The National Herald...George Papandreou may have to jettison the promises that won him October’s...
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To subscribe call: 718.784.5255 e-mail: [email protected] The National Herald A WEEKLY GREEK AMERICAN PUBLICATION VOL. 13, ISSUE 635 $1.25 Bringing the news to generations of Greek Americans O C V ΓΡΑΦΕΙ ΤΗΝ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ ΤΟΥ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ ΑΠΟ ΤΟ 1915 www.thenationalherald.com c v December 12-18, 2009 By Christopher Tripoulas The National Herald Staff Writer NEW YORK - Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou may have to jettison the promises that won him October’s election if he’s to con- vince investors he can tackle his country’s worst fiscal crisis in 15 years. Greece is in the throes of an eco- nomic and fiscal emergency that threatens its national sovereignty, and the government is determined to implement measures that will re- duce debt and bring back interna- tional and domestic confidence, the country's Prime Minister George Papandreou said Wednesday. "I will speak with sincerity and conscience because times are diffi- cult and the country is an emer- gency state," Papandreou said. "There are big problems which we will deal with through specific poli- cies." He reiterated that the govern- ment will soon unveil a four-year plan to address many of the prob- lems, including retirement and so- cial security programs, taxation and measures aimed at supporting growth. The plan, which Greece intends to submit to the European Commis- sion at the beginning of January, will include measures on those is- sues and other reforms, as well as targets for deficit cutting. Over the next few days, Greece will commu- nicate the elements of the plan not only to Greek citizens, employers and workers but also to the interna- tional community, Papandreou said. "The new government's aim is to bring back hope to Greek citizens and reverse the lack of credibility and lack of confidence brought by the previous government," he said. "These problems have made us stronger and more confident to march ahead...We will systemati- cally make efforts to protect and re- store confidence in the economy." Papandreou warned that "the Greek economy is in a profoundly difficult position" and requires "a huge national effort in order to re- cover economically and achieve fis- cal consolidation." He added: "The fiscal problem is threatening our national sovereign- ty for the first time since 1974 [when there was a dictatorship in power]. We have several difficult battles ahead, but the road towards fiscal stability is the only way Greece will not lose its sovereignty rights." Within weeks of coming to pow- er promising higher spending and more pay for civil servants, his gov- ernment revised data to show Newly Installed Prime Minister May Have to Abandon Election Promises to Calm Markets BOSTON - Five new Founding Members were recently added to the Founders’ Circle of the “Faith Endowment Fund for Orthodoxy and Hellenism”. Each Founder has given or pledged a minimum of $1 million each to support educational and cultural programs related to Hellenism and Orthodoxy across the United States through the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. The new members are: Mr. Jim Chanos, Mr. Andre Dimitri- adis, Mr. Constantine Iordanou, Mr. Chris Spyropoulos and Mr. George Tsunis. Faith was originally founded in 2004 by a group of ten prominent Greek American leaders and phil- anthropists in response to the invi- tation and calling of Archbishop Demetrios, to secure the future of the Greek Orthodox faith and Hel- lenism in America. Today, the Endowment has more than half of the fifty Founding Members which will comprise the Founders Circle. Faith has begun its promotion of the Greek Orthodox faith and Hellenism through a se- ries of innovative educational pro- grams and cultural initiatives un- der the auspices of the Greek Or- thodox Archdiocese of America. Peter T. Kikis, president and one of its original founders, stated that, “We are very pleased to welcome the five newest Founders to the En- dowment – their professional as well as philanthropic accomplish- ments are exemplary by all stan- dards. When we complete the Founders’ Circle with fifty mem- bers, we will create an endowment of approximately $75 million which will serve as a powerful basis for truly creative action for pro- grams for the young people as well as adults of our community. Our Founders’ Circle is composed of men and women who are proud of their Hellenic heritage and Ortho- dox faith and are committed to pro- moting the Endowment’s mission.” In 2009, Faith funded 34 Faith Ionian Village Travel Scholarships, 37 Faith Scholarships for Academic Excellence, approximately 25 St. John Chrysostom Scholarship Awards, and also supported the publication of a series of new text- books, “Ta Ellinika Mou”, for Greek Language instruction at the ele- mentary level for all of the students at parish and other parochial schools. Brief biographies of the new members of Faith follow: James Chanos is the founder and Managing Partner of Kynikos Associates, the largest exclusive short selling investment firm, pro- Faith Fund Enriched by Five New Founders Founders’ Circle Expands with New Gifts of $1 Million By Theodore Kalmoukos The National Herald Staff Writer BOSTON - The Ecumenical Patriar- chate – in an official letter recently sent to the Greek Orthodox Archdio- cese of America and its local Metrop- olises - requested the official transfer of the ownership of at least one real estate property belonging to each metropolis to the Patriarchate. Arch- bishop Demetrios of America and the metropolitans have yet to notify the parishes of the Archdiocese of the re- quest of the Ecumenical Patriar- chate. The same request was made to all other eparchies (ecclesiastical provinces) outside of Turkey that be- long to the ecclesiastical and spiritu- al jurisdiction of the Patriarchate, that they “register at least one real estate property irreversibly in the name of the Patriarchate.” By taking this action, the Patriar- chate is trying to secure its legal posi- tion vis-a-vis the Turkish govern- ment. The Turkish government does not recognize Ecumenical Patriar- chate as a legal entity or its ecumeni- cal nature and mission, and has treated the institution with disre- spect since the creation of the Turk- ish Republic in 1923. The interfer- ence and abuses of Turkish officials have been reported in the interna- tional media for decades and occa- sionally elicit protests from U.S. and other government officials and agen- cies. Patriarch Bartholomew in his letter (protocol number 861) stated that “The (Turkish) authorities refuse to recognize the legal status of our most sacred institution.” Ankara considers it to be a Turkish institu- tion in the Phanar district of Con- stantinople under the administrative jurisdiction of the district’s prefect. The issues that pertained to the property request were discussed at the Holy Synod in Constantinople and the Patriarch stated in his letter that, “We were led to the decision to urge, though this Patriarchal letter, the hierarchs of the Eparchies abroad to register in the Registry of Deeds in the country in which their Eparchy is located, at least one real estate property, community or parish in the legal name of the Ecu- menical Patriarchate as follows: “Ec- umenical Patriarch, instituted ac- cording to the International Law whose See is in Constantinople (Is- tanbul).” The Patriarchal letter appeals to Patriarchate Asks for Title to U.S. Church Property Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou (center) met with the President of the Hellenic Republic, Karolos Papoulias, at the Presidential Mansion on Thursday. Mr. Papandreou asked President Papoulias to convene a meeting of the political party leaders to discuss the financial crisis and combating the problem of corruption. Greek Minister of Culture and Tourism Lauds Onassis Center’s “El Greco” Exhibit Minister Pavlos Yeroulanos addresses guests at New York’s St. Regis Hotel who gathered there after the opening reception of the Onassis Center’s “Origins of El Greco” exhibit. Related story on page 5. BOSTON - Prominent Greek Amer- ican businessman and philan- thropist Leo Condakes was laid to rest on Tuesday, December 8. His funeral was held at the Greek Or- thodox Cathedral of the Annuncia- tion of Boston. Former Archbishop Spyridon of America officiated at the Funeral Service. It was the first time that the former prelate of the Greek-Orthodox Church in Ameri- ca presided over a Sacred Service since he resigned from the Throne of the Archbishop ten years ago un- der difficult circumstances. Speaking of Leo Condakes, who was very dear to him, Archbishop Spyridon said, “Leo was really a prominent and great man, who gave to the Church and to good deeds. He had a good and pure heart and he is really going to be missed because there are just a few like him.” He also said that, “The Church is losing one of its most Ex-Archbishop Spyridon At Condakes Rite By Angelike Contis The National Herald Staff Writer NEW YORK - The youthful singers are seated on one side of the Co- lumbia University classroom. The seasoned orchestra plays on the other. In the middle, perched on a stool, with a thin baton, is a bear of a man, Maestro Dino Anagnost. He conducts both sides at once, keep- ing time, motioning, turning to speak to people located 360 de- grees around him. He doesn’t raise his voice, but instead often breaks into a smile at the verbal and musi- cal jokes flying everywhere. It’s obvious that this is fun. It should be. After all this is The Little Orchestra’s rehearsal of the musical “Babes in Toyland”, which includes baby “waaaa” and sheep “bahhh” sounds in its lyrics. It’s a new ver- sion by Craig Shemin, a collabora- tor on Jim Henson’s Muppets. The show is just one in The Little Orchestra’s bustling year-long schedule. “There’s not a very long break between concerts,” says mu- sical director Anagnost. This month, for instance, there will be the Cathedral Candlelight Concert on December 13 at the Greek Or- thodox Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity and a performance of “Babes in Toyland” at Lincoln Center on December 19. There are also ongoing Lolli-Pops concerts for youngsters and educational pro- grams in schools and senior facili- ties. Dino Anagnost has been at the head of the 62-year-old orchestra since 1979. The Little Orchestra, which was named after Felix Mendelssohn’s Little Orchestra of London, was the first to bring chil- dren’s concerts to New York. The audiences range, as the conductor points out “from 3 to 93” years in age. Maestro Anagnost hails from New Hampshire and studied at Boston University, The Julliard School and Columbia (where he now also teaches). He has per- formed some 1,000 concerts with The Little Orchestra. A third-gener- ation Greek American (from Thes- saloniki), he often peppers his rapid-fire English with Greek. The orchestra is devoted to “mu- sic that hasn’t been done, New York and American premieres” he says. For instance, after hearing Polish composer Karol Szymanowski’s “Veni Creator” on a recording, Mr. Anagnost decided to include it in the upcoming Candlelight event. “We have to stay ahead of the The Little Orchestra’s Big Repertoire BOSTON - The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) recently granted a competitive award of $10 million dollars to George Alexopou- los, M.D., Director of the Weill-Cor- nell Institute of Geriatric Psychiatry, Westchester, New York. The Insti- tute was founded and is still direct- ed by Dr. Alexopoulos, a leading physician-scientist. NIMH awarded the grant in recognition of the pio- neering research on the biological causes of late-life depression and of the development of novel treatment interventions by Dr. Alexopoulos and his colleagues. This was the largest grant ever given to a medical school for this kind of research work. Dr. Alexopoulos is a modest man, dedicated to science and to the im- provement of the care of older per- sons. His distinctions honor Greece, where he was born and originally studied medicine, as well as the Greek American Community. His impressive curriculum vitae in- cludes numerous American and In- ternational Awards, more than 350 original scientific publications, and many distinctions for training a new generation of researchers. Dr. Alex- opoulos is also an avid marathoner who has run both the New York and Athens Marathons. Dr. Alexopoulos told The Nation- al Herald that the 10 million dollar grant “is the culmination of 20 years of work by my colleagues and me. This was a difficult competition with many able participants and during a period of limited financial re- sources.” He added that “Although I am the principal investigator, this grant was given to the whole re- search team. It signifies recognition of our work as a research team and demonstrates the reviewers confi- dence in our research plans going forward.” DEPRESSION AND THE BRAIN Dr. Alexopoulos talked about his studies, which “attempt to identify biological brain abnormalities that prevent depressed patients from re- sponding to antidepressant drugs. While our work focuses on older adults, many of our findings are per- NIMH Grant To Dr. George Alexopoulos NEW YORK - Greece was jolted on Tuesday December 8 by the down- grading of its debt rating to the lowest level in the euro zone as worries grow about its public fi- nances, driving bank shares, bonds and the euro down in its wake. The financial blow came as the govern- ment struggled to calm two days of youth riots on the anniversary of the police shooting of a 15-year-old boy last year that triggered wide- spread violence fueled by anger over the economy. Citing fiscal deterioration, Fitch Ratings cut Greek debt to BBB+ with a negative outlook from A-; the first time in 10 years a major ratings agency has put Greece be- low an A grade. Two other agen- cies, Moody's and Standard and Poor's, have put Greece’s credit out- look on negative watch due to a debt mountain forecast to hit 125 percent of gross domestic product next year, making it proportionate- ly the most indebted member of the 16-member currency bloc. Finance Minister George Papa- constantinou said in a statement that the Socialist government would do everything in its power to narrow the yawning budget short- fall it inherited after a general elec- tion in October. "We will do what- ever it takes for the reduction of the deficit in the mid-term," he vowed. The European Union, exasperat- ed by repeated sharp revisions of Greek statistics, has given Athens a few weeks to come up with further deficit-cutting steps or face possible sanctions. Papaconstantinou has pledged to reduce the budget gap, forecast to reach 12.7 percent of GDP, by at least 3.6 percentage points to 9.1 percent in 2010. But markets doubt the government, elected on a promise to help the poor and tax the rich, can push through painful spending cuts. Although Greece has suffered a milder recession than many euro zone countries, it faces long-term problems of low growth, dwindling economic competitiveness, poor revenue collection and an aging population. "While Fitch believes that the government's target to narrow the fiscal deficit by 3.6 [percentage points] of GDP to 9.1% in 2010 is achievable, the lack of substantive structural policy measures reduces confidence that medium term con- solidation efforts will be aggressive enough to ensure public debt ratios are stabilized and then reduced over the next three to five years," the ratings agency said in a state- ment. Fitch also said Greece's rising debt levels could leave the nation exposed to shocks. "One such shock is the aging population which, in combination with a highly generous and unre- formed pension system, will lead to one of the largest projected increas- Greek Credit Rating is Cut Amid Finance Problems Continued on page 9 Continued on page 4 Continued on page 6 Continued on page 9 Continued on page 8 Continued on page 3 Continued on page 5 EUROKINISSI TNH/COSTAS BEJ Papandreou: The Financial Crisis is a Threat to Greek Sovereignty
Transcript of The National Herald...George Papandreou may have to jettison the promises that won him October’s...
To subscribe call: 718.784.5255e-mail: [email protected]
The National HeraldA WEEKLY GREEK AMERICAN PUBLICATION
VOL. 13, ISSUE 635 $1.25
Bringing the news
to generations of
Greek Americans
O C V
ΓΡΑΦΕΙ ΤΗΝ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑΤΟΥ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ
ΑΠΟ ΤΟ 1915
www.thenationalherald.comc v
December 12-18, 2009
By Christopher TripoulasThe National Herald Staff Writer
NEW YORK - Greek Prime MinisterGeorge Papandreou may have tojettison the promises that won himOctober’s election if he’s to con-vince investors he can tackle hiscountry’s worst fiscal crisis in 15years.
Greece is in the throes of an eco-nomic and fiscal emergency thatthreatens its national sovereignty,and the government is determinedto implement measures that will re-duce debt and bring back interna-tional and domestic confidence, thecountry's Prime Minister GeorgePapandreou said Wednesday.
"I will speak with sincerity andconscience because times are diffi-cult and the country is an emer-gency state," Papandreou said."There are big problems which wewill deal with through specific poli-cies."
He reiterated that the govern-ment will soon unveil a four-yearplan to address many of the prob-lems, including retirement and so-cial security programs, taxationand measures aimed at supportinggrowth.
The plan, which Greece intendsto submit to the European Commis-sion at the beginning of January,will include measures on those is-sues and other reforms, as well as
targets for deficit cutting. Over thenext few days, Greece will commu-nicate the elements of the plan notonly to Greek citizens, employersand workers but also to the interna-tional community, Papandreousaid.
"The new government's aim is tobring back hope to Greek citizensand reverse the lack of credibilityand lack of confidence brought bythe previous government," he said."These problems have made usstronger and more confident tomarch ahead...We will systemati-cally make efforts to protect and re-store confidence in the economy."
Papandreou warned that "theGreek economy is in a profoundlydifficult position" and requires "ahuge national effort in order to re-cover economically and achieve fis-cal consolidation."
He added: "The fiscal problem isthreatening our national sovereign-ty for the first time since 1974[when there was a dictatorship inpower]. We have several difficultbattles ahead, but the road towardsfiscal stability is the only wayGreece will not lose its sovereigntyrights."
Within weeks of coming to pow-er promising higher spending andmore pay for civil servants, his gov-ernment revised data to show
Newly Installed Prime Minister May Have toAbandon Election Promises to Calm Markets
BOSTON - Five new FoundingMembers were recently added tothe Founders’ Circle of the “FaithEndowment Fund for Orthodoxyand Hellenism”. Each Founder hasgiven or pledged a minimum of $1million each to support educationaland cultural programs related toHellenism and Orthodoxy acrossthe United States through theGreek Orthodox Archdiocese ofAmerica. The new members are:Mr. Jim Chanos, Mr. Andre Dimitri-adis, Mr. Constantine Iordanou,Mr. Chris Spyropoulos and Mr.George Tsunis.
Faith was originally founded in2004 by a group of ten prominentGreek American leaders and phil-anthropists in response to the invi-tation and calling of ArchbishopDemetrios, to secure the future ofthe Greek Orthodox faith and Hel-lenism in America.
Today, the Endowment hasmore than half of the fifty FoundingMembers which will comprise theFounders Circle. Faith has begun itspromotion of the Greek Orthodoxfaith and Hellenism through a se-ries of innovative educational pro-grams and cultural initiatives un-der the auspices of the Greek Or-thodox Archdiocese of America.
Peter T. Kikis, president and oneof its original founders, stated that,“We are very pleased to welcomethe five newest Founders to the En-dowment – their professional aswell as philanthropic accomplish-ments are exemplary by all stan-dards. When we complete theFounders’ Circle with fifty mem-bers, we will create an endowmentof approximately $75 millionwhich will serve as a powerful basisfor truly creative action for pro-grams for the young people as wellas adults of our community. OurFounders’ Circle is composed ofmen and women who are proud oftheir Hellenic heritage and Ortho-dox faith and are committed to pro-moting the Endowment’s mission.”
In 2009, Faith funded 34 FaithIonian Village Travel Scholarships,37 Faith Scholarships for AcademicExcellence, approximately 25 St.John Chrysostom ScholarshipAwards, and also supported thepublication of a series of new text-books, “Ta Ellinika Mou”, for GreekLanguage instruction at the ele-mentary level for all of the studentsat parish and other parochialschools.
Brief biographies of the newmembers of Faith follow:
James Chanos is the founderand Managing Partner of KynikosAssociates, the largest exclusiveshort selling investment firm, pro-
Faith FundEnriched byFive NewFounders Founders’ CircleExpands with NewGifts of $1 Million
By Theodore KalmoukosThe National Herald Staff Writer
BOSTON - The Ecumenical Patriar-chate – in an official letter recentlysent to the Greek Orthodox Archdio-cese of America and its local Metrop-olises - requested the official transferof the ownership of at least one realestate property belonging to eachmetropolis to the Patriarchate. Arch-bishop Demetrios of America and themetropolitans have yet to notify theparishes of the Archdiocese of the re-quest of the Ecumenical Patriar-chate.
The same request was made to all
other eparchies (ecclesiasticalprovinces) outside of Turkey that be-long to the ecclesiastical and spiritu-al jurisdiction of the Patriarchate,that they “register at least one realestate property irreversibly in thename of the Patriarchate.”
By taking this action, the Patriar-chate is trying to secure its legal posi-tion vis-a-vis the Turkish govern-ment. The Turkish government doesnot recognize Ecumenical Patriar-chate as a legal entity or its ecumeni-cal nature and mission, and hastreated the institution with disre-spect since the creation of the Turk-ish Republic in 1923. The interfer-
ence and abuses of Turkish officialshave been reported in the interna-tional media for decades and occa-sionally elicit protests from U.S. andother government officials and agen-cies. Patriarch Bartholomew in hisletter (protocol number 861) statedthat “The (Turkish) authoritiesrefuse to recognize the legal status ofour most sacred institution.” Ankaraconsiders it to be a Turkish institu-tion in the Phanar district of Con-stantinople under the administrativejurisdiction of the district’s prefect.
The issues that pertained to theproperty request were discussed atthe Holy Synod in Constantinople
and the Patriarch stated in his letterthat, “We were led to the decision tourge, though this Patriarchal letter,the hierarchs of the Eparchiesabroad to register in the Registry ofDeeds in the country in which theirEparchy is located, at least one realestate property, community orparish in the legal name of the Ecu-menical Patriarchate as follows: “Ec-umenical Patriarch, instituted ac-cording to the International Lawwhose See is in Constantinople (Is-tanbul).”
The Patriarchal letter appeals to
Patriarchate Asks for Title to U.S. Church Property
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou (center) met with the President of the Hellenic Republic, KarolosPapoulias, at the Presidential Mansion on Thursday. Mr. Papandreou asked President Papoulias to convene ameeting of the political party leaders to discuss the financial crisis and combating the problem of corruption.
Greek Minister of Culture and Tourism Lauds Onassis Center’s “El Greco” Exhibit
Minister Pavlos Yeroulanos addresses guests at New York’s St. Regis Hotel who gathered there after theopening reception of the Onassis Center’s “Origins of El Greco” exhibit. Related story on page 5.
BOSTON - Prominent Greek Amer-ican businessman and philan-thropist Leo Condakes was laid torest on Tuesday, December 8. Hisfuneral was held at the Greek Or-thodox Cathedral of the Annuncia-tion of Boston. Former ArchbishopSpyridon of America officiated atthe Funeral Service. It was the firsttime that the former prelate of theGreek-Orthodox Church in Ameri-ca presided over a Sacred Servicesince he resigned from the Throneof the Archbishop ten years ago un-der difficult circumstances.
Speaking of Leo Condakes, whowas very dear to him, ArchbishopSpyridon said, “Leo was really aprominent and great man, whogave to the Church and to gooddeeds. He had a good and pureheart and he is really going to bemissed because there are just a fewlike him.” He also said that, “TheChurch is losing one of its most
Ex-ArchbishopSpyridon AtCondakes Rite
By Angelike ContisThe National Herald Staff Writer
NEW YORK - The youthful singersare seated on one side of the Co-lumbia University classroom. Theseasoned orchestra plays on theother. In the middle, perched on astool, with a thin baton, is a bear ofa man, Maestro Dino Anagnost. Heconducts both sides at once, keep-ing time, motioning, turning tospeak to people located 360 de-grees around him. He doesn’t raisehis voice, but instead often breaksinto a smile at the verbal and musi-cal jokes flying everywhere.
It’s obvious that this is fun. Itshould be. After all this is The LittleOrchestra’s rehearsal of the musical“Babes in Toyland”, which includesbaby “waaaa” and sheep “bahhh”sounds in its lyrics. It’s a new ver-sion by Craig Shemin, a collabora-
tor on Jim Henson’s Muppets. The show is just one in The Little
Orchestra’s bustling year-longschedule. “There’s not a very longbreak between concerts,” says mu-sical director Anagnost. Thismonth, for instance, there will bethe Cathedral Candlelight Concerton December 13 at the Greek Or-thodox Archdiocesan Cathedral ofthe Holy Trinity and a performanceof “Babes in Toyland” at LincolnCenter on December 19. There arealso ongoing Lolli-Pops concerts foryoungsters and educational pro-grams in schools and senior facili-ties.
Dino Anagnost has been at thehead of the 62-year-old orchestrasince 1979. The Little Orchestra,which was named after FelixMendelssohn’s Little Orchestra ofLondon, was the first to bring chil-dren’s concerts to New York. The
audiences range, as the conductorpoints out “from 3 to 93” years inage.
Maestro Anagnost hails fromNew Hampshire and studied atBoston University, The JulliardSchool and Columbia (where henow also teaches). He has per-formed some 1,000 concerts withThe Little Orchestra. A third-gener-ation Greek American (from Thes-saloniki), he often peppers hisrapid-fire English with Greek.
The orchestra is devoted to “mu-sic that hasn’t been done, New Yorkand American premieres” he says.For instance, after hearing Polishcomposer Karol Szymanowski’s“Veni Creator” on a recording, Mr.Anagnost decided to include it inthe upcoming Candlelight event.“We have to stay ahead of the
The Little Orchestra’s Big Repertoire
BOSTON - The National Institute ofMental Health (NIMH) recentlygranted a competitive award of $10million dollars to George Alexopou-los, M.D., Director of the Weill-Cor-nell Institute of Geriatric Psychiatry,Westchester, New York. The Insti-tute was founded and is still direct-ed by Dr. Alexopoulos, a leadingphysician-scientist. NIMH awardedthe grant in recognition of the pio-neering research on the biologicalcauses of late-life depression and ofthe development of novel treatmentinterventions by Dr. Alexopoulosand his colleagues. This was thelargest grant ever given to a medicalschool for this kind of researchwork.
Dr. Alexopoulos is a modest man,dedicated to science and to the im-provement of the care of older per-sons. His distinctions honor Greece,where he was born and originallystudied medicine, as well as theGreek American Community. Hisimpressive curriculum vitae in-cludes numerous American and In-ternational Awards, more than 350original scientific publications, andmany distinctions for training a newgeneration of researchers. Dr. Alex-opoulos is also an avid marathonerwho has run both the New York andAthens Marathons.
Dr. Alexopoulos told The Nation-al Herald that the 10 million dollargrant “is the culmination of 20 yearsof work by my colleagues and me.This was a difficult competition withmany able participants and during aperiod of limited financial re-sources.” He added that “Although Iam the principal investigator, thisgrant was given to the whole re-search team. It signifies recognitionof our work as a research team anddemonstrates the reviewers confi-dence in our research plans goingforward.”
