn’t have pressing cashneeds, without the money, itwould eventually face the re-newed possibility of default —something that nearly caused it

to fall out of the euro bloc in2015.

But negotiations overGreece’s reforms remain miredin disagreement. The Greek gov-ernment opposes labor reforms,and the IMF is at odds with Eu-ropean lenders over the extentto which the country’s massivedebts should be eased.

The IMF’s statement said thatthe proposed reforms were sup-ported by “most directors” –suggesting disagreement withinthe fund.

Greece Wrangles with Divided IMF

A Fruitful First Meeting on Security and MigrationThe European Union’s top migration official, former Greek high official with New DemocracyDimitris Avramopoulos, had a number of meetings this past week in Washington. Above with Na-tional Security Adviser Michael Flynn, at the White House.

Archbishop Demetrios on the Executive Order

TNH Staff

ASTORIA – Students, teachers,and staff at St. Demetrios Schoolin Astoria welcomed a specialguest on February 2, as StavrosNiarchos Foundation (SNF) co-President Andreas C. Dracopou-los took time out of his busyschedule for a visit to the historicschool.

St. Demetrios School BoardPresident Nick Andriotis led atour of the school, reminding thestudents of the 5th grade classthat the SNF has donated $2million and without the supportof the SNF, the school’s tuitionwould be at least $1,000 morea year. Archimandrite and Deanof St. Demetrios Cathedral Fr.Nektarios Papazafiropoulos,School Superintendent of St.Demetrios Dr. Anastasios Koular-manis, SNF Chief Financial Of-ficer Vasili Tsamis, SNF Directorof Programs & Strategic Initia-tives Stelios Vasilakis, and TNHPublisher-Editor Antonis H. Dia-mataris were also in attendancefor the visit.

SNF’s Dracopoulos Visits St. Demetrios School


BOSTON, MA – A new, efficientway for producing thyroid cells,known as thyrocytes, frommouse embryonic stem cells hasbeen published in the journalStem Cell Reports. This workcomes from the laboratory of Dr.Laertis Ikonomou, an assistantprofessor at the Boston Univer-sity School of Medicine andmember of the Center for Re-generative Medicine of BostonUniversity and Boston MedicalCenter.

This study is the result of amultidisciplinary effort that in-cluded stem cell scientists, med-ical doctors, theoretical physi-cists and bioinformaticians. Thefirst author in the paper is KeriDame, a biology graduate stu-dent in Dr. Ikonomou’s lab.

In describing his research,Dr. Ikonomou told TNH that “inour laboratory we use pluripo-tent stem cells and we try to de-rive lung and thyroid cells. The

method we use is known as di-rected differentiation. We try toreproduce in the lab the processof mouse embryonic develop-

ment. For example, we can, intheory, recapitulate the interme-diate stages of lung develop-ment and end up with func-tional lung cells.”

He continued explaining that“we perform experiments withcells we extract from mouse em-bryos, embryonic stem cells, andwe derive cell lines we can thenkeep in culture. For our experi-ments, we use various differen-tiation factors that are knownto have specific effects duringmouse development. Essentially,the biological information weneed for directed differentiationof pluripotent stem cells comesfrom embryonic development,therefore we need a comprehen-sive knowledge of developmen-tal biology.”

Why use mice and not someother animals such as monkeys,for example? “Because it israther straightforward to derivemouse embryonic stem cell lines

Dr. Ikonomou’s Discovery on Thyroid

SNF co-President Andreas Dracopoulos at St. Demetrios School with Dr. Anastasios Koularmanis,Stelios Vasilakis, Fr. Nektarios Papazafiropoulos, Vasili Tsamis, and Nick Andriotis.

Dr. Laertis Ikonomou, profes-sor and scientist at BostonUniversity.

NEW YORK – His EminenceArchbishop Geron of AmericaDemetrios issued an officialstatement which is actually ananswer to President Trump’s Or-der about the Muslim immi-grants. The Archbishop calls “forunconditional love to our fellowmen” and stresses the virtue ofphiloxenia – love of the stranger– which is based not on fear, buton care.

The entire statement fromHis Eminence ArchbishopDemetrios of America, datedFeb. 4, is as follows:

“As Greek Orthodox Chris-tians and as Americans, we ex-press our sadness and pain forour brothers and sisters all overthe world who find themselvesin tragic circumstances of hos-tility, violence and war, wherefamilies have been torn apart,displaced and where people aredenied basic human rights.

Following the example ofChrist, we are called to offer un-conditional love to our fellow

His Eminence calls“for unconditionallove” and philoxenia

TNH/COSTAS BEJ

Continued on page 5

TNH Staff

An official of the L’Oréal cos-metics company said a meetingwas held with Greek PremierAlexis Tsipras in Paris but re-fused to say what it was aboutas the trip caused a major polit-ical row with the oppositionNew Democracy Conservatives.

New Democracy demandedto know why he took a detourto Paris after a meeting of south-ern European Union leaders inLisbon.

Tsipras’ office never an-nounced the trip and it was re-vealed only after pressure fromthe opposition, which ques-tioned whether it was an unlaw-ful personal excursion on the

Tsipras SaysSecret ParisTrip for Debt

TNH Staff

CALGARY, CA – Rev. PeterRougas, presiding priest at St.Demetrios Greek-Orthodoxparish in Calgary, Canada lefthis parish on February 5 to goto Super Bowl 51, held in Hous-ton, TX. Sotirios learned thenews from The National Herald.

Fr. Rougas is a fan of theNew England Patriots and HEwas trying desperately to findinexpensive tickets to the game,since the price had gone up to$15,000. When he finally foundtickets at relatively reasonableprices, he took off for Texas.

Fr. Rougas did not respondto TNH’s request for comment.

Sotirios was surprised thatRougas had gone to the SuperBowl. He told TNH that “Fr. Pe-ter is a good man and I am sur-prised that he went to the gamein Texas without permission, buthe is a very good priest and Iknow he is a big sports fan.”

But would a very good priestleave his parish for a weekendout of the country without per-mission? “It seems he didn’thave tickets, he decided to goat the last minute. It was theweekend and he couldn’t findme. His father is a priest, and

Priest SkipsChurch forSuper Bowl

TNH Staff

Frantic – if broken – talks toreunify Cyprus after 42 yearshave run into clandestine Russ-ian attempts to scupper the ne-gotiations, Moscow’s critics con-tend.

While Cypriot PresidentNicos Anastasiades and Turkish-Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinciwere conducting secret talks inGeneva, Russia’s Ambassador toCyprus, Stanislave Osadchiy, at-tended a conference in Nicosiaof hardline politicians who don’twant a deal, the New YorkTimes reported in a story onRussia’s background involve-ment.

The group he met with hadhelped sink a 2004 plan to unifythe island after Cypriots votedagainst it, while Turks on thenorthern third of the island un-lawfully occupied since a 1974invasion supported it.

Osadchiy’s attendance at theseminar, shunned by Westernand other diplomats, angeredAnastasiades. He told The Timesthat the Ambassador apologizedand claimed not to know th in-tent of the conference despitewide publicity about its agenda.

Cyprus FearsRussia WillSink Unity

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Photo provided by Dr. Laertis Ikonomou

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By Eleni Sakellis

NEW YORK – On March 9, theOnassis Cultural Center NewYork will present its ground-breaking exhibition “A World ofEmotions: Ancient Greece, 700BC – 200 AD.” Bringing to lifethe emotions of the people ofAncient Greece, the exhibitionwill also prompt questions abouthow we express, control, ma-nipulate, or simulate feelings inour own society. The exhibitionwill be on view Monday throughSaturday, 10 AM to 6 PM, withextended hours on Thursdaysuntil 9 PM, and will also beopen to the public on FamilySundays. Guided tours of AWorld of Emotions will takeplace on Mondays, Wednesdays,and Fridays at 1 PM and onThursday evenings at 6 PM.

On view through June 24,the exhibition – always admis-sion-free – brings together morethan 130 masterpieces fromsome of the world’s leading mu-seums, including the AcropolisMuseum, Athens; the NationalArchaeological Museum,Athens; the Musée du Louvre(Department of Greek, Etruscan,and Roman Antiquities), Paris;the British Museum, London;and the Musei Vaticani, VaticanCity – to explore the ideas andattitudes of people in classicalantiquity toward emotion andthe ways in which the emotionswere depicted, revealing howsome are strikingly familiar tous and some shockingly alien.

Although ancient Greece is oftensaid to have been flooded withthe light of reason, A World ofEmotions examines the far dif-ferent reality addressed in theIliad, whose very first word ismenis: wrath.

Developed by a team of es-teemed guest curators, A Worldof Emotions will feature vasepaintings, sculpture (rangingfrom life-size statues from theAcropolis to relief carvings fromcemeteries), theatrical masks,amulets, coins, and votive offer-ings, among other artifacts fromthe early 7th century BC (thetraditional date of the Iliad) tothe late 2nd century AD.

Many will be on view in theUnited States for the first time,and some will be seen for thefirst time outside Greece. To-gether, these objects provide atimely opportunity to thinkabout the role of feelings in ourown personal, social, and polit-ical lives, while helping to ad-vance the relatively new field ofthe history of emotions.

The spring season at theOnassis Cultural Center NewYork will be dedicated to thetheme of emotions to accom-pany the exhibition with a cross-disciplinary constellation ofother artworks, programs, andevents.

The large-scale diptychpainting, Black Frames, commis-sioned from multimedia artistJannis Varelas will be installedon the Art Wall in the OnassisCultural Center New York’s

atrium space. Philosopher Si-mon Critchley and author JohnFreeman will host the peri-patetic conversation series Let’sWalk, engaging celebratedguests including actress FionaShaw and author Judith Thur-man in discussions in thegallery. A regular schedule ofguided tours and family pro-grams will be on offer.

On April 3, in collaborationwith the Axion Estin Founda-tion, the Center will host a con-cert of Byzantine hymns forHoly Week, performed in thegallery. On a lighter note, illus-trator Brooke Barker, author of

the bestselling Sad AnimalFacts, will produce a series ofdrawings inspired by emotionsfor the spring season, which willbe posted weekly on the Cen-ter’s website and social mediaand will be displayed on a videomonitor in the gallery foyer.

Onassis Foundation Presi-dent Dr. Anthony Papadimitriousaid “A World of Emotions andthe programs that accompany itare powerful expressions of themission of the Onassis Founda-tion: to support initiatives in ed-ucation and culture as a meansto achieve social cohesion. Al-though this exhibition is a rare

and thoughtful thematic gath-ering of beautiful and fascinat-ing objects from the ancientworld, it is also much more: acontribution toward a better un-derstanding of our present-dayreality. We are deeply gratefulto our distinguished guest cura-tors for this important exhibi-tion and its revelatory cata-logue.”

Foundation Executive Direc-tor and Cultural Director AmaliaCosmetatou said that “thanks tothe brilliant work of our guestcurators, A World of Emotionswill make an important newcontribution to scholarship,

while bringing the public intothe presence of objects that stillhave the power to move and as-tonish more than 2,000 yearsafter they were made.”

Distinguished historian An-gelos Chaniotis, co-curator ofthe exhibition, said “we cannotdirectly study neurobiologicalprocesses in ancient Greece. Butwe can see how social norms,religious beliefs, philosophicalideas, and education deter-mined the manifestations ofemotions, and how emotions inturn determined social interac-tion, political behavior, and re-ligious practice. This is our gainfrom studying emotions in theGreek world. What we learnabout emotions in one cultureand one historical period helpsus understand another. It sharp-ens our mind to reflect on ourlives and our world.”

Along with Chaniotis, Profes-sor of Ancient History and Clas-sics, Institute for AdvancedStudy, Princeton University, theexhibition is also curated by:Nikolaos Kaltsas, Director Emer-itus, National ArchaeologicalMuseum, Athens; and IoannisMylonopoulos, Associate Profes-sor of Ancient Greek Art and Ar-chaeology, Columbia University.

The exhibition will be accom-panied by a fully illustrated cat-alogue featuring essays by schol-ars including the co-curators,David Konstan, and Joseph E.LeDoux, as well as contributionsfrom nearly 60 European andAmerican authors.

Onassis Cultural Center Exhibition on Emotions in Ancient Greece

By Vasilis Papoutsis

LOS ANGELES, CA – Blue Ori-gin's space flight will test for thefirst time the internationallyknown Kalamata olives, oliveoil, figs and raisins in their nat-ural forms in a unique coopera-tion with private high schoolacademy Bougas and the TEIPeloponnisou.

The origin and implementa-tion of this cooperation is cred-ited to two brothers, ProfessorsTakis and Periklis Papadopoulos.

Amazon owner Jeff Bezos,who has been fascinated withspace exploration since he was ahigh school student and dreamtof building space hotels and

amusement parks, created BlueOrigin. The company is a pri-vately funded aerospace manu-facturer and spaceflight companythat is developing technologiesthat will lower the cost of spacetravel. Blue Origin successfullydeveloped the rocket-poweredVertical Takeoff and VerticalLanding technology for its NewShepard space vehicle that Dr.Periklis Papadopoulos said “is asignificant breakthrough technol-ogy that will dramatically lowerthe cost of space flying as thebooster and the capsule can beused a few times without theneed of refurbishing them afterevery use.” The purpose of theexperiment will be to test the ef-

fects on the products once theytravel into orbit. High school stu-dents from Bougas academy willparticipate in the experiment, asuggestion that was made byDr.Takis Papadopoulos to thechief engineer of Blue Originduring a Nanoracks ISS Work-shop in Holland.

“The school had won a thirdplace in the national roboticscompetition and I thought theywould be a great fit to the ex-periment.” Dr.Takis Papadopou-los told TNH that there twocomponents to the experiment“first, to observe the behaviorof olive oil and specifically toexamine if olive oil will main-tain its liquid shape once it has

left the earth. We know that wa-ter does not maintain its liquidform in space and it will be in-terested to see how olive oil be-haves. And second, the behaviorof yeast bacteria growth inspace, bread making ability inspace.” TEI Peloponissou De-partment of Agricultural Prod-uct Technology will decide theproducts that will be send tospace while Blue Origin will de-cide the exact amounts. Al-though the products will onlybe in space for about seven oreight minutes, that will beenough time to get a first read-ing of how they will react. Theadvance properties of thesefoods will be further developedfor space usage by developing“food supplements that for thefirst time will have taste. Up tonow, food supplements used inspace are tasteless.”

The participation of theBougas academy is the first timethat high school students in Eu-rope will participate in a realspace experiment. “The studentsselected are ages fifteen to eigh-teen years old and their selec-tion was based on their gradesand their academic inclinationin computer science and robot-ics. Also their interest on thespace experiment. We hope theoutcome will motivate childrento improve their grades inS.T.E.M lessons, science technol-ogy, engineering and mathemat-ics” said George Koutsoumpos,

Bougas Team Manager. If theexperiment goes well Takis Pa-padopoulos believes that “theMessinian products that are thebase of the Mediterranean dietwill be the food for the astro-nauts as well of the passengersof commercial space flights formany years to come.” This de-velopment in conjunction withthe initiative to build a space-port in Kalamata is about tobring the Messinian capital in

the space era. This was initiatedagain by Professor of AerospaceEngineering for San Jose StateUniversity Periklis Papadopou-los, who believes that “Kalamatais ideal for creating a EuropeanSpaceport because of its geo-graphical position. It is a projectwhat could yield $1 trillion dol-lars.” The experiment will takeplace in place probably in Julyof 2017 and it is highly antici-pated by all involved.

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin Sends Messinian Products, Kalamata Olives, to Space

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Marble Funerary Base with Afterlife Scenes. 410–400 B.C. National Archaeological Museum,Athens, 4502. Image © Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports.

Left to right: Blue Origin team members Bretton Alexander,Jeff Ashby, Blue Origin Founder Jeff Bezos, NASA Deputy Ad-ministrator Lori Garver, next to Blue Origin's crew capsulealong with Blue Origin team members Rob Meyerson, andRobert Millman at the company's headquarters in Kent, WA.

COMMUNITYTHE NATIONAL HERALD, FEBRUARY 11-17, 2017 3

TNH Staff

ST. LOUIS, MO – As Dr. MichaelB. Cosmopoulos, the HellenicGovernment-Karakas FoundationProfessor of Greek Studies andProfessor of Archaeology notedin Hellenica, the newsletter ofthe Hellenic Government-Karakas Family Foundation Pro-fessorship in Greek Studies at theUniversity of Missouri-St. Louis(UMSL), “Twenty years ago agroup of passionate Greek-Amer-icans had a dream: that their cul-ture and language be preservedfor their children and their chil-dren’s children. The HellenicGovernment-Karakas FamilyFoundation Professorship hasbeen successful in honoring thisdream. Evidence of this successcan be seen locally, nationally,and internationally: locally, it isattested by the high student en-rollments and the active involve-ment of the community in ourprograms; nationally and inter-nationally by the position of theProfessorship as a leader in theresearch, teaching, and outreachof Hellenism.

What sets this Professorshipapart is the emphasis on the hu-manistic values of Hellenism. Welive in an age of rapid techno-logical progress, in which it fallsupon our universities to provideto our youth not only the techni-cal skills needed to succeed in acompetitive global environment,but also the ability to think criti-cally and be morally aware hu-man beings. As an ideal, human-ity originates in Greece. Andthat’s why Hellenic studies areso important to our educationalsystem and a Professorship likeours so vital. Here, in the heartof America, we are determinedto preserve the Great Tradition.”

Among the achievements ofthe program, over 100 donorsfrom the wider St. Louis com-munity helped to establish athree-year position in ModernGreek Studies at the Universityof Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL).The position, St. Louis GreekCommunity Visiting AssistantProfessor in Modern Greek His-tory and Culture, held by Profes-sor Nikos Poulopoulos, was re-newed for another three yearsby UMSL as noted in Hellenica.According to the newsletter, Pro-fessor Poulopoulos is doing awonderful job not only in teach-ing Modern Greek history, lan-guage, and culture, but also in

researching the history of the St.Louis Greek Community.Through his courses during the

past year, he taught his studentsabout the full, diachronic spec-trum of Greece’s historical and

cultural journey, from the gloryof the ancient Greeks to the gen-esis and gradual maturation,

over the last two centuries, ofModern Greece. In between, hetaught a summer course on thefascinating period of ByzantineHellenism. This past semester,with the support of a College ofArts and Sciences CurriculumGrant, he designed a new courseexamining the history of frictionbetween the Middle East and theWest – where Greece has oftenfunctioned as a buffer zone,when not an actual battle-ground. Moreover, part of hisgraduate seminar in Oral History,was dedicated to the study andanalysis of historical narrativesat the Matsakis Center at UMSL,by members of the Greek com-munity of St. Louis. Buildingupon his increased interest onthe early history of the Greek Di-aspora in America, and especiallyof St. Louis, and drawing uponhis long research and study ofthe historical archives of theGreek Ministry of Foreign Affairs,he continued to work on a man-uscript on nineteenth centuryGreek activity in the US. Last se-mester, he delivered two invitedlectures on the subject: “From

New York to New Orleans: EarlyGreek Merchant Communities inthe United States” at StonyBrook University and “HomoAuctor: Orphans, Merchants andthe Making of the First Greek-American Citizen in the Nine-teenth Century” at Yale. In orderto make parts of his researchmore accessible to a wider audi-ence and to contribute to the in-creasingly popular fields of pub-lic and digital history, helaunched a blog on the historyof the Greeks of St. Louis(https://stlgreeks.wordpress.com).

