OCV
ΓΡΑΦΕΙ ΤΗΝ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ
ΤΟΥ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ
ΑΠΟ ΤΟ 1915
The National Herald
cv
A weekly Greek AmericAn PublicAtiOn
Bringing the news
to generations of
Greek Americans
www.thenationalherald.com
December 11-17, 2010
VOL. 14, ISSUE 687
$1.50
St. Nick’s
Greece Denies Deal Made Giving Up Marbles Claim
Plans to
British Newspaper Reports Greece Will Let
British Museum Hold Title But Get Loan
Sue the Port
Authority
Wants the Church
Rebuilt at Ground Zero
By Constantine S. Sirigos
TNH Staff Writer
NEW YORK – Defamation.
Fraud and Misrepresentation.
Trespass. Unjust enrichment.
Bad faith. Arrogance. With these
strong words in the text of a notice of their intention to sue the
Port Authority of New York and
New Jersey and several other
entities, the Greek Orthodox
Archdiocese of America and the
parish of St. of Nicholas have
taken the gloves off in their dispute with those agencies over
delays in the rebuilding of the
Church at Ground Zero. The papers were served on the PA on
December 6, 2010 and constitute 60-day notice of the
Church’s intention to go to
court, which is required by law
for certain actions against the
PA. Father Mark Arey, Director
of Inter-Orthodox, Ecumenical
and Interfaith Relations at the
Archdiocese said the Archdiocese and the parish took that action “very reluctantly and sorrowfully because we must
protect the interests of the St.
Nicholas parish.” The legal papers state, “This claim arises out
of the arrogance, bad faith, and
fraudulent conduct of the Port
Authority in preventing Saint
Nicholas from re-building its
Continued on page 4
Considering
Dimitri
Mitropoulos
ΕΥΡΩΚΙΝΗΣΗ
Navios Maritime rings the bell
One of Greece’s continuing success stories, the shipping company Navios Maritime Partners,
was celebrated when company leaders, including Chairman and CEO Angeliki Frangou (C) seen
above the Euronext sign, and her father on her right, Capt. Nicholas Frangou, got to ring the
opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange last week, coinciding with the announcement of
impressive third-quarter results for one of Greece’s best managed businesses.
ATHENS – Greeks may get to
see the marble friezes stolen
from the Parthenon by British
diplomat Lord Elgin from 180112 while Greece was under the
yoke of the Ottoman Empire,
but it could be in return for relinquishing claim to the national
treasures to the British Museum,
where they are housed, although Greek officials quickly
denied a report in a British
newspaper the deal will be
made. The Times of London
published a report claiming that
Greek Culture and Tourism Minister Pavlos Geroulanos has
made an offer in which Greece
will relinquish give up 200-yearold claim to the Parthenon Marbles housed in the British Museum in return for a long-term
loan, and that Greece would
also then have to loan the
British Museum other antiquities to fill the space occupied by
the stones, which the British call
the Elgin Marbles but which
Greece calls The Parthenon Marbles. Once word got out a deal
was possibly in the making,
Greek officials quickly moved to
quash the notion it was giving
up the fight, but only through
press releases. British Museum
officials had long maintained
they obtained the marbles law-
Anniversary of Riots, Austerity, Brings Protests
ATHENS – After months of relative calm, apart from occasional strikes and a few halfhearted marches against the
government’s pay cuts for public
workers, tax hikes and pension
reforms that have cut into the
ability of the elderly to provide
for themselves, the second anniversary of the shooting death
of a 15-year-old boy, and new
work stoppages by workers propelled a new round of protests
that led to clashes with police
and left Athenians without public transportation for a day. On
Dec. 6, thousands of Greece’s
young turned out for demonstrations downtown, Syntagma
Square awash with high school
students on skateboards, mixed
with hooded anarchists still angry over the death of Alexi Grigoropoulos in 2008 in a police
shooting that sparked days of
violent clashes with police and
the destruction of scores of
downtown businesses and left a
deep psychological scar on
Athens and Greece. About 5,000
youths tangled with riot police
in Athens, in protests marking
the fatal shooting of Grigoropoulos, although the police
officer charged in the case was
convicted and given a life sentence for murder and a second
given a 10-year sentence for
complicity. That didn’t assuage
protesters as demonstrators
hurled stones, petrol bombs and
oranges at police who responded with tear gas. At least
three people were hurt and 40
protesters were detained as the
clashes spread to several areas
of the city, the BBC and other
media reported.
Outside the Parliament, hundreds of riot police with shields
blocked the building to prevent
students and protesters from
reaching it, and police buses
blocked the streets around it to
keep vehicular traffic away as
well. The clashes, like the
protests two years before, were
fueled by anger at Greece’s economic crisis, but mixed with anarchy, anger at government and
the banks, as seen when red
paint was daubed on the headquarters of the Bank of Greece
and several shop-fronts were
smashed. Main roads in the center of Athens were closed to trafContinued on page 9
By Constantine S. Sirigos
TNH Staff Writer
NEW YORK – Dimitri Mitropoulos, who was the Director of the
New York Philharmonic from
1949 to 1958, is a 20th Century
titan among musicians and
artists of modern Greece, and
by extension, a towering figure
among Greek Americans. Yet,
few Greek Americans know him
and those who do seldom speak
of him today, 50 years after his
death. That changed, even if not
enough, on Nov. 29, when there
was an opportunity to learn
about this brilliant but enigmatic Greek from a panel discussion that at the Walter Reade
Theater at Lincoln Center for
the Performing arts in New
York, the current home of the
orchestra which he conducted
when its home was the
renowned Carnegie Hall. His
place among the likes of Gustav
Mahler and Bruno Walter who
preceded him, and Leonard
Bernstein, his immediate successor after his painful dismissal
Continued on page 12
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Spyridon
Has No
Regrets
By Theodore Kalmoukos
TNH Staff Writer
BOSTON - Former Archbishop
Spyridon of America, in an interview with The National Herald for the first time since his
departure from the Archbishopric Throne of America in
1999, attempted an approach
with the Ecumenical Patriarchate. He also spoke openly
about the Archdiocese, the Theological School in Brookline,
and the Greek-American Community. Archbishop Spyridon
visited Boston recently and officiated at the one year Memorial
Service of his friend Leo Condakes at Boston’s Greek Orthodox Cathedral. To the question
of if the Patriarchate were to invite him to visit for a new encounter and an attempt to set
up a new course in your relationship, would he respond positively, he said, “Encounters and
dialogue are undoubtedly edifying occurrences. In this sense,
Continued on page 6
ΕΥΡΩΚΙΝΗΣΗ
Nick Gavalas’ Character Was His Fate
Noted business executive Nick Gavalas is seen here together with his loving wife Eleftheria. He’s
a man who believes in family, hard work, church and friends. (See related story on page 5).
fully, although they are stolen
antiquities, and that Greece had
no proper place to exhibit them,
a stance that lost its standing
when Greece two years ago
opened a the New Acropolis
Museum, partially designed to
hold them.