DEPRESSION AND THE BRAINDr. Alexopoulos talked about his
studies, which “attempt to identifybiological brain abnormalities thatprevent depressed patients from re-sponding to antidepressant drugs.While our work focuses on olderadults, many of our findings are per-
NIMH GrantTo Dr. GeorgeAlexopoulos
NEW YORK - Greece was jolted onTuesday December 8 by the down-grading of its debt rating to thelowest level in the euro zone asworries grow about its public fi-nances, driving bank shares, bondsand the euro down in its wake. Thefinancial blow came as the govern-ment struggled to calm two days ofyouth riots on the anniversary ofthe police shooting of a 15-year-oldboy last year that triggered wide-spread violence fueled by angerover the economy.
Citing fiscal deterioration, FitchRatings cut Greek debt to BBB+with a negative outlook from A-;the first time in 10 years a majorratings agency has put Greece be-low an A grade. Two other agen-cies, Moody's and Standard andPoor's, have put Greece’s credit out-look on negative watch due to adebt mountain forecast to hit 125percent of gross domestic productnext year, making it proportionate-ly the most indebted member of the16-member currency bloc.
Finance Minister George Papa-constantinou said in a statementthat the Socialist governmentwould do everything in its power tonarrow the yawning budget short-fall it inherited after a general elec-tion in October. "We will do what-ever it takes for the reduction of thedeficit in the mid-term," he vowed.
The European Union, exasperat-ed by repeated sharp revisions ofGreek statistics, has given Athens afew weeks to come up with furtherdeficit-cutting steps or face possiblesanctions.
Papaconstantinou has pledgedto reduce the budget gap, forecastto reach 12.7 percent of GDP, by atleast 3.6 percentage points to 9.1percent in 2010. But markets doubtthe government, elected on apromise to help the poor and taxthe rich, can push through painfulspending cuts.
Although Greece has suffered amilder recession than many eurozone countries, it faces long-termproblems of low growth, dwindlingeconomic competitiveness, poorrevenue collection and an agingpopulation.
"While Fitch believes that thegovernment's target to narrow thefiscal deficit by 3.6 [percentagepoints] of GDP to 9.1% in 2010 isachievable, the lack of substantivestructural policy measures reducesconfidence that medium term con-solidation efforts will be aggressiveenough to ensure public debt ratiosare stabilized and then reducedover the next three to five years,"the ratings agency said in a state-ment.
Fitch also said Greece's risingdebt levels could leave the nationexposed to shocks.
"One such shock is the agingpopulation which, in combinationwith a highly generous and unre-formed pension system, will lead toone of the largest projected increas-
Greek CreditRating is CutAmid FinanceProblems
Continued on page 9
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Continued on page 5
EUROKINISSI
TNH/COSTAS BEJ
Papandreou: The Financial Crisis is a Threat to Greek Sovereignty
COMMUNITY2 THE NATIONAL HERALD, DECEMBER 12-18, 2009
DECEMBER 11CHICAGO, Ill. - Celebrate withChicago’s Hellenic Professional So-ciety of Illinois at their 84th AnnualChristmas Party at Le Passage onDecember 11 at 7:00 p.m. Appetiz-ers will be provided and each guestwill receive (1) complimentarydrink ticket. Additionally, from7:00-7:30, the mixologist will beproviding a complimentary cocktailto guests created specially for theevent and tailored to Greek culture.Le Passage will be closed to NON-HPSI guests until 11pm. MemberPrice: $30 before December 6, $35after December 6 and for non-Members: $40 before December 6,$45 after December 6. For more in-formation and registration, visit:http://www.hpsi.org/calendar.asp
DECEMBER 12FOSTER CITY, Calif. – CelebrateGreek TV’s Annual Christmas Galain celebration of 27 years of com-munity service on December 12 atthe Crowne Plaza Hotel. Cocktailsbegin at 6:00 p.m. followed by din-ner at 7:30 p.m. Live music pre-sented by Mythos Band with specialappearance by Greek singer, PavlosPapageorgiou. Contact: Greek TVat: 3653 Walnut Street, Lafayette,CA 94549;Tel (925) 962-3332 orby e-mail: [email protected]. Forfurther information, call: (925)858-3120
DECEMBER 13ALBANY, N.Y. – AHEPA, Daughtersof Penelope, Sons of Pericles andMaids of Athena will host their An-nual Christmas Party on December13 at the Saint Sophia Parish Hall.Enjoy a festive evening of food,drink and music with family andfriends. Open bar at 5:00 p.m. andbuffet begins at 5:30 p.m. For moreinformation, e-mail:[email protected] or call: (202)232-6300
SCHILLER PARK, Ill – The HellenicLink–Midwest presents ProfessorArtemis S. Leontis, in a lecture ti-tled “Greek Theatre in ModernDance: an alternative archaeology.”The event will take place on De-cember 13 at 3:00 p.m. at the FourPoints Sheraton Hotel. Admission isfree for HLM members and $5 fornon-members. The hotel is locatedat: 10249 West Irving Park Road atSchiller Park.
DECEMBER 14 WASHINGTON, D.C. - The South-east Europe Project invites you to aforum, “America, Europe and Glob-al Security: Convergent Goals, Di-vergent Capacities” with Ambas-sador Vassilis Kaskarelis, GreekAmbassador to the United States onMonday, December 14, 2:30 – 4:00p.m. 5th Floor Conference Room.For directions visit www.wilsoncen-ter.org/directions. All events, un-less otherwise noted, are held atthe Woodrow Wilson Center 1300Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washing-ton, D.C.
NEW YORK, N.Y. – The AnnualChristmas Party of The AHI BusinessNetwork and The New York Chapterof American Hellenic Institute willbe held at the Lafayette Grill & BarMonday, December 14, 6:00 to 8:30p.m. $30 admission includes buffetdinner and complimentary wine,mixed drinks, beer and soda. Guestsmust RSVP by December 11 to Col.Andonios Neroulias [email protected]. The Lafayette is at54 Franklin Street between Broad-way and Lafayette Street; (212)732-5600. For more information onAHI activities and membership visitwww.ahiworld.org.
DECEMBER 15SAN DIEGO, Calif. - GeorgeStephanopoulos, writer GeorgePelecanos, and real estate magnateGeorge Argyros will highlight the19th Annual Leadership 100 Con-ference at Hotel del Coronado,Coronado, California (near SanDiego), from February 4-7, 2010.Registration is open until Decem-ber 15, 2009. The conferencetheme is ‘The Torchbearers of OurFaith and Hellenic Heritage: TheNew Generation of Leaders”. HisEminence Archbishop Demetriosand Metropolitans from through-out the country will join the confer-ees for a program that includes theGrand Banquet and, a special treat:San Diego’s St. Spyridon GreekDance and Choral School’s Aegeanand Ionian Dance Groups andYouth Choir who will perform atthe traditional Glendi on Fridaynight. To register call (212) 308-2627 or visit www.L100.org.
DECEMBER 17NEW YORK, NY – The Officers andDirectors of the Hellenic AmericanBankers Association present, TheRecovery is for Real: Solid and Sus-tainable lecture, featuring ChrisVarvares, Macroeconomic Advisers,LLC. The event will be held on De-cember 17 at 6:00-8:00 p.m. at Bar-clays Wealth. Wine and Hors d'oeu-vres will be served. The event isfree for members and $40 for non-members. Pre-registration is re-quired. Barclays Wealth is locatedat: 745 Seventh Ave, 32nd Floor,New York, New York 10019. Forfurther information and registra-tion, visit:www.haba.org/events_show.php?eid=100
DECEMBER 18NEW YORK - The Hellenic Univer-sity Club of New York (HUC) willhost a Christmas Reunion Party Fri-day, Dec. 18 at the elegant and his-toric Town House at 3 West 51stStreet (near Rockefeller Center -visit their web site at3westclub.com). Guests will enjoya beautiful holiday setting of de-lightful decorations, music and de-licious food that includes a choiceof beef, chicken and seafood buf-fets, 3 hours of open bar with wine,beer and soft drinks topped off withcoffee and dessert. Guests are invit-ed to come and celebrate the holi-days with all their old friends andto make new ones! Married or sin-gle (did you meet your mate atHUC?), you will be welcome. Itwill be a gala evening filled withfood, drink, surprises, and music.Guests are strongly encouraged tomake reservations in advance at$75. Tickets are $85 at the door.You may send checks to HUC, P.O.Box 1169, GCS New York, NY10163. For information callGeorge at (914) 381-5192 or Paulat (718) 884-9224. Credit cardreservations are accepted. HUC is acultural and educational organiza-tion whose members are collegegraduates of Hellenic descent rep-resenting a wide range of profes-sions. It was founded in 1918 un-der the leadership of Dr. George N.Papanicolao and over the years themission has expanded to awardscholarships to deserving studentsof Greek descent. To learn moreabout HUC, visit its website athucny.org
DECEMBER 20WHITESTONE, N.Y. – The GreekOrthodox Community of HolyCross in Whitestone presents a cel-ebration benefit concert, “A Musi-cal Passage Through Our HellenicHeritage.” Byzantine, Smyrnaikaand Rebetika songs, along withChristmas songs will be performedby Grigoris Maninakis and TheMikrokosmos ensemble. The con-cert will take place inside the newlybuilt Holy Cross church and will al-so feature third generation GreekAmerican young singers as well asthe Holy Cross Greek school chil-dren choir. The event will takeplace on December 20 at 5:00 p.m.Holy Cross is located at: 12-03150th Street , Whitestone, N.Y. Forinformation and reservations, call:(718) 747-3803.
DECEMBER 31TAMPA, Fl. – The Acropolis Bar andGrill in Tampa will host a NewYear’s Eve party on December 31 at10:00 p.m. – 3:00 a.m. EnjoyChampagne toasts, a DJ, Greekfood and drinks. The Acropolis Barand Grill is located at: 1833 E. 7thAve, Tampa, Fl, 33605 or call:(813) 971-1787
DECEMBER – JANUARY 9CHICAGO, Ill. – The National Hel-lenic Museum is featuring the ex-hibit, Neolaia/Pathos on Tuesdaysthrough Saturdays until January 9.The exhibit features the work of 13young Greek-American artists us-ing various media, including paint-ing, photographs, sculpture andvideo. A $5 donation is suggestedand it is free for kids under age 12.The National Hellenic Museum islocated at: 801 W. Adams St.,Chicago, IL 60607-3034. For fur-ther information, call: (312) 655-1234.
NOTE TO OUR READERSThis calendar of events section is acomplimentary service to the GreekAmerican community. All parishes,organizations and institutions areencouraged to e-mail their infor-mation 3-4 weeks ahead of time,and no later than Monday of theweek before the event, [email protected]
GOINGS ON...
By Eleni KostopoulosThe National Herald Staff Writer
NEW YORK - Jeannine Callea ,Sta-matakis is a California-based psy-chology instructor and clinical psy-chotherapist, who also runs an edu-cational consulting business, in ad-dition to devoting much time tovolunteerism. She is interested incollaborating with other Hellenesand Philhellenes alike, particularlyvis-à-vis general medicine.
TNH: How did you get to whereyou are today?
JS: I was born and raised inPiedmont, California – I am a Cali-fornian through and through! I ama clinical psychotherapist (intern)and a psychology instructor at a lo-cal community college. I do what Ilove and love what I do – I am veryblessed!
I attended U.C. Berkeley for myundergraduate degree inHistory/English Literature. Aftercollege, I worked at the District At-torney’s Office in San Francisco(primarily within the Domestic Vio-lence Unit). I then attended SaintMary’s College, where I receivedmy graduate degree in Counseling-Psychology, with an emphasis inMarriage and Family Therapy(MFT). In graduate school, a col-league and I created a GraduateStudent Network to assist othergraduate students to succeed inclasses, meet their fellow peers,and do community outreach. Myfamily has been extremely instru-mental in helping me get where Iam today – without their love andsupport, I would not have beenable to reach my educational goals.
TNH: How does your Greek her-itage influence what you do?
JS: My heritage has been an in-tegral part of my life thus far. Ispeak Greek fairly well and attend
church – I taught Sunday Schoolwhen I was in high school. I am fas-cinated with Greece’s history andcontributions to the world; namelydemocracy. I am proud to be anAmerican with Greek roots.
TNH: What has been your great-est accomplishment thus far, andwhat do you hope to achieve in thefuture?
JS: I am quite proud to havecompeted graduate school! Mygoals for the future are to have aprivate practice, continue to teachat the college level, and create aphilanthropic organization to helpothers achieve educational goals.
TNH: Do you have any rolemodels?
JS: I have many role modelswhom I would like to mention!First, my grandparents, who cameto these shores with very little,merely suitcases full of dreams.They were quite courageous to ven-ture to a land where they did notknow the language and customs tobuild a life where opportunity wasabundant. My grandmother, Cal-liope Tsucalas Ivales (who was ac-tually born in New York City, butwas raised in Greece) has led anamazing life. My parents, Nicholasand Catherine (Ivales) Stamatakis,are also my role models as theyhave instilled in me the value of ed-ucation and contributing to thecommunity around you. Theytaught me to “think outside thebox” and to excel in all of my en-deavors. Additionally, I am a vora-cious reader and have read manynon-fiction books regarding peopleovercoming insurmountable oddsto achieve their highest aspirations.I am constantly reminded andhumbled by people not only im-proving their lives, but giving backto the community to provide sup-port on someone else’s journey.
TNH: What's the greatest lessonyou've ever learned?
JS: Everything is possible! TNH: What are some of your
pastimes?JS: I very much enjoy traveling
and being immersed in new cul-tures. Within the past few years, Ihave traveled to Australia and NewZealand, South America (specifi-cally, Argentina and Uruguay),throughout Europe, and the UnitedStates as well. Stepping into anoth-er framework is necessary forgrowth and expansion – becomingisolated in your own microcosm isnot beneficial. Also, I enjoy read-ing, particularly non-fictional andclassical literature, which provides
a lens into someone else’s experi-ence. As I live near San Francisco, Ienjoy the fine arts (including thesymphony and ballet) and love at-tending museums as well. I furtherenjoy spending time with familyand friends.
TNH: Share with us some wordsof wisdom.
JS: Always strive for excellence!There are so many things that canbe done easily and quickly, howev-er, there is nothing more inspiringthan doing something well,thoughtfully, and with care.
TNH: Are there any current orfuture projects you're working on?
JS: I am, at heart, a writer, andcurrently have a novel I am shop-ping around for publication. It hasalways been a dream of mine towalk into a bookstore and see mynovel being perused by patrons. Ihave contributed several articles tothe Greek Orthodox Archdiocese ofAmerica Online Journal (Guest Au-thors). Also, I am looking for op-portunities to work with returningveterans and their families. Thereis a vital need to not only welcomeand support our troops, but tomake sure they can readjust tocivilian life.
In regard to community out-reach, I have donated a tree to theNew York Restoration Project(NYRP) which is a foundation inthe city seeking to beautify neigh-borhoods with gardens. Also, Icontributed a chair to ZellerbachHall (at my alma mater). The artsare an essential part of people’spsyches and, unfortunately, due tothe current economic situation, thearts are usually the first on thechopping block. You can contactJeannine at [email protected].
Contact Eleni Kostopoulos [email protected].
In the Spotlight: Jeannine Callea Stamatakis
Jeannine Stamatakis is a clinicalpsychotherapist and instructor.
QUESTION OF THE WEEK
Vote on our website!
You have the chance to express your opinion on our website on animportant question in the news. The results will be published in ourprinted edition next week along with the question for that week.
The question this week is: Are you worried about the economic sit-uation in Greece and her ability to pull through the current crisis? Yes No Maybe
The results for last week’s question: In light of Dora Bakoyanni'sdefeat in the election for ND party leader, do you believe Greece isready for a woman to be Prime Minister?20% voted “Yes”25% voted “No”55% voted “Maybe”
Please vote at: www.thenationalherald.com
Culture and Tourism Minister Visits Archbishop Demetrios
Greek Culture and Tourism Minister Pavlos Yeroulanos met with Arch-bishop Demetrios. During his trip to New York he also visited UNHeadquarters, where he spoke following the approval of a proposalfor the restitution of cultural property to their countries of origin.
Holiday Joy at the Society of Epirotes
The youth of the Anagennisis Society of Epirotes are seen togetherwith ASE President Efthimios Pappas. The New York Christmas partywas organized by Sophia Kalemkeridis. The children make the presi-dent and Ms. Kalemkerides very optimistic about the society’s future.
SAE Leaders Visit New Acropolis Museum
World Council of Hellenes Abroad (SAE) President Stephanos Tam-vakis, second from left, SAE U.S. Regional Coordinator Theodore Spy-ropoulos, second from right, and Professor Demetrios Pandermalis,third from left, at the New Acropolis Museum in Athens.
A Warm and Colorful Reception for the Archbishop of Crete
Irenaios, Archbishop of Crete, is impressed by the skills of the mem-bers of the Minos Society of Cretans' dance group, seen here perform-ing traditional dances in Astoria. During his visit to N.Y. the Archbish-op attended events related to the “Origins of El Greco” exhibit.
TNH/COSTAS BEJ
TNH/COSTAS BEJ
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COMMUNITYTHE NATIONAL HERALD, DECEMBER 12-18, 2009 3
By Stavros MarmarinosSpecial to The National Herald
NEW YORK – All the honorees pre-sent at this year's Hellenic MedicalSociety Scholarship Gala, whichwas held on Saturday, December 5at the New York Athletic Club inManhattan, expressed their pridein their Greek heritage and theirstrong belief in the abilities ofGreek American doctors. U.S. Con-gresswoman Carolyn Maloney, whowas also honored that evening as aDistinguished Philhellene, wasgreeted by the audience with astanding ovation, in appreciationfor her continual show of supportand sponsoring of resolutions forGreek national issues.
In addition to CongresswomanMaloney, this year's honorees in-cluded Dr. Kostantinos G. Lyketsos,HMS Distinguished Physician, JohnRangos, HMS Distinguished Hel-lene, and Dr. George Alexopoulos,HMS Distinguished Colleague.HMS President Dr. George Tsiouliasserved as the evening's Master ofCeremonies.
During her acceptance speech,Congresswoman Maloney spokewith great enthusiasm aboutGreece, Cyprus, and the GreekAmerican Community, drawing ap-plause from the guests. She placedspecial emphasis on the resolutionof the Cyprus issue, the intransi-gent position being adopted byGreece's northern neighbor FY-ROM in regards to the name issue,and also spoke to the audienceabout the current situation in theUnited States. CongresswomanMaloney also complimented HMSfor the scholarship awards they of-fer medical students each year. Dr.Florentia Christodoulidou intro-duced the Congresswoman prior toher speech.
Well known philanthropist andbusinessman John Rangos was in-troduced by Markos Marinakis,who praised his work and contribu-tion to America and the Greek
American Community. In his ad-dress to the audience, Mr. Rangosexpressed his thanks to HMS forthe award he received, and stressedthe importance for Greek Americandoctors to work together with theircolleagues in Greece. He empha-sized how significant it is for thiscooperation to be promoted, andmade particular mention of JohnsHopkins University MedicalSchool, which is widely consideredthe finest in the entire UnitedStates.
HMS 1st Vice President John
Xethalis presented Dr. George Alex-opoulos, Professor of Psychiatryand Vice Chairman for GeriatricPsychiatry in the Department ofPsychiatry at Weill Medical College
of Cornell University. Dr. Alexopou-los thanked HMS for the honor, andnoted in his speech and in state-ments afterwards that the awardmeant a great deal to him. “[This
award] comes from colleagueswhom I have known for years, andwhom I love and respect. Theyhave helped out many new doctorsfor the United States, and fromGreece as well. There were manytimes that I turned to my col-leagues at HMS for help in assign-ing new doctors coming over fromGreece to various positions.”
Dr. Alexopoulos also expressedhis pride over the fact that there arefour Greeks serving on his researchteam. “I took them on board withme because they are the best in thefield in regards to the project wehave taken on. I think that Greeksstand out for their skills, their con-tribution, and their leadership abil-ities.”
Past HMS President Dr. GeorgeDangas presented Dr. Lyketsos,who thanked HMS and spoke aboutthe research work taking place inthe medical profession. Dr. Lyket-sos also praised Greek Americandoctors for contributing to the ad-vances being made in the field ofMedicine.
The previous day, Friday, De-cember 4, HMS held its annualmedical symposium at the HolyTrinity Archdiocesan CathedralCenter in New York. This year'sevent was dedicated to Psychiatry,and featured guest speakers Dr.George Alexopoulos and Dr.Kostantinos G. Lyketsos. HMS's an-nual scholarship prizes were alsohanded out during the symposium.
Dr. Alexopoulos' lecture was re-lated to advances in the field ofGeriatric Psychiatry, and had a par-ticular focus on depression. Amongother things, Dr. Alexopoulos spokeabout factors that predisposed peo-ple to depression. Specifically, heexplained that disorders in variousparts of the brain – especially thefrontal lobes – may be responsiblefor such a tendency, and noted thatdepression that arises from thesetypes of disorders is resistant to an-tidepressants. He added that thosepatients develop behavioral disor-
ders as well. The result is that theyfind themselves in an environmentof constant stress.
“With this in mind, we devel-oped a treatment that teaches pa-tients to adapt to their environ-ment, and not to expose themselvesto constant stress,” the GreekAmerican psychiatrist continued.“We maintain that this type oftreatment has beneficial resultseven for patients suffering from de-pression that does not respond toantidepressants.”
Dr. Alexopoulos also comment-ed that most patients with geriatricdepression can speak to their pri-mary physicians about their condi-tion. A new type of medical care isnow available to these individuals,with the help of social workers andnurses.
During his lecture Dr. Lyketsos,Professor and Chair of the Depart-ment of Psychiatry at Johns Hop-kins, spoke about Alzheimer's Dis-ease, calling it a “worldwide epi-demic.” According to Dr. Lyketsos35 million people around the worldare currently suffering from thisdisease, and the number is expect-ed to grow to 115 million by theyear 2050. “Our efforts are aimedat detecting this disease's biologicalsignature during its early state sothat we can offer treatment to peo-ple before the symptoms set in,” Dr.Lyketsos said. “We can do this withthe help of various biomarkers,proteins, and lipids in the blood orcerebrospinal fluid. We also rely onbrain MRIs.”
HMS handed out its scholarshipawards for the current year imme-diately following the evening's lec-tures. This year's recipients includ-ed Socrates Kakoulides, MariaLouizou, Alexandra Coutavas,Panayiotis Kerwick, Debbie Bakes,Demitris Haldeos, Paul Petrakos,Margarita Sergonis, Despina Siolas,Vassilios Tsafos, and Antonios Tsis-menakis. The awards were handedout by Dr. Mike Michelis and Dr.Theodore Diktaban.
Hellenic Medical Society Celebrates 73rd Annual Scholarship Gala at N.Y.A.C.
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(Above) HMS officers and hon-orees, including Cong. CarolynMaloney. (Right) Medical stu-dents Socrates Kakoulides, MariaLouizou, Alexandra Coutavas,Panayiotis Kerwick, DebbieBakes, Demitris Haldeos, Paul Pe-trakos, Margarita Sergonis, De-spina Siolas, Vassillios Tsopas.
the good faith and respect of the hi-erarchs, reminding them that it wasthe Patriarchate that elevated themto the rank of metropolitans andarchbishops. The Patriarch requeststhat the hierarchs send “all thesigned documents of their transac-tions of the recording of the real es-tate property to the Patriarchate inorder to be placed in their file.”
It was not clear if this request in-cluded the Metropolises of the so-called New Lands (sees whose ad-ministration was delegated to theChurch of Greece in 1928 but arespiritually under the Ecumenical Pa-triarchate), or the Metropolises ofthe Dodecanese or the semi-au-tonomous Church of Crete, whichfall into the ecclesiastical, canonicaland spiritual jurisdiction of the Ecu-menical Patriarchate.
The prefect of the Phanar oftengets involved in issues that have todo with the life and operation of theEcumenical Patriarchate and there isconcern that any transferred proper-ties and parishes would be exposedto interference from Turkish authori-ties.
Prefects have been aggressive tothe point that they the Patriarch intotheir office to give explanations andclarifications. The National Herald isin a position to know of many in-stances when the Ecumenical Patri-arch was called into the prefecture ofthe Phanar. The most revealing andegregious case of this kind took placein August, 1990 and involved thelate Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios.After his return to Constantinoplefrom a month-long, historic visit tothe United States. The Patriarch wassummoned to the prefecture andwas put through an exhausting ex-amination by the authorities. It hasbeen said by his close associates thatPatriarch Dimitrios became so upsetthat - a few weeks later - he suffereda stroke which led to his death.
There is some speculation at towhether the letter about the proper-ties is related to other recent devel-opments regarding the relations ofhierachs outside of Turkey with thePatriarchate. The National Heraldexclusively revealed, on November
12, that “The government of Turkeyseems to be willing to grant Turkishcitizenship to all those hierarchs ofthe Ecumenical Patriarchate whoserve outside of Turkey. Turkish citi-zenship will allow them to freely par-ticipate in all the administrative ac-tivities of the Patriarchate includingthe right to be candidates for the Ec-umenical Throne when a vacancyarises. It was made clear by the Ecu-menical Patriarch himself that ‘theywill have the right to elect and to beelected.’ Ecumenical PatriarchBartholomew broke the news toArchbishop Demetrios of Americaand to the hierarchs of the Archdio-cese during his recent visit to theU.S. at the luncheon that has held at
the Carlyle Hotel after the Patriar-chal Liturgy at the ArchdiocesanCathedral of the Holy Trinity in NewYork on Sunday, November 1.”