In November, Cosmopouloswas elected a member of the Eu-ropean Academy of Sciencesand Arts, the premier researchacademy of Europe. In the ranksof the Academy are included 8Nobel Prize Winners, as well asPope Benedict XVI. The induc-tion ceremony will take place inMarch 2017 at the seat of theAcademy in Salzburg, Austria.Cosmopoulos was also invitedto lecture at the university ofthe Academy, the Alma MaterEuropaea.

Celebrating 20 Years of Greek Professorship University of Missouri-SL

chate and also a member of theLeadership 100.

His Eminence ArchbishopDemetrios, Geron of America, ina statement posted on HCHC’swebsite, wrote: “I give glory toGod for this impressive gift madeby George and Judy Marcus, whohave time and time again showntheir desire to not only grow ourChurch but have it thrive.”

The archbishop also com-mended HCHC President Rev.Christopher Metropulos and thefaculty and staff “for their coop-erative work at the educational,intellectual, and spiritual forma-tion center of our Faith.”

Fr. Metropulos noted that“George and Judy Marcus haveexpressed their belief in educatingour future Orthodox clergy andlay leaders through this inspira-tional gift. Their confidence in ourability to help shape the next gen-eration of the Orthodox Faith istestament to the strength of thelearning and spiritual formationtaking place here on the Holy Hill.

“As HCHC looks to the next80 years of its history, this gen-erosity will help increase thereach of the school through en-hanced admissions efforts, bringpractical and theological trainingfor current Orthodox clergy andOrthodox laity through a new on-line and continuing educationplatform, and support other areasof immediate impact.

“George and Judy Marcus arecommitted philanthropists whohave given generously to supporteducation, human service orga-nizations, and religious causes.They have been generous sup-porters of HCHC in the past,along with other Orthodox insti-tutions.”

Philanthropist George Marcus Donates $1 Million to HCHC

Dr. Michael Cosmopoulos at the excavation site in Pylos, Greece.

Continued from page 1 (L to r): HCHC Dean & Prof.of Religious StudiesDemetrios Katos, HCHCPresident Fr. ChristopherMetropulos, MetropolitanGerasimos, philanthropistGeorge Marcus, ArchbishopDemetrios, and Dr. ThomasLelon.


TNH Staff

NEW YORK – Athena Andreadiswas born in London to Greekparents. Her mother would singher to sleep. Despite all the mu-sic around the house, the youngAthena was encouraged to studybusiness, so she headed to BathUniversity but continued per-forming.

After securing a First ClassDegree in Business, Andreadisenrolled at Trinity College, Lon-don, graduating with two post-graduate degrees in Classicaland Jazz Voice. Her consistentperforming throughout herschool years led to Athenarecording her debut album,Breathe with Me, which drewmany excellent reviews, includ-ing The Guardian’s commentthat she was “Brave and origi-nal. A remarkably finesinger/songwriter.” Since then,she has headlined and sold out

numerous UK tours, played atGlastonbury, had songs coveredby other artists, and seen herown music synced with TV, com-mercials, and movies. Athenahas built a strong and sizeablefollowing with the sort of wordof mouth that can only comefrom connecting directly withthe emotional heart of her au-dience.

Her debut album was re-leased with SONY in Greece,and her second with EMI. In2014 she released a Greek-lan-guage record Giini Aggeli (EarthAngels) co-produced by GiorgosAndreou (Tsaligopoulou,Dalaras, Vitali, Alkinoos Ioanni-dis) featuring Lina Niko-lakopoulou (Haris Alexiou,Eleftheria Arvanitaki, AlkistisProtopsalti) with Universal–EMI.

Starbucks selected Andreadisas its exclusive artist in 2014-2016 and her albums sold in all

stores in Greece and Cyprusraising money for charity. Theco-branding deal is still runningsuccessfully to this day.

Classic Greek composer Yian-nis Markopoulos chose An-dreadis to sing on his long-awaited new record, alsofeaturing George Dalaras. In2015, she relocated to Los An-geles and recorded Ready forthe Sun at The Village Studios.Being in Los Angeles quicklyprovided Andreadis a lifechang-ing experience when she was se-lected as the featured artist onLeonard Cohen’s latest recordYou Want It Darker, on whichshe sings the chorus on thepoignant, poetic track TravelingLight. The track was producedby Cohen’s son Adam, and fea-tures mandolins and an overallGreek vibe that connected wellwith her cultural background.

Andreadis first learned ofLeonard Cohen’s interest in her

when she did an interview witha Greek journalist and the writertold her that when asked whohis favorite Greek singer was,the icon mentioned her. Whilefollowing her career, Adam no-ticed Andreadis was living andrecording in Los Angeles and in-vited her to participate on thenew album.

The featured tracks on Readyfor the Sun, You Bring Me Luckand Stronger, reflect two differ-ent sides to Andreadis as anartist, and the entire album car-ries the common thread ofwarmth and positivity that shereveals not just with her music,but with her whole person andher approach to life.

In May, Rolling Stone wroteabout her environmental workas ambassador of the Plastic Pol-lution Coalition (USA) along-side other notables includingMaroon 5, Jack Johnson, Jack-son Browne, and Bonnie Raitt.

Athena Andreadis Ready for the Sun Album Launch in New York City

Athena Andreadis

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The school choir under thedirection of music teacher Van-gelis Chaziroglou entertainedthe guests and highlighted theexcellent work done in theschool and the talents thatemerge through extracurricularprograms supported by the gen-erosity of the SNF. The guestswere visibly moved by the per-formance of Greek songs sungso well by the students. The stu-dents in the art class presentedexamples of their artwork, in-cluding a painting of the StavrosNiarchos Foundation CulturalCenter (SNFCC) in Athens, anda portrait of Ethnikos Kyrix-Na-tional Herald Founder PetrosTatanis.

The visit took place a fewmonths after SNF donated$750,000 for the school years2013-14, 2014-15, and 2015-16,and intended to recruit four su-pervisors to implement pro-grams for the English languagein history, mathematics, naturalsciences and the arts.

This donation was providedthrough a matching fund for thecommunity’s donation of$250,000, so the school bene-fited by $1million.

SNF has provided more than$2 million thus far and is the topbenefactor of St. Demetrios, theonly Greek high school in Amer-ica.

After visiting the 10th gradeclass and the art hall, the guestsenjoyed a meal in the school li-brary with Fr. Papazafiropoulos,the newly elected president ofthe parish council Van (Evange-los) Christakos, Andriotis,Koularmanis, college advisor He-len Karagiorgos, and secretary

Vasiliki (Tsampika) Sideris.The discussion focused on the

structure and performance ofthe school, the use of donationsto good administration, relationsbetween the school and the com-munity, and the role of the Arch-diocese.

In the discussion of the do-nations to the school made bySNF and individual donors fromthe community, Dracopoulosasked the leaders of the schoolabout donations or grants fromother organizations or founda-tions including the Archdiocese,FAITH, and the Leadership 100.Koularmanis and Andriotis indi-cated that they have never re-ceived any donation from thoseorganizations, which Dracopou-los called a “shame.” The Schoolleaders agreed that more com-munication is needed to helpraise funds for scholarships andletters must be written to thosewho can do so much for the sup-port of the School.

Dracopoulos also mentionedthe need for regulating theschool structure so St. Demetriosdoes not become a mere foot-note in the history of the Greekcommunity. SNF has supportedthe School with several grantsfor maintenance and upgrade.

SNF’s Andreas Dracopoulos Visits St. Demetrios School in Astoria

men while starting immediatelyto pray for them. In our greatcountry, which has historicallyand practically welcomed peopleof every nation, tribe, andtongue, we have the distinct priv-ilege and honor to offer philoxe-nia – love of the stranger – tohumans from all walks of life.

The New Testament is re-plete with an ethos of philoxe-nia – love of the stranger –based not on fear but on careand on gratitude. ‘Welcome oneanother,’ says Saint Paul in hisletter to the Romans, ‘even asChrist welcomed you’ (Rom.15:7). Christian philoxenia mustnot only be extended to thoseclose to us, but must be ex-tended to those near and faraway, and even to those whowill not reciprocate—to the

poor, the stranger, even thosewho hate us. For Christ says, ‘If

you love only those who loveyou, what credit is that to you?’

(Luke 14:14).As a vital expression of love,

we must continue to ferventlypray for peace for the entire hu-manity, especially for those af-fected by difficult circum-stances. Our fellow humans whoare suffering under terrible con-ditions and ordeals all over theworld are expecting justice andbegging for our love andprayers; even the least amongthem. As Christ said, ‘Inasmuchas you did it to one of the leastof these my brethren, you did itto me’ (Matthew 25:40). Inthese most difficult times, thestrongest expression of ourphiloxenia becomes a very ur-gent matter.

United as one people, as onenation under God, let us pro-ceed courageously, prudently,and lovingly. Always with thehelp of the Almighty God!”

Archbishop Demetrios’ Statement on Executive OrderContinued from page 1

The art students presented The National Herald Publisher-Editor Antonis H. Diamataris with aportrait of the Ethnikos Kyrix-National Herald Founder Petros Tatanis.

Andreas Dracopoulos, SNF co-President, also spoke with students in the science lab at St.Demetrios School in Astoria. Many of them said they wanted to pursue careers in science.

Continued from page 1

Dracopoulos also visited anart class at St. Demetrioswhere students created re-markable papier-mâché ver-sions of ancient Greek vases,as well as skillful drawingsand paintings.RIGHT: Theguests were treated to a per-formance by the school choirunder the direction of musicteacher Vangelis Chaziroglou.

Archbishop Demetrios

PHOTOS: TNH/COSTAS BEJ


TNH Staff

NEW YORK – Continuing its ex-ponential growth and revival,the historic Delphi #25 Chapterinitiated another 35 new Greek-Americans and Philhellenes intoits ranks - bringing its member-ship to 150 - on January 24 atits annual Vasilopita cuttingevent. The Delphi # 25 Chapter,one of the most storied chaptersin the history of the interna-tional fraternal organization, isbased in Manhattan, where itwas founded in 1923.

The evening’s festivities werespearheaded by its President Ar-gyris S. Argitakos and Vice Pres-ident Louis Katsos with theunanimous support of ChapterChairman of The Board of Gov-ernors and Past President, Dr.Marinos Petratos and the dy-namic team that comprises theBoard of Directors, Michael Pa-paphotes, Exec. Secretary;Jimmy Douloumbakas, Secre-tary; Chris Karis, Treasurer aswell as Board members Ted

Klingos, George A. Meintassis,Nick Moustakis, GeorgeEliopoulos, Konstantine Drou-gos, Warden, Captain of theGuard Peter Giakoumis, andSentinel George Giakoumis.

Befitting this historical eventwas the attendance of SupremePresident Andrew Zachariades,Supreme Treasurer JimmyKokotas, Supreme Governor forRegion 3 Chris Diamantoukos,Governor of District 6 (NYS Em-pire District) Ted Stamas, aswell as many other current andpast members of AHEPA's hier-archy and several Presidentsfrom other local Chapters.

Guests were surrounded bybanners and placards presentingthe historical figures of Delphi# 25 and the Hellenic andAmerican values of the organi-zation, which were reflected inthe oath that the new memberstook, the Greek and Americannational anthems.

The invocation and blessingof the event and the Vasilopitawere offered by Fr. Vasilios Bas-

sakyros of the St. John the Bap-tist Church located in GramercyPark, NYC. Brother Basil Kat-samakis, Chairman of Chapter’sEducation & Scholarships, ex-pounded on some of AHEPA Dis-trict Six scholarship programsas well as AHEPA’s Journey toGreece educational and culturalprogram.

Supreme Treasurer JimmyKokotas presided over the initi-ation.

At the appointed time, thenew members were called to thefront of the room and they werethen asked to place their lefthands on the shoulders of theirfellow recruits and to raise theirright hands while they were ad-ministered the oath of The Or-der of AHEPA by the SupremePresident Andrew Zachariades.

Also in attendance were sev-eral Brothers from the AHEPAService Dogs for Warriors Vet-erans Program, including itsChairman, Brother GeorgeKaratzia, who described the pro-gram with a brief presentation.

Delphi # 25, in the name ofits Past President and life mem-ber the Hon. Judge NicholasTsoucalas, presented a donationof $2,000 to the program.

The Vasilopita cutting washeld at Gallagher’s Steakhousein Manhattan and the eveningwas dedicated to the memory ofthe late James A. Poll (1920-2013), who had served The Or-der in many capacities, most no-tably as past Supreme Secretary,past Chairman of AHEPA’s SaintBasil Academy (In its 90+ yearhistory, the AHEPA family hasdonated more than $1.75 mil-lion to the Saint Basil Academyfor the construction and ongo-ing maintenance of its facilities)as well as past President of Del-phi Chapter # 25.

Brother Dean Poll, host of theevening and son of James Poll,addressed the more than 150Brothers gathered and fondlyrecollected his father’s dedica-tion to The Order of AHEPA.

The day after this event, onJanuary 25, Brothers Ted Sta-

mas, AHEPA District Six Gover-nor and Argyris S. Argitakos,President of Delphi Chapter #25 were invited to the NYC-based Cosmos FM 91.5. Theyparticipated in the bi-weekly ra-dio program entitled “East

Mediterranean Business & Cul-ture,” which is hosted by Katsos.While on the air the guests wereafforded the opportunity to ex-pound on the Vasilopita eventand on the history, values, andvirtues of AHEPA .

Historic AHEPA Delphi #25 Chapter Initiates 35 New Members in NY

By Fotios Kaliampakos

This year, Carnegie Hall is or-ganizing a large festival on thearts legacy of the “Serenissima,”the sea empire of Venice thatlasted almost a thousand years.Venice was a unique historicalphenomenon: as a very smallcity, in a relatively isolated andunattractive lagoon, it domi-nated the Mediterranean worldfor close to a millennium andhad a huge impact on the mod-ern world. Venetian dominancebegan declining in the 18th cen-tury and came to an end duringthe Napoleonic Wars with theTreaty of Campo Formio in1797, which ended its indepen-dence.

Responsible for the musiccontent of the festival is therenowned Catalan musicianJordi Savall, who has devotedhis life to the music of the pre-Classical era. After introducingthe project during an interviewat Columbia University’s ItalianAcademy on February 2, Savalllead the ensembles Hesperionand Le Concert de Nation, aswell as musicians from severalcountries as they opened theFestival at Carnegie Hall on thefollowing day. The first perfor-mance was devoted to theByzantine origins of Venice (ausually forgotten, but importantdetail) as well as its connectionsto the East that lasted through-out its existence and had a his-torical perspective. The audi-ence could follow thechronology of the Venetian Em-pire via text projections behindthe stage.

In order for the audience tounderstand and actually listen

to the Eastern part of the historyof Venice, Jordi Savall gave amajor role to the OrthodoxByzantine Vocal Ensemble fromSalonica. The six-member en-semble functions under the aus-pices of the scientific society Ro-manos o Melodos and is led byPanagiotis Neochoritis whoholds the honorable position ofthe First Chanter of the Ecu-menical Patriarchate of Constan-tinople. The Ensemble sang an-cient Orthodox hymns from thewhole period of the history ofVenice from 828 onward, withan excellent coordination, withrespect to the texts and the tra-dition, slow in rhythm and therelatively low in volume perfor-mance stole the spotlight at theStern Auditorium and was ap-plauded warmly by the audi-ence, which did not seem to

have had much experience ofthis tradition before.

The somber, deeply religiousatmosphere of the Orthodoxhymns, with different musicalparameters and, of course, no-tation (different from the West-ern tradition) created not onlya musical, but also a philo-sophic-historical contrast withthe rest of the program, whichincluded melodies from manyplaces that the ships of the Dogecould reach, among them Arme-nia, Turkey, North Africa, as wellas music by the most famouscomposers of the Baroque eraof Venice itself, Antonio Vivaldiand Claudio Modeverdi. Someof the pieces were also interest-ing from a Greek perspective:the lament for the Fall of Con-stantinople by the French com-poser Guillaume Dufay (1397-

1474) presented the City as be-trayed by everyone; the Hymnto Asia, with reference to MarcoPolo, calls Asia the “daughter ofthe King of Alexandria,” whilethe Erotocritos-Ballad remindedlisteners of the Venetian influ-ence on the Cretan Renaissanceliterature. Coming closer to thelast years of Venice in the era ofrevolutions, a vocal arrange-ment with melodies fromBeethoven’s 5th and 7th sym-phonies with revolutionary textsin French was presented, beforethe Greek ensemble closed thehistorical journey with a tran-scendent ancient Christianhymn for peace.

Jordi Savall will return toCarnegie Hall on February 11 toexplore this time, looking west,the huge impact of Venice to theWestern Musical Tradition.

he replaced him,” Sotirios said.“St. Demetrios is a big and a

very good parish. It is constitutedby some one thousand families,which means it has around fourto five thousand congregants,”he added. Why is Rougas theonly priest in such a large parish?“His father, now retired, is alsowith him,” Sotirios replied.

Sotirios told TNH thatRougas studied at the Theologi-cal Academy of the Metropolisof Toronto, served as a Deaconfor three or four years and thenhe was ordained a priest. He ismarried with two children.Sotirios said “I have to tell youthat he is doing a very goodjob.”

Will Sotirios punish Rougasfor what he did? “I will ask himfor explanations, and of courseI will tell him that it wasn’t rightto leave without the written per-mission of the metropolitan.This is what we follow here.”Beyond an explanation, willthere be any sanctions? “I thinksince this is the first time, I willnot punish him, but if he doesit again, he would face theproper canonical sanctions.”

two years ago, has not pro-gressed. The interview follows:

TNH: Your Grace, where doesthe issue of Rev. Melackrinosstand?

BA: Nothing noteworthy; hecontinues going for psychother-apy.

TNH: Have you seen him re-cently?

BA: Yes, I saw him togetherhis wife and we will try to savetheir marriage because, don’tforget, they have three children.Three daughters.

TNH: Does his wife want tobe with him to salvage the mar-riage?

BA: Yes, because as I said,they have three children.

TNH: Does the parish of St.Paul continue to pay his salary?

BA: The parish will pay himuntil the end of March.

TNH: After that who is goingto pay him?

BA: We will see what we willdo to help him a little a bit untilwe receive the report from thepsychotherapist. His wife doesn’twork and we cannot abandonthem.

TNH: Do they continue to livein the parish home?

BA: Yes, the parish will letthem stay in the house until theend of June and then we will seewhat to do. It is still early.

TNH: When do you expectthe report from the psychother-apist?

BA: I was told that it will takemonths.

TNH: What are you going todo with him? Are you going tokeep him in the Holy Priest-hood?

BA: It depends what the psy-chotherapist says. If it is proventhat he has an incurable problemand cannot change, we cannotkeep him. But if the psychother-apist’s report shows that thethings that had brought him tothat condition have been healed,we may try to save him, It is apity.

TNH: Given all these circum-stances, can he go back topriestly ministry? Can he counselpeople, especially the youth andalso young couples?

BA: I think yes, he can, be-cause since he went through thiskind of crisis himself, he wouldunderstand what those peoplego through.

TNH: How do you explain Fr.Melackrinos’ behavior, a priestof the Church, to send electron-

ically inappropriate photos ofhimself to a woman within hiscongregation?

BA: Experts have told me thatpriests do these kinds of thingsas a way of dealing with thepressures that they receive in theparish. I do not know if that isthe correct explanation or not.The Archdiocese should findother ways for priests relievetheir pressures, instead of doingsuch unacceptable things.

TNH: What does the womanto whom he sent the inappropri-ate photos say?