The Athens News Agency
quoted the Greek Culture Ministry as saying that the “permanent return of the Parthenon
Marbles to the new Acropolis
Museum remains the steadfast
demand of the Greek state.” But
the statement also said that,
“Greece is prepared to offer the
British Museum classic masterpieces of the country for periodical exhibitions,” a position
similar to what the Times reported was part of the deal for
which Greece's marbles would
be only loaned to the country,
which owns them. The Times
reported that Geroulanos had
entered into the agreement to
abandon the claim to the properties that are a national symbol
of Greece, and whose return
Greeks - including the late actress Melina Mercouri who also
served as Culture Minister, was
passionate in her unceasing demand they come back to Greece.
Continued on page 9
Paisios
Escapes
Punishment
By Theodore Kalmoukos
TNH Staff Writer
BOSTON - Metropolitan Paisios
of Tyana and Bishop Vikentios
of Apameia are officially out as
Abbot and Deputy Abbot of the
St. Irene Chrysovalantou Sacred
and Patriarchal Monastery in Astoria, New York. Bishop Ilia of
Philomelion was named Acting
Abbot while a group of three
monks led by Fr. Prodromos of
the Dionysiou Monastery of
Mount Athos, Greece have been
sent to man the monastery and
help Bishop Ilia to carry out his
duties. Bishop Ilia of Philomelion also presides over the Albanian Orthodox Diocese of
America. The decision was
made at a meeting of the Holy
and Great Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate on Dec. 2
following a report submitted by
a patriarchal Exarchy (delegation) which had come to the
United States last month, to investigate the issues of the
monastery and its former leadership.
Metropolitan Paisios had resigned from his post in two letters on Oct. 1 and Oct. 5, for
“reasons of health” following
public criticism made against
him by Bishop Vikentios in an
interview with The National
Herald, concerning the split at
the Holy Ascension Dependency
in Florida. TNH has learned that
the Holy Synod presided by Ecumenical
patriarch
Bartholomew started its meeting on Dec. 2 at 9:30 a.m. and
concluded a little before 7 p.m.
There were certain members of
the Holy Synod who were asking for severe sanctions and
even defrockment for Metropolitan Paisios, but finally the
Synod decided to apply “ecclesiastical leniency” and simply
Continued on page 6
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COMMUNITY
2
In the Spotlight: Theodora Ziongas, Healer
By Constantine S. Sirigos
TNH Staff Writer
NEW YORK - Theodora (Dora)
Ziongas has wanted to help people throughout her life. She was
born in Ioannina, Greece, and
when she was 18 months old
her parents came to New York,
where she grew up. Scholarships gave her the opportunity
to study at Barnard College,
where she majored in psychology. She went on to receive her
Master’s degree in psychology
from SUNY, Stony Brook and
studied developmental psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University. She may have envisioned a more private, even
one-on-one approach to caring
for people, but her career took
her humanitarianism onto a
more public path. She is currently with American Cancer Society as the Director of their Onsite Patient Navigation Program.
TNH: How did you move
from studying psychology to institutions devoted to the care of
cancer patients?
TZ: I was always interested
in doing something that would
help people in some way. When
I was still a student, a good
friend of mine who was studying here received a call from a
friend in Greece that a young
student from Thessaloniki,
Greece was coming to New York
for treatment at Memorial
Sloan-Kettering and asked if she
could help her in some way. Her
name was Katerina Pashaloudis
and she came to New York with
her father for treatment. She
was just 19 years old and had
been given a dire prognosis by
the doctors in Greece. As is the
custom here in the United
States, doctors were very open
about her diagnosis and treatment but were optimistic that
she could be treated. She was
close to our group of friends in
age and we could not help but
be moved by her story. Our concerns seemed so mundane next
to what she had to cope with.
Her love of life, her spirit and
her courage captivated us
though and we became friends
instantly and did all we could
to help her. She continued her
treatment here on and off for
over 10 years returning to
Greece in-between to continue
her studies and life there.
TNH: What effect did the experience have on your career
choices?
Theodora (Dora) Zionga
TZ: It affected me a great
deal and I knew I wanted to
work helping patients and especially children, facing life-threatening illnesses. In the interim I
graduated and a new program
was being formed at Sloan-Kettering, the Greek Children’s
Fund and they were in need of
a social worker who could help
the Greek and Greek–American
children being treated at the
center. I applied and was accepted for the position. I embraced my role wholeheartedly
and worked there developing
the program and helping the
families for 15 years. After that,
I was offered a position as Executive Director of the Children’s
Blood Foundation at Weill Cornell Medical Center and held
that position for four years. In
additional to children with cancer, the foundation also supported research and clinical care
for children with thalassemia. I
went on to become Regional Director for CancerCare, a national
nonprofit and am now with the
American Cancer Society.
TNH: How do you help the
people you work with?
TZ: I don’t think there is any
family these days who does not
know someone who has been
affected by cancer. Although the
outcomes have improved for
some types of cancers, it continues to be a life-threatening
illness with a great deal of physical, emotional and psychological impact. Helping patients and
their families cope by providing
information, resources and support can help lessen their burden a great deal. The prognosis
for those diagnosed with
glioblastoma multiforme is a
particularly difficult one and by
working to support research to
help find a cure, hopefully we
can improve the outcomes.
TNH: Your work can be intensely personal. Has it spilled
over into other parts of your
life?
TZ: In November 2008, I unfortunately lost another dear
friend to cancer, George “Best”
Costacos. George came here
from Greece to study at 18 with
“a suitcase full of dreams” as he
used to say. An accomplished
athlete in Greece, winning
medals in the Balkan Games for
gymnastics, he was also a talented dancer, writer and actor
and became a proud member of
Actors Equity, which selected
him as its representative in the
opening ceremony of the Athens
2004 Olympics. His love of life,
passion for his work and philanthropic spirit were an inspiration to all who met him. He
was unfortunately stricken by a
malignant brain tumor, glioblastoma and died in November
2008 within a month of his diagnosis.