This newspaper also reportedthat “Prime Minister Erdogan toldPatriarch Bartholomew that his re-quest will be satisfied and asked himto send the appropriate informationwith names of the hierarchs and oth-er details to the government of
Turkey.”To this day the Archdiocese has
not officially notified the Greek Or-thodox people and the community ingeneral about which and how manymetropolitans will become Turkishcitizens, including ArchbishopDemetrios himself.
Contact Theodore Kalmoukos [email protected].
Patriarch Bartholomew Asks U.S. Hierarchs for PropertyContinued from page 1
Above: Patriarch Bartholomewbestowed the Athenagoras Hu-man Rights Award upon NationalCommander Anthony J. Limber-akis, MD, during the Annual Ar-chon Banquet at the Waldorf-As-toria Hotel on October 31.Right: The Patriarch appearswith Turkish PM Tagip Erdoganlast August during a visit to theisland of Pringipo, near Constan-tinople.
NEW YORK - On Saturday, Novem-ber 7 the Hellenic Music Founda-tion presented its 2009 AnnualGala Classical Concert at Saint Pe-ter’s Church in Manhattan. Thisconcert was the first in an ambi-tious series of concerts employing amedium sized orchestra and pre-senting not only instrumentalworks – showcasing talentedsoloists – but also extensive ex-cerpts from mainly neglected op-eras or operas that have a Greeksubject and/or take place inGreece.
The opera presented this timewas the mostly forgotten “Il Cor-saro” by Giuseppe Verdi, which isbased on the poem “The Corsair” byLord Byron.
The Hellenic Music Foundation,with a 12-piece orchestra under thedirection of Yannis Xylas on the pi-ano, presented 50 minutes of thisshort and little-known opera.
The role of the Corsair (Corra-do) was taken by Angelo Mazzoneand the two soprano leads weresung by the Greek AmericanMaryann Mootos (as Gulnara) andby the Greek soprano from Thessa-loniki Eleni Calenos (as Medora).
The program began with theBach “Sonata for Flute and Cello,BWV 1034” performed by Gina Izzoand Benjamin Capps, accompaniedon the piano by Manolis Papasi-fakis.
The world premiere of the“Suite for Trombone and Piano” bycomposer John Ellis - who was pre-sent in the audience – was per-formed by talented Greek Trom-bonist Achilles Liarmakopoulossupported by Yannis Xylas on thepiano.
The second half of the programstarted with an extensive instru-mental section featuring talentedcellist Benjamin Capps (whosemother is of Greek heritage) team-ing with Greek pianist Manolis Pa-pasifakis in the “Sonata for Celloand Piano” by Debussy.
Two weeks later on November21, the Hellenic Music Foundationpresented their second concert of
the month at Saint Peter’ s Churchhonoring the memory of thebeloved Greek opera composerNikos Hatziapostolou.
This time the Foundation fea-tured 3 singers and a pianist. Cele-brated Greek American award-win-ning pianist and author Eleni Tra-ganas made her debut appearancewith the Foundation.
The Foundation makes great ef-forts to promote new artists asmuch as possible and give them anopportunity to present their talentsin front of diverse audiences inManhattan and Queens.
This time, newcomer sopranofrom Thessaloniki, Mrs. Olga Xan-thopoulou, offered a charming ren-dition of the last section of “Mar-guerite’s Jewel Song” from theopera Faust by Charles Gounod.
The second half of the programoffered lighter fare as Ms. KatiaZallas sang one of her favoritesongs which is also a great favoritewith audiences: “To Layiarni” bySpathy.
Greek Operetta was again wellrepresented in this concert with se-lections from the perennial favorite“Apachides ton Athinon”.
The charming “San Oneiro”,was sung as a duet by Katia Zallasand Julie Ziavras.
After a series of old Greek songs,the singers presented selectionsfrom American musicals.
Olga Xanthopoulou sang “Andthis is my beloved” from Kismet fol-lowed by Katia Zallas’ rendition of“I could have danced all night”.
Julie and Katia sang To Yelekakias an encore to round off a memo-rable evening of beautifulmelodies.
Hellenic Music FoundationPresents Gala Concerts
The Foundation
makes great efforts
to promote new artists
and give them an
opportunity to present
their talents
PHOTOS: TNH/COSTAS BEJ
NIKOS MAGGINAS
TNH/COSTAS BEJ
COMMUNITY4 THE NATIONAL HERALD, DECEMBER 12-18, 2009
By Sylvia KlimakiSpecial to The National Herald
NEW YORK - On December 3rd,Jean-Claude Trichet, the Presidentof the European Central Bank, wasasked about Greece’s fiscal difficul-ties and the risk of a possible de-fault. He said that he was confidentthe Greek government will be tak-ing "the appropriate decisions.” Onthe same day, Mrs. Louka Katseli,the Greek Minister of the Economy,Competitiveness and Shipping,said, "Greece has proven to be quiteresilient in the current financial cri-sis."
Mrs. Katseli was speakingamong distinguished Greek busi-nessmen and investors at CapitalLink's 11th Annual Forum in Man-hattan. The purpose of the confer-ence was to bring together entre-preneurs, public officials and in-vestors to discuss Greece’s invest-ment future.
Mrs. Katseli was on her first offi-cial visit to the U.S. as a newly-ap-pointed minister. The economisthad previously spent 15 years inthe U.S., having studied at SmithCollege and Princeton University,and taught at Yale University. Mrs.Katseli served as economic advisorto Greek Prime Minister CostasSimitis between 1993 and 1996.Most recently, she chaired the Uni-versity of Athens’ economics de-
partment from 1997 to 2001. Giving a detailed analysis of the
Greece’s economic situation, thenew minister pointed out thatGreece's GDP is expected to drop by1.2% for the year 2009, while theEurozone average drop is 4%. Sheexplained the increase in the gov-ernment’s deficit to be a result of “4billion euro increases in previousstate budget expenditures”. Shevouched, however, that “trans-parency and accountability consti-tute top priorities” for the currentgovernment that is determined to“improve sustainability" and re-store confidence in the economy.
Mrs. Katseli pointed out the eco-nomic goals that the PASOK gov-ernment has set forward in order topromote “healthy competition” and“combat corruption", stressing that“time is running fast”. First, shenoted that all major appointmentsfor public sector jobs are being ad-vertised at www.opengov.gr. Minis-ter Katseli pointed to Mr. Mantzo-ufas, the Special Secretary of PublicPrivate Partnerships, as a great ex-ample of this procedure. Present atthe Capital Link forum, he was re-cruited through the open govern-ment procedure.
Second, the minister announcedthat the government’s deficit willbe reduced to 9.1% of the country’sGDP for the year 2010. Third, sheemphasized that Hellenic Statisti-
cal Service will become an indepen-dent body. Furthermore a UnifiedPayment System will be established
for all public servants “in order tominimize wage expenditures”. Fi-nally, she said, “a unified tax scale”
will be introduced along with an“elimination of the current tax ex-emptions”.
Mrs. Katseli identified Greece'scompetitive advantages in the glob-al economic arena as being itsstrategic location, natural environ-ment, cultural heritage, renewableenergy potential and human capi-tal. The main challenge, she said,“is turning these advantages intoconcrete opportunities.”
The minister itemized threemain ways in which the new gov-ernment would accomplish this. Itneeds to, she said, “simplify all pro-cedures for start-ups”, by cuttingthrough red tape and promoting“one-stop shop services”. New leg-islation for small and medium sizebusinesses must give them the op-tion to “restructure their loans”,she added. Finally “greenfield in-vestments” will improve the coun-try’s competitiveness. Mrs. Katselialso announced the formation of aHellenic Development Fund(HDF), which will back “promisinginvestment projects”.
The minister concluded thatGreece’s major challenge is “to en-hance its productive base and com-petitive advantage in global mar-kets" and "produce new wealth."Mrs. Katseli said that Greece hasthe EU's second lowest spot on theunion’s Index of Economic Free-dom. It remains to be seen whetherthe current government will takethe necessary bold decisions for amore competitive Greek economy.
Minister Louka Katseli Points to Greek Resiliency at Capital Link’s 11th Forum
tinent to young depressed patients.” He said that “We have identified
specific abnormalities both in thestructure and in the function ofsome brain circuits that inhibit re-sponse to antidepressant treatment.Most of these abnormalities are lo-cated in brain circuitry whose mainfunction is to identify conflictamong the various information bitsthat a person receives from his envi-ronment.” He explained: “When Isay conflict, I do not mean psycho-logical conflict [explored by peoplelike Freud]. Many times a day, theindividual is presented with infor-mation that is difficult to reconcile.When this happens, a brain circuit isactivated which [registers] that in-congruent data are being presentedto the individual (e.g. it cannot beboth day and night at the sametime) and then other brain circuitsare recruited to reconcile the incon-gruous information (e.g. why some-body said that it is daytime when itis so dark. Maybe it is dark becauseit is a very cloudy day). To go backto our findings, we have shown thatgood functioning of the conflict net-work is necessary for a response toantidepressant drugs. Further, weobserved that depressed patientswith impairment in the conflict net-work are unable to manage their en-vironment because they are disorga-nized and end up living a chaos,which makes them experience theirlives as very stressful. The observa-tions have implications for treat-ment development. First, drugs thatoptimize the function of the neuro-transmitter systems of the conflictnetwork are available and can betested in the subgroups of depressedpatients with abnormalities in thosenetworks. Second, psychotherapiesare being invented by our researchinstitute targeting the specific dis-abilities of depressed patients withabnormalities in their conflict net-works. These therapies improve theability of such patients to cope withtheir environment, reduce the stressthey experience, and ultimately im-prove their depressive symptoms.”
Asked about the brain’s influenceon the overall psycho-somatichealth of the individual, Dr. Alex-opoulos said, “The brain is thebody’s director. It regulates everyactivity of the body’s organs.” Hethen noted that “The brain consistsof nerve cells, the neurons, and ofsupporting cells, the glia, and ex-plained the specialized functions ofthe cells. “Man belongs to the cate-gory of mammals. Unlike low levelorganisms in which each cell per-forms many basic functions, mam-mals start with a group of cells thathave the same basic structure in theembryo, but as the organism devel-ops, various groups of cells begins tospecialize. So, while the same basicstructure is retained, each cell devel-
ops special qualities in order to per-form the complex functions thatmammals are able to carry out.
The nerve cells in particular havethe capability to transfer informa-tion in the form of weak electricalcurrent and by secreting substancescalled neurotransmitters. The endproduct of this information transferis what we call “thought”. However,in its simplest form, informationtransfer may allow the brain to or-der the leg or the arm to move. Cellsin other parts of the body haveequally specialized properties. Mus-
cle cells can tighten to lift a weight,the heart cells can be flexed periodi-cally and pump blood, the liver cellscan break down food into simplemolecules, which the organism canthen use to be nourished or to syn-thesize proteins or other complexmolecules that can be used by manyof the organism’s cells to renewthemselves.
As cells specialize they need di-rection so that they can coordinatetheir work to the benefit of the or-ganism. This coordinating functionis the responsibility of the brain. Sothe brain can regulate the functionof the heart, the gastrointestinal sys-tem, and the muscles of the body.For example, when you run andneed a lot of blood in the muscles,the brain will order the heart topump faster than when you readand the only organ that needs someextra blood is the brain. The braincell function can be as simple as reg-ulating the heart’s pace or creatingthe sensation of pain and heat, andit can be as complex as generatingthoughts, plans, and actions.
For depression to develop, theremust be predisposing and precipitat-ing factors. When the predisposingfactors are strong, even minimalstress may lead to depression. Re-garding what predisposes people todepression, Dr. Alexopoulos said,“This is the goal of my personalwork. Findings of our Institute andof other centers show that damagein some of the frontal lobe circuitspredispose to depression. A difficultenvironment to negotiate can serveas a precipitating factor, so that apredisposed individual, e.g. a per-
son with abnormalities in somefrontal lobe functions [who is facingchallenging situations] may developdepression. He explained that, “Ifthe brain is intact and the person hasno predisposition, it is very difficultfor stress alone to elicit depression.We have examples of people whosuffered enormous losses and didnot develop depression. A normalreaction for a person who looses aloved one is to develop a mourningreaction, but depression will be de-veloped by a person with a predispo-sition.”
Talking about the prevention ofdepression, Dr. Alexopoulos said,“There is a common belief that whenone loses a dear person one must crybecause if he holds the sorrow insidehe will later on develop depression.Although this is a popular view, it isnot grounded in facts.” He added:“What we know is that all personswho lose a significant other developa reaction of mourning, but only20% will show depression and thequestion is why? The most informedanswer to this question is that somepeople are biologically predisposedto depression and others are not.”
Regarding the most successfultherapies for depression in people ofadvanced age, Dr. Alexopoulos said:“The most effective treatment fordepression across ages is a combina-tion of psychotherapy with antide-pressant medication. He also addedthat “late life depression often doesnot respond to antidepressants” andclarified that late-life depression isnot a single disorder but many disor-ders with different brain abnormali-ties that present the same symp-toms. He emphasized that “some ofthese types of depression have brainabnormalities that make patients re-sistant to classical antidepressantdrugs. Knowing the abnormalities ofnerve circuits that prevent responseto the currently used antidepres-sants would allow us to create sever-al new forms of medication therapyand new, effective types of psy-chotherapy.”
Dr. Alexopoulos explained that“Individuals with abnormalities insome frontal lobe circuits develop acharacteristic behavioral distur-bance. These patients cannot planand organize their actions, or followthrough in their activities. The resultis that they always live under pres-sure and stress. In collaborationwith colleagues of the University ofCalifornia, San Francisco, we havedeveloped a therapy that essentiallyteaches patients how to identifytheir daily problems and organizeand sequence their behavior so thatthey can address them effectively.We have shown that we can train pa-tients with frontal lobe relateddeficits to utilize this approach, im-prove their daily life and achieve re-mission of their depression.”
He mentioned as an example aperson who has lost the ability to or-ganize his day, wears the sameclothes day and night, does notshave, does not go out and does noteat normally. “What we do is teachthis patient in very simple termshow to sequence his actions andmeet his basic and some of his morecomplex personal needs. By doingso he no longer has to live in the mis-ery of his completely malfunction-ing, disorganized life. And headded, “We started with the identifi-cation of some disturbances of thefrontal lobe functions in depression,we then described the behavioraldisturbances that these abnormali-ties cause, and we developed amethod of psychotherapy to targetthem. This is a pattern that we fol-low in all our research programs.”
Dr. Alexopoulos was asked aboutpeople who exhibit major changesin their behavior, e.g. a person whois polite and considerate at 10 a.m.,becomes irritable and even violenttwo hours later, and looks depressedin another 2 hours. He said that inall likelihood such a person has a
“rapidly cycling disorder”, a subtypeof bipolar disorder. He explained:“The most common form of bipolardisease consists of episodes of de-pression that last months or yearsand fewer manic episodes, usuallyof shorter duration. During manicepisodes patients believe that theyare on top of the world, that theyhave endless capabilities, that theyare better than anybody else.”
He explained that bipolar disor-der in young patients is a geneticdisease. People who present this dis-order for the first time at an olderage may have a weak genetic predis-position and develop symptoms on-ly when old age leads to abnormali-ties in brain areas responsible formood regulation.” Dr. Alexopoulossaid there are treatments for this dis-ease: “An investigator of our Insti-tute has received the only grant bythe Institute of Mental Health to testthe efficacy and risks of treatmentsfor late-life bipolar disorder.”
Asked if bipolar persons can be-come violent he said, “Yes, when thepatient believes that someone op-poses or threatens him.” He alsosaid: “When mania worsens, pa-tients may develop paranoia anddelusions, and commit acts of vio-lence.”
When we asked what attracted
him to the field of psychiatry hesaid, “The fact that psychiatry ismultidimensional and allows biolo-gy, psychology, social sciences, andphilosophy to work together in or-der to understand human behavior.In the beginning I was interested inclassical and political philosophy,later in the philosophy of scienceand finally in psychiatry which pro-vokes the scientist to find a way forthe co-existence of the differentfields.”
THE PSYCHE AND THE SOULAt one point the discussion
turned to the nature of the soul. Dr.Alexopoulos said of the soul that, “Inbiological terms it means nothing,because there is no definition of soulthat biology can address.” Asked tooffer a intellectual point of view hesaid it is “something that transcendsexperience,” and he added, “medi-cine does not deal with the soul.” Heexplained that “medicine is a practi-cal discipline whose basic reason ofbeing is the relief of the patient. To-day’s medicine is based mainly onscience but not exclusively. Whenthe approved treatments do notwork, a good physician should notabandon his patient. He should usehis relationship with the patient andhis experience to offer hope andcomfort. This is not science. This isthe wisdom of medicine accumulat-ed over many centuries and taughtto new physicians by their wise men-tors. When my colleagues and I try
to understand the brain, we do itwith one specific goal in mind, tohelp patients.”
During the interview with Dr.Alexopoulos, the word “psychother-apy” was used a few times and thequestion arose, “How can you havepsychotherapy without the conceptof a soul?” - psyche being the Greekword for soul. Dr. Alexopoulos re-sponded, “The term psychotherapyis a leftover from the past when psy-chotherapy was not related to biolo-gy. What we do with psychotherapyis help patients develop a number ofbehaviors that assist their adjust-ment and lower the stress they expe-rience. We now have sound experi-mental methods and have begun toknow what psychotherapy changesin the brain. If, for example, I givepsychotherapy to a person sufferingfrom depression and that persongets better we already have theimaging technology to see thechanges taking place in the brain asa result. In other words, psychother-apy leads to improvement of depres-sion and this process results in brainchanges.” Asked what he feels whenhe helps a person, he said, “This iswhat all our work is about.”
Dr. Alexopoulos added that brainabnormalities can cause physical ill-ness: “Not only can they cause a
medical illness but they can worsenthe course of medical illnesses. De-pressed patients have mortalityrates that are 2 to 4 times higher af-ter a myocardial infarction com-pared with patients who suffer a my-ocardial infarction but are not de-pressed.”
Dr. Alexopoulos studied atAthens Medical School and workedas a general practitioner in Myce-nae, Greece. He had his psychiatricresidency in the U.S., initially at theNew Jersey Medical School and lat-er at Cornell Medical College. Afterhis graduation, he had a researchfellowship on the Psychobiology ofDepression under Professor PeterStokes, one of the pioneers in thefield of Psychoendocrinology.
Since 1980 Dr. Alexopoulos hasworked in the field of geriatric de-pression, conducting studies rang-ing from clinical biology to the de-velopment of novel treatment inter-ventions. In 1994, he founded theWeill-Cornell Institute of GeriatricPsychiatry and received a competi-tive grant from the National Insti-tute of Health, which allowed him toform the first Clinical Research Cen-ters of Cornell’s Department of Psy-chiatry which consist of approxi-mately 40 specialized investigators,research fellows, and technical per-sonnel.
Contact Theodore Kalmoukos [email protected].
Dr. George Alexopoulos Gets Grant for Work on Modern Plague of Depression
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Louka Katseli, the newly-appointed Greek Minister of The Economy, Competitiveness and Shipping, gave her fi-nancial projections for Greece in 2010 at the Capital Link Forum at the Metropolitan Club on December 3.
Continued from page 1
Dr. George S. Alexopoulos, left, addressing guests at the HellenicMedical Society’s Gala on Dec. 4, seen together with Dr. John Xethalis.
HMS President Dr. George John Tsioulias, left, is seen with Dr. GeorgeS. Alexopoulos, and Dr. John Xethalis at the 2009 HMS Gala in N.Y.
TNH/COSTAS BEJ
TNH/COSTAS BEJ
TNH/COSTAS BEJ
Dr. Alexopoulos (left) with hisfriend, Dr. Andreas Loucopoulos,at the Naval Hospital of Salamiswith a friend during his militaryservice.
By Theodore KalmoukosThe National Herald Staff Writer
BOSTON- A financial scandal hasroiled the parish of St. Barbara’sGreek Orthodox parish in Orange,Connecticut as potentially massiveembezzlement of funds is being in-vestigated. Preliminary examina-tions suggest at least one milliondollars from the endowment andbuilding funds being at stake.
The sum might be much higher– perhaps in excess of $1.8 millionof the church’s money, plus moniesthat individual parishioners en-trusted to their fellow parishioner,a financier, to be “invested”. Theperson who is accused of commit-ting the embezzlement was a mem-ber of the parish and had access to
its endowment and building funds.Although the legal advisor of the
parish, who spoke to The NationalHerald, refused to reveal the per-son’s name, the Connecticut news-paper “New Haven Register”, in itsDecember 8 edition, named him asGregory Loles.
The newspaper article statedthat “Loles was in charge of manag-ing the church’s building fund andendowment, and several churchmembers allowed Loles to handletheir personal retirement and col-lege investments, several sourceswithin the church communitysaid.”
In 1995, Loles registered a fi-nance firm called Apeiron CapitalManagement Inc. with the secre-tary of the state. Ads for Apeiron
Capital Management listing Loles’name and a now-defunct telephonenumber ran in church newslettersas late as 2007. But according to a1997 Securities and ExchangeCommission news release, Ape-iron’s broker-dealer registrationwith the regulatory body was can-celed that year for failing to “com-ply with applicable requirements ofthe Securities Investor ProtectionCorp.” or failing to “be a member ofa self-regulatory organization.”
The article also stated that “SECregistration is required for han-dling more than $25 million of totalinvestments. A search of state data-bases shows no record of Loles be-ing a certified financial planner.”
Loles is also registered with thesecretary of the state as the princi-pal of Farnbacher Loles MotorSports, LLC., an independent re-pair shop that specializes in after-market performance upgrades toPorsches. He also is part owner ofa racing team. The business is nearDanbury Municipal Airport. Farn-bacher Loles Motor Sports also hasa racing team that operates on bothsides of the Atlantic Ocean, accord-ing to the company’s website.
Fr. Peter Orfanakos, who hasbeen the priest of the parish for 13years, did not respond to The Na-tional Herald’s telephone calls. Nei-ther did Nicholas Lousidis, presi-dent of the parish council. The Her-ald left a message with the answer-ing service late on December 7 forFr. Orfanakos. Instead, Mr. Stamas,the legal advisor of the parish of St.Barbara, called TNH. Attorney Sta-mas and Fr. Orfanakos discoveredthe irregularity in the church’sfunds after receiving a phone callfrom a parishioner.
To the Herald’s question of whothe person is who committed theembezzlement, Mr. Stamas said,“There is a gentlemen that made in-vestments on behalf of the endow-ment committee and we have some
serious concerns about the invest-ments and there has been a referralto the [FBI] as of Friday morning,December 4.”
Asked about his name, Mr. Sta-mas said, “At this point we have[retained] another attorney whohas indicated that we should becautious with sharing names untilthat is cleared by the [FBI].” Ac-cording to Stamas, the alleged em-bezzler is not a member of theparish council, but “He is a memberof the parish.” Stamas added, “Weare talking about large sums ofmoney.”
Asked if they are in the millions,he said “Yes.” He said, “I am talkingnow on behalf of St. Barbara’s andwe are one of many victims. Theimpression we are arriving at is thatthere are many individual claimsboth by parishioners and nonparishioners, so the magnitude issomething that we are not certainabout at this point.”
Asked to be specific about theSt. Barbara’s funds in question, Mr.Stamas said, “St. Barbara is con-
cerned about its endowment fund, Ican tell you that if fully intact, it isabout $1.8 million and the scope ofthe loss is being determined”.
When asked to specify theamount of money missing, Mr. Sta-mas said, “It is not a matter of howmuch is missing; at this point weare investigating every dollar of theendowment fund to determine if itis properly secured.” He said thatthey are investigating all of thefunds to see which are “secured,unsecured or missing,” adding:“We are talking in a very, very pre-liminary stage.”
Concerning the building fundMr. Stamas said, “In addition, weare investigating whether any por-tions of the building fund are com-promised and the issue there is ap-proximately a quarter of a milliondollars.”
The parish called a special meet-ing on Sunday night, December 6.Stamas said, “It was not a generalassembly. It was an informationalmeeting. There was no action tak-en. It was the decision of the parish
council that the community neededto know that we had some concernsabout our funds, even thought itwas clear to us that we did not havea great deal of information, butthere was enough to compel us tocall a meeting as a family and shareeven the preliminary information.”
The meeting was attended “by afair number of parishioners,” whowere invited through an email list,said the attorney.
Mr. Stamas is not a member ofthe parish council but he said, “I amthe general (legal) counsel, but wehave retained a specific council aswell to handle this issue.”
Concerning who discovered theissue, Stamas said, “Fr. Peter (Or-fanakos) and myself received atelephone call that triggered someserious concerns on our part.”
When asked to give the caller’sname, Mr. Stamas said, “The attor-ney has cautioned us that until theFBI clears our ability to share moreinformation, we need to be very cir-cumspect on details.”
With regard to who oversaw theman under investigation he said,“There was a seven person endow-ment committee.” When asked ifthey sensed anything strange wasgoing on , he said, “Again, the FBIhas told us we are not to get intoany particulars and we need to fol-low the dictates of the FBI,” thoughhe stated that the individual “hasnot been arrested to the best of myknowledge. The referral was madeon Friday morning.”