BA: I haven’t spoken with hersince the days when the incidentwas revealed. She wants to beleft alone. She doesn’t want tohave anything to do with it. Theissue for her has finished.

TNH: Now with Fr. Melackri-nos’ case, many people are ask-ing what has finally happenedwith Fr. Demetrios Recachinas?Does he Liturgize anywhere?

BA: No, he doesn’t Liturgizeanywhere, he is suspended.

TNH: Does the Archdiocesepay him?

BA: No we don’t pay him; helives with his pension, I don’tknow.

TNH: What is going on at theparish of St. Spyridon, where thescandal involving Rev. Passias oc-curred? Will the Archdiocese doan audit in the finances?

BA: Unfortunately, is has de-layed and I can’t understandwhy. Now I am waiting to hearfrom there too. I follow the is-sues but for unexplained reasonsthe audit has delayed.

TNH: Did the Archdiocese or-der an audit?

BA: Yes and it has paid for itand continues to pay for it.

a b

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Bishop Andonios’ Update onSuspended Fr. Melackrinos

Left: AHEPASupremePresidentAndrew C.Zachariadesspoke at theevent.

Right:AHEPA

SupremePresidentAndrew C.

Zachariadesadministered the oath to

the newinitiates ofDelphi 25Chapter.

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Fr. Luke Melackrinos

Orthodox Music Performed at Carnegie Hall


ABOVE: St. DemetriosGreek OrthodoxChurch in Calgary,Canada.LEFT: Fr. Peter Rougaswith children of the St.Demetrios parish.A Patriots fan for over20 years, Rougasrelies on DVR mostSundays to catch upon football.

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Jordi Savall performed Millenarian Venice: Gateway to the East with Hesperion XXI, La CapellaReial de Catalunya, Le Concert des Nations, and the Orthodox-Byzantine Vocal Ensemble.

Chris Lee/Carnegie Hall


n FEBRUARY 9-12SARASOTA, FL – St. BarbaraGreek Orthodox Church Festi-val, the 33rd Annual Glendi7671 N. Lockwood Ridge Roadin Sarasota. Hours: Thursday,Feb. 9, Friday, Feb 10, and Sat-urday, Feb. 11 11AM-9PM andSunday, Feb. 12 12 Noon- 8PM.Admission on Thursday is free.Voluntary donations benefitMother Helping Mothers, sup-porting families in need. Three-day pass for Friday throughSunday is only $4. Kids under12 are admitted for free. No petsplease. Raffle Grand Prize-choice of Mercedes-Benz C300or GLC300. Only 1,500 raffletickets available. More informa-tion and raffle tickets are avail-able online at stbarbaragoc.orgor by phone: 941-355-2616.

n FEBRUARY 10-12PEORIA, AZ – St. HaralambosGreek Orthodox Church’s PeoriaGreekfest, 7950 W. PinnaclePeak Road in Peoria invites allto enjoy delicious traditionalGreek cuisine, live music, folkdancing, shopping, children's ac-tivities, and more. ExperienceGreek “philoxenia” - the Greekword for showing hospitality toothers - as the church commu-nity goes all out to show you agood time. The Church Narthex,Sanctuary, and Bookstore willbe open during festival hoursand there will be presentationsat various times (schedules willbe posted) in the Church Sanc-tuary about Orthodox Christian-ity, and future building plans forSt. Haralambos Church, as wellas movies will be played at var-ious times on Orthodox Saintsand Holy Sites. Admission is $3for adults, Children 12 and un-der, students, and active militaryare free (w/proper I.D.). Creditand debit cards accepted. Visitour Facebook page- PeoriaGreekfest or our websitewww.peoriagreekfest.com for 2-for-1 coupons. Hours: Friday:Feb. 10 from 5 PM-10 PM; Sat-urday, Feb.11 from 11 AM-10PM; Sunday, Feb. 12 from Noon-8 PM. More information is avail-able by phone: 623-486-8665.We look forward to seeing you!OPA!!

CAMPBELL, OH – ArchangelMichael Greek Orthodox ChurchFestival, 401 12th Street (atPorter Avenue) in Campbell,OH. Join us for the best Greekfood in town, authentic gyros,souvlakia, pastries, Cafe, andmore. Greek folk dancers, auc-tion, games for the kids, art, re-ligious items, jewelry, and CDs.Free admission. Hours: Friday,Feb. 10 and Saturday Feb. 11from 12 PM to 10 PM and Sun-day, Feb. 12 from 12 PM to 9PM. More information is avail-able onlinewww.archangelmichael.oh.goarch.org/greekfest or by phone:330-755-3596.

n FEBRUARY 11MANHATTAN – The Greek-American Writers Associationwarms up for Valentine’s Daywith a Poetry Celebration pre-sented by Stephan Morrow, di-rector, writer, and actor, authorof the prize-winning Journey toAmorgos and director/star ofthe film Dogmouth. Stephanwill join another top performer,Marlain Angelides, singer andactor, in presenting the poetryof love and emotion, rangingfrom the Beats to Bob Dylan(you decide if he deserved theNobel for Literature) to the

Greek Greats, Cavafy, Seferis,and Ritsos, plus erotic poetry ofthe ancients. The CorneliaStreet Café, 29 Cornelia Streetin Manhattan 6-8 PM on Satur-day, Feb. 11. $10 includes ad-mission and a drink of yourchoice. Subways A, C, D, B, Mto West 4th Street or 1 toChristopher Street.

ANDOVER, MA – Apokreatiko(Pre-Lenten) Family Glendi atSts. Constantine & Helen GreekOrthodox Church in Andover,celebrating its 100th Anniver-sary and Honoring GOYA Presi-dents Past, Present, and Futureon Saturday, Feb. 11 at 6:30PM-11 PM at the Sts. Constan-tine & Helen Greek OrthodoxChurch Family Life Center, 71Chandler Road in Andover, MA.Dinner and dessert, music anddancing – Adults $25, Children12 and under $15. For more in-formation, email: [email protected].

n FEBRUARY 12MANHATTAN – The HellenicMedical Society of New York in-vites you to the 6th AnnualArchdiocesan Memorial Service,commemorating departed pastpresidents and members of oursociety for their service to med-icine and to our community, atthe Greek Orthodox Archdioce-san Cathedral of the Holy Trinityin NYC on Sunday, Feb. 12 at10:30 AM. Reception to followat The Holy Trinity CathedralChiotes Ballroom.

MANHATTAN – Under the aus-pices of the Consulate Generalof Greece in New York, the Hel-lenic American LeadershipCouncil (HALC) will be hostinga Memorial Service remember-ing and honoring all the GreekOfficers killed on the line ofduty. The Fallen Heroes Memo-rial Service will be held follow-ing the Divine Liturgy at theArchdiocesan Cathedral of theHoly Trinity, 337 East 74thStreet in Manhattan, on Sunday,Feb. 12 at 11 AM. Remarks willfollow by the Consul General ofGreece in New York, Konstanti-nos Koutras, and HALC SeniorFellow and Lt. JG Nikolas Kat-simpras, Hellenic Navy (ret).Kindly RSVP to Nikolas Katsim-pras by phone: 917-200-8128or email: [email protected].

ASTORIA – Synthesis CulturalFoundation under the auspicesof the Women’s Affairs Commit-tee and the Federation of Hel-lenic Societies of Greater NYpresents Love and a Piano:Beloved Greek Songs of Love- ATribute to Valentine’s Day per-formed by Gabriel Alexanderand Aphrodite Daniel featuringfamed piano soloist AchilleasWastor on Sunday, Feb. 12 atthe Stathakion Cultural Center,22-51 29th St. in Astoria at 5PM. Tickets are $25. More in-formation and tickets: ChristinaKostaki 516-724-2025. Gabrieland Aphrodite will reunite on-stage after 12 years in this re-vival performance reminiscentof their years together at theThiasos Club. Net proceeds tobenefit Theatre Studies Master’sProgram of University of Pelo-ponnese.

n FEBRUARY 13MANHATTAN – The AmericanHellenic Institute Business Net-work requests the pleasure ofyour company at its Monthly In-formal Networking Reception atAvra Restaurant, 141 E 48thStreet in Manhattan, on Mon-day, Feb. 13 from 5:30-7:30 PM.Please RSVP [email protected]

MONTCLAIR, NJ – On Monday,Feb. 13, Love and a Piano:Beloved Greek Songs of Love- ATribute to Valentine’s Day per-formed by Gabriel Alexanderand Aphrodite Daniel featuringfamed piano soloist AchilleasWastor at Trumpets Jazz Club &Restaurant, 6 Depot Square inMontclair, NJ at 7 PM. Tickets$35. Despina Axiotakis: 201-981-5764 or [email protected].

n FEBRUARY 15MANHATTAN – Hellenic Profes-sional Women Inc. (HPW) ishosting a "Cocktails & Connect-ing" event on Wednesday, Feb15 from 6:30-8:30 PM at KellariTaverna, 19 West 44th Street inManhattan. Please stop by tonetwork, meet someone new orcatch up with a friend. "SmallBites" will be provided by Kellariand there will be a cash bar.Please visit hellenicprofession-alwomen.org for details.

MANHATTAN – On Wednesday,Feb. 15, Love and a Piano:Beloved Greek Songs of Love- ATribute to Valentine’s Day per-formed by Gabriel Alexanderand Aphrodite Daniel featuringfamed piano soloist AchilleasWastor at The Cutting Room, 44East 32nd Street, just off ParkAvenue, in Manhattan. Ticketsare available online www.tick-ets.thecuttingroomnyc.com orby phone: 646-623-0270 oremail [email protected]

GOINGS ON...

The Muses Project: A DialogueBetween Art and Science openson February 8 at 8PM at theHouse of Cyprus – Embassy ofCyprus in Athens, and runs toMarch 10. The exhibition, madepossible by the Board of Directorsof the A.G. Leventis FoundationScholars Association of Greeceand the House of Cyprus, pairs 9curators with 27 artists. Theproposal for the exhibition wasby Megakles Rogakos. Amongthose exhibiting works isinternationally renowned artistAntonia Papatzanaki. CuratorIoannis N. Archontakis, Directorof the Contemporary Art Museumof Chania - Olivepress, wrote thefollowing piece on Papatzanaki’sDomes with Dark Light.

URANIA, MUSE OFASTRONOMY AND

ASTROLOGY – ASTRONOMYANTONIA PAPATZANAKIDomes with Dark Light,

1990. Installation: Plexiglas, flu-orescent fibers, and black light(variable dimensions).

According to the AncientGreek philosopher, mathemati-cian, geometrician, and theoristof music, Pythagoras of Samos(580 BCΕ - 496 BCΕ), the foursister sciences are numbers(mathematics), shapes (geome-try), harmony (music), and as-tronomy. These disciplines areinterrelated and are foundwithin one another in encom-passing spheres. In combiningthese four sciences with the an-

cient Greek alphabet, which in-cludes numbers and musicaltones, is concluded that Astron-omy = aster (star) + nomos(law), and a-ster = that whichis not supported, thus Astron-omy = the universal laws thatgovern the untenable, the self-existent. The laws are definedby music (harmony), geometry(shapes), mathematics (num-bers) and all of these overflowin the ether, the space surround-ing the celestial spheres.

All four Pythagorean sistersciences seem to collaborate andgovern the visual work of Anto-

nia Papatzanaki with an internalsynergy and balance. HerDomes refer to parts of celestialspheres, which encompass ab-solute mathematical organiza-tion, clear geometric mapping,and rhythmic harmonious un-furling, following as much thePythagorean principles as thescientifically proven timelesslaws of universal order. Imprintsof cosmic luminous flows insidea dark beyondness. The infiniteand the finite are deliberatelyimplicated at the edges of thedome, the heavenly firmamentthat the artist manufactures. An

A-chronon (timeless) and a-to-pon (non-place) locus. It in-cludes the void and the imma-terial. It balances between thevoid and the whole.

Papatzanaki focuses her em-phasis on the limited mass ofher work using fluorescentfibers that glow with the assis-tance of black light. The light ofthe fibers is dim as it moveswithin the marginal frequenciesof visible light, and their bright-ness is affected by the light ofthe environment, where theyare dynamically develop. Theresult leads to rearrangementand diversification of the per-ception of the architecturalspace within which they reside.

Behind the mathematicalprecision of the constructionand the elliptical or superlativegeometry of perception, thelaws of the macro-universedominate unwaveringly in Pap-atzanaki’s constructed intimatevisual micro-space. The researchof the work extends to the con-cept of the void that is containedwithin matter and the contem-plation of the space between theheavenly bodies. Her worlds,ablaze in their orbits, leave theirlinear mark on their pre-planned course by completing apre-existing path, whose mini-mal part may be obvious andvisible yet able to decrypt thewhole. The whole is deliberatelythere, in the construction. Herspace provisions anticipate theeternal perpetual state of celes-

tial bodies, either in the overtside of the orbits or the darkside of the computational meth-ods of Papatzanaki. With math-ematical precision, the planetarycourse of her routes continueforever and remain unaffectedby any external deliberate or in-advertent interference of others,well documented and protectedwithin her cosmic heavens. Pri-mordial and timeless, they in-here in the dynamics of cosmicstructures.

The planetary cosmodromeof Papatzanaki in its micro-scalemoves, flows, and evolves inde-pendently of human presence,underlining the minimum par-ticipation of man in the cosmicprocess. It is self-existent, pri-mordial, and unaffected by theexistence of the human factorand perhaps marks the finite-ness of humankind and the tem-porality of its planet in the flowof cosmic eternity.

At the same time, the only sov-ereign and supreme being, you,the viewer, as a kind of Almighty,observe and superintend the ce-lestial domes of Papatzanaki withthe gaze of the absolute connois-seur and reader of the universe.You, the center of gravity of thewhole world, the spearhead inthe development of the mind.You, the arrogant creature, theholder of the illusion that thewhole world is made for you....

More information on Pap-atzanaki is available at apap-atza.wixsite.com.

Curator Ioannis N. Archontakis on Papatzanaki’s Domes with Dark Light

TNH Staff

NEW YORK – An evening ofchamber music at CarnegieHall’s Weill Recital Hall by ac-claimed Greek composer andLouisiana State University(LSU) professor Dinos Constan-tinides will be held on Tuesday,February 21 at 8 PM presentedby Distinguished Concerts Inter-national New York (DCINY).The program offers a selectionof the composer’s chamberworks, performed by his fellowLSU faculty members. A surveyof Constantinides’ work will beshowcased with styles rangingfrom early serial to neo-Roman-tic and more. The concert willfeature faculty members fromthe School of Music at LouisianaState University performingConstantinides’ original compo-sitions. An intimate evening ofMediterranean-inspired musicby Constantinides will undoubt-edly delight music lovers.

Dinos Constantinides studied

at The Juilliard School, and ispresently Boyd Professor, thehighest academic rank atLouisiana State University, andhead of the Composition areawith a studio of 25 students. Hismusic, encompassing more than250 works in total, has beenperformed around the worldand is featured on over 65recordings. He is also the recip-ient of numerous awards andgrants for his performed works.

As the Director of the presti-gious LSU Festival of Contem-porary Music for 22 years, Con-stantinides presented the topcomposers of the continent, in-cluding Carlos Chávez, JohnCage, Milton Babbitt, KarelHusa, and Ernst Krenek. He hasserved on the Board of Directorsof many national societies, is amember of ASCAP, and has beenan evaluator for the MacArthurFoundation and the NationalEndowment for the Humanities.

Among the works to be per-formed are Mountains of Epirus

for Two Violins, Four Interludesfor Violin Alone, 20th CenturyStudies for Two Violins, LazyJack and his Fiddle, Family Trip-tych for Two Violins, ThreeCompositions for Voice Alone,Midnight Fantasy II, Two Worksfor Piano, and Music for TwoSaxophones

More information about theDCINY Artist Series - The Musicof Dinos Constantinides is avail-able at dciny.org. Tickets are onsale at carnegiehall.org.

DCINY was founded in 2007by Iris Derke and Jonathan Grif-fith, with its first public concertpresented in January of 2008.DCINY is a leading producer ofdynamically-charged musicalentertainment in renownedvenues. With its unforgettable,world-class concert experiences,empowering educational pro-grams, and global communityof artists and audiences, DCINYchanges lives through the powerof performance. Commemorat-ing their 10th Anniversary sea-

son in 2018, DCINY is proud tohave presented life-changingperformances for over 40,000performers and 170,000 audi-ence members since its incep-tion.

In addition to being selectedthree times to the Inc. 5000 list-ing, DCINY also recently re-ceived national recognition withthe 2014 and 2015 AmericanPrize in conducting – profes-sional orchestra division toDCINY Artistic DirectorJonathan Griffith and the Dis-tinguished Concerts Orchestra,and the 2015 American Prize inArts Marketing to DCINY Gen-eral Director Iris Derke and theDCINY Team. As of 2016, over35,000 performers representing41 countries and all 50 US stateshave participated in a DCINYproduction. DCINY has cateredto over 170,000 audience mem-bers since the inception of thecompany and has produced 17world premieres and over 190concerts (as of Dec. 31, 2016).

TNH Staff

ST. LOUIS, MO – Russia andpolitics have been in the newsconsiderably in recent months.Dr. Aristotle Papanikolaou,Archbishop Demetrios Chair inOrthodox Theology and Culture,will present Church and Politicsin Russia Today on February 15in the Sinquefield Stateroom atSaint Louis University’sDuBourg Hall in St. Louis, MO.

Dr. Papanikolaou, a graduateof University of Chicago DivinitySchool and an Archon of the Ec-umenical Patriarchate, will dis-cuss the recent U.S. elections,their implications for RussianPresident Vladimir Putin’sregime, and ecclesiastical poli-tics while addressing humanrights and traditional values intoday’s Russia.

Papanikolaou explores theconjoining of the political andtheological in his publications,including a monograph TheMystical as Political: Democracyand Non-Radical Orthodoxy, aswell as in his work with the Or-thodox Christian Studies Center,which he co-founded at Ford-ham University in New York.

The lecture will undoubtedlyoffer insights into the currentsituation from Papanikolaou’sunique perspective. The eventis sponsored by: Russian Divi-sion of the Department of Lan-

guages, Literatures, and Cul-tures - Russian and East Euro-pean Area Studies Program -Catholic Studies Program - De-partment of Political Science -Office for Mission and Identity.

Papanikolaou received the2012 Award for Excellence inUndergraduate Teaching. In2012-13, he was awarded a

Sabbatical Grant for Researchersfrom the Louisville Institute toexplore how Eastern Christiannotions of virtue are relevant forilluminating both the plight andhealing of combat veterans whoexperience trauma. Papaniko-laou’s project employs MichelFoucault’s notion of truthtellingto scrutinize and elucidate the

Orthodox Christian concept ofvirtue ethics. The end result ofthis research will be an innova-tive and constructive vision forunderstanding post-traumaticstress syndrome in combat vet-erans.

Papanikolaou earned his BA,Summa Cum Laude, from Ford-ham University in 1988. He thengraduated Valedictorian with anM.Div. from Holy Cross GreekOrthodox School of Theology,where he later served from1995-2000 as Registrar and asAssistant Professor of Ethics andTheology. He received his PhDin 1998 from the University ofChicago Divinity School. He isthe author of numerous articlesand reviews and of two mono-graphs: Being with God: Trinity,Apophaticism and Divine-Hu-man Communion (2006) andThe Mystical as Political:Democracy and Non-Radical Or-thodoxy (2012). He is co-editorwith George E. Demacopoulosof Orthodox Readings of Augus-tine (2008) and Orthodox Con-structions of the West (2013),and he is co-editor with Dema-copoulos of the Fordham Uni-versity Press series, OrthodoxChristianity and ContemporaryThought, and with ElizabethProdromou of Thinking throughFaith: New Perspectives fromOrthodox Christian Scholars(2008).