TNH: Tell us about the foundation you helped establish.
TZ: Along with George’s
good friend Nikos Floros (the
world-renowned sculptor) and
his family, we founded the
George “Best” Costacos Cultural
and Cancer Research Foundation in June 2009 and I now
serve as Vice-President of the
board. We received our 501(c)3
status in June 2010. The mission of the foundation is to promote, foster, and advance the
professional pursuits of young
artists as well as performers in
theater, dance or musical performance, and to support research to understand the etiology of cancer and to support
improvement in the management of brain tumors. The Foundation has organized three
events in New York, including
the first annual George “Best”
Costacos Walk of Hope on October 3, 2010, and an exhibit by
heraldic artist Ioannis Vlazakis
titled Illuminations, hosted by
Consul General Aghi Balta. We
are a young, all-volunteer organization but we have plenty of
passion, commitment and energy.
TNH: Has your life path been
influenced by your Ancient
and/or Modern Greek and Orthodox heritage?
TZ: My parents instilled in
me and my three sisters a love
of Greece, our history and culture and it has been an important part of my life and work. I
have a great respect for our history, culture and heritage and
am very proud to be a GreekAmerican.
TNH: Are you involved in
any cultural endeavors?
TZ: I have always been interested in working to bring
quality Greek cultural events to
our community and I am a
member of the board of the
Greek Cultural Center in Astoria, Queens.
TNH: What has been your
greatest achievement so far?
TZ: I have been fortunate to
do work that I love and that
gives me a great deal of satisfaction and fulfillment.
TNH: What’s the greatest lesson you've ever learned?
TZ: It is hard to choose just
one. We should cherish every
minute we have because we
don’t know what the next will
bring. Many of the patients I
have served have been an inspiration to me. I am humbled by
their strength and courage. My
parents have also inspired me
with their honesty and integrity.
One of my best friends, Maria,
has also been an inspiration as
well. I always strive to achieve
her level of integrity, intelligence, humanity and sense of
humor and hope I achieve it
some day.
TNH: What’s your most enjoyable pastime?
TZ: Listening to music and
being with friends and people I
love.
TNH: What’s your ultimate
goal in life, and share with us
some words of wisdom.
TZ: To be the best person I
can be and to be true to myself.
I tell people: Never lose your
sense of humor in life.
[email protected]
THE NATIONAL HERALD, DECEMBER 11-17, 2010
GOINGS ON...
n THRU DECEMBER 12
ASTORIA, NY - The Greek Cultural Center kicks off the season
with the New York parody of
the, Theater of the Ridiculous,
The Mystery of Irma Vep by
Charles Ludlam, as translated by
Lakis Lazopoulos and acted/directed by Christos Alexandridis
and Evangelos Alexiou. The play
lampoons every conceivable
British, mass-market literary and
theatrical convention, and films
from the mystery and horror
genre. The two actors primarily
play the parts of the Lord and
Lady, thus ridiculing the British
Victorian melodrama and on a
secondary level play the parts of
the butler and the house keeper
of the Estate, thus parodying
various literary themes. Performances will continue until December 12th on every Friday
and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. and
Sundays at 7:00 p.m. in Greek
with English supertitles. The
Greek Cultural Center is located
at: 26-80 30th Street, Astoria,
NY. For further information,
call: (718) 726-7329 or visit:
www.greekculturalcenter.org
n THRU DECEMBER 17
FAIRFIELD, Conn. - Fairfield
University’s new Bellarmine Museum of Art presents its first temporary exhibition, Gifts from
Athens: New Plaster Casts from
the Acropolis Museum and Photographs by Socratis Mavrommatis. The museum is free and
open to the public Monday to
Friday, 10:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. It
is located at the lower level of
Bellarmine Hall on the campus
of Fairfield University. “Gifts
from Athens” features eight plaster casts given to the Bellarmine
Museum of Art from the First
Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities—Acropolis Museum. Six of the casts represent
sculpture from the Parthenon.
Other casts include a diminutive
kore (maiden) from the late Archaic period and the renowned
“Sandalbinder” from the Nike
Parapet. The original sculptures,
after which these casts were
taken, can be seen in the new
Acropolis Museum in Athens.
Web link for directions:
www.fairfield.edu/about/about_
directions.html. or call: (203)
254-4000.
n THRU JANUARY 3
NEW YORK, N.Y. - The Onassis
Cultural Center explores the role
of heroes in society in the exhibition, Heroes: Mortals and
Myths in Ancient Greece, on
view in Manhattan from October
5, 2010 to January 3, 2011. The
exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and Humanities.
Highlights of the exhibition include a bronze Corinthian helmet from 700-500 B.C.; a blackfigure
amphora
depicting
Achilles and Ajax playing a board
game outside Troy (late sixth
century B.C.); a black-figure column krater (c. 510 B.C.) depicting Odysseus escaping from the
cave of the Cyclops Polyphemos;
and a gold medallion with the
bust of Alexander the Great (c.
218-235 A.D.; among many
more. Guided tours of the exhibition will be offered to the public every Tuesday and Thursday
at 1:00 p.m. Tours can also be
organized upon request for
school groups. A comprehensive
brochure will also be offered free
to visitors. For additional information, contact: Lillian Goldenthal at (212) 593-6355 or email:
[email protected].
n DECEMBER 16
ROCHESTER, New York - The
Greece Chamber of Commerce
is hosting their Holiday Party on
December 16 from 5:30-7:30
p.m. at the Rochester Marriott
Airport Hotel. Admission is: $10
per person or $5 per person with
the donation of a hat, scarf or
pair of mittens, or packaged
socks or underwear (needed for
both children and adults) to be
donated to the Greece Ecumenical Clothing Closet. All cash proceeds will be donated to: Two
Doors Community Resource
Center. The Holiday Party is
sponsored by: Rochester Marriott Airport Hotel, Courtyard by
Marriott - Courtyard West and
the Residence Inn by Marriott Rochester West. The event will
be held at the Rochester Marriott
Airport Hotel, 1890 West Ridge
Road, Rochester, NY. For further
info, contact the Greece Chamber of Commerce at: 2496 West
Ridge Rd, Suite 201, Greece, NY
14626 or at: (585) 227-7272.
n JANUARY 9
OAKBROOK TERRACE, Ill. - The
Greek Women's University Club
is hosting a special Annual Scholarship Luncheon, “Celebrating
80 Years of Greek Women's University Club - Promoting the Arts,
Culture, and Education," at Mike
Ditka's Restaurant on January 9
at 12:00 p.m. Guest speaker
will be NBC Channel 5 Reporter
Kim Vatis. The Restaurant is located at: Two Mid America
Plaza (22nd St & Rte 83), Oakbrook Terrace, IL. It will be $45
per person. For further information, contact: Maria Kallis at:
(630) 455-1688.
n NOTE TO OUR READERS
This calendar of events section
is a complimentary service to
the Greek American community.