The parish which consists of 750families, which just this past Octo-ber inaugurated a new community,cultural and educational center.This state-of-the-art facility con-tains 8,031 square feet and willhouse 13 Sunday school classes, abook store, meeting rooms, libraryand a 5,632 sq. ft. banquet hall.
Contact Theodore Kalmoukos [email protected].
COMMUNITYTHE NATIONAL HERALD, DECEMBER 12-18, 2009 5
By Eleni KostopoulosThe National Herald Staff Writer
NEW YORK – “The role of Byzan-tium in the development of theworld, its contribution to globalculture, its association with faithand religion, its participation in sci-entific discovery, its ease with mul-ticulturalism, will not go unnoticedin this country for very long,” Mr.Pavlos Yeroulanos, Minister of Cul-ture and Tourism of Greece, said atthe atrium of the Olympic Tower inNew York City on Tuesday, Decem-ber 8.
Referring to this anticipatedByzantine-American encounter,Yeroulanos said, “The associationsare way too obvious to miss. Andthe question is, what happenswhen they do meet? It really de-pends on how they get introduced,and that is why I would like tothank and congratulate the OnassisPublic Benefit Foundation for offer-ing this wonderful cultural bridgebetween these two worlds.”
The evening marked the highlyanticipated opening reception of anextraordinary group of 15th and16th century paintings, includingseveral early works by El Greco,and the era to which Mr. Yer-oulanos was referring to, in an ex-hibition titled, “The Origins of ElGreco: Icon Painting in VenetianCrete”. Mr. Yeroulanos noted, theaesthetic and historical display,which launched on November 17and will run through February 27,2010, welcomes approximately1,500 visitors on a daily basis.
“[They] come to discover beautyin a passion that they’re not usedto,” said Mr. Yeroulanos. “Their re-sponses and the responses of themedia have been incredible. It hasalways been my firm belief thatwhen America discovers Byzan-tium…they will fall in love.”
“The Origins of El Greco” hasbeen described by the New YorkTimes as a “triple-layered visual es-say” that “roughs out the complextexture of a specific, cosmopolitan,East-meets-West island culture.”Some highlights of the exhibition,by curator Dr. Anastasia Drandaki
of the Byzantine Collection at theBenaki museum in Athens, includethe paintings “Baptism of Christ”belonging to the Municipality ofHeraklion and an “Adoration of theShepherds” belonging to Queen’sUniversity in Kingston, Ontario. Anearly painting by El Greco, “TheDormition of the Virgin”, whichtravels rarely from its church in Er-moupolis, Syros was lent by theMetropolis of Syros, and a lateSpanish-period work by El Greco,“The Coronation of the Virgin”, onview in New York City for the firsttime, was provided courtesy of the
Alexander S. Onassis Public BenefitFoundation.
Among the distinguished guestsat the Olympic Towers for the eventhosted by Executive Director of the
Onassis Center, Ambassador Lou-cas Tsilas, were His Eminence Arch-bishop Demetrios, His EminenceArchbishop of Crete Eirineos, Am-bassador of Greece to the United
States Vasilis Kaskarelis, Ambas-sador of Greece to the United Na-tions Anastasios Mitsialis, ConsulGeneral of Greece in New York AghiBalta Mr. Antonis S. Papadimitriou,president of the Onassis PublicBenefit Foundation (USA), stressedthe importance of institutions thatcontinue to bring the Americanpublic even closer to the values ofour common heritage. He noted thesignificance of the exhibition fromboth a historical and cultural per-spective.
“In an era of political and cultur-al flux, El Greco and the other im-portant Cretan iconographers bringback the message of hope and cre-ativity that stems from interactionand dialogue between differentcultural and geographical environ-ments,” he said. “Their message isclear: human genius will always beable to win over alienation andprejudice.”
Mr. Papadimitriou also extend-ed special thanks to several peopleand institutions including membersof the Hellenic Institute of Byzan-tine and post-Byzantine Studies inVenice, which loaned out pieces forthe exhibition and have also con-ducted extensive research on thatparticular period.
President of the Benaki Museumin Greece, Emilia Yeroulanou, whoalso happens to be the mother ofMinister Yeroulanos, recappedsome of the many exhibitions host-ed by the Onassis Cultural Centerand emphasized the importance ofbringing such artwork to the publiceye.
“A particularly [noteworthy ex-hibition was] ‘Coming of Age in An-cient Greece’ which took the themeof childhood, presenting children’stoys games and even some relevantlegends,” she said.
Of the current exhibit she said,“This exhibition brought togethermore than 45 important icons from15 different collections. The waythe subject has been presented willcertainly stimulate the interest ofvisitors both because of the excep-tional quality of the exhibit and es-pecially because Dominicos Theo-takopoulos, El Greco’s dependency
on Byzantine tradition is so clearlyemphasized throughout the exhibi-tion.”
His Eminence Archbishop ofCrete Eirineos also spoke at lengthabout his admiration for all thosewho made the exhibition a reality,his appreciation to the institutionsthat generously loaned their art-work for the exhibition and his af-fection and love of the Cretan peo-ple who are always ready to wel-come others to the island.
Accompanying the exhibition isan illustrated 132-page catalogue,featuring entries on each paintingin the exhibition and essays by cu-rator Dr. Anastasia Drandaki; Dr.Olga Gratziou, Professor of Byzan-tine Art and Archaeology, Universi-ty of Crete; and Dr. Nicos Hadjini-colaou, Professor of Art History,University of Crete. Visiting hoursfor “El Greco” are Monday throughSaturday, between 10 a.m. and 6p.m. with free admission.
Among the Greek lenders to theexhibition are the Alexander S.Onassis Public Benefit Foundation,Athens; Antivouniotissa Museum,Corfu; Benaki Museum, Athens;Byzantine and Christian Museum,Athens; the Holy Metropolis,Church of the Dormition of the Vir-gin, Ermoupolis, Syros; Collectionof Ecclesiastical Art, Saint Cather-ine of the Sinaites, Heraklion,Crete; National Gallery of Athens;Paul and Alexandra CanellopoulosMuseum, Athens; Public Library ofLefkada; Municipality of Herak-lion, Crete; and Marianna LatsisCollection, Athens. Among thelenders in Europe, the UnitedStates and Canada are the HellenicInstitute of Venice; the Metropoli-tan Museum of Art, New York; theState Hermitage Museum, St. Pe-tersburg; and Queen's University,Kingston, Canada.
The exhibition is organized incollaboration with the Benaki Mu-seum in Athens and the Archdio-cese of Crete and is exclusivelyfunded by the Alexander S. OnassisPublic Benefit Foundation (USA).
Contact Eleni Kostopoulos [email protected].
viding investment managementservices for both domestic and off-shore clients. Born and raised inMilwaukee, Wisconsin, Mr. Chanoscurrently lives in New York and isactive in many charitable founda-tions and educational institutions.
Andre Dimitriades has served asthe Chief Executive Officer of LTCProperties Inc., a healthcare realestate investment trust, which wasfounded in 1992. He was born inConstantinople and currently livesin California.
Constantine Iordanou has beenthe President and CEO of theBermuda-based Arch CapitalGroup Ltd. of Arch InsuranceGroup Inc., since 2003. He is alsoChairman of Arch Capital GroupLtd. since November 2009. Born inNicosia, Cyprus, Mr. Iordanou cur-rently lives in New York.
Chris Spyropoulos is Presidentand CEO of BC International Group
Inc., the largest retailer of furs inthe world. Mr. Spyropoulos wasborn in Kastoria Greece and movedto the United States with his par-ents when he was twelve years ofage, settling in WashingtonHeights, New York . He now lives inOld Brookville New York with hiswife and three children.
Mr. George Tsunis has been inthe hotel business since 1992. TheTsunis family has owned and oper-ated hotels since 1985.
Mr. Tsunis worked in the familyenterprise, eventually becomingPresident and CEO, and he overseeshis family's real estate and restau-rant holdings which include shop-ping centers, office buildings andstorage facilities in New York andNew Hampshire.
He’s also a television politicalcommentator, appearing on Fox-5'sGood Day New York.
For more information aboutFaith, visit the Endowment’s web-site: www.faithendowment.org.
Art for the Ages: Capturing the Origins & Significance of El Greco in New York
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“Faith” Endowment GrowsFor Orthodoxy, Hellenism
Continued from page 1
Archbishop Demetrios with philanthropist and founding member of“Faith” Michael Jaharis.
TNH ARCHIVES
Above: The President of theOnassis Foundation Antonis S.Papadimitriou addressses guestsat the opening reception for thewidely acclaimed “Origins of ElGreco: Icon Painting in VenetianCrete” exhibit at the Onassis Cen-ter in New York on Tuesday, De-cember 8. Right: Enthusiasticphilhellenes and art lovers packOlympic Tower lobby during.
FBI Investigating Financial Scandal at St. Barbara’s Parish in Orange, Connecticut
Exterior view of the new community center of the St. Barbara church.
FEATURE6 THE NATIONAL HERALD, DECEMBER 12-18, 2009
curve,” he says, in New York City. The Little Orchestra often com-
missions new work. In March, theypresented “Honest Abe: FourScores and More”, a concert cele-brating the President Abraham Lin-coln Bicentennial at Lincoln Center.Actor James Earle Jones narrated.Now, the maestro has an Earth Dayconcert in mind. “I have to find mu-sic for it,” Mr. Anagnost explains.Though he’s short on “creativetime”, or the time for attendingconcerts or absorbing art, The LittleOrchestra’s musicians help himseek out the new.
The orchestra, he says, is devot-ed to “combining various art forms:dance, mime, illusionists, illustra-tions…” In their recent staging of“Cinderella”, for instance, therewas a 16-foot fairy godmother anda 40-foot dragon.
It’s not just puppets that grabthe audience’s attention. “Dino’s al-ways a part of the action, the dra-matic action,” notes the orchestra’sexecutive director, Joanne Bern-stein-Cohen. The orchestra is neverin a pit, but always on stage – witha very interactive maestro. Ms.Bernstein-Cohen thinks it’s becauseMr. Anagnost has “the spirit of a
child in him” that he communicateswith children so well.
“We’re not trying to make classi-
cal musicians,” Mr. Anagnost clari-fies, adding: “We’re trying to makeclassical music part of their won-
derful diets of world music.” In1984, Mr. Anagnost formed the Lol-li-Pops program for children aged 3to 5. “We teach them how to listen,”he says. As youngsters learn aboutloud and soft, high and low, theirparents do too. It’s no small feat, hesays, for a person in today’s “surf-ing” age to focus for 10 whole min-utes on a piece.
Dino Anagnost is also thefounder of the MetropolitanSingers/Greek Choral Society andDean of Music of the Cathedral ofthe Holy Trinity.
It was only two weeks after Mr.Anagnost arrived in New York thatArchbishop Ioakovos invited him tohelp out. In 1975, the young musi-cian organized the first-ever con-cert in a Greek Orthodox Church inthe United States at Holy TrinityCathedral.
Mr. Anagnost, who studiedByzantine music at Hellenic Col-lege and worked with Greek com-posers including Mikis Theodor-akis, continues to seek out tradi-tional as well as new material atHoly Trinity. This year’s CandlelightConcert features soprano IndraThomas. Alongside the works ofcomposers Randol Bass and ArvoPart, will be Byzantine nativitychants and Greek carols.
Maestro Dino Anagnost's 'Little Orchestra' a Gem
NEW YORK - “Ladies and gentle-men, the Greek hour is coming.Station WWWW, New York, Bosto(Boston), Pitsivourgo (Pittsburgh),Clevela (Cleveland), Detroit, San-frantzisko (San Francisco). Ladiesand gent-le-men, Mr. Tzanetosspeaking. Today me produce to youimportant stuff. The tenor and theother bunch, they are going to singthe Greek song, his name is, “∆ΕΜΕ ΞΕΡΕΙΣ ∆Ε ΣΕ ΞΕΡΩ ΑΛΛΑ ΣΕΚΑΤΑΛΑΒΑΙΝΩ”, rough translationis, “Me don’t know you, you don’tknow me, but I love you just thesame…et cetera, et cetera”.
If you happened to be living inNew York in the 1930’s, you wouldhave very likely heard the aboveclever satire, broadcast on one ofthe Greek radio programs. It is infact a 1932 verbatim segment fromTitos Demetriadis’ radioshow/satire, “Tzanetos on the ra-dio”.
Titos Demetriadis was a Greekimmigrant producer, singer, actorand owner of the “OrthophonicRecording Company” in New York,responsible for most of the GreekAmerican productions in Americaduring the 1930s. This same seg-ment was also used verbatim, as anoriginal, authentic text introduc-tion to the “Cafe Aman Amerika”CD, produced in 1995 in New Yorkby “World Music”, a Greek Ameri-can-owned company, and a groupof Greek and Greek American musi-cians.
The CD was meant as a tributeto the first Greek immigrants toAmerica. I am thus truly honored tohave been involved in this project,from its inception to its full comple-tion, and I am no less pleased towrite about it in this column. Thestory begins in 1993-94 whenMichael Adam, a friend of mine,and producer of a radio show at
COSMOS FM in New York, met Di-no Pappas (Konstantinos Papakon-stantinou), a retired Greek Ameri-can policeman from Detroit. Mr.Pappas was born in 1931 and sincethe age of 9, he was an avid collec-tor of old and rare records andsongs produced in America by thefirst Greek immigrants of the 1920sand 30s.
In 1994, his collection numberednearly ten-thousand such record-ings, and being keenly aware oftheir unique historical value, he waseager to find a way to keep andmaintain them for the newer gener-ations. He transferred several ofthese songs onto cassettes, gavethem to Michael Adam and soon af-ter, Michael and I were listening tothe songs, truly moved by their obvi-
ous and undisputablehistorical value. Thelyrics, the melodies, thestories, the themes, theself-satire and the“gringlish”, Englishwords turned intoGreek by changingtheir ending, (i.e.strike=straki, club=klo-bi, cent=sentzi,c h a n c e = t s e n s i ,r o o f = r o o f i ,mistake=misteki, etc.),were all a true reflec-tion of the life andhardships the firstGreek immigrants hadto cope with.
Moved and amazed, listening tothese songs, our immediate and
spontaneous reactionwas: “They must be re-vived through a CDproduction.” On thespot, we even came upwith the title of such aCD. “Cafe Aman Amer-ica” we said, “with astrong accent on theword “aman”, as thepure sentiment of theword was most cer-tainly felt and sharedby Greek immigrantsto America, for all thedifficult times theyfaced during the firsthalf of the 20th Centu-
ry. Our next step was to search for
musicians. Within a month or so,we had brought together a group of10 individuals, an appropriate andnecessary mix of first generationGreeks living in America, and sev-eral U.S.-born Greek Americans aswell. I was designated the male vo-calist of the group and my longtime friend Anna Paidousi, the fe-male vocalist. The band wasnamed “Cafe Aman America” andeveryone in it was thrilled and to-tally enthused about the project.We started rehearsing in November1994, spent hundreds of hours inrecording studios, in New York City,New Jersey and Staten Island, of-ten until the early morning hours,made several promotional videoclips, and finally in May of 1995 the“Cafe Aman America” CD became areality and was formally released inNew York. It contained fourteencarefully selected songs from thethousands in Dino Pappas’ collec-tion.
The most important criterion inselecting the songs was the lyrics,and more specifically the gringlishwords in each song. Here are three
of the most characteristic ones in-cluded in the CD, in terms of theirtheme and gringlish content: “GiatiGlyko Mou Sweet Heart”: The lovestruck singer laments over a girlwho apparently does not recipro-cate his amorous sentiments as hesays: “...na vgenis date every nightsto xanaleo black and white na souzitao ena filaki kai na mou les posehis straki. Aaahh! Giati gliko mousweetheart na me pligonis tosohard.”
“To Misteki” (The Mistake), is ahumorous gringlish song in whichthe singer imparts advice to youngGreek American girls not to makethe misteki (mistake) as Anna did,while taking a ride in the“parki”(park): “...ta cocktails kai i“bara” (bar) kai ta fluid-drive kara(cars) kai mia volta mes’ to ‘parki’ki’ena kleftiko filaki. Epi telous enaride mes’ ton kipo einai all right mamin prohoris pareki na min pesissto misteki…etc. “O Koumartzis(The gambler) is another very char-acteristic song commenting on agambler’s attempt to cheat, and yetstill lose, playing “poka”(poker) atthe “klobi” (club), a very familiarscene for Greek Americans. Othercommon gringlish words used inthe song are: “tzokari” (Joker),“aseous bek-te-bek” (Aces back toback), “douses” (Deuces), “pati”(pot) and a few others.
Surprisingly, however, and de-spite its content, the Cafe AmanAmerica CD never became widelyknown in the U.S. mainly becausethe producers hardly promoted it toGreek Americans. The group gavebut one concert at the Hellenic Cul-tural Center of the Archdiocese inAstoria and just one concert inToronto after an invitation by a lo-cal agent. On the other hand, itwas enthusiastically accepted inGreece, where some of its songs
were adopted and sung by somewell known Greek singers, perhapsbecause of their original theme andtheir fresh and unusual musicalcontent. As a result, our Cafe Amangroup was invited to Greece in1997, where we gave several con-certs, in Salonika as well as at theHerodion and Lekabettus theatresin Athens, with rave reviews by themedia. During the same year, wewere invited by the ministries ofculture of Holland and Belgiumand gave concerts in the symphonyhalls of Utrecht and Brussels. Forour readers, I have provided a linkto a performance of the song “ToMisteki”, as performed by thegroup at the Lekabettus theatre inAthens in 1997 (you might evenrecognize some of the performers:view it on our new website at:www.thenationalherald.com)
The front cover of the “CafeAman America” CD says: “Oldsongs of the Greeks of America asseen by their descendants”. In myopinion, it is indeed a historicallyunique and well-deserved musicaltribute to the first Greek Immi-grants to America.
Be well and don’t hesitate tocontact us!
Grigoris Maninakis is a Professorof Engineering Technology atSUNY Farmingdale. He has beenactive in Greek music since theearly 70s as a founding memberand singer/soloist of the GreekPopular Chorus of N.Y. estab-lished by Mikis Theodorakis. Hehas organized quality Greek mu-sic concerts all over the U.S. andoccasionally in Greece. His col-umn will appear twice a month inThe National Herald. For com-ments and suggestions email orvisit: [email protected],www.gmaninakis.com
GREEK MUSIC ...PLUS
Café Aman Amerika: A Musical Tribute to the First Greek Immigrants in America
by GRIGORIS
MANINAKIS
Special to The National Herald
The passion and commitment of the musicians who created the CafeAman America CD are apparent in this photo of a recording session.
Continued from page 1
Dino Anagnost has been conducting The Little Orchestra since 1979.The orchestra, he says, features a full program for those aged ‘3 to 93’.Maestro Anagnost also is the Dean of Music at Holy Trinity Cathedral.
By Constantine SirigosThe National Herald Staff Writer
NEW YORK – For a community tostand and thrive it needs pillars ofmany kinds. Some are individualsthat stand tall and cast long shad-ows when they are gone, others areinstitutions that survive even aspeople come and go. On December4th at the Pierre Hotel the GreekAmerican Community honoredboth kinds, the memory of one ofits great individuals, the late Dr.Constantine Papadakis, and one ofits vital organizations, HellenicPublic Radio, COSMOS-FM.
COSMOS-FM celebrated its22nd year on the air. At 91.5 FM inNew York and on the internet atGAEPIS.org. At its fall Gala, Hel-lenic Public Radio presents itsPhidippidis award for their “pas-sionate advocacy of Hellenism.” Dr.Constantine Papadakis, presidentof Drexel University from 1995 to2009, was this year’s posthumousrecipient.
After welcoming remarks byMistress of Ceremonies AnthoulaKatsimatides, the guests were alsogreeted by Stavros Sousou, the newchairman of GAEPIS. He expressedhis gratitude to the station’s listen-ers and donors, to the volunteerswho produce and host the pro-grams, to the Director of Opera-tions Ioanna Giannopilos and theProgram Director Ionanna Xan-thopoulou.
The invocation was offered byHis Eminence Metropolitan Evan-gelos. His Eminence ArchbishopDemetrios was also present andsaid of Dr. Papadakis, “Besides hisecumenical, universal values, hewas an unyielding Cretan.” He thenintroduced the Archbishop of Crete
Irenaios. Ireainaios is on a specialvisit to New York and said of Dr. Pa-pdakis that he had a “heart filledwith humanity and love.”
Consul General of Greece inNew York Aglaia Balta was present,as was Polixei Mastroperou, direc-tor of the Greek Press Office in NewYork.
Dr. Papadakis’ daughter Mariaspoke for herself and in behalf ofher mother, Eliana, about his devo-tion to his family, and about the re-markable life she was privileged toenjoy, saying, “he was such an ac-
tive parent and he made sure I wasan active part of his life and workand his many amazing experi-ences.” She added “when I was 11years old I had a private audiencewith the Dalai Lama and he spoketo me for more for more than 2hours.”
The evening was tastefully pre-sented, with tributes to Dr. Pa-padakis interspersed with presen-tations of arias from his beloved op-eras by singer Emily Dunkan-Brown and pieces by pianist AretiGiovanou and violinist Maria Fran-
goulis.Athena Kromidas, principal of
the William Spyropoulos DaySchool, recited a moving poem byYiannis Ritsos, “Mboreis- You can”.
In his official Drexel biographyConstantine Papadakis is describedas “an innovator in higher educa-tion with extensive experience inboth academe and the corporateworld.” During his presidency full-time undergraduate enrollmentgrew from 4,500 in 1996 to morethan 11,000 in 2009 and addedmedical and law schools.
Dr. Papadakis and COSMOS-FM: Hellenic Pillars
Dr. Papadakis’ daughter Maria brought tears to the eyes of guests with a moving tribute: “I am so honoredthat so many people can say such wonderful things about my father. I will cherish your words forever.”
NEW YORK (Politico.com) - ABCNews will announce GeorgeStephanopoulos as an anchor of“Good Morning America,” to startas soon as Monday. The announce-ment is planned for Thursday, De-cember 10. Stephanopoulos, 48,joins Robin Roberts at the anchordesk of the lucrative morning show.He will succeed Diane Sawyer, whohas her last day on the show Fridayand begins December 21 as anchorof “World News.”
Stephanopoulos may keep hisSunday show, “This Week,” for atransition period. The networkbrass don't want to disrupt thatshow, which is doing well. Eventu-ally, a new host would be named.
The Manhattan-boundStephanopoulos also was ABC'schief Washington correspondent.From Capitol Hill to presidentialpolitics to the White House to net-work news, Stephanopoulos has re-peatedly triumphed in hostile envi-ronments through charm anddogged preparation, and has exe-cuted a remarkable series of seam-less reinventions.
According to his network biog-raphy: "George Stephanopoulos isABC News' Chief Washington Cor-respondent and host of ABC's...Sunday morning political affairsprogram, 'This Week with George
Stephanopoulos.' ...Stephanopou-los was named Chief WashingtonCorrespondent in December 2005and began anchoring 'This Week' inSeptember 2002. Previously, hewas an ABC News correspondent,reporting on a wide variety of polit-ical, domestic and internationalstories for 'This Week,' 'World NewsTonight,' 'Good Morning America'and other ABC News programs andspecial event broadcasts.Stephanopoulos joined ABC Newsin 1997 as a news analyst for 'ThisWeek.'
"Prior to joining ABC News,Stephanopoulos served in the Clin-ton administration as the senior ad-viser to the president for policy andstrategy. He is the author of 'All TooHuman,' a No. 1 New York Timesbest-seller on President Clinton'sfirst term and the 1992 and 1996Clinton/Gore campaigns.
Stephanopoulos received hisMaster's degree in theology fromBalliol College, Oxford University,England, where he studied as aRhodes Scholar. He holds a Bache-lor of Arts degree from ColumbiaUniversity and graduated summacum laude in political science.Stephanopoulos and his wife,Alexandra Wentworth, live inWashington, D.C., with their twodaughters."
George Stephanopoulos toHost “Good Morning America”
By Theodore KalmoukosThe National Herald Staff Writer
BOSTON – On November more than300 guests gathered at the CathedralCenter in Brookline, Massachusettsto celebrate the 90th anniversary ofthe Rathamanthus-Ide Chapter ofthe Pancretan Association of Ameri-ca (PAA). The evening was highlight-ed by an authentic Cretan dinnerthat the members of the chapter pre-pared and served, along with danc-ing performed by the association’sgroups, accompanied by musicianswho came directly from Crete to par-ticipate in the occasion.
The president of the chapter, Left-eris Travayiakis, Esq., welcomed theguests and reminded everyone thatthey were gathered thanks to the pi-oneering Cretans who establishedthe original Cretan association inBoston in 1919, under the name of‘Minos’. “I am privileged to presideduring this historic period of ourchapter,” said Mr. Travayiakis, “andto represent so many people thathave worked hard and are dedicatedto preserving our heritage and cul-ture. I especially want to thank theBoard of Directors for their hardwork and dedication. I am alsopleased to see the attendancetonight. It exceeded all my expecta-tions and makes me feel confidentthat there is hope for the future. Forany organization to succeed and per-petuate its vision, it requires hardwork from its members and newblood from the young. We have bothhere tonight.”