Dr. Papanikolaou on Church & Politics in Russia

Dr. Aristotle Papanikolaou, left, presents an award to MichaelPalamara at The Orthodox Christian Studies Center Receptionwith OCSC co-founder Dr. George Demacopoulos in June 2015.

TNH ArCHIVES

DCINY to Present Constantinides’ Music at Carnegie Hall

and there is a wealth of infor-mation from mouse develop-mental studies, as mice is amodel organism, widely used inlaboratory research. We also usehuman cell lines, known as in-duced pluripotent stem cells.”

How can this discovery helppatients in the future?Ikonomou emphasized that“these studies were done in miceand the findings need to be re-produced in human pluripotentstem cells. In the long run, thereare several possibilities: We canproduce thyroid cells in the lab

and transplant them to patientswith hypothyroidism or we canuse these cells to study the dis-ease in vitro, what we call ‘dis-ease-in-a-dish.’ The way to doeither will be to isolate cellsfrom patients, e.g. skin fibrob-lasts, and to reprogram them toinduced pluripotent stem cells.We then can apply the samemethod we used in mouse cellsto produce human thyroid tissuein the lab.”

He also explained that themost common thyroid diseasesare “Hashimoto’s disease, hyper-thyroidism, thyroid nodules andcancer and that thyroid disor-

ders affect more than 12 percentof U.S. population.”

He was attracted to this typeof research because “I think itis fascinating we can start witha special type of cells, pluripo-tent stem cells, either embryonicor induced, and be able to pro-duce, at least in theory, any typeof adult cell in the laboratoryusing specific protocols.”

A human being has trillionsof cells, he explained. “In anyorganism, cells self-organize intissues and organs and commu-nication between the organs isprimordial for the function ofthe organism.”

Dr. Ikonomou was born inFlorina, Greece and underwenthis undergraduate studies at theSchool of Engineering of theAristotle University of Thessa-loniki. He received his degreein Chemical Engineering in1995. He then continued withgraduate studies at the CatholicUniversity of Louvain in Lou-vain-la-Neuve, Belgium wherehe earned a PhD in BiochemicalEngineering in 2002. He movedto the United States in 2003 anddid his first post-doc at the Na-tional Institute of Diabetes andDigestive and Kidney Diseasesin Bethesda, MD.

Greek-American Scientist Discovery on Thyroid CellsContinued from page 1

Antonia Papatzanaki, Domes with Dark Light, 1990Courtesy of Antonia Papatzanaki

By Eleni Sakellis

In the winter months,heartier recipes are always awelcome treat. As we nearapokries, this is the time to en-joy those meat-based dishes.Among the favorites in the win-ter are youvarlakia avgolemono(meatball-egg lemon soup) andarnaki kleftiko (lamb in the styleof the kleftes). The kleftes were,of course, the bandits who be-came freedom-fighters in theWar of Independence. To evadecapture, the klefts would cooktheir lamb covered up. Themodern recipe features individ-ual packets or bundles thatshould be opened carefully toallow any steam to escape.

YouvarlakiaAvgolemono

1 pound ground beef1 small onion, grated1/4 cup white rice

3 tablespoons fresh parsley,finely chopped2 tablespoons fresh dill ormint, finely chopped2 tablespoons Greek extravirgin olive oil1/2 teaspoon Greek sea saltAll purpose, unbleached flour1/4 teaspoon freshly groundpepper5 cups beef or chicken stock orwater2 tablespoons butter2 large eggs1/4 cup freshly squeezedlemon juice

In a large mixing bowl, stirtogether the ground beef, gratedonion, rice, parsley, dill or mint,the oil, salt, and pepper. Rollinto small meatballs, sprinklewith a little flour, and set aside.In a large, deep pot or Dutchoven, bring the stock or waterand the butter to a boil overmedium high heat. Add themeatballs, cover the pot, and re-duce heat to medium low. Sim-mer for about 30 minutes. Beatthe eggs in a medium mixing

bowl, add the lemon juice, andcontinue beating. Add a ladlefulof the soup (liquid only) to theegg-lemon mixture and con-tinue beating. Pour the egg-lemon mixture into the souppot, stir vigorously, and removefrom heat. Serve immediatelywith slices of fresh-baked breadand feta cheese.

Arnaki Kleftiko

2 pounds lamb cut into cubesGreek sea saltFreshly ground pepperDried oregano2 tablespoons freshly squeezedlemon juice4 ounces kefalogravieracheese, cut into squares2 cups frozen peas2 medium carrots, cut intorounds4 tablespoons Greek extravirgin olive oil2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced3 medium Yukon gold

potatoes,sliced2 largetomatoes,sliced intotwelve pieces

In a mix-ing bowl, sea-son the lambcubes withsalt, pepper,and oregano.Add thelemon juiceand drizzlewith a littleolive oil.Cover withplastic wrapand place in

the refrigerator to marinade foran hour. In a sauté pan, heattwo tablespoons of the olive oiland lightly cook the peas andcarrots, season with salt to taste.Set aside. In another pan, heatthe remaining olive oil and searthe marinated lamb cubes on allsides. Add the garlic and cookuntil fragrant. Remove fromheat and set aside. In a deepfryer or frying pan, fry the pota-toes, until about half done.Sauté the tomatoes in a little oilto start the cooking process. Setaside. Divide up the cookedlamb cubes between six largepieces of parchment paper orheavy-duty aluminum foil. Addthe potatoes, carrots, peas, andcheese, dividing them equallyamong the lamb cubes, alongwith two tomato slices for eachpacket. Season with salt andpepper to taste and fold up thepackets or tie with kitchen twineinto little bundles. Place thebundles on a baking pan andcook in a preheated 375 degreeF oven for about 1 hour. Serveimmediately.

Meat Dishes: YouvarlakiaAvgolemono & Kleftiko Lamb

GREEK GASTRONOMYOUR EVERYDAY GREEK

By Dr. Dimitra Kamarinou

The phrase μου πάει would be translated as it fits me well andthe phrase μου πάνε as they fit me well. In this case we use thepersonal pronoun, which is the same as the possessive. The samewith the expression μου αρέσει =I like it and μου αρέσουν =I likethem. Consequently, if we are talking about one thing we use theexpressions μου πάει, μου αρέσει, της πάει, του αρέσει. Μου πάειτο φόρεμα; Μου αρέσει αυτό το φόρεμα. If we are talking aboutcountable, or many things, or nouns in the Plural, we use the ex-pressions μου πάνε, μου αρέσουν, της πάνε, της αρέσουν. Μουαρέσουν πολύ τα δύο σακάκια μου. Μου πάνε αυτές οι κάλτσες;Της αρέσουν τα καλσόν.

Greek phrase Pronunciation MeaningΜου πάει/πάνε MOO PAi/PAne it/they fit me well Σου πάει/πάνε SOO PAi/Pane it/they fit you wellΤου πάει/πάνε TOO PAi/PAne it/they fit him wellΤης πάει/πάνε TEES PAi/PAne it/they fit her wellΜας πάει/πάνε MASPAi/PAne it/they fit us wellΣας πάει/πάνε SAS PAi/PAne it/they fit you wellΤους πάει/πάνε TOOS PAi/Pane it/they fit them wellΜου αρέσει/αρέσουν MOO arEsi/arEsoon I like it/themΣου αρέσει/αρέσουν SOO arEsi/arEsoon you like it/themΤου αρέσει/αρέσουν TOO arEsi/arEsoon he likes it/themΤης αρέσει/αρέσουν TEES arEsi/arEsoon she likes it/themΜας αρέσει/αρέσουν MAS arEsi/arEsoon we like it/themΣας αρέσει/αρέσουν SAS arEsi/arEsoon you like it/themΤους αρέσει/αρέσουν TOOS arEsi/arEsoon they like it/them

EXERCISES1. Note the similarity to the possessive pronoun and translate

in English.1.1. Μου πάει η γραβάτα μου.1.2. Σου πάει το φόρεμά σου.1.3. Του πάει το κασκόλ του.1.4. Της πάει η φούστα της.1.5. Μας πάνε τα καπέλα μας.1.6. Σας πάνε τα γυαλιά σας.1.7. Τους πάνε τα σακάκια τους.

2. Μου πάει; Do we use the Singular (πάει) or the Plural (πάνε)?Erase the wrong one.

2.1. Μαμά, μου πάει/πάνε τα σακάκια;2.2. Δημήτρη, μου πάει/πάνε αυτό το φόρεμα;2.3. Ελένη, μου πάει/πάνε αυτό το καλσόν;2.4. Πέτρο, πάει/πάνε αυτά τα γάντια με αυτό το παλτό;

2.5. Μαρία, πάει/πάνε αυτή η τσάντα με αυτή τη ζακέτα;2.6. Γιάννη, σου πάει/πάνε αυτή η γραβάτα με αυτό το σακάκι

σου.2.7. Βασίλη, πάει/πάνε αυτά τα παπούτσια με αυτό το παντε-

λόνι.2.8. Θωμά, δεν σου πάει/πάνε αυτά τα γυαλιά ηλίου.2.9. Δήμητρα, δεν σου πάει/πάνε αυτό το καπέλο.2.10. Χρήστο, σου πάει/πάνε πολύ αυτό το μπουφάν σου.

3. Μου αρέσει; Do we use the Singular (αρέσει) or the Plural(αρέσουν)? Erase the wrong one.

3.1. Γιάννη, μου αρέσει/αρέσουν πολύ τα παπούτσια σου.3.2. Δήμητρα, δεν μου αρέσει/αρέσουν αυτό το φόρεμά σου.3.3. Πέτρο, μου αρέσει/αρέσουν πολύ αυτή η γραβάτα με το

πουκάμισό σου.3.4. Γιάννη, δεν σου αρέσει/αρέσουν τα γυαλιά μου; 3.5. Δήμητρα, σου αρέσει/αρέσουν τα φορέματα ή οι φούστες;3.6. Χρήστο, δεν σου αρέσει/αρέσουν το σορτς σου;3.7. Ελένη, μου αρέσει/αρέσουν πολύ αυτά τα παπούτσια με το

παλτό σου.3.8. Μαρία, δεν σου αρέσει/αρέσουν τα σανδάλια;3.9. Γιώργο, μου αρέσει/αρέσουν πολύ τα πουκάμισά σου.3.10. Δεν μας αρέσει/αρέσουν οι παντόφλες.

4. DIALOGUEDoes this dialogue sound familiar to you? Read it loud, try to

understand it and translate it in English.Μαρία: Μαμά, μου πάει αυτό το φόρεμα;Μαμά: Ναι, σου πάει, αλλά όχι με αυτό το παλτό.Μαρία: Αυτό το παλτό μου αρέσει πολύ.Μαμά: Ναι, αλλά δεν πάει με αυτό το φόρεμα. Δεν φοράς τη

φούστα σου με ένα πουκάμισο;Μαρία: Δεν μου πάνε τα πουκάμισα. Αυτό το φόρεμα μου αρέσει

πολύ. Πάει με τη ζακέτα μου;Μαμά: Μμμμ!Μαρία: Πάει, δεν πάει, μου αρέσει πολύ.

PRONUNCIATION KEYi (i-diom), ee (n-ee-dle), e (e-nergy), o (o-rganism), oo (b-oo-

t), y (y-es), h (h-elium), th (th-eory), d (th-e), gh (w-olf). The cap-italized syllables are accented.

Dimitra Kamarinou, PhD, has studied philology and archaeology atthe University of Ioannina,Würzburg and Bochum in Germany. Shehas been honored with the Academy of Athens Award inArchaeology and Homeric Philology.

Does Τhis Ηat Fit Μe Well? Μου Πάει ή Δεν Μου Πάει;

By Phyllis (Kiki) SembosSpecial to The National Herald

Valentine’s Day, being not faroff, the guys in Dixon’s were dis-cussing just that subject as theyawaited Yiannis’ attendance.George reminded them that lastyear Yiannis had deliberatelyplayed sick so that he could buyAreti a small box of chocolateson sale at half price the nextday. He added, “I wonder howYiannis will get away withValentine’s Day this time.” Johnagreed, “He’s a genius at notspending money. But, knowwhat? We shouldn’t let him getaway with it this year.” Dimosshrugged, “What do you sug-gest? He’d outsmart us, youknow!” Their attention fell onKipreos who had split up withhis girlfriend, Stella, of manyyears. But, they found out theygot together again. “Did you getStella anything this year,Kipreos?” He responded, “Well,I got a silver heart pendant in-scribed with, “To the only girl

for me.” John said, “That’s niceKipreos. I thought you twowere broken up for good.” “Ithought so too. That’s why I did-n’t put a name on it, in case webreak up again and I meetsomeone else.”

George brought the subjectof Yiannis once again, “Whatabout poor Areti! She’d neversay anything if he didn’t dosomething for her on Valentine’sDay.” Dimos shook his head, “Iknow! But, we’ll just have to re-mind him this year.” Just thenthe great economizer walked in,getting his coffee and seatedhimself. He looked around.“What’s up?” George replied,“Valentine’s Day, Yiannis. That’swhat’s up!” He shrugged. “So?”John asked, “We were dis-cussing what we’ll do on thatholiday for our wives and wewondered what good ol’ Yianniswill do for wonderful, kindhearted, faithful Areti this year.”George had to remind him, “Lastyear, remember, you got sick.You look very fit this year. Try

and stay that way!” Yiannis recalled what Areti

had said to him only yesterday.“Lately Areti has been havingdreams; like she had a dreamof me getting her a diamondbracelet. Then, last week, shesaid she dreamt I got her aclothes dryer. Last night she saidshe dreamt I’d taken her towhere Kipreos worked and hada romantic breakfast and westayed in the bridal suite. I don’tknow what’s going on with her.”George grinned, ”wishful think-ing, undoubtedly. Her dreamsmust have been nightmares foryou.” Ignoring him, he said, “Totell the truth, I don’t know whatto do this year but…” he lookedacross at Dimos. “…she’d like tohave dinner at a diner, and herfavorite diner is at Dimos’, youknow.” He sipped his coffee andwaited for Dimos’ reactions. Di-mos nodded, “So you’d like din-ner for two at my diner, Yian-nis?” Yiannis paused, “Iwouldn’t mind. The food isgood, it’s convenient and you’d

please Areti, too.” Dimos gavethat proposition long thought.If only he could stump the bignon-spender in some way. Helooked toward John for assis-tance.

John, tossing eye contacts atDimos, told Yiannis, “I’ll giveyou a bouquet of flowers at halfprice.” Half price! Yeah! That’sit! Dimos took the hint. “Yiannis,

I’ll arrange for you and Areti tohave dinner at my diner for halfprice too. Whadda ya’ say?”Sipping his coffee slowly, hetried to come up with some sortof plan. Flowers from John’sflorist, dinner at Dimos’ diner.Hmmm! “You’re great guys, try-ing to make Areti happy.”George told him, “Rememberthat saying? Happy wife; happy

life?” Turning away, Yiannis con-tinued. “But, I’d have to take ataxi to the diner, then, tip boththe delivery man for the flowersand the driver. I don’t know.”Really bothered by his endlessfrugality, John gave up and of-fered to give him the flowersfree, “if you promise to give hera gift she’d appreciate.”

Dimos added, “Me too!Promise you’ll give her some-thing she’d want; something sheyearns for and I’ll let you havediner free; this once!” Yiannisagreeing wholeheartedly andbeaming promised he’d get Aretisomething she really wants.George wanted it in writing. Butthat was vetoed.

Valentine’s Day came andwent. The dinner date and flow-ers were successful. At Dixon’sthat next Sunday, they askedYiannis what gift he got Areti.“I hope you didn’t forget!”warned Dimos. “Oh, I didn’t for-get. I got her what she wanted;a book explaining the meaningof dreams.”

GREEK AMERICAN STORIES

Dreaming of Valentine’s Day


By Eleni Sakellis

Author Effie Kammenou pub-lished her debut novel Evan-thia’s Gift: Book One in the GiftSaga in August 2015. She fol-lowed it with Waiting forAegina: Book Two in the GiftSaga, recently released on Jan-uary 6. A third book is in theearly stages of a first draft. Kam-menou spoke with The NationalHerald about her books, herfamily background, and her fa-vorite Greek food.

When asked about her writ-ing process, Kammenou said“Evanthia’s Gift was my debutnovel. At that time, I couldn’tsay that I had a writing process.My background was in theaterand I had done some requiredscreenwriting in college. I’vealso contributed to a regionalmagazine, submitting book andrestaurant reviews and an occa-sional feature article, but I’dnever taken on a project of suchlength before.

After losing my mother topancreatic cancer, I began writ-ing as a way of channeling mygrief. I had the basis for thestory in my head and it seemedto pour out of me as I typedaway. I did not outline, but as Ideveloped the characters I cata-loged their timelines, physicalattributes, and personalities onindex cards. This was very help-ful when writing the secondbook.

The family history and sto-ries I’d heard all my life heldgreat inspiration for me, butquite a bit of research neededto be done to back up all thosestories. Memories can be verysubjective and not always as ac-curate as we think. I can’t ex-plain the number of uncanny

‘coincidences’ I had where in-formation seemed to fall fromthe heavens at the precise mo-ment I needed it. And I believeit did. Take note of my dedica-tion in the book. It was mymother’s whispers in my earsthat the story was written.

I do have a day job so mostof my writing is done late intothe night. Some of my ideascome to me when I’m about tofall asleep, so I keep a notepadbedside and jot them down be-fore the thought passes.”

Kammenou told TNH thather mother was from Athens“and as a child she spent part ofher summers in Kefalonia,which was where her father wasfrom. She was fortunate to livea very comfortable life inAthens. Her father was a busi-nessman and owned a bus com-pany. She came to New York in

1953 to attend NYU and had in-tended to go back home whenshe graduated. Instead, she metmy father at a Greek resortcalled the Spartan Manor in theCatskills and they were marriedsix months later.

“My father’s family is fromMytilene. My grandfather camethrough Ellis Island with his twobrothers. It was there that thefamily name was changed fromKammenou to Kameno. I’veclaimed it back by using it asmy pen name. They came withnot a dime and no knowledgeof the English language. Theyhad no idea what to expect, butanything was better than beingforced into the Turkish army.One brother served in the USArmy and was killed eighteenminutes before the war was de-clared over. My grandfatherworked many hours until heopened his own luncheonette,but he lost it in the Depression.Not long after he arrived in NewYork, he was introduced to awoman (my grandmother) whocame from the same island anda marriage was arranged. My fa-ther remembers traveling toMytilene several times when hewas a boy and has fond memo-ries. Dad is 94 and has amazingGreek DNA. He still drives, liveson his own, and serves thechurch helping in the altar.”

Kammenou is also a foodblogger and was asked abouther favorite Greek recipes tomake. She said, “I got into foodblogging several years ago. Fam-ily and friends were constantlyasking me for recipes or instruc-tions on certain cooking tech-niques. I decided it was easierto start a blog and refer them toit. For me, the recipe alone wasnot enough. With each recipe I

told a story. I either shared amemory, an occasion, or a tra-dition. That is what makes foodso special. All of the Greek foodsand pastries that I make arethanks to years of watching mymother and yiayiá cook. Once Ibecame an adult and enter-tained in my own home, I’d holdmy breath until I got the ap-proval from my mom that thefood met her standards.