All parishes, organizations and
institutions are encouraged to
e-mail their information regarding the event 3-4 weeks ahead
of time, and no later than Monday of the week before the
event, to [email protected]
QUESTION OF THE WEEK
Vote on our website!
You have the chance to express your opinion on our website
on an important question in the news. The results will be published in our printed edition next week along with the question
for that week.
The question this week is: Should Greece give up its rights
to the Parthenon Marbles in return for a long term loan from
the British Museum?
o Yes
o No
o Maybe
The results for last week’s question: Will you be spending
less on Christmas this year?
74% voted "Yes"
26% voted "No"
0% voted "Maybe"
Please vote at: www.thenationalherald.com
IT’S YOUR PARTY.
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Any event, any size—20 to 200, sit-down
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Serving the tri-State Area.
THE NATIONAL HERALD, DECEMBER 11-17, 2010
COMMUNITY
3
PanHellenic Scholarships for Greek America’s Best and Brightest
CHICAGO - Nearly 500 people
attended this year’s Awards Gala
of the PanHellenic Scholarship
Foundation that took place at the
historic Hilton Chicago to award
$250,000 to 40 of the nation’s
top Greek American students
and scholars, chosen for their
outstanding academic achievement and character. This largest
ever event of the Panhellenic
Foundation was attended by
family, friends and Philhellenes
wanting to share in the Foundation’s celebration of 40 of the
smartest Greek American students. Foundation founder and
Chairman Chris P. Tomaras told
the audience that: “We must continue to encourage our students
and to demonstrate that we believe in them … that we recognize their potential … and that
we rely on them for becoming
The 2010 Award Recipients, also inducted in the PanHellenic Honors Society are:
Iris Agrafiotis, University of California-Berkeley
Eve Marie Avdoulos. Michigan State University
Courtney Estelle Basile, Ball State University
Joanna Christina Boardman, University of Alabama
Asimina Angeliki Boutzoukas, Florida State University
Andrea Gaspar, University of Texas at Austin
Nicole Eleni Ginarte-Papaslis, University of Massachusetts, Boston
Katerina Glyptis, Harvard University
Katerina Eleni Kafkas, University of Massachusetts-Lowell
Andreas Gus Kalantzis, Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne
Nickolaos Zackary Kallis, University of Florida
Dean S. Karahalios, Loyola University Chicago
George Stephen Karas, Harvard University
Alexis Maria Keramaris, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Athanasios G. Kondilis, Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne
Marie Alexandra Latsa, The Ohio State University
Eleftheria Lekkas, Rutgers University
Nickolas Loukedes, Saint Anselm College
Aikaterini Makridakis, Northern Illinois University
Sotirios Alexandros Malamis, University of Michigan
Jessica Ann Metzger, Washington University in St. Louis
Vasiliki Mitrakos, Northwestern University
Dimitra Mouzakis, Columbia College Chicago
Anastasia Nitis, Iona College
Theodore Papadopoulos, Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne
Constantine Demetrios Pappas, California State University, Fresno
Alexandra Marie Plattos, University of Illinois at Chicago
Michelle Susan Prew, Boston College
John Tucker Sigalos, Vanderbilt University
Louis Andreou Spanias, University of California-Berkeley
Amalia V. Stavropoulos, New York University
Nikitas J. Tampakis, Princeton University
Sydney Marie Thayer, University of Southern California
Rebecca G. Theophanous, University of Pittsburgh
Arthur Stephen Tingas, University of Virginia
Yolanda Maria Tselepidakis, University of New Hampshire
Leonidas George Vasilakos, Boston College
Christina Verdos-Petrou, Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne
James Peter Xamplas, Northwestern University
Mina Zissopoulos, New York University
tomorrow’s leaders and contributors in the American society.”
He said the 40 were honored
for their performance and outstanding abilities. “Of these, 20
students who applied on the basis of and documented their financial need received $10,000
each. The other 20, whose families can meet today’s financial
challenges, received $2,500
each, for a total of $250,000, as
we feel that these kids also deserve our encouragement and
recognition as all other hard
working kids,” he said.
The Master of Ceremonies
was the well-known GreekAmerican Fox TV sports caster
and three-time Emmy winner
Lou Canellis who covered the
entire evening and, in a innovative move, presented this year’s
event. First, it was the awards
ceremony, held in theater seating style, where the awards
were distributed and all the presentations were made. The
award recipients paraded on the
stage one by one to receive their
awards. Each of the donors present who contributed $10,000
presented the award in person
to each recipient. Next followed
a cocktail reception continued
by a sit-down dinner at the ho-
Above: (L-R) Master of Ceremonies Lou Canellis, Alexandra
Plattos, Dimitra Mouzakis, Alexis Keramaris, Academic Committee Chairman George Alexopoulos, Board of Directors Chairman Chris Tomaras, Eleftheria Lekkas, Katerina Glyptis, Nicole
Ginarte-Papaslis, Courtney Basile, Executive Director Yiannis
Valsamas. Below: Chris Tomaras, Chairman of the PanHellenic
Foundation Scholarship Awards.
tel’s illustrious Grand Ballroom.
The evening continued on with
dancing and entertainment to
the tunes of jazz, blues and
Greek music offered by the Chris
Sarlas orchestra and songs by
the two sisters, Lexy and
Stephanie Prodromos.
During the awards ceremony,
the Foundation’s annual Paradigm Award was presented to
Frances Fragos Townsend, as is
always done for a distinguished
Greek American achiever. She is
well known as the former
Homeland Security Advisor to
President George W. Bush and
a former top official of the U.S.
Justice Department. In addressing the award recipients, she
emphasized: “You must not forget your roots and you must always be proud of your ancestry.
It is the substance you are made
of and the guiding light to your
destinations.”
During dinner, a live auction
was held that featured an eightday and a five-day vacation with
all expenses paid, including airfare, to some of Greece’s 5-star
hotels such as Grand Bretagne,
Costa Navarino’s Romanos and
Blue Palace Resort in Crete. The
retail value of both was $17,600.