A notable guest of the eveningwas the Consul General of GreeceKonstantinos Orphanides, who com-plimented the Cretans for their an-niversary milestone and congratulat-ed them for all they do to promotegood citizenship, education, andphilanthropy. “The Cretans areknown for the good work that theydo,” he said to the National Herald.“I have observed that they work ef-fectively, they volunteer in largenumbers and this is the key to theirsuccess. They are united in offeringtheir love and support to Greece andCrete and my hope is that they con-tinue to do so in the future.”
Mr. Dimitris Hatzis, PAA’s FirstDistrict governor, in his address tothe attendees, noted that: “Thename Rathamanthus-Ide is synony-mous with philanthropy andprogress”, while Dimitris Mattheospointed out that, “Tonight’s event isvery successful because the Cretanstake pride in everything they do.They have a future and tonight’s suc-cess is a testament to the effective-ness of their members.”
Mr. George Chryssis, a past PAAand chapter president added, “Thosewho founded the chapter would bevery proud to see that the Cretans ofBoston not only kept the societyalive but grew it. I am particularlypleased to see so many young peopleparticipating tonight, for it is thesepersons who will continue the legacyand the traditions of our heritage.The young people are the connect-ing link between generations andrepresent the future.”
Boston Cretans Going Strong:The PAA’s Rathamanthus-Ide
FEATURETHE NATIONAL HERALD, DECEMBER 12-18, 2009 7
By Alexandros K. KyrouSpecial to The National Herald
DAVID DAVIES and JOHN H. EL-LIOTT. El Greco. London: NationalGallery Company; New Haven, CT:Distributed by Yale UniversityPress, 2005. Pp. 319. $70.00 (pa-perback).
On November 20, 2009, both theThe New York Times and The Na-tional Herald published lead storieson the sixteenth-century artist wide-ly known as El Greco. The Times’two-page, illustrated story by Hol-land Cotter and The National Her-ald’s article by Sophia Stratakis Hul-ing reported on an exhibit showcas-ing icon painting in Venetian Crete,which opened at the Onassis CulturalCenter in Manhattan on November17, 2009, and will run until February27, 2010. Of the almost 50 religiousimages that make up the exhibit, sev-en were produced by El Greco. It is aclear testament to the towering im-portance of El Greco—a looming,primary figure both in Renaissancepainting and in the development ofmodern art—that such a relativelysmall presentation of the artist’s vastbody of work draws such major at-tention.
The Onassis Center program isthe first showing in the U.S. of theartist’s work since the dazzling ex-hibit “El Greco,” of New York’s Met-ropolitan Museum of Art which ranfrom October 2003 to January 2004.That unparalleled exhibit remainsthe most comprehensive and focusedever devoted to El Greco. In recog-nizing El Greco’s significance and theextraordinary value of their incom-parable exhibit, the directors of theMet undertook to catalog, contextu-alize, and publish the entire contentsof the showing.
The result of that ambitious pro-ject is the magisterial volume, “ElGreco”, authored by two preeminentauthorities on the artist—art histori-an David Davies, of the University ofLondon, and cultural historian JohnH. Elliott, of Oxford University. Al-though a variety of scholars providedsupplemental contributions to thisbook, Professors Davies and Elliottauthored the book’s textual writingand determined its scope and organi-zation. Furthermore, while “El Gre-co” contributes significantly to thegrowing scholarship on the artist andhis times, the book is intended fornon-specialists as well.
Of course, the heart of “El Greco”is the book’s color portfolio of the ex-hibit’s 83 catalog entries, as well assome 175 other illustrations, eachsensitively treated by accompanyingcommentary, each the subject of averitable individual study. The firsthardback and paperback editions ofthe book, which accompanied theopening of the New York exhibit in2003, as well as the more recent2005 paperback edition, are beauti-ful, coffee-table size tomes.
Above all, like the exhibit whichwas its inspiration, this volume con-stitutes the most comprehensive col-lection of El Greco’s work in print.Moreover, the authors’ several con-cise, yet brilliant, essays on the bio-graphical, cultural, historical, intel-lectual, and religious influences thatshaped the complex and evolving di-mensions of El Greco’s life and art of-fer astonishing and perceptive in-sight into the sources behind theartist’s work and legacy.
This lavish, gloriously illustratedcatalog, containing many world-fa-mous images, provides a vivid look atEl Greco’s wide range of creative me-dia and thematic interests. The au-thors consider, for example, El Gre-co’s work as an architect, iconogra-pher, and sculptor. Likewise, atten-tion is given to the artist as a painterof classical mythologies, landscapes,and portraits. Yet, and as one wouldexpect, most of the book’s images,like most of El Greco’s paintings, are
dedicated to religious subjects. In-deed, Professors Davies and Elliottpresent an authoritative analysis ofthe spiritual and aesthetic environ-ment—the religious, cultural, andeven political, milieu—that cruciallyinformed El Greco’s unique artisticgenius.
VENETIAN CRETEIn the Latin partition of Byzantine
territories after the capture of Con-stantinople by the forces of theFourth Crusade in 1204, Crete wasacquired, in 1211 by the Republic ofVenice. Crete immediately became avital strategic asset and economic re-source for Venice, crucial to the re-public’s maritime empire and its lu-crative trade network in the EasternMediterranean.
Initial Venetian occupation policyaimed at two goals: the exploitationof Crete’s economic resources andhuman labor; and the imposition ofLatin, Catholic domination over theisland’s Greek and Orthodox popula-tion. Directly appointed by Venice,Italian lords took over Crete’s landsand carved out large estates forthemselves, effectively creating a se-ries of fiefdoms across the island.The rights and privileges of the na-tive Greeks, elites and commoners,were eliminated, and most of thepopulation was pressed into serfdomor other forms of labor bondage.Church properties were seized,Crete’s Orthodox hierarchs, whowere attacked and expelled, were re-placed by Catholic bishops. The Ital-ian bishops headed a new “official”Church regime and attempted toforcibly impose papal control overthe surviving clergy and their coreli-gionists.
The Cretans both resented and re-sisted Venetian domination. Heavytaxes, demands for feudal labor, andother exploitive policies were fiercelyopposed. Religious oppression fu-eled intense antagonism. Dissent of-ten led to revolts throughout the thir-teenth and during the fourteenthcenturies. As Professor Elliott pointsout, the Cretans, “clinging tenacious-ly to their Greek culture in the face ofa repressive Venetian regime, en-gaged in periodic insurrectionsagainst Venetian rule, and fiercely re-sisted Venetian attempts to imposeupon them measures…to end theschism between Greek and Latinchurches” (p.19). These many rebel-lions culminated in a particularly se-rious, large-scale uprising in 1363.This insurrection, which lasted twoyears before being put down withconsiderable violence, had sufficient-ly shocked the Venetian regime toproduce significant concessions forthe Greeks and to lead to an overallrelaxation of Venice’s colonial poli-cies.
As a result of Venice’s new ap-proach to Crete, persecution of theOrthodox Church was ended. Al-though the Greeks remained eco-nomically and politically subordi-nate to the Venetians, the restorationof religious rights to the OrthodoxChurch was crucial in settling one ofthe Cretans’ chief grievances againstVenetian rule. Furthermore, by es-tablishing legal equality between thetwo Christian faiths, the Venetian au-thorities unwittingly established thefoundations for a social process thatwould lead to the integration, assim-ilation, and cultural admixture ofCrete’s small foreign Catholic elite in-to the large local Orthodox popula-tion. Indeed, within a century, thedifferences between Venetian andGreek Cretans in daily life were es-sentially indistinguishable.
This increasing interaction andabsorption across ethnic lines creat-ed an entirely new social, and eveneconomic, environment in Crete bythe sixteenth century. “The oncesharp divisions between colonistsand colonized were graduallyblurred. Intermarriage at all levels ofsociety had brought the two commu-nities closer, and the Venetian rulingelite…was assimilating the Greeklanguage, Greek dress and Greekways. Urban life came to reflect thenew prosperity of an island thatreaped increasing benefits from itsparticipation in Venice’s expandingmaritime and commercial empire,exporting olive oil, salt and raisinsand serving as a staging-post forVenetian shipping. Cretan familiessent their sons to study at Padua Uni-versity on the Venetian mainland,and Cretan cultural life began to re-spond to the Renaissance breezesblowing from Venice—which itselfwas indebted to the Greek refugeeswho fled to the West after the fall ofConstantinople…Gradually, in thelate fifteenth and early sixteenth cen-turies, Greek East and Latin West
were blending to create a distinctiveVenetian-Cretan culture” (pp. 19-20).
THE CRETAN SCHOOLIt was in this environment, one in
which Orthodoxy and Catholicismcoexisted and overlapped, thatDomenikos Theotokopoulos, the fu-ture “El Greco,” was born in 1541 inthe port city of Iraklion, known to theVenetians as Candia, the capital ofCrete. Domenikos was a member ofan affluent family which had pros-pered as a result of service to theVenetian state. Indeed, Domenikos’father, Georgios, was a tax collectorand merchant with far-flung ship-ping and trading interests, the ownera family business which would bepassed on to Domenikos’ older broth-er, Manoussos.
As native Cretans, theTheotokopoulos family was Greekand Orthodox. Indeed, one ofDomenikos’ uncles was an Orthodoxpriest. It is, nonetheless, quite likelythat the Theotokopoulos family, likeother Orthodox families in Crete’s ur-ban centers, may have had informallinks or contacts with Catholicism.Such interaction was not uncom-mon. Indeed, “by the mid-sixteenthcentury Venice’s more relaxed reli-gious policy had dispelled many ofthe old tensions between the Greekand Latin cults [sic]. In the new,more tolerant climate of religious co-existence, the adherents of the twofaiths would frequent each other’schurches, while both communitieswould participate in the innumer-able religious processions that en-livened the street life in Candia andthe island’s other towns, celebratingtheir shared devotion to the VirginMary and Saint Francis” (p. 20).
Another bridge between the tworeligious worlds on Crete was pro-vided by spiritual art. Cretan work-shops of the later fifteenth and earlysixteenth centuries enjoyed a flour-ishing trade in icons. These sacredimages were produced both for thedomestic market in Crete and for ex-port to Venice and the EasternMediterranean. In fact, well beforethe birth of Domenikos, a distinctschool of iconography had emergedin Crete.
The Cretan school, as the island’sparticular form of icon painting cameto be known, had been decisively in-fluenced by changing currents inByzantine art and iconography thatappeared at the beginning of thefourteenth century. Such trendsmoved towards realism while safe-guarding the traditional principles oficonography. Indeed, although theCretan school created new modes oficon painting, it reaffirmed the tradi-tional beliefs and purposes uponwhich icon painting was predicat-ed—namely, the aesthetic of express-ing spiritual realities for reverenceand prayer rather than material de-pictions of the physical world.
The new expressive tendenciesflowing from Constantinople andMistra—the seat of Byzantine ad-ministration in the Peloponnesusand the center of a brilliant culturaland intellectual revival in the years
before the end of the empire—madea dramatic impact on Cretan iconog-raphers. Moreover, after the fall ofConstantinople in 1453 and the sub-sequent Ottoman conquest of Mistrain 1460, Crete benefited enormouslyfrom the influx of a steady stream ofGreek artists and intellectuals fleeingTurkish subjugation. As a result,Crete soon became home to a spec-tacular outpouring of creativity andscholarship.
As the immediate successors tothe Byzantine tradition in the post-Byzantine era, the Greeks of Cretenurtured the many artists, iconogra-phers, scholars, theologians, andwriters who settled and flourished inCrete. Likewise, stimulated by thework of these refugees, native Cre-tans began to emerge as importantcontributors in their own right to thisveritable Greek Renaissance. Indi-vidual Cretans produced extraordi-nary achievements in literature andscholarship during this time. Yet, itwas in the realm of iconography thatCretan society made its greatest im-pact on the Greek and Mediter-ranean cultural worlds.
The originality and popularity ofCretan icon painting stemmed, inpart, from influences arising fromCrete’s unique position, after 1363,as a comparatively amicable meetingplace and center of exchange be-tween the Greek and Latin, betweenthe Orthodox and Catholic, tradi-tions. Indeed, the distinctiveness ofthe Cretan school was to a consider-able extent attributable to the localinteraction of Greek and Latin artis-tic forms. The Cretan school, in fact,“produced works of a hybrid charac-ter, in which Byzantine traditionswere modified by Western influencesbrought to the island by Venetianprints and paintings or by returningartists” (p. 20).
The nascent but obvious artistictalents of the young DomenikosTheotokopoulos qualified him fortraining in one of the many iconworkshops in Crete. EventuallyDomenikos studied alongside thegreat icon painter Damaskinos in theprestigious iconographic center ofHaghia Ekaterini in Irakleion. By hisearly twenties, Domenikos was oneof the most accomplished iconpainters in Crete. Domenikos’ sur-viving works from this perioddemonstrate the artist’s extraordi-nary execution of the methods, tech-niques, and aesthetic of the Cretanschool. His icon paintings were char-acterized by the minuteness of detail,the calligraphy of drawing, and ahighly innovative, subtle, and com-plex technique of precise, parallelbrush strokes known as “open paint-ing”. Above all, Domenikos mas-tered the Cretan school’s distinctiveuse of sumptuous coloring, made es-pecially intense by the way color wasplunged into shadow and thenemerged into light to produce an iri-descent effect—a style that in theWest would become synonymouswith El Greco.
“THE GREEK” IN THE WEST Using family contacts, Domenikos
Theotokopoulos moved to Venice in
1567. “At this stage in his career, andfor someone of his ambitions, a movefrom the provincial society of Creteto the cultural metropolis of Venicewould have offered irresistible at-tractions. Many of his compatriotshad made the same move beforehim, lured by the greater economicand social opportunities to be foundin Venice, the head of a great mar-itime empire” (p. 20).
Venice, with a population of170,000, contained a Greek émigrécommunity exceeding 20,000.Domenikos appears to have had nointeraction with the local Greeks’ re-ligious or social institutions duringhis three years in Venice. Despite anappearance, manner, and accent thatdisclosed his ethnicity, Domenikosimmersed himself in elite Venetiansociety. Ironically, it was during thistime that Domenikos became knownwithin Italian artistic and intellectualcircles as Domenico Greco, and even-tually simply as El Greco (“TheGreek”). All the same, in Italy, theartist himself continued to sign hiswork, as he would throughout hislife, in cursive Greek letters eitherwith his initials or else as DomenikosTheotokopoulos in full.
Domenikos dedicated his threeyears in Venice, followed by a periodof five years in Rome, to studyingand assimilating the techniques ofthe artists of the Renaissance. In par-ticular, the greatest living Venetianmasters, Titian and Tintoretto, had aprofound and transforming impacton El Greco’s work. It was also dur-ing this time that El Greco began tofavor canvas over the wood panelsthat he had originally painted on asan iconographer.
Through connections to Iberianroyalty he had established while inRome, El Greco left Italy in 1576 inpursuit of greater opportunity inSpain, the Catholic world’s wealthi-est and most powerful kingdom. De-spite “The Greeks” repeated efforts,he would not win the favor of Spain’smonarch in Madrid, Philip II, cham-pion of the Papacy’s Counter-Refor-mation and wars against Protes-tantism. Indeed, El Greco, an out-sider from distant Greece, who spokevery little Spanish, and whose reli-gious identity was not entirely clear,found it difficult to be easily integrat-ed into a militant environment over-shadowed by the Inquisition.
Failing to obtain secure patronagefrom the royal court in Madrid, “TheGreek” found commissions for workin nearby Toledo, a historic city longdominated by its ecclesiastical estab-lishment. “The Catholic Church wasubiquitous in this city, and membersof the civic elite, who were proud ofthe Roman and imperial heritage oftheir native city and keen to modern-ize and beautify its public buildings,were no less concerned to found andadorn churches, chapels and con-vents which would help to win thema place in Heaven and perpetuatetheir memory on earth. As an itiner-ant foreign artist in search of employ-ment El Greco, therefore, had chosenhis city well, even if he had done somore by accident than design” (p.28).
During the next forty years, ElGreco lived and worked in Toledo.His work in his studio drew consider-able interest from intellectuals andlocal elites, many with whom “TheGreek” formed close friendships. In-deed, “it was among such people—scholars, collectors and connois-seurs—that this proud foreignerseems to have felt most at home. Hisintellectual approach to the artsmade their company congenial tohim, while they admired his virtuosi-ty. As they sang his praises, so hisfame began to spread…Toledo maynot have been what El Greco had inmind as his final destination when heleft Candia on his westward journey,but…it offered him the opportunityand the stimulus to resolve withsupreme originality the artistic prob-lems arising from the personal en-counter of a painter formed in theGreek tradition with the art andartists of the Latin West” (p. 29).
DECONSTRUCTING EL GRECO Despite his prodigious and ulti-
mately successful career, not long af-ter his death in 1614, El Greco hadfallen from popularity. His work wasso personally individual that it be-longed to no conventional Westernschool of art, and, consequently, pro-duced no followers of any conse-quence. Moreover, El Greco’s reli-gious mysticism and sophisticatedconceptual forms were supplantedby the new direct, visceral Baroquestyle.
El Greco was misunderstood anddisdained for several generations.
For some time, many in the Westscorned his painting as the byprod-uct of mental illness or vision distort-ed by astigmatism. His disregard forrules of perspective and form, as wellas his use of illumination to achievesymbolic functions, were unappreci-ated. The Western Baroque style, ac-tively promoted by the CatholicChurch, was too restrained and rigidto recognize that El Greco’s approachattempted to express spiritual phe-nomena rather than depict physicalevents. El Greco was routinelydeemed as incomprehensible.
With the emergence of Romanti-cism in the late eighteenth century,the works of “The Greek” were favor-ably reevaluated. Indeed, El Greco’simportance and stature has grownsteadily since his rediscovery byartists. Today, scholars often identifyEl Greco as the great proto-modern,the progenitor of modern art and theavant-garde. His expressiveness andapproach to color significantly influ-enced both the romantic artist Eu-gene Delacroix and Edouard Manet,a pivotal figure in the transition toimpressionism. The post-impres-sionist Paul Cezanne’s use of depthand perspective acquired its founda-tional analogies from El Greco’swork. Pablo Picasso drew extensive-ly from “The Greek,” whom Picassohimself identified as his major influ-ence during his early cubist explo-rations. Jackson Pollack and otherprominent abstract expressionists al-so found in El Greco a major sourceof inspiration and direction.
Modern artists’ affinity for, anddebt to, “The Greek” stems from ElGreco’s origination of conceptual artthat is not constrained by descriptive,natural conventions regarding color,form, and perspective. In short, ElGreco’s contribution to the develop-ment of art is enormous in its scopeand revolutionary in its underlyingphilosophy. “The Greek” paved theway for freeing art, specifically West-ern art, from its formalist limitations.El Greco formulated new artisticthemes or transformed existing onesin original ways. He experimentedwith an innovative iconographic vi-sual language, one founded on histraining and experience in Orthodoxicon painting. Finally, he blendedthese currents with Western Renais-sance modes of depiction to producea groundbreaking style.
This book makes it clear that themeaning of El Greco’s unique, mysti-cal imagery can be understood ifviewed in its devotional and liturgi-cal contexts. Professor Davies, espe-cially, argues that the roots of El Gre-co’s style are to be found in the intel-lectual sources of the artist’s Christ-ian education, study of Greek philos-ophy, and in the world of his recollec-tions from the liturgical and theolog-ical aspects of the Orthodox Church.According to the authors, El Grecosought the essence of the religiousdrama, the spirit rather than the let-ter of the law. This conceptual goalcould be achieved only by the invoca-tion of the principles of iconogra-phy—that is depiction not of physicalrealism but of spiritual significance.By applying Byzantine iconographicstyle and Orthodox perspectives ofthe sacred to religious subjects in aWestern trope, El Greco createdpaintings with universal appeal, rele-vance, and importance.
One of the most intriguing impli-cations of El Greco’s work is the sug-gestion that Orthodox Christianityand modernity are indeed compati-ble and synergistic. After all, it wasthe highly conceptual theology of Or-thodoxy, whose visual corollary wasexpressed through iconography, asopposed to the rigid formalism of Ro-man Catholicism that made El Gre-co’s art so revolutionary. By drawingfrom Orthodoxy’s view of God as un-knowable, El Greco offered an ab-solutely innovative, mystical, andnew presentation, or re-presenta-tion, of the sacred, one that brokewith the stiff formalism of Catholicthought that had dominated Westerndepictions of the sacred until thatpoint. It was precisely through Or-thodoxy’s apophatic notion of God asunknowable that El Greco wasforced to find hitherto unimaginableways of rendering the sacred, inspir-ing even secular modern artists intheir examination of the nature of re-ality. In this sense, through the ge-nius and the interlocutor of El Greco,Orthodoxy is the inspiration for themodern in terms of art.
Dr. Kyrou is Associate Professor ofHistory at Salem State College inSalem, Massachusetts, where heteaches on the Balkans, Byzan-tium, and the Ottoman Empire.
BIBLIA: A BOOK REVIEW COLUMN
“El Greco”: Still Dazzling, Expressing Ancient Traditions, Inspiring Modern Artists
The Four Wallsof My RoomI know that they are all
impoverished,that these friends of mine
should haveother ornaments,
more distinguishedand more numerous, more grand.
But what do these words mean?My walls have finer manners;not for any gifts
do they love me.They are not like men.
Besides, they know they’ll holdmy possessions for but a moment,and me as well. My joys
and my woesand whatever I have here below
will pass quickly. To gifts like these
the sturdy walls are indifferent.They are long-lived
and of my brieflife they ask for nothing.
Constantine P. CavafyTranslated by Daniel Mendel-sohn
GREEK POETRY
CLEVELAND, Ohio - The sixth An-nual Dr. John and Helen Collis Fam-ily lecture was presented at theCleveland Museum of Art earlierthis fall. 600 people were in atten-dance to hear Professor Robin Cor-mack, a consultant for a recent ma-jor Byzantine exhibition in the RoyalAcademy of London titled “Byzan-tium 330-1453”.
The Dr. John and Helen CollisFamily Endowment to the ClevelandMuseum of Art provides for annuallectures whose subjects alternatebetween Greek and Byzantine Art.
This endowment brings nationallyand internationally recognized ex-perts in the field of art history andarcheology to the Cleveland area.The lectures are free to the publicand the Collis family gift whichmakes them possible is the first of itskind at the Cleveland Museum ofArt.
Speaking of the recent exhibitionin London, Cormack said it has beenfifty years since visitors to that cityand its residents were treated to acomparable exhibition. He ex-plained that the earlier exhibition
could not compare to the recent onebecause its organizers were unableto obtain loan objects from the Unit-ed States or Greece. Also little wasthen known about the extraordinaryitems in the collection of St. Cather-ine’s Monastery at Mount Sinai; aUNESCO World Heritage Site. Sev-eral works from the importantmonastery were featured in the re-cent exhibition and Dr. Cormack iscurrently at work on a book aboutthe collections at St. Catherine’sMonastery.
Over the course of an hour Dr.
Cormack took the audience on atour of the London exhibition begin-ning with the discussion of theCleveland Museum of Art’s Jonahmarbles and their importance in thehistory of relationship of classicaland hellenistic art to the develop-ment of Byzantine art. Visitors tothe museum on the day of the lec-ture were able to see two of the Jon-ah marbles on display in the muse-um lobby.
Dr. Cormack displayed imagesand described his favorite objectsfrom the exhibition including a rare
3D modeled glass paste face of St.Michael on loan from Venice’s trea-sury of San Marco; images from theParis Psalter; a stage set for Wagner’sRing cycle based on the interiorview of Aghia Sophia in Constan-tinople; the Antioch Chalice, andimpressive images of the interiorand exterior of St. Catherine’sMonastery at Mount Sinai.
The lecture was followed by areception hosted by The HellenicPreservation Society, a Greek Ameri-can organization based in Cleve-land, Ohio.
London Byzantium Exhibit the Focus of 6th Collis Lecture in Cleveland
OBITUARIES CLASSIFIEDS8 THE NATIONAL HERALD, DECEMBER 12-18, 2009
faithful children…My prayer is thatthere will be more people like Leoin the immediate and distant fu-ture.”
Archbishop Spyridon had a veryclose and friendly relationship withthe Condakes family for manyyears. Eve Condakes was one of themost able and successful presidentsof the National Philoptochos of theArchdiocese. She served under thearchpastoral tenure of ArchbishopSpyridon and she has continuedunder Archbishop Demetrios.
Archbishop Spyridon, in his eu-logy, spoke about the mystery ofdeath, quoting from St. John theEvangelist that, “The hour is com-ing and now is” and he comforted
the faithful by saying: “But do notdespair like those who have nohope.” He said that: “Leo did good,a lot of good. His faith was pure, hisrespect for the traditions, authen-tic.” He added that, “He offered hisservices to the Church as a member
of the Archdiocesan Council, amember of the Board of Trustees ofHellenic College and Holy CrossSchool of Theology” and he empha-sized that “his directness was ex-emplary.” Archbishop Spyridoncompleted his eulogy by saying:“Leo did good and those who dogood will pass from death into life.”
Mr. George Behrakis told theHerald that “Leo was a very dynam-ic individual, opinioned to thepoint; he was a very strong individ-ual and very hard-working. In thattype of business he had to get up at2 o’clock in the morning to servicethe produce for the supermarketsand the restaurants.” He alsoadded, “The whole family is a veryphilanthropic family.”