“Now that she is gone, hersix grandchildren are worsethan she ever was. They don’tdeal with change well. Losingher was a terrible blow to all ofus. We still have the Anastasimeal at her home. My two sis-ters and I bring all the food tothe house. My mom used atremendous amount of butter inher pastitsio. I cut some of thebutter out without compromis-ing the taste. But the grandchil-dren do not want me to changeone thing. They want it to tasteexactly like hers.

“I love yemista and tiropita.Saganaki is my weakness. I lovecheese. Leg of lamb stuffed withgarlic and lemon potatoes. Inthe summer I grill souvlaki. Ibake a lot. At Christmas I bakea variety of pastries and cookiesand gift out around thirty boxesand trays – Kourabiethes,koulourakia, melomakarona,baklava, ravani, and karidopita.”

Kammenou told TNH thatthe third book of the Gift Sagawill be the final one of the se-ries, though she noted, “It willbe hard for me to give up thesecharacters. I feel they have be-come an extension of me andare like members of my family.”

Kammenou’s books are avail-able online. Her food blog isCheffie’s Kitchen:cheffieskitchen.wordpress.com

LITERARY REVIEW

An Interview with Author Effie Kammenou on Her Book

Author Effie Kammenou.

OBITUARIES CLASSIFIEDS8 THE NATIONAL HERALD, FEBRUARY 11-17, 2017

DEATH NOTICES

n ALEXIOU, ASPASIA AKRON, OH (from the AkronBeacon Journal, published onFeb. 3) – Aspasia Alexiou, 91,passed away on February 1,2017 at Brookdale Montrose.She was born March 17, 1925in Kalymnos, Greece to Michaeland Margo Maglis. Aspasia sur-vived World War II and immi-grated to Tarpon Springs,Florida at the age of 22. In 1952Aspasia went back to Greeceand married Kostas Alexiou andthey came back to live in Akrontogether. She worked much ofher life managing restaurantsand she co-owned and ran theOlympia Restaurant with hersister. Aspasia was well knownthroughout the area for herGreek pastries and baking abil-ity. She was a member of An-nunciation Greek OrthodoxChurch. Aspasia will be deeplymissed by everyone who knewher. Aspasia was preceded indeath by her husband, KostasAlexiou, of 44 years; daughter-in-law, Dicki Alexiou; and sister,Olympia Maglis. She is survivedby her son, Dr. Solon Alexiou;daughter, Margo Alexiou;grandchildren, Dr. Kostas Alex-iou, Dr. Barbara (Charles) Alex-iou-Manofsky, Natalie Alexiouand Christopher Serfass; andgreat-granddaughter, Evange-line Manofsky. Services will beheld 11 a.m. Saturday, February4 at Annunciation Greek Ortho-dox Church, 129 S. UnionStreet, Akron, OH 44304, withFather Jerry F. Hall officiating.Interment will follow at MountPeace Cemetery. Friends maycall from 10 to 11 a.m. prior tothe service at the church.Memorial contributions may bemade to the Anthony RetikasScholarship Fund, 771 N.Portage Path, Akron, OH 44303.To share a Memory, Send a Con-dolence, Light a Candle or SendFlowers, visit the Tribute Walla twww.billowfuneralhomes.com.(Billow Fairlawn Chapel).

n ANGELO, CONNIE BEACON, NY (from the Pough-keepsie Journal, published onJan. 26) – Connie Angelo (An-gels) passed away peacefully onJanuary 24, 2017 at the age of96. She was born in Staten Is-land, NY to Peter and EvaChrampanis where Peter startedthe Chrampanis Farm. TragicallyPeter died shortly after Connie'sbirth. Connie's inner strengthcarried her through her difficultchildhood and was rewardedwhen she met her husband, thelove of her life, Jack Angelo (An-gels) in Beacon NY where theyresided. She would suffer tragicheartache with his death at theyoung age of 46 on October 1,1966. Again her strength carriedher forward to lead her familyas well as assuming control ofthe business Jack began, TableTalk Pie Distributors of Pough-keepsie. Connie proved to be anincredible business woman andfor twenty years until her retire-ment she ran her company gain-ing the respect of all who knewher. Respect for one another washer life's credo. She always gaveit and always received it. Hervolunteer services with childrenat Glenham Elementary Schooland at St. Frances Hospital'sTurning Point Center in Beaconwere important elements of herretirement years. She was anavid ballroom dancer, enjoyedcasino trips with her friends andespecially loved the many sum-mers she spent on the island ofLemnos, Greece connecting withher extended family. Dementiagradually took her from us andin her later years she resided atWingate in Beacon. We, herfamily, will be eternally gratefulfor the very special staff atWingate for their dedication,love and care. Connie was pre-deceased by her father, Peter;mother, Eva, husband, Jack;brothers Frank and Lew; sons-in-law Bill Phillips and RayFaust; niece and nephew-in-law,

Eve and David Donigian.Through the trials, tragediesand successes of her life, mostimportant to Connie was herfamily to whom she was an in-credible inspiration, mentor andmatriarch. Connie is survived byher children, Barbara Phillips,Gus Angels (Donna), AnnMarieFaust (George Balzer); hergrandchildren, Beth AngelsDow, Nikki Angels Stringer(Christian), Connie Dutra(Rich), Bill Phillips, JacklynFaust Maietta (Jesse), MichaelFaust (Danielle); great grand-children, Marisa and Kris Dow,Dylan and Cameryn Dutra, Hud-son and Duke Faust, RaeganMaietta; nephews Rich Chram-panis (Phillis), Bob Chrampanis,Ray Chrampanis (Cindy);Nieces, Georgia Peterson andDessie Hennion; along with sev-eral grand and great nieces andnephews. Through her long ill-ness visits by her great grand-children brought her the mostjoy and drew out the bright lightwithin her. Connie's family willreceive visitors at the Robert H.Auchmoody Funeral Home,1028 Main Street, Fishkill NYon Friday, January 27, 2017from 4:00pm to 7:00pm. Fu-neral services will take place onSaturday, January 28th 1:00pmat the Kimisis Greek OrthodoxChurch, 140 S. Grand Avenue,Poughkeepsie NY. Interment willfollow at the Fishkill RuralCemetary, 801 Route 9, Fishkill,NY. In lieu flowers, donationsmay be made in Connie's nameto the Kimisis Greek OrthodoxChurch, 140 S. Grand Avenue,Poughkeepsie NY 12603. For di-rections and condolences,please visit www.hudsonvalley-funeralhomes.com

n BOULIERIS, PANAGIOTIS PERTH AMBOY, NJ (from theHome News Tribune, publishedon Jan. 23) – PanagiotisBoulieris, 89 of Perth Amboy,passed away on Sunday, Janu-ary 22, 2016 at Raritan BayMedical Center, Perth Amboywith his family by his side. Pana-giotis was born in Kalamos Is-land, Greece and came toWorcester, Massachusetts in1967 then to Perth Amboy 48years ago. He was a MerchantMarine for Greece from 1946 ~1967. He was employed byPerth Amboy Housing Authorityand prior to that Fedders, Inc,Edison as a mechanic for 22years. He retired in 1992. Pana-giotis spent his retirement be-tween Perth Amboy and Greece.He was a parishioner of St.Demetrios Greek OrthodoxChurch, Perth Amboy. He is pre-ceded in death by his parentsVasilios and Vasiliki (nee Gi-anoutsos) Boulieris and adoredgrandfather of Kim Boulieris,who passed away in 2002. Heis survived by his devoted wifeof 63 years to Eleni (nee Komi-tas ); beloved father of Georgeand his wife Rita Boulieris andVasiliki and her husband Timo-leon Glykis; cherished grandfa-ther of Panagiotis and his wifeAna Boulieris, Maria and herhusband Jay Grossman andEleni Glykis; adored great-grandfather of Georgios, Alek-sandros & Athanasios Boulieris,Dean & Eli Grossman; lovinguncle of many nieces andnephews. We begin to leave onThursday, January 26, 2017 at9:15 am from the Gustav J. No-vak Funeral Home, 419 BarclayStreet, Perth Amboy for a Fu-neral Service at 10 am at the St.Demetrios Greek OrthodoxChurch. Interment will follow atAlpine Cemetery. Visiting is onWednesday from 2 - 4 and 7 - 9pm.

n BOUZEOS, PHILIPOAK BROOK TERRACE, IL(from the Chicago Tribune Me-dia Group, published on Jan.25) – After 96 years of living ablessed life and deeply loved byfamily and friends, PhilipBouzeos passed away peacefullyon January 19. Phil will be re-membered for his cheerful, out-going and generous spirit; hisdevotion to the Greek-Americancommunity; his great friend-ships at Riverside Country Club;and his love of all Chicagosports. He is survived by his de-voted wife of 63 years, Lynne,

and his adult children Dean(Betty); Dawn (Kirk Mc-Cormick) and Darcy. Phil was acaring, supportive grandfatherto Deborah and SusannaBouzeos and Kendra, Kylie andJason McCormick, and beloveduncle to Renee, Connie, Diana,Kathy, Peter, Gina, Charles,Craig, Chris and Cary. He waspreceded in death by siblingsTom, Mary and Vasiliki, and hisparents Peter and Diana. Philgrew up in the Austin neighbor-hood where his uncles and fa-ther ran a grocery store andwere founding members of As-sumption Church. He graduatedfrom Austin High School. In1941, he attended Carroll Col-lege and played tight end on thefootball team. World War II in-tervened and he served in theArmy. Phil graduated from Car-roll in 1947 and landed a dreamjob as equipment manager forthe NFL Chicago Cardinals. TheCardinals won the NFL Cham-pionship in 1947, and Phil or-ganized the 50th Anniversary ofthat victory in 1997 and re-ceived an NFL Championshipring. In 1950, Phil started hislong, respected career in saleswith Champion Products andwas a top salesman for 41 years.Phil had a lifelong involvementwith the National Hellenic Invi-tational Basketball Tournamentas a player, coach and Presidentfor more than 75 years. In 1968,he started the Greek OrthodoxBasketball League amongChicago's churches. He alsoworked with AHEPA to send All-Star teams to Greece, and es-tablish the Phil Bouzeos Schol-arship for area high schoolathletes of the year. For his ef-forts, Phil was honored with in-duction in the Illinois BasketballHall of Fame, the NHIBT Hall ofFame, the AHEPA Hall of Fameand the Chicago CatholicLeague Hall of Fame. A memberof Riverside Country Club for53 years, he was known as "TheOrganizer" and was instrumen-tal in planning and participatingin many social events includingchairing the dedication of thenew club house; co-foundingthe Junior Golf District League;serving as president of the Dis-trict Senior League; and estab-lishing the annual Fenwick vs.The World golf tournamentknown as "The Phil BouzeosClassic". Phil was respected andcherished by all who knew himand had placed his faith andtrust in Jesus for his salvationand the promise of eternal life.His family is comforted by somany recent expressions of loveand support. Private Gravesideservice. Family and Friends areinvited to a Memorial Service tocelebrate the life of Phil Bouzeoson Saturday, February 4 at10:00 a.m., Christ Church ofOak Brook, 501 Oak BrookRoad, Oak Brook. In lieu offlowers, donations may be madeto the N.H.I.B.T., (memo line:AHEPA Phil Bouzeos Scholar-ship Fund), c/o Dean Bouzeos,2229 Schwinn Avenue, Xenia,Ohio 45385.

n BRICOLAS, IRENEDETROIT, MI (from The DetroitNews & Detroit Free Press, pub-lished on Feb. 2) – Irene Bricolaspassed away on January 30,2017. Age 82. Beloved wife ofthe late Stephen. Loving motherof Alexandra (Mark) Bricolas-Havens and Louie Bricolas.Proud grandmother of StephenHavens and Stavros and ElleneBricolas. Survived by herbrother George and sister Vaso,both of Nafpactos, Greece. Do-nations preferred to St. JohnGreek Orthodox Church, 11455Metro Parkway, just west ofDodge Park.

n GAVROS, JAMESSAN MATEO, CA (from the SanFrancisco Chronicle, publishedon Jan. 25) – James(Demetrios) Elias Gavros, July12, 1933 - January 21, 2017,longtime resident of San Mateo,passed away peacefully at homein his sleep on Saturday, Janu-ary 21st. Known for his gregar-ious spirit and generous ways,his love for the Greek Orthodoxfaith, language, folk dance andculture played a very importantrole throughout his life. James

was born in Vervena, Arcadias,Greece in 1933 to Elias andStyliani Gavros and was the el-dest of four children. He emi-grated to the United States in1956 as a young man lookingfor a better life. He loved Greeceand loved America. After firstarriving in New York, Jamesmade his way by train to meethis relatives in San Francisco,then serving in the U. S. Armyfor over two years. He and hisbeloved wife Yvonne were theproud owners of Jim's OceanBeach Café in San Franciscoduring the 1970's. It was truly afamily endeavor. He was blessedto be an entrepreneur, living theimmigrant's dream of opportu-nity, hard work, and success.James ushered for many yearsat the Greek Orthodox Churchof the Holy Cross in Belmontand served as past President ofthe United Arcadians Chapter35 of San Francisco. He is sur-vived by his loving wife Yvonneof 53 years; devoted children:Vivian, Julia (fiancé James Cur-ran) & Electra Iatridis (Peter);grandchildren: Eleni & Dimitra,Nicole & Melanie, Aphrodite &Constantine; sisters: ParaskeviKodoyiannopoulou of Greece,and Eleftheria Psittas (Dino) ofSan Francisco; sister-in-law Gi-annoula Gavros of Canada;cousin Arthur Lidstrom ofSonoma; and many nieces,nephews and other relatives inCanada, New York, and Greece.He was preceded in death by hisparents and younger brotherGeorge Gavros of Canada. Hehad a passion for tending hisvegetable garden and shared itsbounty graciously with familyand friends. The family wishesto give special thanks to Ken Pe-telo for his kindness and care toJames during his final months.The Trisagion Service will beheld on Thursday, January 26that 7pm followed by a FuneralService at 10:30am on Friday,January 27th. All services willbe held at the Greek OrthodoxChurch of the Holy Cross, 900Alameda de las Pulgas, Belmont,CA. Interment to follow at theGreek Orthodox Memorial Parkin Colma, CA. Memorial dona-tions can be made to the GreekOrthodox Church of the HolyCross in Belmont or the Life Giv-ing Spring Monastery BuildingFund, P.O. Box 549, Dunlap, CA93621.

n KARALOLOS, VASILIKIBROCKTON, MA (from theBoston Herald, published onFeb. 2) – Vasiliki Karolos, 90, ofBrockton, passed away unex-pectedly Wednesday morning,February 1, 2017. She was thedevoted and loving wife of thelate Kosmas Karalolos to whomshe was married for 63 years.Born on June 15, 1926 in Ax-iokastro Kozani, Greece, Vasilikiwas the daughter of the lateGeorgios and Evgenia (Hasiotis)Stergiopoulos. She married andraised a young family in Greeceuntil immigrating to Brockton,MA in 1973 with her husbandand two children, Evmorfia andEvangelo. Vasiliki was employedas an electronics technician forover 20 years. After retiring, shecherished the time she spentwith her four grandsons, EliasSanopoulos and his wife Eleniof Brooklyn, NY; Cosmo, Steveand Victor Karalolos of Peabody,MA; and her great granddaugh-ters Evmorfia, Vasiliki, and Kon-stantina Sanopoulos. She en-joyed cooking and baking herspecialty Greek dishes for familyand friends. Her tyropites,pastitso, and finikia were amongsome of their favorites. She wasa devout Greek Orthodox Chris-tian and lifelong member of theAnnunciation Greek OrthodoxChurch of Brockton, MA. Sheselflessly volunteered to bakefor church festivals and func-tions. Vasiliki was the lovingmother of Evmorfia Sanopoulosand her husband Konstantinos;Evangelo Karalolos and his wifeKathy. Predeceased by lovinghusband Kosmas Karalolos andbrothers Konstantinos andMichael Stergiopoulos. She isalso survived by her sister in-law Panagiota Papadopoulos ofBethlehem, PA, sister in-lawAthena Stergiopoulos in Greeceand brother in-law Sotirios Kar-

alolos of Nurnberg, Germany,several cousins, nieces andnephews. Funeral Service in theAnnunciation Greek OrthodoxChurch, 457 Oak Street, Brock-ton at 10:00A.M. In lieu of flow-ers, donations can be made tothe Annunciation Greek Ortho-dox Church, Brockton, MA. Fordirections visit www.Russellpi-cafuneralhome.com

n KAZIS, ARGERO NORWOOD, MA (from TheBoston Globe, published on Feb.1) – Argero (Prokos) Kazis ofNorwood passed away on Jan.31, 2017. Beloved wife of Hari-laos Kazis. Daughter of the lateYioannis & Panagiota Prokos.Loving mother of Louie Kazisand John Kazis & his wife Olga.Sister of Georgia Zois & her hus-band Anastasios. Cherishedgrandmother of Bobby Kazis &his wife Stacie , Alycia,Laki andPamela Kazis. Great grand-mother of Maria Kazis. Also sur-vived by many nieces, nephews,relatives and friends here and inGreece. Funeral on Friday, Feb.3, 2017 in the St. NectariosGreek Orthodox Church, 39 Bel-grade Ave., Roslindale. In lieu offlowers donations in her memorymay be made to the abovenamed church.

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118654/2/2-20

Notice of formation of MVC CONSULTINGGROUP, LLC Articles of Organization filedwith the Secretary of State of New York(SSNY) on 11/29/2016. Office location: KingsCounty. SSNY has been designated for serviceof process. SSNY shall mail copy of any processserved against the LLC to: Corporate Filings of New York, 90 State Street, Ste 700, Office40, Albany, NY 12207. Purpose: Any lawfulpurpose.

275619/20276

Notice of formation of 148 29TH STREET LLC.Articles of Organization filed with theSecretary of State of New York (SSNY) on01/06/2017. Office location: NASSAU County.SSNY has been designated for service ofprocess. SSNY shall mail copy of any processserved against the LLC to 148 29TH STREETLLC PO BOX 39 28 MAPLE PLACEMANHASSET, NY, 11030. Purpose: Any lawfulpurpose.

275578/20251

STENN USA LLC. Art. of Org. filed w/ SSNY1/30/17. Office in NY Co. SSNY designated for service of process and shall mail to Reg.Agent: Thomas Law Firm PLLC, 175 Varick St, NY, NY 10014. Purpose: Any lawful activity.

275616/18796

Notice of Formation of HICKSVILLEMITHAAS, LLC (DOM LLC). Articles of the Organization were filed with the Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 01/30/17.Office location: Nassau County. SSNY has beendesignated as agent of the LLC upon whomprocess against it may be served. SSNY shallmail a copy of process to the LLC at: SukhmaniJasuja, 12 Pinedale Road, Smithtown, NY11788. Purpose: For any lawful purpose.

275614/20272

Notice of Qualification of DDK/WE HOTELSMANAGEMENT INDIANAPOLIS LLCAppl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SS-NY) on 01/24/17. Office location: Kings County.LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 01/06/17.SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whomprocess against it may be served. SSNY shall mailprocess to c/o Corporation Service Co., 80 StateSt., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC:2711 Centerville Rd., Ste. 400, Wilmington, DE19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, Div. of Corps., John G. Townsend Bldg., 401Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose:Hotel Management.

275613/17976

Notice of Formation of DENEX PROPERTIESLLC (DOM LLC). Articles of the Organizationwere filed with the Secretary of State of NewYork (SSNY) on 01/06/17. Office location:Nassau County. SSNY has been designated asagent of the LLC upon whom process against itmay be served. SSNY shall mail a copy ofprocess to: Spiegel & Utrera P.A., P.C., 1Maiden Lane, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10038.Purpose: For any lawful purpose.