Concurrent with the dinner, a
silent auction went on where
guests had an opportunity to bid
on many items such as jewelry
from Konstantino, trips to Las
Vegas, tickets to sporting events,
restaurants and other items, all
in bargain prices. Distinguished
personalities who attended included Metropolitan Iakovos of
Chicago, Ambassador Anastasios
Petrovas, Consul General of
Greece in Chicago, Hon. Circuit
Judge James K. Booras, Alexi Giannoulias, Illinois State Treasurer; Mariyana Spyropoulos,
Commissioner of the Water
Reclamation District of Chicago;
Dean Maragos, New Trier Township Committeeman; Dr. Thanasis Economou, NASA Senior
Planetary Scientist and 2009
Paradigm Award recipient; Eleni
Bousis, President of the Greek
American Rehabilitation & Nursing Centre; Demetrios Kozonis,
Chairman of the Chicago Sister
City-Athens Committee, Endy
Zemenides, Senior Advisor to
Alexi
Giannoulias;
Helen
Alexander, Director of Development of the National Hellenic
Museum; officers of universities
and educational institutions; officials of Greek American Organizations; and members of the
media.
The Future of Hellenism Is On The Line, Some Ideas to Save It
By Paul Papadeas
LOS ANGELES – From how to
perpetuate the Greek language
to political dilemmas such as
Cyprus – and more domestic
problems such as the fractured
nature of Greek American organizations, community leaders
met here to talk about The Future of Hellenism in America
and represented a wide spectrum of thought. The 9th Annual
Conference was held at the
famed Beverly Hilton in Beverly
Hills, on Nov. 20 where speakers
converged to discuss serious political matters related to Greek
Americans and the greater Diaspora. The American Hellenic Institute Foundation (AHI) hosted
the event in cooperation with
the Alexander S. Onassis Public
Benefit Foundation, The World
Council of Hellenes Abroad
(S.A.E) USA Region and the
Behrakis Foundation. AHI is a
lobbyist group that was started
in 1974 and galvanized the U.S.
Congress to pass the Rule of Law
Arms Embargo, which prohibited arms sales to Turkey. This
was in response to the nation’s
illegal invasion and occupation
of the Republic of Cyprus with
the illegal use of American supplied arms in violation of U.S.
laws and agreements. Since this
time AHI has been instrumental
in initiating congressional legislation, issuing policy statements
and serving as a watchdog on
issues affecting US relations in
Southeastern Europe. Key issues
have included ending the illegal
occupation of Cyprus, the treatment of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the aggression in the
Aegean Sea and the US response
in the dispute between Greece
and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) over
the nation’s name. AHI has influential contacts within the US
Congress, Executive Branch
(State, Defense, and National
Security Council), the diplomatic
corps, think tanks, and educational institutions to advance the
interests of the US on issues of
importance to Greek Americans.
The conference program consisted of an entire day of sessions
ranging in topics from the future
of Greek American organizations,
grassroots lobbying, the role of
Greek Americans in the entertainment industry in promoting Hellenism, the future of Greek America, Greek education in America,
the image of Hellenism abroad,
the Greek American Organization
Study Program to Greece and
Cyprus and the perspectives of
young Greek Americans. Some
notable speakers and moderators
ranged from Republican Florida
Congressman Gus Bilirakis,
Alexander Mizan, the Executive
Director of the Hellenic American
National Council; Gene Rossides,
Founder of AHI and its Executive
Director, Nick Larigakis; actor
John Aniston, Kary Anthoulis,
President of Mini-series for HBO
Leaders of the Greek American Community who gathered in Los Angeles to talk about the
future of Hellenism included (L-R) American Hellenic Institute President Aleco Haralambides,
Professor Van Coufoudakis, John Aniston, receiving the AHI Hellenic Heritage Achievement
Award, AHI Executive Director Nick Larigakis and AHI Board member Nick Karambelas.
Films; Professor Dan Georgakas,
Director of the Greek American
studies project at the Center for
Byzantine and Modern Greek
Studies (Queens College – City
University of New York); Dr. Andre Gerolymatos, Chair Hellenic
Studies Simon Fraser University
in Vancouver B.C. Canada; Professor John K. Papadopoulos,
Professor of Archaeology and
Classics Chair, Archaeology IDP,
UCLA , Rev. John S. Bakas Dean
St. Sophia Cathedral, and Professor Van Coufoudakis, Rector
Emeritus, University of Nicosia,
Cyprus and former President,
Modern Greek Studies Association.
KEEPING THE LEGACY
The conference focused on
the ongoing challenges in redefining and promoting Hellenism in the face of a protean
global landscape in the 21st
Century and there seemed to be
a sense that Hellenism prior to
this conference was an improbable marriage between Greek
Orthodox Christianity and Ancient Greek cultural antiquity
mixed with a problematic nostalgia for the Byzantine Empire
and a tacit yearning for the once
proud primacy of our own cultural supremacy. There was a
diversity of political perspectives
from both sides of the political
spectrum in answering many of
these looming questions. There
seemed to be a pluralistic definition of the term, with some
guests, such as Bilirakis, saying
they believe that Hellenism
should be about “The passing on
of certain customs, traditions,
the language and religion all
which go hand and hand,” while
Georgakas had a slightly different notion of it being rooted in
adhering to, ”an independent
judgment, polemical tradition,
reason, due process, and multiculturalism.” Yet, a majority of
audience members in attendance seemed to focus on the
strategic importance of the
Greek Orthodox Church in the
US and abroad as being the
main instrument in regards to
facilitating and spreading this
concept of Hellenistic identity
through religious faith. Never
mind that the mission of organizations such as AHEPA has historically been to create an
awareness of the principles of
Hellenism to society through a
commitment to the preservation
and promotion Ancient Greek
values of civic responsibility,
philanthropy, education, family
and individual excellence, and
the ideals of democracy and how
these incongruous interests collaborate to fulfill the same goals
without consistently clashing is
testimony to the resilience,
openness, and tolerance of our
cultural heritage. It seemed that
Hellenism can mean different
things to different types of
Greeks. The main goal was to
promote the continuing historic
importance of Greek antiquity
on the modern world and its indispensable and timeless influence.