At the funeral service, in addi-
tion to the presiding priest of theCathedral, Archimandrite CleopasStroggylis, Frs. EmmanuelMetaxas, Nicholas Triantafilou,Theodore Barbas, George Dragas,Costas Sitaras, Constantine Com-bitsis and Demetrios Tonias also
participated.Fr. Barbas, chancellor of the Me-
tropolis of Boston, read letters ofcondolences from PatriarchBartholomew and ArchbishopDemetrios. Mr. Condakes wasburied at the Mount Auburn Ceme-tery and the memorial meal tookplace at the Church of the Taxiar-chae community center of Water-town.
Leo Peter Condakes was born onJune 3, 1924 and he passed awayFriday morning, December 4, sur-rounded by his wife, Evanthea, andhis beloved family at the age of 85.
Born and bred in Boston, Massa-chusetts, Leo Condakes has neverstrayed far from his home and hischurch. The scion of an old BostonGreek American family, whose pa-triarch founded Peter CondakesCompany, Leo and his brothers,George, John, and James, parlayedtheir passion for work and theircreativity into transforming theirfather’s small family produce busi-ness in Boston into a New Englandgiant.
Leo was educated in the Bostonpublic school system, and later tookclasses at Wentworth Institute, be-fore being drafted into the U.S.Army. Leo's tour of duty in thearmy extended through the KoreanWar. Upon his release, Leo carriedforward his commitment to citizen-ship and service, developed in thearmy, to his life in the church andcommunity-at-large.
Upon his discharge from mili-tary service, he rejoined his fatherand brothers at Peter CondakesCompany. United again, the com-pany grew to be the largest producewholesaler in New England, alongthe way notching a few "firsts” forits industry. For instance, the fami-ly business was the first producewholesaler to import products fromthe rest of the nation and theworld.
Companion to Leo’s prodigiouswork effort was his faith. A lifelongmember of the Annunciation GreekOrthodox Cathedral of Boston, Leoserved on its board of trustees. Healso helped expand the church'sreach in the Boston area, becoming
an active member of five other areaGreek Orthodox churches, thus so-lidifying his reputation as one ofthe church’s best known philan-thropists. In recognition of his ser-vice to the church, Leo became oneof the first members of the Arch-bishop Iakovos Leadership 100,and was a major benefactor of theEcumenical Patriarchate in Con-stantinople. He also served on theArchdiocesan Council and on theExecutive Board of Trustees forHellenic College-Holy Cross, ofBrookline. He was granted the titleof Archon of the Ecumenical Patri-archate.
In 2003, ever the proud HellenicAmerican, Leo received the Ellis Is-land Medal of Honor, presented bythe National Ethnic Coalition of Or-ganizations (NECO). The awardsare presented annually in Ellis Is-land’s Great Hall – in a tribute tothe ancestry groups that compriseAmerica’s unique and dynamic cul-tural mix - to American citizens ofdiverse origins for their outstand-
ing contributions to their commu-nities, their nation and the world.
As patrons of the arts, he and hiswife were major benefactors ofBoston’s Museum of Fine Arts andfunded the establishment of itsGallery of East Greek Art, whichbears their names.
Leo is survived by his wife,Evanthea (Collatos), six childrenand their spouses, two sisters and12 grandchildren.
Former Archbishop Spyridon,who officiated at the funeral, waswarmly received by Mrs. Eve Con-dakes, the children and grandchil-dren of Leo, and also by the many
Greek Orthodox who had gatheredat the Cathedral in order to pay theirrespects to Mr. Condakes. Manyprominent Greek Americans such asGeorge Behrakis and George Siofilwent into the Holy Altar and theywarmly greeted Archbishop Spyri-don. Mr Behrakis told The NationalHerald, “It is always good to seeArchbishop Spyridon. I have beenan admirer of his. I think he is agood man; it just happened that hewas in a bad position and unfortu-nately these things happen.”
Mr. Behrakis was referring toArchbishop Spyridon’s resignationin August of 1999 after three yearsof archpastoral ministry.
Speaking exclusively to The Na-tional Herald, Archbishop Spyri-don, projected professed love andforgiveness for all, saying that, “Ido not think it is to the benefit of aman to hold sentiments of hatredor other feelings, which are notpure love for his fellow men,” andhe added, “We must love all, thosewho love us, and those who donot.”
Asked how he felt about beingback in the U.S. and whether hemissed the Greek American com-munity, he said, “It is like I neverleft; it seems like I never departed. Isee beloved persons and I am hap-py to see them advancing and pro-gressing.”
When it was pointed out to himthat he loves America, ArchbishopSpyridon said, “Of course, I wasborn here, I went to school here;this is my country, but Greece is mymotherland. He added, “I miss mygood friends, but from time to timeI come and visit them.”
Contact Theodore Kalmoukos [email protected].
Former Archbishop Spyridon of America officiates at Leo Condakes’ Funeral
BILLERIS, NICHOLASST. PETERSBURG, Fl. – The St. Pe-tersburg Times reported that Dr.Nicholas Billeris, 86, passed awayon November 23. He was a pastpresident of The Manatee CountyDental Association, a member ofThe American Dental Association,The West Coast Dental Association,The Florida Dental Association,The Academy One Hundred Fieldof Dental Education, and theBraidentown Masonic Lodge #99.He was born on March 12, 1923 inYoungstown, Ohio to John and An-na Billiris of Kalymnos, Greece. Hegraduated valedictorian and presi-dent of his class from TarponSprings High School in 1941. Hepursued his education by hitchhik-ing to Tennessee, then traveling onto California to attend UCLA atnight where he was employed withthe Douglas Aircraft Factory duringthe day. In 1943 he served as Sgt.with the Army Air Corps WeatherSquadron 2nd Division. He alsoserved as a Greek interpreter forArmy Intelligence and receivedfour Bronze Stars for his service inthe European Theater. A very intel-ligent, kind, and loving man, he al-ways put his family and patients be-fore himself. Visitation was held atGriffith-Cline Funeral Home. Inlieu of flowers, memorial donationsmay be made to Tidewell Hospiceand Palliative Care, 5955 RandBlvd., Sarasota, FL 34238. He issurvived by his loving wife of 61years, Kelly Billeris; his children,Anna (Gregory) Billeris-Boast andJohn (Holly) Billeris; his brotherHarry Billiris; his sister-in-lawJacqueline (Fred) Langford; andhis nieces and nephews, Toni(Charles) Hampton, Tom Billiris,James (Cina) Moore Jr. and great-nephew Jason Edwards Moore.
BORDOKAS, DIONISIALOS ANGELES, Calif. – The Los An-geles Daily News reported thatDionisia Bordokas, 77, passedaway peacefully on November 28.She was born on February 4, 1932in Abelokabos, Greece. Dionisia issurvived by her children, Athens(Ileana), Kostantina (Gary) andGeorge (Penny); eight grandchil-dren; three great grandchildren;and Vas. A Trisagion prayer servicewas held at Bastian & Perrott, Os-wald Mortuary. Funeral serviceswere held at St. Nicholas Church.Bastian & Perrott Oswald Mortuar-ty Chapel. (818) 886-8600
BOSBONIS, ANGELATORONTO, CANADA – The TorontoStar reported that Angela Bosbonispassed away peacefully at the Scar-borough General Hospital on No-vember 29. She was predeceasedby her husband, Paul. She is sur-vived by her siblings, Gionoula,Emilia, Stavros and Peter. She willbe lovingly remembered by otherfamily and friends. Visitation washeld at the Paul O’Conner FuneralHome. Funeral services were heldin St. John's Church.
FOTOS, GEORGENEWBURYPORT, Mass. – The DailyNews of Newburyport reported that
George H. Fotos, 88, passed awaypeacefully on November 27 at PortHealthcare. He was born in New-buryport on August 16, 1921; he wasone of six children of the late Harryand Panagiota (Stavropoulos) Fotos.He attended Newburyport HighSchool. A veteran of World War II,stationed in Belgium, he served withthe United States Army from Sep-tember 21, 1945, until his honorabledischarge on February 3, 1947.George had worked for the City ofNewburyport with the Departmentof Public Works as well as the WaterDepartment until his retirement. Hewas an active member of the Churchof the Annunciation, where heserved on the Board of Directors formany years. He was predeceased byhis siblings, John Fotos, Rose Anton-akis, Catherine Tickelis and Mary Fo-tos. He is survived by his brother,Soteros; his nieces, Irene (Nicholas,Sr.) Katsoulis, Daphne Tikellis, Patri-cia (Arthur) Vemis and Joanne(Alex) Zavalianos; his grand-nephews, Nicholas Katsoulis, Jr., Ja-son Katsoulis, Gregory Vemis andZachary Zavalianos; two grand-nieces, Kristina, and Alexis; and sev-eral great-grandnieces and great-grandnephews. Visitation and funer-al services were held at the Church ofAnnunciation. Donations in hismemory may be made to the Church,P.O.B. 575, Newburyport, MA01950. Arrangements are by Elliott,Woodworth & Rogers Family Funer-al Home, 35 Green St., Newbury-port.
KALOGIROU, DROSOULAPROVIDENCE, R.I. – The Provi-dence Journal reported thatDrosoula Kalogirou, 61, passedaway on November 26 at CarolinasMedical Center. She was born inElea, Greece, on May 20, 1948. Shewas predeceased by her parents,Evangelos and Vasiliki Lambrou.She is survived by her husband of40 years, Manthos Kalogirou; herchildren, Elias (Judith) Kalogirouand Christine Kalogirou; her grand-son, Alecos Kalogirou and manybrothers, sisters and extended fam-ily members. A funeral service washeld at Holy Trinity Cathedral.Arrangements are in the care ofHankins & Whittington FuneralService. Please share condolencesonline at hankinswhittington.com
KAMARIOTIS, DOMNACHICAGO, Ill. – The Chicago Tri-bune reported that Domna Kamari-otis passed away peacefully. Shewas predeceased by her parents,Eleni and John Fenerli and herbrother, Gregory Fenerli. She is sur-vived by her beloved husband,Spiros and her son, Bill Kamariotis.Funeral services were held at St.Andrew Church. Visitation washeld at Smith-Corcoran FuneralHome. Memorial donations to St.Andrew Church would be appreci-ated. www.smithcorcoran.com or773-736-3833.
KARAS, WILLIAMCHARLOETTE, N.C. - The Char-lotte Observer reported thatWilliam Spero Karas, 77, passedaway on November 29 at Presbyter-
ian Hospital. He was born Septem-ber 29, 1932, in Kzelsmeno, Evryta-nia, Greece. He was a devoted andloving father, brother, grandfatherand great-grandfather. He enjoyedtaking care of his family. He is sur-vived by his seven children, hisbrother, his sister, eight grandchil-dren and four great-grandchildren.Funeral services and a Trisagionservice were held at Holy TrinityCathedral with Father Michael Var-varelis and Father Efstathios Var-varelis officiating. Arrangementsare in the care of Hankins & Whit-tington Funeral Service. Pleaseshare condolences online atwww.hankinswhittington.com. Mayhis memory be eternal.
KOSTOPOULOS, KONSTANTINOS
CHICAGO, Ill. - The Chicago Sun-Times reported that Kostantinos E.Kostopoulos, 70, passed awaypeacefully. He was born in Athens,Greece. He was a proud member ofthe United Athenian Pireas Society.He is survived by his beloved wife,Stavroula; his sons, Steve (Tisha)and Pete (Pamela); his grandchil-dren, Dean, Gia, Stacy and Marina;and many nieces and nephews hereand in Greece. The funeral washeld at Salerno's Rosedale Chapels.Funeral services and visitationwere held at St. Demetrios Church.Arrangements by Nicholas M.Pishos, Funeral Director, LTD. 630-889-1700.
LYSSIKATOS, GEORGEPHOENIX, Az. - The Arizona Repub-lic reported that George Lyssikatos,73, passed away peacefully on No-vember 24 with his wife of 43 years,Katerina, at his side. He was born inMelana, Greece. George was thefifth of seven children. As a teenagerhe immigrated to Montreal, Canadaand then married and moved to theUnited States. He was a successfulrestaurateur. George was an avidBoston Bruins fan and enjoyed trav-eling and exploring the world. Hewas a firm believer in the AmericanDream and ardent supporter of edu-cation. George is survived by hiswife, Katerina; his children, John(Emily) and Gregoria (Troy); hisbrothers, Constantine and Basil; hissister Eleni; and many nieces andnephews. Visitation was held at theQueen of Heaven Mortuary Chapel.Funeral services were held at St.Katherine’s Church. In lieu of flow-ers, the family requests donations bemade to the Humane Society ofSouthern Arizona 3450 N. KevinBlvd. Tucson, Arizona 85716 or theMichael J. Fox Foundation forParkinson's Research Church StreetStation, P.O. Box 780, New York,New York 10008.
MAMAKOS, DENISESAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – The SanFrancisco Chronicle reported thatDenise Mamakos passed away onNovember 15, surrounded by herhusband and children in Athens,Greece, from complications of lungcancer. Denise was born in Piraeus,Greece, to Martha and George Or-fanos, a sculptor, inventor, and en-gineer. Denise developed her talent
in sculpture working with her fa-ther. After raising her childrenDenise continued to practice sculp-ture, casting many of her pieces inbronze. She continued her work inGlyfada Greece, where she livedwith her husband for the last tenyears. Denise's principal passionwas music. She earned her Diplomain Music and a Master of Arts De-gree in Piano and Music Theoryfrom the National Conservatory ofMusic in Athens. She was an activeperformer in Athens, most notablyat the Parnassos Theatre. Denise'spromising piano career earned hera Scholarship which sent her to SanFrancisco in the early 1960's, whereMayor George Christopher be-stowed upon her the key to the city.Denise was an active member of theSan Francisco Greek community.Most of the rotating Greek ConsulGenerals and their families wouldbe greeted graciously in her homeafter their arrival for their tenure.She is survived by her husband,Socrates; her children Nicholas,Christina, Laura (Stathis) Triphyllisand Mark; her granddaughters,Kleo and Arrieta; her sisters, andmany nieces and nephews. In mem-ory of Denise's and in honour of hercontributions as musician, artist,wife, mother and grandmother, herfamily has established the DeniseMamakos Foundation to supportyoung aspiring musicians. For fur-ther information please [email protected].
NELLOS, KATERINABROCKTON, Mass. – The Enter-prise reported that Katerina Nellos,4, passed away on November 27, atthe Children’s Hospital in Boston,after a lengthy illness. She was adaughter of Peter and Joann Nel-los. She enjoyed Dora the Explorer,the Little Mermaid and eatingchicken fingers, fish and especiallyonion rings from her family’srestaurant. She loved praying andadored angels. She especially lovedgoing to the beach, playing in thesand, going to her godmother’shouse for lunch and going to Maineto drive her padrinhos speedboat.In addition to her parents, Katerinais survived by her siblings, Stevenand Aires Nellos; her grandmoth-ers, Katerina Nellos and MariaGomes; her Godfather, PeterPanagopoulos; her Godmother,Maria Ines (Joe) Couto. Funeralwas held at the Farley FuneralHome. Funeral services were heldat the Annunciation Church. In lieuof flowers, donations in Katerina'sname may be made to the Chil-dren’s Hospital, 300 LongwoodAve., Boston, MA 02115.
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Continued from page 1
Archbishop Spyridon consoles Eve Condakes during the funeral ser-vice for her late husband, philanthropist Leo Condakes. AnnunciationCathedral Dean V. Rev. Cleopas Strongylis is seen far right.
Archbishop Spyridon, formerly of America, presided over the funeralfor Leo Condakes at the Annunciation Cathedral, Boston. CathedralDean V. Rev. Cleopas Strongylis is next to the Archbishop.
Greece’s deficit will reach 12.7 per-cent of output this year, four timesthe European Union’s limit. Greekstocks and bonds were then roiledwhen the Dubai crisis made in-vestors question whether the EUwould stand behind Greece’s $450billion in outstanding bonds.
“The Greek government has tocreate a platform with the people sothat they are behind the new plans,”said Rob Dekker, who helps manage$145 billion in funds at F&C AssetManagement Plc in Amsterdam.They must show the EU and in-vestors “they are serious about re-ducing the deficit. I don’t think theycan spend their way out of the bud-get deficit, that’s not how it works.The deficit is too big.”
Papandreou’s government willpresent a new deficit plan to the EUin January as Greece tries to staveoff possible sanctions for violatingthe deficit rules. Investors say heneeds to reverse course and sellunions, voters and his own allies onthe need to cut spending and boostrevenue by about 10 percent of eco-nomic output to get the shortfallback within the limit. BANKRUPTCY FEARS QUELLED
Fears that Greece faces imminentbankruptcy are unfounded but the
country must take "harsh" measuresto shore up its economy, Eurogroupchairman Jean-Claude Juncker saidon Sunday.
"I am surprised, if not angry, withnews stories spreading (the impres-sion) to the public and markets thatGreece is entering a condition ofbankruptcy," Juncker told the Eleft-herotypia daily in an interview. "Yes,Greece must take harsh measures,but under no condition is it under astate of bankruptcy," he said. I am abit concerned... (but) I am confidentthat the government, which faces atragic situation, will take responsi-bility for the necessary measures."
Mr. Juncker, head of the euro-zone finance ministers' grouppledged that "we will monitor thesituation in Greece every month…(But) the Eurogroup council is re-lieved that reliability and honestyhave returned to Greek statistics."
European Central Bank PresidentJean-Claude Trichet expressed simi-lar feelings on Monday, speakingfrom Brussels. "The situation inGreece is a very difficult situation,very difficult," Trichet told membersof the European Parliament here."Obviously we all know the figuresand we all know the very importantand courageous decisions that haveto be taken to put the situation backon track. I am confident that the
government of Greece, being lucid... will take the appropriate deci-sions," he said.
Investors appear skeptical fornow. The difference, or spread, be-tween the yield on Greek 10-yeargovernment bonds and Germanequivalents stood at 177 basis pointson Dec. 4, up from 108 basis pointsin August. That compares with 159basis points for the debt of Ireland,which the EU predicts will have thebloc’s second-biggest deficit thisyear at 12.5 percent of GDP. Greece’sbenchmark stock index has dropped12 percent in a month, comparedwith a 3.3 percent gain in the Stoxx600.
Greece’s widening deficit andconstant revisions of its own statisti-cal data prompted EU Monetary Af-fairs Commissioner Joaquin Almu-nia to say on Dec. 2, “the problemsin Greece are problems of the euroarea.”
Papandreou won the election,gaining a 10-seat majority inGreece’s 300-member parliament,on promises of a 3-billion euro ($4.5billion) stimulus package, that in-cluded higher wages, a one-off “soli-darity” benefit for poorer Greeks,and more spending on health andeducation.
Former Prime Minister CostasKaramanlis, who called the vote
halfway through his second term toseek a new mandate to tackleGreece’s economic woes, pledgedwage and hiring freezes and possi-ble tax increases. He lost by thewidest margin in almost 30 years.
Unions have already flexed theirmuscle under the new administra-tion. A threat by ADEDY, the unionof civil servants, to call a strikeforced the government to limit thenumber of civil servants it would ex-clude from a planned 1.5 percentwage increase.
The EU can fine Greece as muchas 0.5 percent of gross domesticproduct every year until the shortfallis back in line. Whether the commis-sion would implement sanctionsthat would only aggravate Greece’sdeficit and could harm the credibili-ty of the EU’s economic governanceremains to be seen, economists said.
“We are all determined to do theright thing,” Minister for Economy,Competitiveness and Shipping Lou-ka Katseli said in a Dec. 4 interview.Still, “it will take three years” tobring the deficit down to the EU’s 3percent limit.
About 75 percent of the deficitreduction plan comes from raisingrevenue rather than cutting spend-ing, Deutsche Bank AG economistsMark Wall and Thomas Mayer esti-mate. Much of that will come from a
crackdown on tax evasion, a chronicproblem in Greece that a series ofgovernments have pledged to com-bat.
“Its banking on the hope thateverything will turn your way,” saidElwin de Groot, an economist atRabobank Groep in Utrecht, theNetherlands. “There are no strongmeasures like we are seeing in Ire-land.” The Irish government will an-
nounce on Dec. 9 it’s cutting spend-ing by 4 billion euros, or 10 percentof GDP even after public-sector paycuts triggered the biggest strike in30 years.
This story incorporates reportsfrom Bloomberg, The AssociatedPress, AFP, and MNI.Contact Christopher Tripoulas [email protected].
WASHINGTON (AP/DPA) — Seek-ing more help in the war inAfghanistan, President Barack Oba-ma praised Turkey for its "outstand-ing" contributions there.
Speaking in the Oval Office aftera private meeting with TurkishPrime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo-gan, Obama said Turkey's commit-ments have helped bring stabilityto Afghanistan. Turkey took overthe rotating command of the NATOpeacekeeping operation in Kabullast month and doubled the num-ber of it troops to around 1,750.
However, it has resisted repeatedU.S. requests to send its troops oncombat operations.
Last week, Obama ordered30,000 more U.S. troops be sent toAfghanistan. The administrationexpects its allies to provide up to10,000 reinforcements.
Obama also expressed his con-dolences for a recent terrorist at-tack in Turkey, and said the twoleaders reaffirmed their commit-ment to defeat terrorism "regard-less of where it occurs."
At least five Turkish soldiers
were killed and several otherswounded in an ambush Monday incentral Turkey. Authorities have notidentified the attackers, but Kur-dish and leftist militants are activein the area.
Monday's meeting between thetwo leaders comes at a time of ris-ing Turkish influence in the MiddleEast and southeast Europe. Beforeleaving for Washington, Erdogansaid Turkey has already con-tributed the "necessary number" oftroops in Afghanistan, and thatTurkish military and police willtrain their Afghan counterparts andpress ahead with health, educationand infrastructure projects there.
Turkey's participation in theAfghan mission carries enormoussymbolic importance because it isthe only Muslim country workingwith U.S. troops to beat back theresurgent Taliban and deny Al-Qae-da a sanctuary.
More broadly, however, theUnited States would like Turkey touse its sway as a regional powerand Muslim majority ally to helpsolve some of America's trickiestforeign policy problems, but thetwo sides disagree on many of theimportant issues.
Turkey has sought to become amediator for the United States withIran and Arab countries, but it isunclear whether the Obama admin-istration is eager for Ankara to playthat role. The two sides disagree onsanctions against Iran, and theObama administration is uneasyabout recent Turkish disputes withIsrael.
Greater friction is looming asthe Obama administration intensi-fies pressure on Iran to end its nu-clear ambitions. A U.S. push forsanctions at the U.N. SecurityCouncil, where Turkey currentlysits as a nonpermanent member,will force Ankara to choose be-tween a NATO ally and an impor-tant neighbor.
The two allies also will need tonavigate the perennial issue of an
annual U.S. statement on the WorldWar I-era massacre of up to 1.5.million Armenians by OttomanTurks. Breaking a campaignpledge, Obama has refrained fromreferring to the killings as geno-cide, a term widely viewed bygenocide scholars as an accuratedescription.
The Obama administration hassaid it is concerned that the sensi-tive issue could upset talks thatcould lead to reconciliation and areopening of the border betweenArmenia and Turkey. It remains un-clear how the administration willhandle the issue in the future, espe-cially if talks between Turkey andArmenia falter.
Tensions have eased over coop-eration in Northern Iraq. Turkishcomplaints about a lack of U.S. helpin rooting out Kurdish militantslaunching attacks on Turkey fromIraq loomed over Erdogan's WhiteHouse visit with former PresidentGeorge W. Bush in 2007.
Since then Turkey has boostedtrade in the region and improvedties with members of the Kurdishminorities living on both sides of itsborder with Iraq.
Meanwhile, during their meet-ing on Monday, Dec. 7, 2009 Euro-pean Union foreign ministers pres-sured Turkey to open its ports toCypriot vessels in a bid to maketalks over re-unifying the islandeasier.
EU member states have frozenTurkey's bid to join the bloc be-cause of its refusal to allow GreekCypriot ships and aircraft into itsports. But the EU is keen to improverelations with Ankara so thatTurkey will help push for a peacesettlement on Cyprus.
“On Turkey, the train must moveon: we should avoid a crash. We ofcourse hope that Turkey wouldmove a little bit on the Ankara Pro-tocol as well,” Finnish Foreign Min-ister Alexander Stubb said as he ar-rived in Brussels for talks with EUcounterparts.
es in aging-related expenditures -at 15% of GDP - in the EU between2010 and 2050 according to theEuropean Commission," Fitch said. TURKEY GAINING ON GREECE
Tuesday's ratings downgradedrove yields on Greece’s 2-yearbonds above Turkey’s for the firsttime as investors cited Greece's rat-ings downgrade and signs that theTurkish economy is emerging fromrecession. The yield investors arewilling to accept to buy Greece’s3.8 percent bond due March 2011jumped 45 basis points to 2.52 per-cent. Yields on Turkey’s 9.5 percenteuro-denominated bonds due Jan-uary 2011 fell about two basispoints to 2.06 percent.