275603/20267

PRIMA JEWELS USA, LLC. Art. of Org. filed w/SSNY 1/25/17. Office in NY Co. SSNY designated for service of process and shall mail to: The LLC, 42 WEST 48TH ST, STE1605, NY, NY 10036. Purpose: Any lawful activity .

275602/18796

NOTICE OF FORMATION OF LIMITED LIABIL-ITY COMPANY. NAME: FAMILY GROUP 200,LLC. Articles of the Organization were filedwith the Secretary of State of New York(SSNY) on 01/13/17. Office location: KingsCounty. SSNY has been designated as agent ofthe LLC upon whom process against it may beserved. SSNY shall mail a copy of process tothe LLC, 31 Brighton 3rd Walk, Brooklyn, NewYork, 11235. Purpose: For any lawful purpose.

275611/20229

Arts for All Abilities Consortium LLC. Art. ofOrg. filed w/ SSNY 1/13/17. Office in NYCo. SSNY designated for service of processand shall mail to: The LLC, 262 W. 107 St.Ste. 1C, NY, NY 10025. Purpose: Any lawfulactivity.

275592/18796

Notice of Formation of SYNVARO DEVELO-PMENT SERVICES LLC (DOM LLC). Articles ofthe Organization were filed with the Secretaryof State of New York (SSNY) on 01/23/17.Office location: New York County. SSNY hasbeen designated as agent of the LLC uponwhom process against it may be served. SSNYshall mail a copy of process to the LLC at: Cor-porate Filings Of New York, 90 State Street,Ste 700, Office 40, Albany, NY 12207.Purpose: For any lawful purpose.

275601/20264

Notice of formation of [IRONROCK CAPITALMANAGEMENT GROUP LLC]. Arts. of Org.filed with NY Secy. of State (SSNY) [ON01/23/2017 with an effective date of01/24/2017]. Location: [New York County].SSNY designated for service of process andshall mail copy of process served against theLLC to Registered Agent: c/o [Corporatefilings of New York], [Ste 700, Office 40,Albany, NY 12207]. Purpose: [For any lawfulpurpose].

275600/20263

BP BOERUM LLC, Arts. of Org. filed with theSSNY on 08/24/2016. Office loc: KingsCounty. SSNY has been designated as agentupon whom process against the LLC may beserved. SSNY shall mail process to: BlessoProperties, Attn: M. Blesso and D. Kessler,32 Court St., Ste 1506, NY, NY 10021. Pur-pose: Any Lawful Purpose.

275588/16818

Notice of Formation of DAY TO DAY FITNESSLLC (DOM LLC). Articles of the Organizationwere filed with the Secretary of State of NewYork (SSNY) on 12/05/16. Office location:Kings County. SSNY has been designated asagent of the LLC upon whom process against itmay be served. SSNY shall mail a copy ofprocess to the LLC at: Dwight Duval, 407Ocean Ave #2A, Brooklyn, NY 11226.Purpose: For any lawful purpose.

275582/20254

Notice of Formation of HOLYRAD STUDIO LLC(DOM LLC). Articles of the Organization werefiled with the Secretary of State of New York(SSNY) on 12/19/16. Office location: KingsCounty. SSNY has been designated as agent ofthe LLC upon whom process against it may beserved. SSNY shall mail a copy of process tothe LLC at: Daryl Oh, 694 Hicks Street, Apt.2F, Brooklyn, NY 11231. Purpose: For anylawful purpose.

275580/20253

BABY DOLLAR, LLC. Art. of Org. filed with theSSNY on 12/22/16. Office: Kings County.SSNY designated as agent of the LLC uponwhom process against it may be served. SSNYshall mail copy of process to the LLC, 553 Mor-gan Avenue, #1, Brooklyn, NY 11222.Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

275577/17973

Notice of Formation of LAMALLORCA, LLC(DOM LLC). Articles of the Organization werefiled with the Secretary of State of New York(SSNY) on 12/07/16. Office location: KingsCounty. SSNY has been designated as agent ofthe LLC upon whom process against it may beserved. SSNY shall mail a copy of process tothe LLC at: c/o United States CorporationAgents Inc., 7014 13th Avenue, Suite 202,Brooklyn, NY 11228. Purpose: For any lawfulpurpose.

275579/20252

Project61 LLC. Art. of Org. filed w/ SSNY1/5/17. Office in Kings Co. SSNYdesignated for service of process and shallmail to: The LLC, 304 Boerum St. #41,Brooklyn, NY 11206. Purpose: Any lawfulactivity.

275575/18796

Notice of Formation of BUY VINTAGE ADS,LLC(DOM LLC). Articles of the Organization werefiled with the Secretary of State of New York(SSNY) on 12/13/16. Office location: NassauCounty. SSNY has been designated as agent ofthe LLC upon whom process against it may beserved. SSNY shall mail a copy of process tothe LLC at: c/o United States CorporationAgents, Inc., Suite 202, 7014 13th Avenue,Brooklyn, NY 11228. Purpose: For any lawfulpurpose.

275573/20246

6622 12th AVENUE, LLC. Art. of Org. filedwith the SSNY on 10/19/15. Office: KingsCounty. SSNY designated as agent of the LLCupon whom process against it may be served.SSNY shall mail copy of process to the LLC,1482 86th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11228.Purpose: Any lawful purpose.

275567/17973

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ATHENS – Popular composerand singer Loukianos Kilaidonisdied on February 7 at age 73.

Kilaidonis was hospitalizedin intensive care due to heartfailure after a respiratory infec-tion. He was born in Athens andstudied Architecture at the Aris-totle University of Thessalonikiand Athens Metsovio Polytech-nic. However, Kilaidonis neverworked as an architect, but in-stead focused on music.

His career started in the early1970s when he wrote the musicscore for the play “I Poli Mas”(Our City). Kilaidonis wrote mu-sic for the theater and the cin-ema as well as for popularsingers. He sang his own songsfor the first time in 1973 in theperiod of the Greek junta. The

LP, which was banned, was alandmark in Kilaidonis' careerand inspired a whole genera-tion.

Kilaidonis was an artist wholoved to play live. In 1983, heorganized “the Party in Vouliag-meni,” the so-called GreekWoodstock attended by over70,000 people. Among thefamed performers at that eventheld on July 25, 1983 wereDionysis Savvopoulos, GiorgosDalaras, Margarita Zorbala,Vangelis Germanos, andAphrodite Manou. Loukianos Ki-laidonis is survived by his wife,actress and Member of Parlia-ment Anna Vagena, and his twodaughters, Jasmine, also an ac-tress, and Mary, a singer and for-mer social worker.

Loukianos Kilaidonis, Composer and Singer, Was 73

GREECE CYPRUSTHE NATIONAL HERALD, FEBRUARY 11-17, 2017 9

Anastasiades accepted theexplanation but said, “I considerany intervention by any thirdcountry as not what we arelooking for.”

It’s a tough balancing act forAnastasiades as Cyprus has longbeen a favored place for wealthyRussians to hide – or launder –money and they still do eventhough in 2013 he reneged oncampaign promises and ap-

proved confiscation of bank ac-counts over 100,000 euros($106,760) to keep them fromgoing under, as part of a deal toget a 10-billion euro ($10.68 bil-lion) international bailout.

He faces a reelection cam-

paign next year and he and Ak-inci, having missed a self-im-posed deadline to reach a dealby the end of 2016, are tryingto save the talks after Turkey –one of the island’s guarantors ofsecurity along with the UnitedKingdom and Greece – said its30,000-strong army wouldnever leave.

That has, again, dashed op-timism and unity hopes andproved wrong diplomats, in-cluding UN Special Envoy EspenBarth Eide, that a deal was im-minent. It also played into Rus-sia’s hands, according to thosewho see the imprint of RussiaPresident Vladimir Putin in aconspiracy to keep Cyprus splitand at least partially dependenton Russian goodwill and money.

RUSSIAN BEAR’SEVERYWHERE

Makarios Drousiotis, aGreek-Cypriot researcher whohas tried to expose what he callsRussian meddling in Cyprus,said Russia’ alleged hacking ofthe U.S. Presidential electionshad shaken Cypriots.

“What they have been doingin America and Europe theyhave been doing for 50 years inCyprus,” said he told the news-paper.

The Cyprus Mail called Os-dachiy “the darling” of anti-set-tlement forces “because he regu-

larly says things aimed at under-mining the talks or making thepursuit of a deal more difficult.”

Russia vehemently disputesthe accusation. Maria Za-kharova, Russia’s Foreign Min-istry spokeswoman, saidMoscow was “surprised by theanti-Russia comments in theCyprus media” and accused themedia of creating “a smoke-screen for the real problems thatneed to be tackled as part of theCypriot settlement.”

But Drousiotis said that“every time there has been anattempt to solve the Cyprus is-sue, the Russians have jumpedin to block a settlement,” andprevent a deal.

Part of the alleged attempt,critics said, is to keep a Cyprusunity deal from ending a schismbetween Turkey and Greece andstop development of large gasreserve potential off the islandthat could ease Turkey’s energydependence on Russia’sGazprom.

Vladimir A. Chizhov, Russia’sEuropean Union Ambassador tothe European Union, issued ascathing statement Jan. 13 todenounce what he called “pre-posterous” reports that Russiawanted to block a settlement.

“Evidently, anti-Russian hys-teria is becoming contagious.Overzealous fighters of the

(dis)information front are work-ing day and night trying to im-plicate Russia in all sorts ofproblems, including those thatare the direct result of short-sighted and arrogant policies ofothers,” he said.

Harry Tzimitras, Director ofthe Nicosia branch of the PeaceResearch Institute Oslo, told TheTimes there were many obsta-cles to peace in Cyprus, mostlyTurkey’s insistence on keepingits army there and the right tomilitarily intervene when itwants.

“The fundamental mistrust”between the two sides he toldThe Times is the main reasonfor the failure of decades ofdiplomatic efforts to reach a set-tlement. “In Cyprus, you rarelyfight facts,” he said. “You fightperceptions and ghosts.”

Preventing a peace dealwould also undermine attemptsby the United States to be a bro-ker of sorts and keep influencein the region.

“In this view, the status quois working very well for Russia,”Tzimitras said. “They don’t wantit disrupted.”Anastasiades said,Cyprus understands “the gamessuperpowers play.”

He added: “We want the sup-port of everyone who can givesupport. It is a matter of sur-vival.”

Cyprus Fears Russia Wants to Checkmate Unity Deal, Shake NATO, US

Compiled byEraklis Diamataris

FEBRUARY 8: On this day in 1980 Cre-tan musical legend Nikos Xilouris died inPeiraus, Greece. Xilouris was born in theAnogeia village of Crete on July 7, 1936.After the Nazi Germans occupied Crete, theXilouris family was forcibly removed fromAnogeia and moved to another nearby vil-lage. It’s there that Xilouris was given hisfirst lyra at the age of 12 and he first dis-covered his love and talent of music. Fromthere Nikos Xilouris started to perform hissignature Cretan folk music in Heraklionand later in Athens where he became a sta-ple at “Konaki” music hall during his bigcommercial successes. His albums “Anifan-tou”, “Xroniko” and “Rizitika” propelledXilouris to become one of the most belovedGreek folk artists of the mid to latter 20thcentury. His harsh critic of the military dic-tatorship and subsequent administrationsmade him beloved by the masses. Knownas the “archangel of Crete” , Xilouris suc-cumbed to lung cancer on February 8, 1980and was buried in the 1st Cemetery ofAthens.

FEBRUARY 9: On this day in 1980,Greek footballing hero Angelos Charisteaswas born in the northern village of Stry-moniko , Greece. Charisteas started his ca-reer with Aris Thessaloniki making 87 seniorleague appearances and scoring 19 goalsfrom 1997 to 2002. His next major stopwould be to German side Werder Bremenwhere he would make his name scoring 18times in 66 league appearances and earning

most consistent callups to Otto Rehhagel’sGreek National Team. Charisteas while suc-cessful at the club level took his personalstar to new heights with the national teamand secured an invitation to be on the Greeksquad for the Euro 2004 tournament. Dur-ing that tournament Charisteas scored threegoals and most memorably he scored thewinning goal in the 1-0 victory in the finalover Portugal giving the European to Greecefor the first time in their history. After thatCharisteas was known all over the world,he earned 88 caps for his country andscored 25 times wearing the “galanolefki”shirt. His goal in the final will live foreverin Greek lore.

FEBRUARY 11: On this day in 1831, thefirst Governor of Greece, Ioannis Kapodis-trias was born in Kerkyra which were thenunder Venetian rule. Kapodistrias was froma distinguished family of Kerkyra where hisfather was known as a nobleman, politicianand artist/ art collector. At the age of 25 in1799, Russia and the Ottoman Empire ex-pelled the French from the Ionian islandsand set up the Septinsular Republic. Theyoung Kapodistrias took his father’s placeand become one of two ministers represent-ing the seven newly liberated islands. Fromthere Kapodistrias joined the Russian diplo-matic service where he entered the serviceof Tsar Alexander I in 1809. After Kapodis-trias managed to initiate Swiss unity andindependence in Central Europe and neu-tralizing the influence of Austrian foreignminister Prince Metternich, Tsar Alexandermade Kapodistrias the joint Foreign MInisterof Russia. From this post Kapodistrias be-

came one of the most recognized andlauded diplomats in all of Europe. As suchhe was voted by the revolutionary GreekNational Assembly as the first head of stateand first Governor of the Modern GreekState. Governing from the newly mintedcapital of Greece, Nafplio, Kapodistrias whowas a known workaholic began to build theModern Greek State from the ground up,beginning with schools and universities,quarantine systems and hospitals for med-ical care and using his personal connectionsaround Europe to secure optimal loans forthe fledging and poor Greek state. Kapodis-trias was admired by many revolutionariessuch as Kolokotronis and Makriyannis forhis pure allegiance to the Greek people andstate, not to regional factions or personalgain. Kapodistrias went to literal and figu-rative war with the Greek elite class whohe saw as self-interested and who’s methodsof tribal factions as thoroughly outdated. Itwas a decision that would seal his downfallas he imprisoned Petrobey Mavromichalis,a war leader from one of the most rebelliousprovinces of Greece (the Mani Peninsula).After the imprisonment of Mavromichalishis family took great offense to this and onSunday October 9, 1831 whilst on the stepsof Saint Spyridon church in Nafplio Kapodis-trias was assassinated by Mavromichalis’brother and son. Kapodistrias would bemourned by Greece and all of Europe as atruly liberal thinker and ahead of his time.Many Greeks wonder even today how dif-ferent the country would be had Kapodis-trias not been assassinated and continuedhis development of the foundations of therepublic.

This Week in Greek History

However, the document alsonoted: “Directors emphasizedthe need to preserve and not re-verse existing labor market re-forms … to bring Greece’s col-lective-dismissal andindustrial-action frameworks inline with best practices.”

Unease over Greece’s bailout– and its future in the euro –has been heightened by morewidespread political uncertaintyin Europe, with anti-EU partiesgaining popularity ahead of na-tional elections in key countries,such as the Netherlands andFrance.

In an interview, senior Euro-pean Central Bank memberBenoit Coeure argued thatGreece needed to modernize itseconomy regardless of what cur-rency it uses.

“Greece’s problems are notlinked to its membership of theeuro: weak administration, poorsocial protection, inefficient taxcollection, and a highly-seg-mented economy,” he told LeParisien newspaper.

“The euro reveals thestrengths and weaknesses of acountry. Greece needs a trans-formation of its administrativeand political structures to pros-per in the euro.”

QUID PRO QUOTsipras is reportedly mulling

more austerity concessions tothe country’s international cred-itors that would be offset by taxcuts in some categories.

The embattled Radical LeftSYRIZA leader will likely agreeto “precautionary measures” toapply after 2018 – but with im-mediate enactment – to get thelenders to loosen up and freemore monies from a long-de-layed, staggered third bailout of86 billion euros ($91.57 billion)he said he would never seek noraccept but did both.

The business newspaperNaftemporiki reported that theprospect was raised during ameeting of the party’s politicalcouncil as Tsipras is seeking acompromise in which he couldsay he both rejects and acceptsausterity and more tough mea-sures.

The government has beenlocked in talks for 18 monthswith the European Union, Inter-national Monetary Fund and Eu-ropean Central Bank while theIMF, which took part in two firstrescue packages of 240 billioneuros ($255.53 billion) is stay-ing out of the third until moreausterity is implemented.

According to reports, SYRIZAis eyeing an “attractive package”of offset measures to counteractmore austerity conditions thatwould be dumped on taxpayers

Tsipras vowed to protect andquell growing dissension amonglawmakers over his repeatedsurrenders.

Those are said to include taxcuts for small-to-medium-sizedbusinesses, a possible reductionin VAT rates for islands, a low-ering of the property tax (EN-FIA) for certain “special” cate-gories of owners (probablylow-income taxpayers etc.) andpossible tax breaks for other cat-egories of professionals are un-officially being circulated by thegovernment side to its Parlia-ment group.

In return, Tsipras would stepacross another of his so-called“Red Lines” and acquiesce to di-luting labor laws that would stripworkers of protections, which heswore he would never do.

He already went back onpromises to cut taxes and hit be-leaguered Greeks with anavalanche of new tax hikes, in-cluding on staples such as cof-fee.

German Finance MinisterWolfgang Schaeuble saysGreece’s bailouts would cease ifthe International MonetaryFund pulls out.

Germany is the biggest con-tributor to three internationalbailouts of 326 billion euros($347.45 billion) from the Eu-ropean Union, European CentralBank, European Stability Mech-anism and the IMF.

But the IMF has stayed outof a third rescue package of 86billion euros ($91.66 billion)until more harsh austerity is im-posed while it calls on its Euro-pean partners to grant debt re-lief and taking a big hit whileinsisting the Washington, D.C-based agency be repaid.

While Germany expects theIMF to come back on board,Schaeuble has made clear thatif the IMF were not to partici-pate, “he program is over,”spokesman Juerg Weissgerbersaid during a news conferencewhen asked about an expecteddecision by the IMF.

Germany and the EU alsowant Greece to hit primary sur-pluses – excluding interest ondebt, the cost of running citiesand towns, state enterprises, so-cial security, and some militaryexpenditures – of 3.5 percent ofGross Domestic Product (GDP)while the IMF said iit should be1.5 percent.

Finance Minister EuclidTsakalotos said, “We note thatthe report is not fair in manyareas, while many conclusionsare not consistent with the re-cent and well-documented em-pirical data”.

(Material from the AssociatedPress was used in this report)

Prime Minister’s official jet.In her comments to

Kathimerini, the representativeAnne-Laure Richard confirmedthe meeting but offered no ad-ditional details. “It was a privatemeeting, we have no commentregarding topics discussed,” shesaid.

Tsipras’ office had said hewas in Paris for only a few hoursbut managed to meet withL’Oréal, which he said is plan-ning investments in Greece, aswell as talking to officials froma major bank and other prospec-tive investors despite a shorttime there.

While out of office, Tsiprasmocked foreign investments forGreece.

The Prime Minister’s stopoverin Paris on the way back fromLisbon was not a “holiday” butmainly focused on finding solu-tions for Greece’s debt and ef-forts to attract foreign invest-ment, government sources said,in reply to main opposition NewDemocracy’s criticism.