A POLITICAL PUNCH
The underlying agenda of the
conference was to report on the
outcome of recent lobbying efforts, to discuss the various
strategies of fundraising and
promotion of ongoing historic
concerns to US foreign policy
makers in hopes of somehow
aligning these issues of vital importance to Greeks with US national security interests. Ultimately, the goal is to help
influence and guide the formulation of favorable policy. Echoing a statement by Bilirakis that,
“non-Greeks love Greeks but
need to be educated on our issues and held accountable,”
there was talk of local grass
roots lobbying efforts discussed
by Larigakis discussed the ongoing violations of UN law by
Turkey along with what he said
is its abuse of religious freedoms.
The institute has recently pro-
duced a three hundred thousand
dollar one hour documentary
entitled Cyprus Still Divided, A
U.S. Foreign Policy Failure,
which recently aired on Detroit
Public Television, WTVS Channel 56. The documentary revealed the web of domestic politics, the realpolitik of former
U.S. secretary of state Henry
Kissinger and the repeated refusal of US presidents to demand that the rule of law and
fundamental human rights be
upheld in Cyprus. Andreas Kypriaides, Honorary Consul General
of Cyprus in Los Angeles added
an important comment that
Turkey is proven to have NeoOttoman expansionist ambitions
to annex the Turkish occupied
portion of Northern Cyprus into
Turkey and to find ways to wrest
control of the rest of the island
from the Greeks. Kypriades
added that, “the goal is to create
a united, free and independent
Cyprus.” Greek-Americans must
take advantage of their fortuitous position to promote this
humanistic version of Hellenism
in the face of such rigid ideological and religious dogma permeating our world. And with the
falling hegemony of the United
States and rival powers growing,
it’s more imperative than ever
that the Greek lobbyist efforts
are emboldened to make a difference and to keep on the radar
of those who have the power to
make a change.
TECHNOLOGY TOOLS
Michael Galanakis, President
of the American Hellenic Council, stated that, “Organizing local
communities to establish relationships with congressman,
gaining direct access to staff
members and establishing open
lines of communication was the
best way to educate them to various issues vital to Greeks.” He
also discussed how access by
groups to President Barack
Obama helped facilitate the call
for more religious freedom in
Turkey and for the opening of
the Halki seminary during his
historic speech in Ankara.
Galanakis urged people from the
Greek community to become politically engaged and discussed
ways in which his organization
reached out to local communities using tools such as Twitter,
Facebook, email blasts and their
website to update people on
news, events and to find ways
to get individuals involved in
fundraising while offering guidance and support to ensure that
they stay on a consistent agenda.
Georgakas noted that GreekAmericans are one of the most
prosperous and well-educated
communities in the US with a
good image in the country and
in the best historic position to
spread Hellenism domestically
and overseas. Furthermore, 80%
of Greeks marry non-Greeks and
even wed in the Orthodox
Church. The Internet has allowed an unprecedented opportunity for the second immigration wave Greeks (1965-80) to
reconnect with their relatives
back in Greece. In order to maintain culture, Georgakas stated
that, “Greeks must keep connection with modern Greece.” And
he said they can indeed do this
now through access to film, TV,
newspapers all online with the
ability to connect with other Diaspora Greeks abroad to complete academic projects. And for
their children the globalized era
of the new millennium has made
monoculture a thing of the past
as being bi-lingual, having an
ethnic identity and no longer
identifying completely with
American or Greek foreign policy has given us an advantage.
This “independent inquiry to decision making,” is more in line
with Hellenic heritage, he said.
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COMMUNITY
4
THE NATIONAL HERALD, DECEMBER 11-17, 2010
Drexel’s Tsetsekos Beams Over A $45 Million Business Gift
By Constantine S. Sirigos
TNH Staff Writer
PHILADELPHIA, Penn. - Dr.
George Tsetsekos, Dean of
Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business, has announced
a record $45 million gift from
financier and corporate executive Bennett S. LeBow toward
construction of a new academic
center for the College of Business, which was named in
LeBow’s honor in 1999. LeBow
has now committed a total of
$60 million to Drexel. The new
gift is the largest to by an
alumni benefactor. LeBow, who
received an honorary doctoral
degree from Drexel in 1998 is
known as a turnaround specialist, “investing in struggling companies that a less bold businessman might have avoided,”
Drexel’s press release noted. He
is Chairman of the Board of the
international bookseller, the
Borders Group, and Chairman
of the board of Vector Group
Ltd., a private equity firm that
has focused on real estate and
tobacco products.
LeBow said: “Drexel’s College of Business is one of the
best investments I ever made.”
His new gift will support construction of a 12-story, $92 million academic center for the College of Business. Tsetsekos said,
“Ben’s first gift enabled us to
transform LeBow College into a
national leader in MBA and entrepreneurship programs ... the
new gift will continue our transformation as our new building
will keep us on a trajectory toward becoming one of America’s
top business schools.”
Tsetsekos acknowledged the
importance of the role of the
late Dr. Takis (Constantine) Papadakis, President of Drexel
from 1995until his untimely
death in 2009. It was with the
support and encouragement of
Papadakis that LeBow made the
original $10 million donation –
the largest gift Drexel had received up to that time. “After
seeing the continued success of
the University and the business
school under the leadership of
Dr. Papadakis, and the entrepreneurial spirit” that was being
nurtured there, Mr. LeBow came
back with a gift that was four
times greater and re-invested in
the school,” said Tsetsekos. The
new infrastructure will further
the goal of gaining recognition
as one of the leading business
schools in the U.S. and in the
world. Tsetsekos said he is
proud of the institution’s vision
and planning, saying of LeBow:
“He is a successful businessman.
In 2006 he took a critical look
at all our plans, and for a facility
that will enable us to develop
centers of excellence. The next
step toward our goals was a new
building, Dr. Tsetsekos told The
National Herald. He said he is
very thankful that despite the
global economic crisis, LeBow
agreed that this is the right moment to proceed.
WATCH DREXEL GROW
cOurteSy: DreXel uniVerSity
Drexel University LeBow College of Business Dean Dr. George
Tsetsekos (L) and Bennett S. LeBow celebrate outside the soonto-be demolished Matheson Hall. After a recent $45 million
gift to the college of business by Bennett LeBow a new building
will be constructed in its place.
Tsetsekos has served as dean
of Drexel University’s LeBow
College of Business since August
2001. Asked about his vision for
the College of Business, he Tsetsekos said he wanted to deepen
the school’s commitment to fostering entrepreneurship, noting
that it was currently ranked
third for such programs in the
U.S. He said he also would work
to increase the international
scope of its operations on the
model of the center for graduate
studies they established in
Sacramento, California. He told
TNH that they have embarked
on a number of initiatives, having signed collaboration agreements with China and other institutions around the world.