It’s the first time since the Greekdebt was issued in January 2008that yields are higher than in neigh-boring Turkey. “On a standalonebasis, Turkey is a better credit,”said Timothy Ash, head of Europe,the Middle East and Africa researchat Royal Bank of Scotland GroupPlc in London. “Greece will contin-ue to suffer from the fact that it’sgot very weak fundamentals. Thedivision between emerging and de-veloped countries is weakening.Greece probably is going back-wards.”
Turkey’s credit ranking was lift-ed two levels to BB+, the highestspeculative-grade status, by Fitchlast week. The ratings company cit-ed the economy’s “resilience” dur-ing the global financial crisis. Turk-ish industrial production unexpect-edly rose in October from a yearearlier, the first increase in 15months, the statistics office said to-day.
PRESSURE MOUNTING"The pressure for the govern-
ment to do something bolder is defi-nitely mounting because all Euro-pean institutions and ratings agen-cies are definitely sending messagesto Greece that the situation is unsus-tainable," Citigroup economist Gia-da Giani said.
The euro extended its losses tohit a day's low, while bund futureshit a one-week high and Greek bankshares' falls on the day reached al-most 8 percent after the Fitch state-ment on Tuesday.
The premium that investors de-mand to hold 10-year Greek govern-ment bonds rather than euro zonebenchmark German Bunds rose toaround 230 basis points, its widestsince April 21.
Jean-Claude Juncker, who chairsthe Eurogroup of euro zone financeministers, said last week that Greecefaced no risk of bankruptcy, and Eu-ropean Central Bank PresidentJean-Claude Trichet said he wasconfident the government wouldtake the necessary "very difficult,very courageous" measures.
Fitch said in a statement thedowngrade "reflects concerns overthe medium-term outlook for publicfinances given the weak credibilityof fiscal institutions and the policyframework in Greece, exacerbatedby uncertainty over the prospects fora balanced and sustained economicrecovery."
Markets' broader concerns arethat deeper troubles for Greecewould also throw the spotlight onother euro zone borrowers such asIreland, Portugal and Spain whichhave been hit hard by the financialcrisis.
"Fiscal slippage relative to cur-rent plans could result in a furtherdowngrade, while the emergence ofa much stronger policy commitmentand its consistent implementationcould see the outlook revised to Sta-ble," Fitch said in the statement.
The downgrade could make itharder in the long term for Greekbanks to use government bonds ascollateral to borrow funds from theECB, although Greek central bankgovernor George Provopoulos saidthere was a "safe distance" beforeany collateral problems would arise.
Greece makes up about 2.5 per-cent of the euro zone economy, butRBS calculates that Greek banks ac-count for about 7 percent of out-standing ECB liquidity, makingGreek banks the second most depen-dent on ECB funds after Ireland.
This article incorporates reportsfrom the Wall Street Journal,Reuters, and BloombergContact Christopher Tripoulas [email protected].
GREECE CYPRUSTHE NATIONAL HERALD, DECEMBER 12-18, 2009 9
Andy Dabilis’ camera captures the texture of life in today’s Greece, inall its colorful variations.
HIDDEN GREECE
No One home
Greece is full of abandoned homes like this one in Marathon, and youcan only wonder, as you walk by, what scenes happened there. Thenoise and laughter of people and families are long gone now, but theechoes still bounce.
TNH/ANDY DABILIS
By Christopher TripoulasThe National Herald Staff Writer
ATHENS, Greece — The nightmareof last year's riots, plunging Greeceinto a protracted two-week state ofchaos and looting – the worst civilianprotests in decades – was briefly re-visited this past weekend, on the one-year anniversary of the death ofAlexandros Grigoropoulos, whichtriggered last year’s riots. Maskedyouths hurled firebombs and chunksof marble at police during a march inAthens on Sunday to mark the firstanniversary of the police shooting ofthe 15-year-old boy. Police retaliatedby firing volleys of tear gas to dis-perse the youths in running streetbattles in the center of the capital.
Over 6,000 officers had been as-sembled over the weekend to dealwith protestors, in what was the newSocialist Government's first big testregarding public order. The new So-cialist government, which came topower in October and now must copewith the surge in armed attacks byfar-left and anarchist groups after lastyear's shooting, had vowed a zero-tolerance approach to violence.
Despite the two-day outbreaks ofviolence, the Government was gener-ally successful in maintaining order.Political leaders, including Greece'sPresident Karolos Papoulias andPrime Minister George Papandreouhad issued calls late last weekend forrestraint during events associatedwith the staged protests. Police alsoraided a firebomb-making hideouton Saturday December 5 in an effortto proactively prevent a repeat of lastyear's situation. Two children ofGreek Parliament Vice PresidentGrigoris Niotis were among the 22
people arrested during the raid. Mr.Niotis’ daughter, a 30-year-oldlawyer, and son, a 25-year-old gradu-ate student, both face felony charges.
On Sunday, December 6, rioterssmashed bank windows, overturnedtrash bins and set them alight as theyhurled rocks and fire crackers at riotpolice. Police detained protesters inAthens, as well as in the northern cityof Thessaloniki, where a similardemonstration turned violent. Police
also clashed with protesters in thesouthern city of Patras and the north-western city of Ioannina. At least fiveprotesters and 16 police were injuredin the violence, police said.
Police on motorcycles chased riot-ers amid scenes of chaos at Athens'main Syntagma Square, with youthspunching and kicking officers whowere pushed off their bikes.
At Athens University, masked pro-testers broke into the building and
pulled down a Greek flag, replacing itwith a black-and-red anarchist ban-ner. Authorities said the university'sdean was injured when the youthsbroke into the building, and he washospitalized in an intensive care unit.Athens University Rector ChristosKittas remained hospitalized aftersuffering a mild concussion and amild heart attack on Sunday night,after being hit in the head by maskedyouths. The attack has prompted
calls for the Greek Government to re-visit Greece's liberal university asy-lum policy, which is frequently takenadvantage of by fringe groups.
As night fell, about 200 maskeddemonstrators were holed up in theneoclassical university building,smashing marble chunks off the uni-versity steps and ripping up pavingstones from the courtyard to use asmissiles against the police, beforeeventually leaving the building.
Clashes between demonstratorsand police continued late into thenight at another campus building,the Athens Polytechnic, after about400 people gathered at the sitewhere Grigoropoulos was shot deadin central Athens' Exarchia district.Masked youths holed up in the build-ing, which police are barred from en-tering, and emerged to hurl rocksand bottles at the officers, who re-sponded with tear gas.
Civil Protection Minister MichalisChrisochoidis defended tougher tac-tics used by police, despite criticismfrom left-wing opposition partySYRIZA which said the government'sresponse had been heavy-handed.
"Police detentions, when justified,are not illegal in a democratic society.Neither is it illegal for judicial officialsto press charges," the minister said."Vandals and hooligans have nothingto do with democracy."
In Thessaloniki, Greece's second-largest city, youths threw gasolinebombs at police, set fire to severalcars and smashed 10 storefronts, in-cluding a Starbucks cafe.
In a newspaper interview pub-lished Sunday, Grigoropoulos' moth-er, Jina Tsalikian, described her sonas a quiet and friendly boy whostayed away from demonstrations.
"Before his death, Alexandros wasjust a kid like all the others. But nowhe has become a symbol of the chil-dren of his generation," Tsalikian toldthe weekly Veto newspaper, chal-lenging claims by a police officercharged with her son's murder thatthe boy had been hit by a warningshot. "He was shot in cold blood — allthe eyewitnesses say this," she said.
Grigoropoulos was shot when twopolice officers on patrol confronted agroup of youths in Exarchia, whereprotests frequently occur.
Two police officers have beencharged with murder and attemptedmurder for the teenager's death.Their trial is to begin on Jan. 20.
Skirmishes continued on Mondayduring mass student demonstrationsto mark the anniversary. Maskedyouths smashed store windows andhurled rocks and firebombs at riotpolice who responded with tear gas.
Monday's clashes broke out dur-ing a demonstration by about 3,000people, mostly high-school stu-dents, through the center of Athens.Several dozen youths at the tail endof the march attacked riot policewith rocks, firebombs and firecrack-ers, smashing some of the bus stops,telephone booths and storefrontsnot damaged in Sunday's demon-stration.
Protesters injured a passer-bywho attempted to intervene, beatingthe middle-aged man unconscious.Police detained at least three youths.
This story incorporates reportsfrom The Associated Press, theAthens News Agency, and Greekdaily To Ethnos.Contact Christopher Tripoulas [email protected].
Police, Protesters Clash on Anniversary of 2008 Riots, but the Worst is Averted
Anarchists burn the Greek flag during clashes in Athens on Dec. 6. Protesters hurled rocks and burninggarbage at police during a march to mark the first anniversary of the police shooting of a teenager.
Greek Credit Rating is CutAmid Finance ProblemsContinued from page 1
Mr. Erdogan Goes to Washington, as EU Pressures Turkey
Greek Finance minister GeorgePapaconstantinou told the For-eign Press Association on Wed.Dec. 9,2009 that he anticipatesturmoil for the Greek economyon the international marketsover the next few months.
EUROKINISSI
PM George Papandreou Calls Financial Crisis a Threat to Greek SovereigntyContinued from page 1
EUROKINISSI
EDITORIALS LETTERS10 THE NATIONAL HERALD, DECEMBER 12-18, 2009
What New York Needs Today Is a New Greek ‘Boite’ Scene
To the Editor:"I thoroughly enjoyed reading the
article on Greek American Boites,written by Mr. Maninakis. I was nota part of the boite "scene" of the1980s, but I often long for a placewhere I can listen and sing along toquality Greek music. Unfortunately,such a place does not exist today inthe New York area. Mr. Maninakisand the Mikrokosmos Ensemble haveattempted to resurrect the intimateatmosphere of a boite at several localrestaurants, private homes and smallconcert halls. Lets hope the ideacatches on and this truly unique styleof musical performance becomespopular and accessible once again."
Pauline TampakisNew York
Of Pipelines and Presidents:‘Why Are We In Afghanistan?’
To the Editor:Your editorial, “What is the policy
on Afghanistan?” Should bechanged and called “Why are we inAfghanistan?” Does Afghanistanhave oil? Absolutely not. But, twoformer Soviet republics which bor-der on Afghanistan, do have oil. U.S.oil companies want to build
pipelines from these two republics,going through Afghanistan to a Pak-istani seaport in the Indian Ocean.
I remember seeing a photo of for-mer Vice President Dick Cheney, sit-ting down with the leaders of theTaliban, trying to negotiate apipeline deal. The deal fell apart be-cause the Taliban demanded an ex-orbitant amount of money. The oilcompanies refused to pay.
After this fiasco, the Bush admin-istration immediately began plansto overthrow the Taliban and takecontrol of Aghanistan. This was alldone before 9/11 and the invasionof Iraq. The oil companies never gottheir pipeline. The Afghan peoplegot only death and destruction oftheir country. The rest is history.
In conclusion, former presidentDwight Eisenhower, in this farewellspeech to the American people,made the following remark: “Be-ware of the military-industrial com-plex.” Since the time of LyndonJohnson, to the present administra-tion of Barack Obama, we have gonefrom one disastrous war to another.Let us hope that this young presi-dent has the wisdom and insight toget our troops out at an earlier date,despite the objection of the military-industrial complex.
Nicholas GolegosFlushing, N.Y.
Give us your property!!!The demand - for that is what it is, in essence - by the Ecumenical Patri-
arch Bartholomew to our Metropolitans, presented in a letter signed byhim, to transfer ownership of at least one building from each one of themto the Patriarchate, is a terrible idea and the request should be withdrawnimmediately.
If it is not withdrawn, then the metropolitans ought to make it clear toBarthlomew that for the sake of maintaining the unity of the church, andthe ties to the Patriarchate, they will refuse to obey or even discuss it withthe laity. If there should be a metropolitan who, acting to serve his narrowself interest, tries to pressure the parishioners into transferring a propertyof their community or the diocese to the Patriarchate, then the peopleshould deny him his request and hold him in low esteem.
Because, should this outrageous demand be obeyed, it could lead to thebreaking up into pieces of our Church, and to its being controlled by forcesin Turkey, which would work toward its neutralization, if not its dissolu-tion as an ethnic group.
We wish there was a nicer way to say it, but this demand byBartholomew has crossed the line. It is so unacceptable and offensive, butalso so revealing of his designs on our Church and its assets, that it raisesmany questions about his relationship to this community.
This newspaper - as well as our Greek language sister publication – hasbeen very sensitive and supportive of the Patriarchate as a religious insti-tution, with its long and important history. We have also been supportiveof its continuing ecclesiastical authority over our Greek American Church.
However we hold nothing more dear than the interests of our commu-nity. It is to the community that we owe our total dedication and alliance.
The Patriarchate's letter to the metropolitans does not serve its inter-ests. It sounds innocent: Transfer ownership of "at least" one building to usfrom each metropolis so that we can, somehow - even if it is not very clearhow - save the Patriarchate. It is hard to believe that a Patriarch would at-tach his signature to such a proposal.
Still if all it took to save the Patriarchate from the reach of the Turks wastransferring a number of buildings to it, we would probably be the firstones to support the plan. But of course it is not a transparent solution.
Thus, what Barthlomew is demanding is totally unacceptable, and rais-es a number of issues and troubling questions:
First of all, our people work too hard to come up with the money need-ed to buy the properties that belong to the communities and to the me-tropolises to give them away.
Second, the Ecumenical Patriarchate is - by political necessity - a Turk-ish institution subject to the interference, if not the control, of the Turkishstate.
Even if the transfer of properties were to be hidden in a web of interna-tional corporations, at the end of the day, ownership would be traced backto where it would belong, to the Turkish State.
Third, by taking over at least one building in each metropolis – and onewonders why so many building are needed - the Patriarchate would estab-lish direct ownership authority at a local level. In due time, they might askfor a second building and so on, thus moving towards controlling the fi-nances as well of each metropolis and through them, the parishes.
Fourth, sending this kind of letter was made possible after breaking upour archdiocese into Metropolises, thus weakening its administrative co-hesiveness and the office of the Archbishop.
Fifth, should a building been transferred to new owners, who wouldcollect any income it might have or pay for its maintenance?
Finally, Bartholomew should learn to trust and communicate openlywith our people. In our system and way of life, our leaders consult with thepeople, explain their proposals and ask for their approval. They do not useothers to manipulate them.
The argument that Bartholmew uses to appeal to the metropolitans todo his bidding troubles us greatly: he appeals to the sense of indebtednessthe metropolitans might feel toward him. "We do not doubt at all,” hewrites, “that your Eminence too, in its known love and devotion to theMother Church that fed you and made you what you are, that you will act,according to the above ecclesiastical decision as soon as possible, and in-form us in writing, attaching all the signed related documents and title ofownership of a property or titles of ownership of properties so that we canfile them in the proper place.."
How naive do they think we are?
The sick economy of Europe?Greece was in the international news this week. It was accused of being
the weak link in the euro zone, bringing upheaval to the stock exchangesand raising doubts about the vitality of the euro.
Was this an overreaction? Probably. But it did have its merits.Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou went so far as to state that
the country was faced with a “fiscal emergency that threatens its nationalsovereignty”. These are breathtaking words, probably intended to preparethe grounds for what is to follow: an austerity program aimed at rescuingthe Greek economy by bringing it in line with acceptable European stan-dards of foreign debt and deficit.
This past Tuesday, a credit agency downgraded the country’s ratings toBBB+ from A-, which is still within investment grade, but the lowest levelin the euro zone. The world markets declined on fears that Greece mightnot be able to meet its obligation and that countries like Portugal, Spain oreven England might also follow.
In Athens, the stock exchange took a beating, dropping over 6%, withthe banking sector dropping the most. Officials of the European Unionwere not sure what to do.
Greece wrote the Wall Street Journal, in its Wednesday edition “couldpresent the European Central Bank and the European Union with a dilem-ma: whether to bail out the country or possibly see a euro-zone memberface a debt crisis. The first course could reduce the pressure for fiscal disci-pline, while the second could damage the credibility of Europe's great sin-gle-currency experiment.”
Greece in fact is facing double, yet parallel, crises: one is the tangible fi-nancial crisis and the other is one of credibility due to the fact that she wascooking her books for many years.
To get out of the first one, Greece first needs to repair the damage doneby the second. Words alone will not be enough to do the job. Actions - spe-cific, concrete actions, taken as soon as possible - are needed to convincethe E.U. and the world markets that the country is serious about fixing itsproblems.
There is no one to blame but Greece herself. Years of low productivityand competitiveness, coupled with rampant corruption, brought thishubris about. It could not go on indefinitely.
The new government won the elections by making impossible promis-es. Still it must be saluted for trying hard to do the right thing now. And forthat, Athens deserves our support. But still the markets do not yet seem tobe convinced. They are waiting to see a program implemented that tar-gets financial woos that doesn’t give political “costs” the top priority.
Such a program cannot be avoided. The sooner it is implemented, thebetter for Greece and the government in the long run.
In this time of crisis, Greece needs our understanding and support. Incrises, they should know we are standing by them.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
COMMENTARY
By Christopher TripoulasThe National Herald Staff Writer
NEW YORK - One of the biggestanachronisms in the post-Sovietera is the notion of right and left-wing politicians. The terms, whichoriginally derived their meaningfrom the seating arrangements inthe 18th century French parlia-ment, have become practically use-less in today’s world of grand coali-tion parties, where members of thesame party may actually hold oppo-site views on the same issue. This istrue both in the U.S. and Europe.
In today’s world, it would makejust as much sense voting for an MPbased on which soccer team he orshe supports, as on their party affil-iation, since the “catch-all” partiesthey belong to often advertise de-ceptive positions to appeal to thelowest common denominator.
One of the problems with theSocialists in Greece is that everyone– with the exception of Greek vot-ers – seems to know that it is impos-sible to implement a socialist agen-da in the country based on the cur-rent EU financial guidelines. Whenthe Maastricht Treaty and the rulesgoverning the euro zone were setup, the EU was led mostly by “rightwing” governments, which saw to itthat fiscal conservatism became theEU’s prevalent ideology.
That means that at the end of theday, as much as Socialists in Greecepromise to redistribute wealth, taxthe rich, or protect the workingclass, they have no choice but to get
Greece’s 12.5 percent budget deficitunder the EU-mandated 3 percentthreshold, or face sanctions. Hence,Greece’s finance minister might aswell be Adam Smith. In Greek poli-tics, when it comes to the economy,the EU has the final word. The So-cialist-Conservative dilemma is animagined one.
Greece gave up the right to asovereign economy (arguably evensovereign statehood) the day itagreed to stop printing its own cur-rency and setting its own interestrates. And unless there is a govern-ment willing to pull the country outof the euro zone, the only real ques-tion is which politician will be bet-ter at implementing Brussels’ in-structions. And so, politics is re-duced to technocracy.
Sadly, the most appealing thingabout the Socialists – a commitmentto work towards a more equitabledistribution of wealth - is the onething that they cannot implement,by virtue of the EU’s design. Thus, tojustify their supposed uniqueness,they have no recourse but to imple-ment some of their ancillary, muchless desirable, policies.
One area of particular concernshould be Education. Current Edu-cation Minister Anna Diaman-topoulou already should be on thewatch list, considering she once ad-vocated establishing English as thecountry’s official second language,but has never to my knowledge ex-pressed concern over the nation’sgrowing lack of proficiency inGreek, (mis)use of the Greek lan-
guage by the media, or the prob-lems of teaching Greek to the Hel-lenic Diaspora.
A quick search on the Internet re-veals major concerns over the ap-pointment of Thalia Dragona as theEducation Ministry’s Special Secre-tary for the Education of GreeksAbroad and Intercultural Education.If Mrs. Dragona’s philosophy re-mains the same as the positions pub-lished in her book “Τι ειν η πατρίδαµας;” (What’s our country?), printedin 1997, then the choice becomesdownright alarming.
Some of her key arguments areas follows: Greek identity did notexist prior to the 19th century; any-one wanting to critically discern be-tween cultures is a racist and does-n’t even know it; anyone arguingthat the Turkish culture has ad-versely affected the Greece peopleand who doubts the immense pow-er and importance of the OttomanEmpire is equally a racist; anyonewho believes that the Greeks con-tinue to be bearers of the ancientGreek culture is also a racist; any-one wishing for ancient Greek to betaught in middle school is guilty ofethnocentrism; and finally, anyoneconcerned about Greece beingoverrun by immigrants is also prac-ticing racism (sic).
So essentially, what Mrs. Drago-na would have us believe is thatanyone who is proud of their Greekheritage, believes in the immenseand timeless cultural dynamic ofthe Greek language and culture,and wants to defend the territorial
and historical integrity of the mod-ern Greek state is a racist…that’s aninteresting choice for a high levelofficial in the “Greek” Ministry ofEducation.
Mrs. Dragona’s statements makeMaria Repousi’s history book,which caused such a stir in 2006-07because it minimized the impor-tance of the Greek War of Indepen-dence or the Asia Minor Catastro-phe, look almost ethnocentric.
Of course, Ms. Repousi’s bookwas ultimately removed from theschool curriculum following theGreek voters’ decision to vote outthe then Conservative EducationMinister Marietta Giannakou out ofParliament because of her insensi-tivity to the issue. Sadly, the onlyway to get politicians’ attention isto take their job away…although,ex-Premier Costas Karamanlischose to thumb his nose at the vot-ers’ will and place Mrs. Giannakouas his party’s lead Eurodeputy,shortly before voters showed himthe door as well.
The EU made sure that it devel-oped an apparatus to keep its mem-ber states’ politicians in check re-gardless of party affiliation. Greekvoters must do the same, across allparty lines, if they want to keep anysense of sovereignty intact. In acountry that has had three nationalelections in the past 5 years, votingcan be a very powerful tool. Use it,or lose it.
Contact Christos Tripoulas at [email protected].
Modern Political Alignments are All Talk and No Substance
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CHRYSANTHI LIRISTIS / SPECIAL TO THE NATIONAL HERALD
ΛΟΓΟΣ
SANTA FE, N.M. - The holiday sea-son is not always the most relaxingtime of year. For many people, itcan be highly stressful; for others, itcan even be downright depressing.In most cases, how we choose todeal with and experience the holi-days, just like any other time in ourlives, comes down to a question ofattitude. Yes, this is even the caseduring hard economic times like to-day. All things considered, having apositive attitude is a prescription fora healthy holiday(s) no matter whatyour personal circumstances!
This advice applies to everyone,including those Ebenezer Scroogewannabees who, as in Charles Dick-ens’ 1843 novel, “A Christmas Car-ol”, are bent on despising Christmasand all things that may engenderhappiness at this particular time ofyear. I say “bah humbug” to them!The familiar story of Scrooge’s re-demption by the three “Ghosts ofChristmas” (Ghost of ChristmasPast, Ghost of Christmas Present,and Ghost of Christmas Yet toCome) has become a defining tale ofthe Christmas holiday. I am con-vinced that the warning visit by theghost of his deceased business part-ner, Jacob Marley, also was a pivotal“meaning moment” for Ebenezerand, metaphorically-speaking,should be the same for the rest of us.
For those of you who don’t knowor remember the tale, Marley (whohad died seven years earlier onChristmas Eve no less) spent his lifeexploiting the poor and as a resultwas damned to walk the Earth foreternity bound in chains forged byhis own greed. Much like the Greekhero, Sisyphus, who had been or-dered by the gods to push a big rockuphill only to see it slip out of hishands in the last moment, Marleywas forced to experience his ownform of endless—and joyless—striving in the afterlife. So it isagainst this backdrop that Marleywarns Scrooge that he risks meeting
the same fate unless hechanges his attitudeabout Christmas, hu-mankind, and what re-ally matters in life, andalters his behavior ac-cordingly.
We must not be“prisoners of ourthoughts” (or hold oth-ers prisoners in ourthoughts) if we want tochange our attitudeabout something. I re-call a conversation thatI had with one readerof my book, “Prisonersof Our Thoughts”, whohappened to be a medical doctor, inwhich he said the following: “Alex, Ireally like your book. I only haveone question. I don’t really under-stand the first principle: Exercisethe freedom to choose your atti-tude. Why would I want to do thatif I already have an attitude?”Needless to say, this reader didn’tget the message that I was trying toconvey! Fortunately, after furtherdiscussion, the meaning behind theprinciple was revealed to him andhe was able to use it effectively,both in his medical practice and inhis personal life ever since.
The bottom-line is that all of uspossess, whether we know it or notor want to admit it or not, the ulti-mate freedom to choose our atti-tude in all of life’s situations. Thisfundamental principle is a corner-stone of Viktor Frankl’s unique ap-proach to meaning-focused psy-chotherapy. And it is this principlethat Dr. Frankl famously espousedin his classic bestselling book,“Man’s Search for Meaning”:“Everything can be taken from aman but…the last of the humanfreedoms - to choose one’s attitudein any given set of circumstances, tochoose one’s way.”
Unfortunately, many people(like the physician above) don’t
seem to fully under-stand or appreciatethis aspect of theirfreedom of will. More-over, there are manypeople who, while theyknow in their heartsand minds that theyhave the freedom tochoose their attitude,don’t know how to ex-ercise this ultimatefreedom. Stuck in neg-ative or unhealthythoughts, they becomeimmobilized andtrapped in a vicious cy-cle of “poor me/why
me” suffering, victimization, exis-tential angst, and despair. If onlythey could change their attitude,perhaps they would be able to find athread that would lead them out oftheir dark labyrinth of misery andinto the light of inspiration, health,happiness, and meaning.