Responding to ND’s claim

that Prime Minister AlexisTsipras had used the state air-craft “to go on holiday,” the gov-ernment issued a detailed an-nouncement stressing that thePrime Minister “has a heavyschedule, both in Greece andabroad, which does not permithim to take time off.”

“To put an end to the specu-lation and for people to knowthey are dealing with commonslanderers,” it said, according tothe state’s Athens News Agency.

It added: “The prime minis-ter, accompanied by Minister ofState and governmentspokesman DimitrisTzanakopoulos and the govern-ment general secretary MihalisKalogirou, after the end of theSouthern EU countries Summitin Lisbon where he stayed Jan.27-29, made a stop of a fewhours in Paris of which both theGreek Embassy and the Frenchgovernment were informed,” thesources said.

Despite the short window,Tsipras’ office said he had timeto make key meetings he hadnot announced before going toLisbon and as New Democracy

pointed out that Jan. 30 was aschool holiday in Greece, inti-mating he was taking a holidaybreak at taxpayer’s expense onthe Prime Minister’s official jet.

His office said L’Oreal is plan-ning an investment in Greeceand that he also met with repre-sentatives of the Rothschild in-vestment bank and other in-vestors before returning toAthens on Jan. 30.

NO NOTICEND’s press office had accused

the Prime Minister of using thestate aircraft to visit Paris accom-panied by his family when heshould be returning from Lisbonand of “living large” at the tax-payers’ expense. If the PrimeMinister had gone to visit in-vestors, he would have an-nounced this in advance, NDadded.

“Now SYRIZA’s MPs and theGreek people know why Mr.Tsipras is so anxious to stay inpower. It’s a good life for himbut very hard for the Greek peo-ple,” the announcement added.

After being pressed, GreekPremier Alexis Tsipras’ officesaid he made an unannounced

stop in Paris on the way backfrom a European Union leadersmeeting in Lisbon.

The information came outonly after New Democracy VicePresident Adonis Georgiadis de-manded the government publishthe flight plans for the PrimeMinister’s jet Jan. 27-30.

“I’m asking for the flightplans,” he said. “They are officialdocuments and they should noteven think of arguing that theyare classified.”

Georgiadis also asked for alist of all the passengers onboard the aircraft. He did notgive any further details.

The Prime Minister’s officelater admitted the plane stoppedin Paris but initially would notsay if it was personal businessinstead of professional althoughno news stories came from thestop.

It also described as “unethicaland false” claims that Tsiprashad used the jet for a personalbreak but didn’t say what theprofessional reason was.

SLAP SHOTSND spokesman Vassilis Kikil-

ias demanded SYRIZA answerwhether there was any contractbetween the Greek state withthe Rothschild financial advisorygroup.

"Why did Mr. Tsipras chooseto meet, alone, on Sunday after-noon, with Rothschild, withoutthe (Greek) finance minister, thepresident of the Public DebtManagement Agency, or anotherof his economic aides? Was(Greek FinMin) Euclid Tsakalo-tos briefed over this meeting ornot? Did Panos Kammenos (theGreek Defense Minister) knowthat Mr. Tsipras was to travel toParis with the official aircraft tomeet with Rothschild (officials)?"

Tzanakopoulos, said NewDemocracy leader Kyriakos Mit-sotakis should answer whetherhis wife has an apartment inParis not declared in his officialwealth statement. "He must pro-vide answers over his wealthand asset statements and overthe purchase of the property,"Tzanakopoulos tweeted.

Tsipras Says Secret Paris Visit for Debt Relief

Greece Wrangles with SplitIMF on Stalled Reform TalksContinued from page 1



Hiring Restrictions Due to Bailout Lead to ProtestFirefighters gather outside the Ministry of Administrative Reform during a protest in Athens.Hundreds of firefighters in uniform took to the streets saying roughly one third of their jobsare at risk due to hiring restrictions placed on the public sector by Greece's internationalbailout conditions.

Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko, right, and Greece's PrimeMinister Alexis Tsipras speak during a meeting in Kiev, Ukraine.

AP PHOTO/THANASSIS STAVrAkIS

AP PHOTO/EFrEm LukATSky

Unexploded World War II Bomb Poses Danger to ThousandsExperts check the location where an unexploded World War II bomb was found 5 meters (over16 feet) deep, at a gas station in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki, on Thursday, Feb. 9.Authorities in Greece's second-largest city on Sunday are planning to evacuate up to 60,000 res-idents from their homes so experts can safely dispose of the unexploded World War II bomb.

AP PHOTO/GIANNIS PAPANIkOS

EDITORIALS LETTERS10 THE NATIONAL HERALD, FEBRUARY 11-17, 2017

Support for AHEPA’sResponse to Trump

To the Editor:Thank you for your strong

editorial this week supportingAHEPA’s “no” to Trump. AHEPAwas courageous and correct —and so was your paper — instanding up for American valuesregarding immigration.

Marilyn RouvelasArlington, VA

Epiphany Divers HaveCome a Long Way, Baby

To the Editor:As we follow the traditions

that connect us to our past andat the same time pass them onin a way that is meaningful tothose coming after us, these tra-ditions inevitably advance alongways we could not anticipate,but which are sometimes tran-scendent.

This was brought home tome recently when I learned of anew twist to our custom of div-ing for the Cross as a way of ex-pressing and renewing our faithon Theophany (Epiphany).

Last year, for the first timethat I know of, a young woman,Alexis Raynor of Panaghia of Is-land Park, NY, joined a group ofyoung men who have custom-arily participated in the ritual.

At a time when our GreekOrthodox Church needs to reachout to all our young parishionersas it develops an identity for the21st century – it is appropriateto congratulate Alexis for hercourage and also her parents,John and Maria Raynor, for en-couraging her devotion to herchurch.

Bravo is in order as well toFr. John Paizis who gave Alexisthe opportunity to do so.

What a fitting example of in-clusiveness and expansion andwhat a fitting day – the day ofTheophany – a day that signifiesthe beginning of Jesus’ ministryand the extension of his mes-

sage to the world.I have since learned that this

year in both Greece and Cyprus,young women participated inthe diving for the Cross cere-mony.

Congratulations to all.Anthony Paraskevopoulos

New York, NY

United Front on ImmigrationFuture historians will characterize the common position

adopted by three of our most important institutions – the Arch-diocese, AHEPA and the National Herald – regarding PresidentTrump’s executive order on immigration as one of the Greek-American community’s finest moments.

First came the immediate and unequivocal denunciation ofthe order by this newspaper, on January 30.

A very clear statement from AHEPA followed the next day,and the circle was closed on February 4 with the statement fromArchbishop Demetrios.

The archbishop’s statement may require a second reading inorder to draw conclusions. However, its message – as carefullyas it is worded – is clearly critical of the spirit and the letter ofthe executive order.

Thus, the essential institutions of the Greek-American com-munity are harmonious on an issue that concerns its very exis-tence. Hopefully this will extend to other critical issues in thefuture as well.

For us, there was no question of condemning the executiveorder outright. Anything other than that would constitute a re-nunciation of ourselves, a lack of respect to our readers, and ahypocritical disposition toward the ideals and principles of thisamazing country that fascinated us and led us to its shores.

AHEPA was obligated to follow the same clear position in or-der to remain true to its roots and identity, and it did so with en-viable swiftness and efficiency.

However, it took faith in its principles and strong leadershipto adopt this position, because a large organization has to con-sider the opposite side, the inevitable opposition by its members.

For our Archdiocese, this issue was theoretically simple, be-cause it is an issue directly related to the “first refugee,” JesusChrist.

However, we have not been accustomed to bold decisions byArchbishop Demetrios.

And this was indeed a bold decision because, as a living or-ganism, the Church must weigh and balance different opinionsas well as the possible consequences regarding its relations withthe government to which it will turn, sooner or later, concerningvarious matters.

Accordingly, in light of the archbishop’s statement, our Churchremains faithful to its mission while restraining its dissatisfactionregarding the Trump Administration as much as possible.

In any case, the fact that our three main institutions, theChurch, AHEPA, and The National Herald rose to the occasionon an important issue and honored our identity, principles, andideals, which are also those of America, is a victory for us all.

A Crown Jewel SchoolIt was a delight. About sixty children stood in three rows on

the stage of the cultural center named after its benefactor, PetrosG. Patrides, and sang select Greek songs under the direction oftheir talented and dedicated music teacher Vangelis Chaziroglou.

Their recital was limited to three songs, in order to save theguests some time.

But Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) co-President AndreasDracopoulos was so delighted that he asked them to sing somemore.

They ultimately sang seven songs. They sang so beautifully,were so well-prepared, and seemed to be very bright.

In the heart of Astoria – yes, unaffordable Astoria (in termsof real estate) – there is a gem of Hellenism. The High Schoolof the St. Demetrios Community. The only Greek high school inthe United States.

Gleaming hallways, classrooms full of students, and dedicatedfaculty, staff, school committee, board members, and Churchdean all work quietly with faith and devotion to fulfill its mission.

Maybe the problem is that they work more quietly than theyshould. They bear more than their share of the weight. Theymake sacrifices without the support and recognition they de-serve.

Fortunately, there are those who follow their progress, rec-ognize their struggle, respect their mission, and are grateful fortheir contribution.

But SNF is not the only benefactor that has the ability to em-brace this achievement of the Greek-American community.

There are others, such as Leadership 100 and the Faith en-dowment, to mention institutions with tens of millions of dollarsin reserve.

Perhaps their leaders do not know enough about St.Demetrios. Perhaps they are affected by the fact that the schoolis in Astoria.

We suggest they make an effort to visit it. They will be impressed. They will be inspired by the packed

classrooms and the students’ smiling faces. They will feel em-powered by the dedication of its employees.

In doing so, perhaps they will realize that this school deservesto be provided with the means to face future challenges, to em-bark upon a new phase of its existence.

And they should do the same for the school of St. Nicholasin Flushing, because they also do a truly great job, as do ourother schools.

The needs our schools are called upon to meet will increasein the future. For example, at least fifty children from Greecewere enrolled at St. Demetrios this year.

If anything, that number will grow considering the state ofaffairs in Greece.

The long period of declining student pools has passed. It is up to our community’s leadership to convince many

more parents to send their children to the schools, by convincingthem of the value of education and continuous improvement oftheir services.

Let us embrace these true gems of Hellenism.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

COMMENTARY

One doesn’t have to like oragree with Donald Trump to ac-knowledge that he is a visionary.Granted, being a visionary is notautomatically a good thing.Then again, as Cicero said,“more is lost my indecision thanwrong decision” – and so beinga visionary tends to help a pres-ident be more decisive.

One of our great modern-dayvisionaries campaigned on theidea to “make America greatagain.” Know what his namewas? Ronald Reagan.

In fact, Reagan’s campaignslogan in 1980, “Let’s MakeAmerica Great Again” is, ofcourse, almost identical to the2016 version by Donald Trump,sans the word “let’s.”

But there’s no willful plagia-rism here; Trump freely ac-knowledges that he lifted theline from The Great Communi-cator, and that’s not all he bor-rowed from Reagan.

Catapulted to electoral vic-tory in 1980 by a country over-whelmingly dissatisfied with thepresidency of Jimmy Carter – interms of both peace and pros-perity – Reagan coasted to anincredible landslide reelectionvictory four years later, winningan astounding 49 out of 50states.

His vision of making Americagreat again was essentiallybased on low taxes, smaller gov-ernment, and military might. Ifthe three do not sound congru-ent, that’s because they’re notpredisposed to being so. And insuccessfully accomplishing allthree, Reagan enabled federaldeficits to spiral out of control,and is somewhat blamed foreasing regulations on businessesthat some contend ultimatelyled to the Great Recession in2008.

Nonetheless, Reagan iswidely credited for ushering inthe most robust peacetime eco-nomic expansion since WorldWar II, and for ending the ColdWar with the Soviet Union with-out firing a shot. Most impor-tantly, he reassured Americathat everything was going to beall right, and inspired Americansto hold their heads up high and

feel good aboutthemselves andtheir countryagain.

Of course, noteveryone sees itthat way. After all,even the purport-edly “universallyloved” GeorgeWashington hadfierce critics – notleast of whichThomas Jefferson.Nonetheless, Rea-gan is widely con-sidered my mod-e r n - d a ypresidential historians to be inthe “near-great” category, andhe unquestionably belongsamong a small handful of pres-idents in terms of sheer popu-larity.

Reagan’s successor, GeorgeH.W. Bush (the father), didn’tfare as well. His popularity roseto a then-record high 89% ap-proval rating in 1991, when hesuccessfully led an internationalcoalition to liberate Kuwait andits oil from the clutches of Iraqistrongman Saddam Hussein,but then took a nosedive duringthe following year, causing himto lose reelection, to Bill Clin-ton. In retrospect, things weren’tso bad under the elder Bush.Sure, the economy had begunto sour, but it was hardly anycause for alarm. On the worldstage, he allowed Hussein tostay in power in Iraq – a strategythat didn’t make sense to a Hol-lywood plotline-inspired elec-torate, who think the only thingto do with the bad guy is killhim or put him in jail, not leavehim in power. But even so, Bushhadn’t committed a hanging of-fense, never mind that in theensuing two decades, he hasbeen praised – in hindsight – forhaving exercised such restraint.

The biggest problem Bushhad was that he wasn’t a vision-ary. He was a competent man-ager with as impressive a port-folio as just about any personever to seek the White House.But not only did he lack a vision,he mocked those who insistedon it: “Oh, yeah, the vision

thing.”Bush’s three suc-

cessors – Bill Clin-ton, George W.Bush (the son), andBarack Obama –also lacked a broad,overriding vision.Clinton, in 1992,e v e r - s o - m i l d l yhinted at populism,evidenced by his fa-mous “I feel yourpain” line. Fouryears later, heplayed it safe withthe feelgood “let’sbuild a bridge to

the 21st century.”As that new century arrived,

George W. Bush was elected ona promise of “compassionateconservatism,” and reelected –in the aftermath of 9/11 and a“war on terror” on two fronts,Afghanistan and Iraq – to “keepAmerica safe.” And BarackObama’s concurrent messagesof “Yes We Can” and “Hope andChange” endeared him to ap-proximately half the nation foreight years, but what exactly didit mean?

Donald Trump, for better orfor worse, has a clear vision. Herecalls his days as a young stu-dent, reading in his textbooksabout how America won wars.“We don’t win anymore,” hesays. He expects America to win,always, precisely because it’sAmerica.

He sees one-sided tradedeals, foreign aid to unappre-

ciative nations, porous borders,sanctuary cities, rampant cor-ruption in Washington, an over-whelmingly biased media, Hol-lywood elites outwardly hostileto any opinions that do not mir-ror their own specific world-view, and greedy corporationsthat would rather make an extrabuck by outsourcing productionthan help their fellow Americanworkers – and he wants to endall of it.

Robert Kennedy, in his 1968presidential bid, also referred to“those that look at things theway they are, and ask why,” andthen aimed to lift the nation tothe loftier plateau of “I dreamof things that never were, andask why not?”

But Donald Trump looks atthe way things are and says “nomore!” and looks at the waythings used to be and says “let’sget there, again.”

That word – “again” – is es-sential to understanding bothReagan’s and Trump’s visions. Itconveys that America was greatonce, no longer is, but can beagain. That bygone era of great-ness – whenever it was, manyspeculate it means the 1950s –is assailed by the left as a timeof “back alley abortions, racistlynchings, cruel and abusivehusbands and fathers, and Mc-Carthyist witch hunts.”

But those who long for thatbygone era see it as a time oftrue peace and prosperity. Noworries about terrorist attacksor rampant violence on ourstreets and in our schools. Noworries about losing one’s jobor working three jobs just tomake ends meet. And the abilityto express one’s social, political,and religious views openly, with-out being censored by the hy-percritical Politically Correct Po-lice.

Restoring America to suchgreatness is, indeed, what’sknown as a vision.

Constantinos E. Scaros' latestbook, Grumpy Old Party (aboutthe 2016 presidential election),is available for purchase onamazon.com and in bookstoresnationwide.

Trump is the First Visionary Pres. Since Ronald Reagan

The National HeraldA weekly publication of the NATIONAL HERALD, INC.

(ΕΘΝΙΚΟΣ ΚΗΡΥΞ),reporting the news and addressing the issues of paramount interest to the Greek-American community of the United States of America.

Publisher-Editor Antonis H. DiamatarisAssistant to the Publisher, Advertising Veta H. Diamataris Papadopoulos

Assistant Executive Editor Eleni SakellisReligion Editor Theodore Kalmoukos

Contributing Editor Constantinos E. Scaros

Production Manager Chrysoula Karametros

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GEOrGE SArAFOGLOu / SPECIAL TO THE NATIONAL HErALD

Observations By Antonis H. Diamataris

Festering Greek Drama

In a recent interview, the prospectivenominee for U.S. Ambassador to the Euro-pean Union supported the view that “thereis a very strong reason for Greece to moveaway from the euro.”

He made it clear that he was speakingas an economist and not as a representativeof the U.S. government, since he has notbeen appointed yet, and also stated that “Idon’t want to speak for the Greeks.”

As if that wasn’t hardened enough, headded something else to which proper at-tention was not given, probably because ithurts, although it is very significant: he said“I think there is a question, frankly, about

whether there should be a bailout andwhose responsibility that bailout would be,and why Greece continues in the same kindof stagnating situation in which it has founditself over the last number of years.”

Two conclusions can be drawn from this:that the Greeks are not the only ones reach-ing their limits; their lenders are as well.And that new loans – a new bailout – are asloathsome to the lenders as they are to theGreeks, because they know that they prob-ably will not receive the payments.

So, people are openly raising the logicalquestion: after all these years of crisis, whydoes Greece, unlike other countries, con-tinue to be on the brink of disaster, withunacceptably high unemployment rates andwith the possibility of a Grexit hanging over

its head like the sword of Damocles, timeand again?

The question of why it cannot emergefrom the crisis is a stigma for the Greekpeople and the country’s political and busi-ness elite.

Worst of all, they continue playing thesame games and continue at the same paceas if they do not realize how very little roomfor error there is.

In any event, there is every indicationthat the Greek drama is culminating.

And hopefully so, because this stagnantsituation cannot and should not continue.

And since Athens is unable to fix it, let itbe fixed by someone from the outside.

As usual.

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by CONSTANTINOS E.SCAROS

Special to The National Herald

VIEWPOINTSTHE NATIONAL HERALD, FEBRUARY 11-17, 2017 11

The pope went there in asheltered motorcade, and, to hiseverlasting credit, returned toRome as a savior of some, bring-ing them with him back to theVatican.

Greek Prime Minister AlexisTsipras went there but didn’t getout of the limousine to help ashe drove past and saw peoplefloundering in the waters: buthe had a good excuse: he didn’twant to get his suit wet or puton a wet suit.

Greece’s Migration MinisterYiannis Mouzalas went thereand apparently missed the thou-sands of people living in freez-ing tents as he said none ofthem were going cold before hereturned to a warm bed inAthens to watch photos andvideos of them shivering.

Europe’s migration chiefDimitris Avramopoulos wentthere – a couple of times – aGreek who very well knows thehorrible conditions under whichthousands of people are living.But he pulled a Pontius Pilate,washed his hands of it (not withthe same cold Aegean waterthat is the burial place of manyof them) and said the problemwas Europe’s to deal with butthat he wouldn’t press othercountries to help.

Celebrities like Susan Saran-don went there to try to bringthe attention of a world dis-tracted by terrorism, and politi-cal and business greed on aproblem that was killing people.But the focus was short-lived be-cause, well, there’s only so muchcompassion you can have beforeyou turn off, roll over, andwatch Game of Thrones wherethe horror seems less than thisreal life.