Drexel reported that, “Since
LeBow’s $10 million gift in
1999, the business school has
constructed one building for
teaching, the Pearlstein Business
Learning Center; launched fulltime, online and corporate MBA
programs; and grown its student enrollment in both size and
quality. About 70 percent of today’s full-time faculty joined
LeBow College within the past
10 years and its programs have
been rated among the nation’s
best by Financial Times, Business Week, Princeton Review,
Entrepreneur magazine and others.
“Our new building will be an
incubator of knowledge, a gathering place for business leaders,
and a high-energy home for
scholars, students and executives working together to solve
problems and create opportunities,” Tsetsekos said. The new
building designed by Robert
A.M. Stern Architects LLP and
Voith & Mactavish LLP will feature a finance trading lab, 300seat auditorium, five-story
atrium, special areas for experiential learning simulations and
business consulting, videoconferencing capabilities and a
recording studio to support
LeBow College’s online programs. Also included are extensive areas for students to gather
socially and for collaborative
study. The structure will be
Green Globe certifiable, meeting
worldwide sustainability standards. The exterior will be constructed of a limestone similar
to that used in the nearby iconic
30th Street Train Station and
the former U.S. Post Office.
GREEK SUCCESS STORY
Tsetsekos is a native of Nafplion, Greece. Prior to his appointment as dean, he served as
Drexel’s Vice Provost and Vice
President for Academic Administration. He was appointed to
LeBow College’s finance faculty
in 1988 and served as professor
of finance and director of LeBow
College’s Risk Management
Center. Currently, he serves on
the Advisory Board of the Federal Reserve of Philadelphia, the
Board of the Penjerdel Council
and the Pennsylvania Economic
League. He studied mechanical
engineering at he National Technical University of Athens, his
MBA in Finance from Wright
State University and his Ph.D.
in finance from the University
of Tennessee. He lives in Devon,
Pa. with his wife and three sons.
They often travel back to Greece
to visit immediate family.
When he first arrived in the
U.S. to continue his studies in
1980, he planned to stay only
one or two years. He said he
was going return to Greece with
what he had learned and apply
it at one of the country’s technology-driven sectors, energy,
electricity etc. but at one point
he realized that he needed to
study finance, and that’s when
his life began to shift. After obtaining a Master’s degree and a
The late Dr. Takis (Constantine) Papadakis, President of
Drexel from 1995 until his untimely death in 2009.
Ph.D in Finance, he was well
along a path to academia. Its
now 25 years later, but he said
he still thinks about Greece, its
tribulations and what needs to
be done to weather the economic storms. He said is anxious
to contribute, individually and
through the institutions he is associated with. From his perspective, the crisis will not be resolved by sorting out who did
right and wrong, he said, adding
that Greece has needed to undergo critical structural and cultural changes for decades and
sooner or later its governments
needed to acknowledge that
what was required was convergence with what happening
around the world. Naturally, he
said is very concerned about
Greece lagging in education,
where many developing countries have moved far ahead.
St. Nick’s Fires Legal Notice at Port Authority For Rebuilding Church
Continued from page 1
church at Ground Zero after it
was crushed by a falling tower
in the attack on the World Trade
Center on September 11, 2001”
and that in March 2009, the PA
“summarily disavowed a longstanding agreement” to rebuild
the church at 130 Liberty
Street,” and ‘without permission, notice or any legal justification whatsoever has sent its
bulldozers onto both the land
owned by the Church at its original site...and the land promised
to the Church... and conducted
extensive excavation that has
rendered both sites unbuildable
by the Church.”
The claim under New York
State law is for actions that include trespass, and seeks declaratory judgments from the
court pertaining to what it calls
a “binding preliminary agreement” regarding property rights
and “to negotiate in good faith.”
The Church and St. Nicholas are
also seeking monetary awards
for “damage to its reputation
caused by the Port Authority’s
defamatory statements, and
damage to its property caused
by the Port Authority’s trespass,”
in addition to restitution for unjust enrichment through the taking of its property. Under Federal Law the document claims
violation of “the Church’s right
to freely exercise its religion under the first amendment.”
The Associated Press reported that the PA responded
with a statement, saying: “It
hopes to sit down with church
officials and reach a deal - but
pointed the finger at the church
for the dispute over its new
home,” and quoted the Authority that “In 2008, we worked
hard to come to what we
thought was a very generous
agreement with church representatives..." Unfortunately, after nine months of negotiation
in which the demands of the Orthodox Church continued to increase over and above what we
originally agreed to ... we had
to make a practical decision to
move on."
Father Arey informed TNH
that for some months the
Church has sought legal counsel
regarding its legal and property
rights. Concerns during that
time over construction work
that had begun at the church’s
original site at 155 Cedar and
more recently at the replacement site at 130 Liberty Street
led to the advice of their attorneys to serve notice on the Port
Authority. Despite the support
and sympathy the Church has
received from local elected officials the PA “dug up both properties and our back channel efforts to communicate have gone
nowhere,” Fr. Arey said, adding
that it was a co-incidence that
the action was taken the Feast
Day of St. Nicholas, the timing
being dictated by the attorneys.
700 GATHER
AT GROUND ZERO
The serving of notice took
place the day after 700 Greek
Orthodox faithful and friends of
An estimated 700 Greek Orthodox Christians and their friends braved the cold to honor St.
Nicholas and support the rebuilding of the church at Ground Zero in New York.
the St. Nicholas parish gathered
at Ground Zero on Sunday, December 5, near the site of the
destroyed church, to celebrate
vespers for the Feast of St.
Nicholas and to express their
frustration at the seeming indifference of agencies of their own
government to their efforts to
re-build the only house of worship destroyed by terrorists on
9/11.
New York State Senator-elect
Michael Gianaris said he was
impressed with the large crowd
at the vespers but he declared,
“We need to be inside a Church,
not out in the cold.” He informed TNH that there have
been recent discussions about
the plight of the parish up to the
level of Governor-elect Cuomo,
who he said is aware of the issues and is sympathetic, but
suggested critical meetings must
await Cuomo’s appointment of
the relevant new officials.
The large crowd turned out
despite severe weather conditions on the coldest day of autumn, and the chilly reception
by the Port Authority of NY and
NJ – Press cameramen and photographers were at first not permitted to enter the site allotted
for the services, and attempts
were even made to bar the Archdiocese’s own videographer
from taping.
Mark G. Cunha is one of the
attorneys handing the case for
the parish and the Archdiocese.