So here is a quick exercise thatcan help you exercise your freedomto choose a positive attitude duringthe holiday season (and after-wards).
Whenever you confront a situa-tion that is especially stressful, neg-ative, or challenging for you, I wantyou to take a deep breath and list“ten positive things” that are orcould be associated with (orcould/did result from) this situa-tion. That’s right, I said ten “posi-tive” things! Stretch your imagina-tion and suspend judgment, listingwhatever comes to mind, no matterhow silly, far out, or unrealistic yourthoughts may appear to be. Feelcompletely free to determine or de-fine what “positive” means to youand recruit family members,friends, colleagues, etc. to help youwith your list, if necessary.
After you’ve completed your list,look at it closely, and let the positivebecome possible in your frame ofreference regarding the situation.
Sometimes this is very hard to do. Itrequires a letting go of old ways ofthinking, pain, remorse, disappoint-ment, frustration, perhaps evengrief and anguish.
Experience has shown that thissimple exercise opens you up todeep optimism no matter how chal-lenging your circumstances. In allcases, people come to acknowledgethat they are free to choose their at-titude and view theircircumstance(s) from many differ-ent perspectives. And, no matterhow desperate the situation or con-dition confronted, everyone ulti-mately acknowledges that some-thing positive could result from it.Importantly, through this exercise,people learn an effective way to re-lease themselves, at least partly,from their self-imposed thoughtprisons.
Although we may not be totallyfree from the various conditions orsituations that confront us - in ourpersonal and work lives - the impor-tant thing is that we can choosehow we respond, at the very leastthrough our choice of attitude.
And even if you don’t see thecognitive or emotional benefits ofmaintaining a positive attitude to-ward a situation you are facing,please consider the physiologicalbenefits. One of the real powers ofpositive thinking is that it is goodfor your health! With this in mind, Iwish everyone a Healthy Holidays!
Dr. Pattakos, author of “Prisonersof Our Thoughts”, is currentlyworking on a new book on how tolive a meaningful life inspired byGreek culture (see: www.theop-away.com). His column is pub-lished weekly in The NationalHerald. Readers may contact himwith questions, comments,and/or suggestions for topics at:[email protected] visit his web site: www.prison-ersofourthoughts.com.
Recipe for Healthy Holidays: Exercise the Freedom to Choose
by Dr. ALEX
PATTAKOS
Special to The National Herald
VIEWPOINTSTHE NATIONAL HERALD, DECEMBER 12-18, 2009 11
By Nicos A. RolandisSpecial to The National Herald
On February 12,1981, I accompa-nied Cyprus President Spyros Kypri-anou on his visit to the Federal Re-public of Germany, where he was in-vited by German President KarlCarstens. We met President Carstensand Chancellor Helmut Schmidt inBonn.
The relations between Kyprianouand the Germans, and in particularwith Foreign Minister Hans-DietrichGenscher, were not good at all, in thewake of the “Great Conspiracy” ofthe summer of 1978. It was at thattime that Kyprianou had charged theGermans and, specifically, the PrimeMinister of Bavaria, Josef FranzStrauss, and the German diplomat inCyprus, Paul Kurbjuhn, with conspir-ing against both Cyprus and himself,personally. According to Kyprianou,Tassos Papadopoulos was the chiefconspirator. I rushed to Bonn to ex-tinguish the colossal political fire –which I did, but Genscher never for-gave Kyprianou.
Genscher, president of the FreeDemocrats party, vice-chancellorand minister of foreign affairs of Ger-many for many years, was one of theleading personalities of his time.Sharp-minded, with a penetratingand practical approach to foreign af-fairs, he had a good knowledge ofthe Cyprus problem. He was a fre-quent traveler all over the globe, tosuch an extent that the followinganecdote circulated in political cir-cles: “Two planes collided over theAtlantic Ocean. Genscher was inboth of them”.
Our meeting with ChancellorSchmidt and Minister Genscher tookplace on February 13, 1981. TheCyprus problem was in the doldrumsat the time. Two years earlier, in De-cember 1978, the Greek Cypriot sidehad rejected the Anglo-American-Canadian Plan. Thereafter the “Eval-uation” of U.N. Secretary GeneralWaldheim was submitted. It resultedin a long and unproductive dialogue.
President Kyprianou analyzed theCyprus problem and the issue of themissing persons. The Germans lis-tened carefully. They were wellknown for their realistic stand and
their rational approach, stripped ofany vestiges of sentiment, to such anextent that sometimes their positionwas painful to listen to.
I remember that they “played”with the notion of time. “The issueof missing persons is one of the largehuman tragedies,” the chancellorsaid. “There are hundreds of thou-sands of missing persons in theworld and Germany has her own ex-perience. Very few cases have beenbrought to light thus far wordwideand I do not think that the rest ofthem will be resolved. Unfortunate-ly, the missing persons issue will onlybe settled when the close relatives,those who remember and suffer, willpass away” he said. “Time only willgive an end to this tragedy.”
Regarding the political problemsand the overall Cyprus issue, howev-er, “The lapse of time will prove dis-astrous,” Schmidt and Genscher in-dicated, adding that “In the politicalfield as time goes by, the faits accom-plis will be solidified and will not bereversible any more. Consequentlyyou should take action with no delay.The solution may be difficult andpainful, but it will be much betterthan what you may achieve manyyears later.”
The above position coincidedwith what I believed. I was conver-sant with the international and Euro-pean developments and balances. Ifelt that the climate was fertile for asolution at the time. Kyprianou how-ever was oscillating between thepragmatic approach of his AKEL par-ty allies and his personal wishfulthinking. When Andreas Papan-dreou became prime minister ofGreece in October 1981, he intro-duced a new dogma, that the Turkishtroops should depart from Cyprusbefore we could have any intercom-munal talks. Kyprianou adopted theabove stance as of the beginning of1983 and the Cyprus problemmoved into a complete standstill.Later on, as Papandreou becamemore experienced with European af-fairs, he realized that he was wrongand he corrected his course. But itwas already too late…
I disagreed and resigned from thepost of foreign minister in Septem-ber 1983, when the president reject-
ed the UN initiative. AKEL severedits own relations with Kyprianou inDecember 2004. Cyprus has paid -and is still paying - the bitter price ofthe above inaction.
In those years the conditions for asolution were arguably much betterfor us than they are today. The“Turkish Republic of NorthernCyprus” had not been declared. Theoccupation was not yet deep-rooted.The number of Turkish settlers wasvery small and they were prepared todepart on the basis of a compensa-tion scheme which I had proposed.The Greek Cypriot properties in thenorth were almost intact. The firstU.N map (Gobbi map) was favorablefor us. The “one and only sovereign-ty” was not disputed. The concept ofa “virgin-birth” for a new Cyprusstate was not yet conceived.
Since then almost 30 sterile yearshave elapsed. Years dotted with a lotof rhetoric, populism, childish ap-proaches. I have to confess that dur-ing all those years when I was in pol-itics and in the government, I oftenfelt ashamed and embarrassed formy country when I heard somepoliticians speaking like three-year-old toddlers.
Now we have to move moun-tains. We have missed opportuni-ties. Today we watch DemetrisChristofias (who has committed seri-ous mistakes during the past fiveyears of his presidential tenure) try-ing hard to achieve what is almostimpossible. In his titanic effort, he isthe target of attacks and mud sling-ing not by the Turks but by his ownpolitical allies, who sit on his cabi-net! It is really incomprehensiblethat all those rejectionist forces,which by their past actions havebrought about the present impasse,have the audacity to drag throughthe mud all those who try today toeradicate the problems which the re-jectionists themselves created.
And it seems that the above is notenough. During the past threemonths, through repeated state-ments and other actions that putpressure on Christofias, his allieshave tended to create a climate ofcomplete isolation of Cyprus fromthe rest of Europe. Naturally, ifTurkey does not finally abide by her
European commitments, she mustbe reprimanded and she must paythe price for her misdeeds. Sanc-tions must be imposed. However, isthis the right time for such actions?Now, when the Cyprus dialogue is ata critical juncture? Now that we an-ticipate that the talks may come tofruition by April of next year and thatthe partition (for which, unfortu-nately, many politicians and the me-dia are studiously working) may beavoided? We have been rejecting allthe proposals and initiatives of theUnited Nations and of the Interna-tional Community for half a century.Why must we insist on imposingsanctions on Turkey now (and prob-ably “kill” the dialogue) and not sixmonths later, if the attitude of Turkeyin the talks proves to be negative?
Is this the acumen we possess?And how can we explain the fact thatwe cannot convince anybody in Eu-rope - and that all of them vote mas-sively contrary to our own position?There are another 25 countries inEurope (i.e. all the members of theEU with the exception of Greece,which has to support us) amongstwhich we have many friends, butthey all think and vote against us inthe Commission, in the Council andin the European Parliament. Do wenot appear like thickheads who arealways surprised at each and everydevelopment which concerns us inEurope?
If this country had a smaller num-ber of historic leaders and ethnarchsand a larger number of correct judg-ments, if what was discussed on thatwinter day in Bonn, Germany wasimplemented, perhaps we mighthave avoided the separating wall be-tween the two communities, and wemight have been living without theoccupation forces, without excessivenationalism and without the Turkishsettlers, whose numbers will soonexceed the number of Cypriots.
We might have been living todaylike all other European citizens andnot as a “south” and a “north” of a di-vided country.
Mr. Rolandis was Cyprus’ ForeignMinister (1978-83) and Ministerof Commerce, Industry & Tourism(1998-2003).
Poor Cyprus: Once Again They Have the Timing Wrong
AMHERST, Mass. - I was recently in-terviewed by Nicos Panoutsopoulos,the director of what will be an 8-partdocumentary on Greek America to beaired on Greek National Television(ERT). I was delighted by how wellhe and his coworkers had preparedthemselves for their task. A questionthat I did not expect, however, wasthe query about the present status ofGringlish. The filmmakers were sur-prised when I replied that Gringlishwas all but dead.
The term Gringlish arises fromSpanglish, a language usage thatarose in the Puerto Rican sections ofthe Bronx, Harlem, and Brooklyn.What marks Spanglish as more thanSpanish-speakers making mistakeswith their English is that Spanglishhas continued to be used to some de-gree by succeeding Puerto Rican gen-erations born and educated in themainland USA. In that regard, it is al-most a dialect and has gained a de-gree of cache. New York City has evennamed a street or two in Spanglish.This language phenomenon largelyresults from the circumstances thatnumerous Puerto Ricans continuous-ly move back and forth from theSpanish-speaking island to the Eng-lish-speaking mainland.
The experience of the Greeks hasbeen totally different. Gringlish con-sists of language constructions thatoccurred when Greek immigrants ofthe Great Migration of 1900-1924grappled with a new language. Awhole string of Gringlish nouns cameinto being. I for one did not know un-til I went to Greece as an adult that“karo” (motor car) and “hoteli” (ho-tel) were Gringlish words that puz-
zled or amused native-speakers. Thus, when Iproclaimed, “Peyeno stodowntown meh to karomou (I go downtown inmy car),”my Greekfriends were baffled.
A host of similarwords readily come tomind: “farma” (farm),“freezarita” (refrigera-tor), “spetali” (hospital),“blockos” (neighbor-hood block), “keki”(cake), “moteli” (mo-tel), and “marketa”(market) are but a few.Many American-bornGreeks knew perfectly well whenthey were speaking English, but wedidn’t know when we were speakingGringlish. I think the immigrantswere far more conscious that theywere not speaking proper English.
What made our movement toEnglish different from that of Hispan-ics has some cultural elements thatare not accidental and some histori-cal elements that are. The most deci-sive cultural element was that Greekimmigrants insisted their childrenspeak English well in order to ad-vance themselves socially and eco-nomically. This was recognition ofthe reality of America’s monolingualsnobbery. By the early 1920s, impor-tant community organizations suchas AHEPA were using English as theirofficial language.
On the circumstantial side, duringthe period of peak Greek immigra-tion maintaining continuous commu-nication with a distant Greece wasdifficult. The technology of the day
required a boat trip thatinvolved at least amonth in travel time fora round trip. Althoughthere were Greek-lan-guage newspapers andradio programs inAmerica, phone calls toGreece were dreadfullyexpensive and thepostal service was un-reliable. The advent ofdictatorships and warsfurther disrupted com-munications. The studyof Gringlish was thelifelong passion of thelate Steven De-
makopoulos, a student of the Greeklanguage in general. Demakopoulosoriginally learned Greek from hisparents, but developed a more pro-found connection with Greek in lan-guage classes he took at a Greekparochial school. In early 1977, hewrote the first of many columns onlanguage for Ethnikos Kirix. A collec-tion of them appeared in 2000 underthe title “Do You Speak Greek?”
A distinguishing aspect of De-makopoulos’ lifelong fascinationwith Gringlish was that instead ofmocking the “incorrect” usage of un-schooled immigrants, he related theuse of Gringlish to the evolution ofmodern Greek. Numerous foreignwords and constructions obviouslyhave entered contemporary Greek asthey have entered every other livinglanguage. Without attempting to val-idate Gringlish, he showed how someGringlish formations had becomestandard usage of Greek. Morebroadly, he wanted to pass on his
sense of the beauty of Greek and itsconstant evolution to Greeks andnon-Greeks alike. Demakopoulos’hopes for a revival of modern Greekin America have been belatedly en-hanced by the communication madepossible by the Internet and a new ac-ceptance in America of bilingualism.Scholars who have argued that theresurrection of Greek language usagein America is probably essential forthe survival of Greek identity in theUnited States have been heartened.But no one is supporting the revivalof Gringlish.
A remarkable achievement of thegeneration of the Great Migration isthat most of them became functional-ly bilingual. Gringlish is a linguisticmap of some of the amusing gram-matical formations and nouns theyinvented as they incorporated a newlanguage into their everyday life.Rather than indicating linguisticshortcomings, Gringlish is better un-derstood as an aspect of the immi-grants’ commitment to forge a betterlife in the new world. They under-stood that their own Greek educationhad not been superlative and weredetermined that their children’s edu-cation would be of a much higher cal-iber. Their zeal for education is leg-endary. That commitment producedAmerican-born generations whoformed one of America’s best-educat-ed and most affluent ethnic commu-nities.
Contact Dan Georgakas at: [email protected]. Prof. Geor-gakas is Director of the GreekAmerican Studies Project atQueens College – CUNY.
Linguistic Adventures: The Rise and Fall of Gringlish
This is war. Not thephony fights in thestreets of Athens byhooded, cowardly an-archists who shamethe memory of Alexan-der Grigoropoulos -the 15-year-old boygunned down by po-lice last year, whosename and death theyusurped to hide theirreal intentions of try-ing to bring down astate that supportsthem - but the real en-emy, an array of gov-ernments who allowstate coffers to be pilfered bythieves they employ with patron-age pay-offs, leaving no money topay real workers, and now threat-ening to take away the two monthsannual bonuses they get as com-pensation for being paid like Alban-ian cleaning ladies.
Greek workers, in the public andprivate sector, are paid 14 salaries ayear instead of 12, receiving twoweeks extra pay at Easter and thesummer, and a full month’s more atChristmas. It sounds like a sweetdeal until you realize most of themare making less than $12,000 ayear, so the extra $2,400 isn’t a lux-ury bonus, it’s survival. If you thinkthere’s panic in the streets ofAthens now, try cutting workers’pay - already so measly most peo-ple need two jobs – by 17 percentand anarchists will be joined byworkers getting slave wages. That’sreal anarchy, not the type practicedby rich and disaffected children
who have nothing better to do thanthrow stones from their glass hous-es or, as a couple of mobs of theirfinest did, beat up two police offi-cers walking down a street near theUniversity of Athens and broke intothe office of a dean and beat himsenseless. Last time we looked, thefaculty was generally on the side ofprotesters and that’s why demon-strators are offered asylum insidethe gates of Athens’ universities, sothey can have a safe haven retreatafter they’ve tossed Molotov cock-tails.
There’s plenty of blame tospread around in the police state,but just as much in the ranks ofhooligans who don’t know whatthey really want, although it’s sure-ly not a job. That’s distracting fromthe real dilemma the new PASOKgovernment of Prime MinisterGeorge Papandreou faces, how toget out from under a 12.7 percentdeficit, an escape act that requirescutting public expenditures andholding the line on workers pay –or cutting it through the cheap,back-door ploy of eliminatingbonuses – instead of raising it forsome sectors, as he had promised.That’s enough to put people used tositting at home watching TV kick inthe screen and take to the streetsthemselves.
Papandreou won the election onpromises of a three billion euros($4.5 billion) stimulus package,that included higher wages, a one-off “solidarity” benefit for poorerGreeks, and more spending onhealth and education, so what willhe do now?
The economic crisis has pushedGreece to the brink of bankruptcy,but it won’t go under because theEuropean Union won’t let it. Still,that doesn’t mean Draconian mea-
sures won’t be taken –against the workingclass, which alwayssuffers when you letpoliticians near mon-ey, especially if it’s nottheir own. Greece hasuntil January to givethe EU a plan to bal-ance the books some-time down the road,and in the meantimethe debt-ridden statewill have to pay bigpenalties in higher in-terest rates to borrowmoney, the traditionalway of getting revenue
since your taxes aren’t enough.Greece will be monitored everymonth by EU officials in Brussels,where they are going to raise thesalaries of workers by 3.7 percent,a really sweet deal since they al-ready have a starting pay of about$4,000 a month for an entry levelclerical worker, almost four timeswhat a veteran teacher in Greecegets, so don’t shed any tears thatEU workers don’t get bonuses be-cause they do – every week. WithMembers of the European Parlia-ment, including Greece’s contin-gent, of course, pulling down abase pay of $11, 340 a month – ayear’s pay for a civil servant inGreece – along with other benefitsin secret contracts and a $428 in-centive per DAY to show up, thatcould bring the monthly total tomore than $40,000 - they couldcare less if workers drop dead inthe streets because some underpaidgarbage collector will scoop themup.
Papandreou may find himselfhaving to do what he decried whenthe former New Democracy gov-ernment in March threatened tofreeze public salaries as part of anausterity plan PASOK blasted as un-fair to workers, although you can’tblame them too much because thecategory “worker” can’t be found inthe politician job description. Eightmonths ago, then finance ministerYiannis Papathanassiou saidGreece’s deficit would be 3.7 per-cent, so he only missed the targetby 400 percent or so, and you canonly wonder what he thinks of hiswords: “We’re creating a safety netfor the economy and also giving aboost to Greece’s credibilityabroad.” That’s not the type of guyyou want watching your back, orholding the safety net when you’reon the paycheck-to-paychecktrapeze.
So in the face of all this fearfulnews comes someone to do theright thing. Greece’s central bankchief George Provopoulos has de-cided to cut his salary by 20 percentto set an example in curbing publicspending. “It is a symbolic gesturefor the difficult times we are in,” asenior central bank source toldReuters, the key word being sym-bolic because when you’re knock-ing down a six-figure salary inGreece a 20 percent cut won’t put adent in how much caviar you buy,and to prove it, the bank refused tosay what is salary is or how much itwill be cut. Maybe Papandreou canmake him say, although you can betneither he nor any members of par-liament will making the same lamegesture anyway, and that’s whythese people always wonder whythey wind up getting paid withbricks.
Mr. Dabilis was the New Englandeditor for United Press Interna-tional in Boston, and a staff writerand assistant metropolitan editorat the Boston Globe for 17 yearsbefore relocating to Greece. Hiscolumn is published weekly in theNational Herald. Readers interest-ed in contacting him can send e-mails to [email protected].
Here We Go Again, ThisTime Give Me a Brick
LETTER FROM ATHENS
by ANDY
DABILIS
Special to The National Herald
Greece’s central bank
chief has decided
to cut his salary
by 20% to set an
example in curbing
public spending.
The new government of Greeceunder George Papandreou is facingan uphill struggle with the country’smounting public dept and budgetdeficits. Predictably, demands to in-tensify the fight against tax evasionare again heard with increasingforce. On its part, the new govern-ment, as did other Greek govern-ments in the past, is vowing to “crushtax evasion.” [Πάταξη τηςφοροδιαφυγής]
This is more a slogan than a policy.In Greece the most serious form oftax evasion is related to the large un-derground economy that in Greece isknown as paraoikonomia. This termrefers to legitimate economic activi-ties that go unreported and for thatreason are not being taxed.
Given Greece’s large service sectorand the great number of small retailand family businesses, many peoplein Greece have legitimate incomeswhich they do not report, thus payingno taxes. Visitors to Greece often ex-press surprise that although people –and the media – paint a picture ofeconomic hardship, most Greeksseem to live quite well. The explana-tion is that almost 30 percent of theGreek economy is of the under-ground variety. The officially report-
ed GDP (Gross Domestic Product)does not include that part of theeconomy. As a result the official sta-tistics and other data are inaccurate.The unreported gross of the under-ground economy is estimated at$130 billion!
It may be appropriate to presentspecific illustrations. You need anelectrician for a job that ordinarilywould net to him $500. If the electri-cian were to include this income inhis tax return he would pay approxi-mately 20 percent or $100. To avoidthis, the electrician proposes to thecustomer to charge him only $450,provided he pays cash and does notask for a receipt. The electrician willreceive $50 less; the customer hassaved $50. Who is the loser? Obvi-ously, the public treasury that will notreceive the $100 the electricianwould have to pay if he were report-ing the transaction.
Or, take one of the thousands ofmom-and-pop businesses. Mosttransactions are still conducted incash. Without verifiable records, theowners are likely to report to the taxauthorities the least possible incomethat will not trigger suspicion. Familymembers who are employees may bepaid in cash and they usually do not
report their income infull or even at all.
The bigger the un-derground economy,the lower the state rev-enues. On the otherhand, the undergroundeconomy provides in-come and employmentto people that mightotherwise be unem-ployed.
Empirical evidenceshows that lowering taxrates has no effect onthe underground econ-omy. The high economicgain from not reportingtaxable income compared to the ben-efit from lower taxes (to be enjoyedonly if one first reports the incomeand pays taxes) is not an effective in-ducement to turn people away fromthe underground economy.
Of course, agreeing to pay less bynot asking for a receipt is a form ofcorruption. Thus, corruption, under-ground economy, and tax evasion gohand in hand, perpetrated by peoplewho do not consider themselves dis-honest. This unholy trinity actuallybecomes part of the accepted culture.
The underground economy is not
a Greek peculiarity. It isevident in all countries.In advanced countrieslike the United States,Japan, or Switzerland itis estimated at 8-10 per-cent, in France, GreatBritain or Germany 13-16 percent. In the Scan-dinavian countriesaround 18 percent.
Among the mem-bers of the Euro zone,Greece and Italy havethe largest under-ground economiesreaching 27-30 percent(some say 40 percent).
Of course very large undergroundeconomies are found in less devel-oped economies, reaching 45-60 per-cent. In fact, the size of the under-ground economy in a country is a re-liable yardstick of the country’s mod-ernization.
With regard to Greece, any effortto reduce tax evasion is directly relat-ed to the size of the undergroundeconomy. Under current conditions,the customer agrees not to ask for areceipt because he has nothing togain if he does. Instead, he can savemoney by agreeing not to ask for a re-
ceipt and pay, in exchange, a lowerfee.
To break this implicit collusion,the customer must be given an incen-tive to demand an accurate receipt.The simplest way is to offer her, un-der the tax laws, a deduction basedon the amount quoted on the receipthe has received, something similar toa deduction given to U.S. taxpayersin the for charitable contributions.
To be more specific. Suppose thata taxpayer, by not asking for receipts,paid during the year $10,000 for un-reported services or products. If hehad asked for receipts his cost wouldhave been $11,000. By not asking forreceipts he has saved himself $1000.
On the other side of the ledger, theproviders of the services or goodswould have to pay zero to the publictreasury since the transactions re-main unreported. Suppose now thatreceipts have been signed, and thevendors have to report a taxable in-come of $11,000. At an income taxrate of 20 percent, his tax will be$2,200, money that will go to thepublic treasury. On the other side, thecustomer has a receipt for $11,000entitled, say, to a 12 percent deduc-tion, in this case $1,320. In otherwords, his overall tax obligation will
be lowered by $1,320. The net gainfor the public treasury will be $880, asum that otherwise would have notgone to the treasury.
Although this is a simplified illus-tration, the basic logic is very clear.The public treasury will receive asum that under current conditions itwill not.
A reform of this type will havemore than just monetary signifi-cance. It will help change over timean accepted dishonest and dysfunc-tional culture. Receipts will becomeimportant and hiding income will be-come more difficult. If the use ofchecks instead of cash for largertransactions becomes the norm, thepicture will change even further. Al-ready, the use of credit cards has re-duced to some extent the opportuni-ties for tax evasion.
Cynics, of course, will say that inGreece a way will be found to goaround this new approach. Neverthe-less, the Papandreou governmentwill do well to consider this sugges-tion as part of its overall reform ef-fort.
Dr. Kousoulas is Professor Emeri-tus of Political Science at HowardUniversity in Washington, DC.
Tax Evasion, Underground Economy, Corruption: A Hellenic Unholy Trinity
by PROF. DAN
GEORGAKAS
Special to The National Herald
by DR. D.G.
KOUSOULAS
Special to The National Herald
12 THE NATIONAL HERALD, DECEMBER 12-18, 2009