Volunteers from around theworld, kind and decent and car-ing men and women, went therewith no fanfare, donned wetsuits, jumped in boats, andjumped into the water to pullfrightened people out of rubberdinghies.

Greeks who are living there,fishermen and ordinary people,were already there and offeredtheir boats and homes andhearts, so much so that theywere up for a Pulitzer Prize forPeace, which instead went tothe president of Colombia forbrokering a failed peace treatywith rebels. He didn’t have tojump into the water to save any-one.

Daphne Matziaraki, a Greek

woman who wentto the University ofCalifornia at Berke-ley to study, re-turned to her home-land and went therewith a camera anda crew.

She got onto aGreek Coast Guardboat with an heroiccaptain and finallyshowed what washappening to therefugees on Lesbos,and trying to getthere, even if avoid-ing the real horrorof graphic depictions of thedead: a scene of a naked babypulled from the water and heldupside down and being resusci-tated was enough.

Her short film, under 22 min-utes and called 4.1 Miles – thedistance from Turkey where hu-man smugglers get rich shippingpeople to Greece – is an Acad-emy Award nominee and de-servedly so, but it’s uncomfort-able to watch so those whodon’t like to squirm and wouldstep over the dead and on theliving may vote for somethingwithout as much conscience.

“The turquoise sea that sur-rounds the beautiful Greek is-land of Lesbos, just 4.1 milesfrom the Turkish coast, is thesedays a deadly gantlet, choked

with terrifiedadults and smallchildren on flimsy,dangerous boats,

“I had neverseen people escap-ing war before, andneither had the is-land’s residents. Icouldn’t believethere was no sup-port for these fam-ilies to safely es-cape whateverconflict had causedthem to flee. Thescene was haunt-ing,” she said.

She didn’t flinch and showedHellenic Coast Guard CaptainKyriakos Papadopoulos goingout onto the seas time aftertime. It’s his home island andhe knows the waters well.

He and his crew on PatrolBoat 602 saved hundreds oflives while politicians in Athensand Ankara and Brussels weregoing out to dinner, perhaps forsome sea food.

In the last couple of years,Turkey let a million refugeesand migrants try to reach moreprosperous countries throughGreece before the EuropeanUnion, home to millions of themafter World War II, closed itsborders and dumped the prob-lem on Greece during a crushingeconomic crisis, piling on the

shame on them. “People arrived on boats that

weren’t seaworthy and didn’thave proper life vests for chil-dren. These are people who aredoomed, who can die in a mo-ment, often in front of our veryeyes. This is not something youcan reconcile yourself with, be-come hardened to,” Papadopou-los told the Greek newspaperKathimerini.

“The responsibility is enor-mous. You may have to get asmany as 60 people safely ontothe patrol boat in a matter ofminutes. Whether one, two ormore are rescued is in ourhands.” With daughters, aged 7and 15, the horror got to him,he saw their faces on those ofchildren in the water beseechinghim.

They got it from him, and hiscrew, and Greek fishermen andvolunteers – and fromMatziaraki who was there witha camera but knew what to dowhen life or death mattered. Itwasn’t a hard choice.

“When you are caught be-tween life and death I thinkthere is no other option. Whenthe captain told me put the cam-era down I didn't think about itat all...I completely forgot thatI was filming,” she told KALWradio in San Francisco.

[email protected]

Resourceful Aegean islandershave turned an endangered birdspecies project into a beneficialone for their agricultural econ-omy and the fishing industry.One can easily think that a pro-ject for the protection of threat-ened bird species may con-tribute to the development ofthe tourist industry through theorganization of activities suchas guided walks and bird watch-ing. Finding themselves in thecurrent difficult economic situ-ation Greek islanders, being bynature resourceful likeOdysseus, didn’t restrict the pro-ject’s benefits only to tourism.Having insight to discern thegoals which could be beneficialfor the local production, theytried to make the most of theproject’s potential.

The project Life Andros is de-signed for the protection of fourendangered bird species: theMediterranean Shag, theAuduin’s Gull, Eleonora’s Falconand Bonelli’s Eagle, and is imple-mented by the Municipality ofAndros with the cooperation ofthe Hellenic Ornithological Soci-ety and the Nature ConservationConsultants, the financial supportof the European Commission andthe National Green Fund.

Due to the variety of habi-tats, the rocky coasts, the smalluninhabited islets, and thecoastal wetlands, the Aegean is-lands hold important breedingpopulations of protected birds.Breeding on islands and isletsBonelli’s falcon (spizaetos) canbe rarely found in the rest ofEurope, while in Greece its pop-ulation is estimated around 100-140 pairs. The last decades its

species’ populationsuffered from adrastic decline dueto the over use ofpesticides, the habi-tat degradation, thecollision with elec-tric power wiresand windmills anddirect persecution.Greek islands holdan important re-sponsibility for thepreservation of theEleonora’s falcon(mavropetritis), asit hosts over 85% ofthe global popula-tion. The Mediterranean Shag(thalassokorakas) is common inall Greek islands and has beenclassified as a Nearly Threat-ened species. Due to marine pol-lution and overfishing, its foodis becoming scarce. The Audin’sgull (agaioglaros) is a gullspecies endemic to the Mediter-ranean and the most threatenedseabird in Greece. In the Aegeanit is breeding exclusively on un-inhabited islets, unfortunatelyduring the tourist period in theearly summer. Just one visit ofhumans or animals to their isletcolony can scare them off leav-ing the eggs and the chicks ex-posed to the predators, the ratsand the heat. Intense fishingclose to the coastline has se-verely depleted the fish stockson which it feeds. Regarding theislets with important birdcolonies the Life program im-plements control activities forthe invasive rats, places artificialnests and plants native shrubsimproving thus the breedinghabitat conditions for the pro-

tected species. Beyond this, the

Life project strivesto revive tradi-tional agriculturalpractices, like thecultivation of ce-real crops andother fodder cropson terraces of thesemi-mountainouszone. Hundreds ofacres of aban-doned agriculturalland have been cul-tivated by the pro-ject with promisingresults. The num-

bers of seed eater species, suchas partridges, has been in-creased. Extending the goals,from the improvement of theecological characteristics of ter-restrial habitats related to thebirds’ prey to the developmentof the local economy, a negotia-tion has began with the beerbrewery of the neighboring is-land of Tenos on the productionof a beer label from local barley,which can be cultivated on theabandoned terraces of Andros.Additionally and in collabora-tion with the Agricultural Uni-versity of Athens a survey hasbeen implemented on the iden-tification and registration of lo-cal crop varieties aiming at thecreation of a traditional localseeds bank. The project alsopromotes the revival of tradi-tional pigeon breeding activitiesin the old dovecotes. Beyond be-ing a prey for the Bonelli’s eagle,pigeons can be bred -as in thepast- for their meat, their feath-ers and the fertilizer they pro-duce for the crops.

Reviving the island’s tradi-tional agricultural activities, likelocal cereal growing and pigeonbreeding, can both enrich localecosystems and provide thefarmers sustainable economicopportunities. In order to ensurethe engagement of the commu-nity and the continuity of theproject’s actions after the end ofits implementation, environ-mental education programs aretaking place and a Local Con-servation Group of volunteers isalready active.

Regarding the coastal marineecosystem the sea grass mead-ows (Posidonia), which providefish nursery habitats and shelterfor spawning, are been destruc-ted by anchoring of fishing andleisure boats. Posidonia beds arequite slowly reproduced (10 cmper year) and easily deterio-rated. The installation of specialseaweed friendly moorings pro-tects the underwater environ-ment contributing to the in-crease of the fish stock, whichis the main prey of seabirds suchas the Audouin’s Gull and theMediterranean Shag, as well asa valuable economic resourcefor the local fishermen.

Islanders are beginning to re-alize that they need to sustainwhat they have; the natural her-itage and the traditional econ-omy resources.

Dimitra Kamarinou, PhD, hasstudied philology and archaeol-ogy at the University of Ioanni-na,Würzburg and Bochum inGermany. She has beenhonored with the Academy ofAthens Award in Archaeologyand Homeric Philology.

Bird Protection Project to Revive an Island’s Economy

LETTER FROM ATHENS

Matziaraki’s 4.1 Miles Puts Human Face on Refugees

by ANDYDABILIS


Consider theproposal made byeminent philoso-pher/theologianChristos Yannarasin his weekly col-umn: “Everyoneborn an Hellene(with a mothertongue and histor-ical conscience thatis Greek) anywherein the world shouldbe automaticallyentitled to recogni-tion as an activecitizen of the con-ventional Greek state (exactlylike how everyone who is apracticing Jew is entitled to bea citizen of Israel). Conse-quently: just as the Hellenes ofSyria (the Isaurians) orCarthage (Heraclius) or Pontus(the Komnenoi) alternated rolesas leaders of the Hellenic“Genos” [loosely translated tomean nation], and the revolu-tionary struggle of the Helleneswas begun by a Greek fromTrapezounta – a prince andRussian general –, AlexanderYpsilanti in Moldavia and Wal-lachia, at virtually the same timethat Metropolitan Germanos ofPatra, a native of Arcadia in thePeloponnese, raised the revolu-tionary standard in the city ofPatras, so too could the reignsof Hellenism be given to some-one from Princeton, or Sydney,or Crimea, or Rhodesia.”

And while the idea maysound far-fetched to those of usaccustomed to the prevailingWestern model, which has be-come practically universal inthis globalized age, the value ofalternative modus operandi ofstatehood serves as fertile soil

for discussion. For one thing, itrepresents the manner in whichHellenism governed itself for thevast majority of its history.Moreover, it shifts the emphasisfrom nationality, historicethni(ci)sm, and patriotic ideol-ogy to an ecumenical culturalproposal: the mode of life, itsorganization, and the mannerin which collective bodies func-tion.

The grounds for this proposalare further substantiated by thefact that throughout the twomost globally recognized peri-ods in its history – classical an-tiquity and the Hellenic-Roman“ecumene” that lasted for an en-tire millennium – Hellenism op-erated transnationally, with itsgreatest export being its ecu-menical proposals on life. Theuniqueness of its contributionand the lasting effects of it canbe seen in all sectors, from pol-itics and social organization tothe arts; from theology and phi-losophy to music, literature, andmath; from its architecture andcultural artifacts to its relation-ship with nature and the envi-ronment. Conversely, since theestablishment of modernGreece, with the concurrent in-stitutional “oversight” of foreignpowers – especially thoseblasted Teutons who haveperennially been meddling innational affairs, almost alwaysfor the purpose of oppressingthe people and creating calami-ties – the diametric oppositeseems to have been sought: thestifling of any unique or inde-pendent Hellenic initiativeaimed at the self-organizationof the people and the impositionof an inferiority complex neces-sitating the espousal of all West-ern models and practices toserve the ethnocentrism of ourpatrons from the Occident.

Obviously, the framework oftoday’s world dictates that thevehicle of modern statehood beused to encompass and expressHellenism as a collective body,just as kingdoms, principalities,and city-states once did, how-ever, this does not preclude es-tablishing a unique manner oforganization designed to serveour particular hierarchy ofneeds and promote our values.Yannaras cites the example of

Israel, where therole of the nationstate is designed tothe serve the tradi-tion of its peopleand their uniqueplace in history, andnot merely utilitar-ian aims like thepursuit of prosper-ity. Despite the in-ternal complexitiesof its political sys-tem or the seriousdisagreements re-garding its forma-tion and organiza-

tion within the Jewishcommunity, it appears as if thesuccessive leadership has man-aged to escape the danger of al-lowing Israel’s culture and tra-dition to descend into trivialfolklore or Westernwannabeism. Naturally, the or-ganization, support, and dy-namic participation of the Jew-ish Diaspora must also becredited for this success.

Like the Jewish people, Hel-lenes also represent a collectivebody that has traditionally tran-scended borders and always hada vibrant Diaspora. The questionnow remains what organiza-tional and leadership initiativescan the Diaspora take to helpadvance this cultural proposal,rather than just limit itself to re-flecting the ankyloses of a stateapparatus that is in many waysdysfunctional and experiencinga protracted identity crisis.

According to recent reports,the Greek government is con-sidering re-establishing theWorld Council of HellenesAbroad, after the first attemptat forming this organizationcame to an end a little over adecade into its existence, at theonset of the Greek financial cri-sis. The Ecumenical Patriarchateis rumored to be wary of thisundertaking – as it was duringthe first attempt. The ill-fatedoutcome of the initial attemptmay have proved these reserva-tions valid, but more because ofa fear of politicizing the Dias-pora, as opposed to organizingit. It’s painfully obvious that thelack of organization presentlyposes a critical threat to Hel-lenism’s vital interests.

But assuming that the Coun-cil were to be re-established, anapparatus alone will not do.Clear prioritization of needsmust be established and grass-roots efforts must be made toutilize untapped resources. Di-alogue must be initiated to en-able serious examination ofpractices and policies. Honestly,some of the events transpiringin the Community border on thesurreal and are enough to exas-perate even the most well-meaning of individuals.

As good-intentioned as theefforts may be, a basic principleof communications states thatcommunicators must considerthe effects of their message onthe audience. You cannot payhomage to Greek letters andhonor the memory of the ThreeHierarchs with a keynotespeaker sporting Starbucks cof-fee from the podium as hemakes repeated references tolines from “My Big Fat GreekWedding…” It’s enough to makeany adolescent permanently as-sociate the organized study ofGreek (which should be ongo-ing) with the epitome of kitsch.Similarly, you cannot pledgeyour commitment to Greek lan-guage and culture as the orga-nizing body of the Greek Parade– one of the largest collectiveevents in the Diaspora – andthen condemn Greek schools(the most organized effort topropagate these values that wehave) to marginalization bymarching them at the end, withhardly anyone left to cheer themon. You can’t claim to rely on alottery system to promote equalparticipation and then excludethe youth in every other in-stance by implementing electionsystems predicated upon cliquesand maintaining the status quo.As the post-modern era upendsthe current makeup of things,history will record our ability(or inadequacy) to provide acultural proposal worthy of Hel-lenism’s legacy.

Follow me on Twitter@CTripoulas

Hellenism as a CulturalProposal & Role of Diaspora

by ChristopherTRIPOULAS


The value of alternativemodus operandi ofstatehood serves as fertilesoil for discussion

by DR. DIMITRAKAMARINOU


Greek Coast Guard Patrol Boat 602 Captain Kyriakos Papadopoulos helping save refugee's lives

VIEWPOINTS12 THE NATIONAL HERALD, FEBRUARY 11-17, 2017

By Art Dimopoulos

The Greek American story isalso the great American story. Itincorporates values and ideasfrom the ancient Greeks to themodern day. America has inher-ited many things from the ancientGreeks: a system of government,an education structure, and evenbasic principles of medicine. Evenif an American is not geographi-cally from Greece, the value ofbeing Greek is in their head andin their heart, and the NationalHellenic Society’s (NHS) missionis to prove it.

The history of the Greek Amer-ican experience in the UnitedStates is like that of other ethnicminorities who immigrated herefor a better life for themselves andtheir families. Our forebearsfound opportunity but at a price;they shed vestiges of their ancientheritage and culture to assimilateand thereby advance. “What thechildren of immigrants wish toforget, the grandchildren chooseto remember,” goes the maximand it is borne by experience. Itis a reality that resonates withGeorge Marcus, the chairman andco-founder of the National Hel-lenic Society, a non-profit foun-

dation dedicated to helping thenext generation remember theirheritage, values, and culture.

George Marcus’ reconnectionwith his past is a story shared bythose finding themselves discon-nected from the traditional bul-warks and torchbearers of her-itage and culture; organizationsthat have not evolved and keptpace with modern demographicrealities. The Greek Americancommunity of the baby boomergeneration and before bears noresemblance to today’s commu-nity. Thus, an entire generationof highly successful individualshave lacked the mechanism thatwill connect them to their her-itage.

The NHS is the brainchild ofprominent, successful businessleaders convinced that by lever-aging their skills and resources,they can change this presentcourse of complacency. Marcusdescribes the impetus for estab-lishing the NHS as follows: “Ourparents and grandparents cameto America, the bastion of oppor-tunity, with the dream of a better

life for their children. They wereheroes. They faced unimaginableodds: uneducated, poor, non-con-versant in English, disliked. Yetin a short time, they establishedbusinesses, built churches andcultural organizations, educatedus, and did what they could tokeep our Hellenic heritage a partof our lives. Their values, workethic, and philotimo were passedon to us. These hallmarks of thisgreat legacy are what has allowedus as individuals to become suc-cessful. As stewards of this legacy,we owe it to them and to our chil-dren to honor their sacrifices byreclaiming our birthright andpassing on our relevant, and in-spiring heritage.”

The Society has adopted apragmatic approach on how todevelop and implement programsthat advance its mission. TheNHS’ signature program is theHeritage Greece Program(http://www.nationalhellenicso-ciety.org/program-overview),modeled after Birthright Israel. Itis a group visit of up to 60 highlyqualified Greek American under-

graduate and graduate studentswho preferably have rarely ornever been to Greece. The Pro-gram is hosted by The AmericanCollege of Greece (ACG) inAthens, Greece (www.acg.edu).Participants also share a two-week cultural and educational im-mersion experience along with apeer group of Greek studentsfrom ACG. Heritage Greece re-connects the Greek American stu-dents with their Hellenic identityand heritage while forging life-long relationships. The Program’ssuccess is corroborated by scien-tific research undertaken since itsinception, which confirms theProgram’s impact as a catalyst ofdramatic change in the students’connection with their Hellenicheritage, roots, and identity. Thisshared experience has been de-scribed by the students as life-changing.

The NHS’ commitment to thestudents extends beyond the ac-tual trip. Upon their return, theymatriculate into the NHS’ Her-itage Greece Alumni Network.The Heritage Greece program is

currently in its eighth year withover 280 alumni now part of itsAlumni Network. The Program’smain objective is to forge lastingbonds of Hellenic heritage, iden-tity, and connections to Greecefor exceptional students of GreekAmerican descent even when theProgram is over. It also allowsNHS members to follow the lifetrajectories of this next genera-tion, even as they enter the work-force, and to help them alongtheir career paths. They are thengroomed to serve as ambassadorsof Hellenic heritage. NHS has alsodeveloped the Hellenic CareerCenter (www.HellenicCareer-Center.com) to explore effectiveways in which NHS can assist itsalumni and others via mentor-ships, internships, and other op-portunities, engage them in NHSprograms, and help them becomeleaders within the Greek Ameri-can community as their careersdevelop. NHS has also developeda social media and networkingcomponent, MyParea (www.face-book.com/MyParea andwww.MyParea.com), in order for

alumni to keep in touch, network,and to allow others with Greekheritage to celebrate their Hel-lenic identity and roots.

The NHS, in collaborationwith The American College ofGreece, is also establishing a Her-itage Greece Alumni Network forthe peer group of Greek students.This new branch of the AlumniNetwork will provide career ad-vancement assistance and serveas a liaison for alumni fromGreece and the US – for instancewhen a Greek alum participateson a study abroad program at aUS university or if an Americanalum returns to Greece.

The NHS has made significantstrides in advancing its missionand objectives, especially throughleveraging the know-how of itsmembers to produce significantreturns on the NHS’ investmentin the next generation. Armedwith a “who’s who” of accom-plished members with greatideas, enthusiasm, and resourcesto fulfill what the NHS sets out todo, the future of Hellenic heritagein America is indeed bright.

Art Dimopoulos, is the NationalHellenic Society’s Executive Di-rector.

Making America Greek Again

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