He is a partner in Simpson
Thacher & Bartlett’s Litigation
Department. TNH asked Cunha
about the references, who responded that “It is disquieting
to some in the church that the
person in charge of negotiations
with them would be highlighting his non-belief in a public forum.” He stressed that the
church is taking these actions
because the port authority
walked away from an agreement and has not been in touch
with them for 1 ½ years. Cunha
said the church couldn’t allow
itself to get into a position
where the sites are not longer
buildable. He said they are not
at that point yet – they are just
holes in the ground, but he
noted that things can change
rapidly. He informed TNH that
it is only NY State law that requires 60 days notice, but if the
PA takes actions detrimental to
the church's interests they can
file federal claims where there
are no such restrictions.
Cunha pointed out that the
PA had dealt constructively with
the Church through March 2009
and is hopeful that can happen
again, and that the aim of the
legal action is to get the relevant
parties to sit down to work out
a fair and reasonable deal. Acknowledging the importance of
the public relations dimension
of the efforts, Cunha told TNH,
"I cannot recall another time
when so many members of the
media” expressed themselves
openly regarding a case, saying
“good luck and we’re pulling for
the Church.”
There is powerful support
within the community as well.
Mamie Stathatos-Fulgieri, President of the Hellenic Lawyers
Association told TNH that “We
stand prepared to assist in any
way,” as it is our faith and our
community that is being challenged.” Another well-informed
Greek American attorney, noting
that law firms and public relations firms are not merely hubs
of legal and communications expertise but also centers of political influence, is very pleased
with the decision to enlist wellconnected firms such as Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and public
relations
powerhouse
Rubinstein Associates. He said
he believes that the St. Nicholas
matter must be put it the hands
of the city’s top people, whether
or not they are Greek, and that
prominent Greek American political and business leaders need
to participate in the efforts to
reach a satisfactory resolution.
St. Nicholas Parish Council
President John Couloucoundis
confirmed to TNH that the main
criterion for selecting representatives of the joint committee of
the parish and archdiocesan officials working to rebuild St.
Nicholas was to secure the very
best firms for the job of protecting the rights and reputation of
the church.
COMMUNITY PRAYS,
STANDS UP
The Sunday Vesper service
was held as dramatic clouds
rolled by against a brilliant blue
heaven reminiscent of the perfectly blue sky that crowned the
dawn of 9/11 2001, at the
southern edge of the now-sacred site of the most devastating
modern attack on the U.S. mainland and the principles of
democracy and religious freedom. The faithful gathered before a makeshift open air sanctuary set up at the edge of the
Ground Zero construction site.
Archbishop Demetrios appeared
shortly after 2 p.m. in a procession led by children who carried
some of the remains of the
church: an icon, a piece of the
humble parish’s crushed chandelier, a battered bell which was
ritually struck to mark the beginning of the service.
Newly elected State Senator
and friend of the community
Tony Avella and Assemblywoman-elect Aravella Simotas
were present to give their support, as were Nicholas Karacostas, Supreme President and
Basil Mossaidis, Executive Director of the Order of AHEPA,
which helped spearhead efforts
to bring members of the community to the sacred site.
Revered Federal Judge Nicholas
Tsoucalas was there as well, as
was Evangelos Kyriakopoulos,
Consul of Greece, and Koula
Sophianou, Consul General of
Cyprus.
Clergy from numerous Greek
Orthodox parishes and those of
other Orthodox Christian jurisdictions stood by the side of St.
Nicholas pastor Fr. John Romas.
Apropos of both the joy and love
Orthodox Christians have felt
towards the miracleworking and
most philanthropic of saints and
the spirit of Santa Claus that
dominates the celebration of
Christmas in the modern world
– to the delight of children
everywhere – many of the Greek
Orthodox clergy, including his
Eminence, were arrayed in their
finest bright red vestments.
Bishop Andonios of Phasiane,
Protopresbyter Fr. Alexander
Karloutsos, Fr. Ilias Villis, pastor
of the Church of our Savior in
Rye, N.Y., Archdeacon Panteleimon Papadopoulos, Deacon
Vasilios Louros and Fr. John Lardas, pastor of St. Constantine
and Helen of Brooklyn, temporary home of the orphaned St.
Nicholas parish, were among
the clergy present assisting His
Eminence.
His Eminence’s speech was
the only presentation at an
event that was dominated by
reverence for St. Nicholas. He
noted that “though opened in
1916 by Greek immigrants, the
church not only served the spiritual needs of its parishioners
but was also a sacred space in
which people of all ethnic
groups and religious background would stop, light a can-
With what was once named
The Freedom Tower steadily
rising in the background, a
Vesper service for the feast
day of St. Nicholas was performed at Ground Zero on
Dec. 5, 2010 in the hope that
the fate of the church that was
destroyed on 9/11 will soon
be determined and rebuilding
can begin.
dle and spend a few minutes in
prayer and meditation.”
The Archbishop declared:
“The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and the parish
of St. Nicholas remain strongly
committed to the rebuilding of
the church at Ground Zero,” but
offered no details about the disputes that have blocked the rebuilding, and no hint of the next
day’s legal action. He said that
the building “will stand as a dynamic testament to the healing
power of love and be “an appropriate memorial in New York
City to the 3000 innocent people of all Faiths who lost their
lives that day,” adding it will
“also serve as a center of peace
and reconciliation.”
Karacostas told TNH it was
“overwhelming to see” such a
strong show of support by the
community on a bitterly cold
day. He said there were 100
members of AHEPA there. Fr.
Mark Arey said he counted 20
rows of people 30 across and estimated a total of 700. The Web
site of the Order of AHPEA,
www.ahepa.org contains an online petition where people can
demand that their public officials “cut the red tape.” The Very
Rev. Father Christopher Calin,
Dean of the Cathedral of the
Holy Protection of the Orthodox
Church in America (OCA) told
TNH he was there to lend his
Church’s support to the drive for
the immediate rebuilding of St.
Nicholas. He added that, “It is
demoralizing as a New Yorker
to the city is remiss in rebuilding
the only house of worship destroyed on 9/11.”
Olga Pavlakos, Treasurer of
the St. Nicholas Parish, and her
mother greeted guests at the
candle stand and have been attending St. Nicholas for decades
while they also worshipped at
the Three Hierarchs church in
Brooklyn. Olga was baptised at
Nicholas, in the same font that
was used for her father in 1926.
They deeply appreciated the
turnout, with Olga saying “they
give us hope.”
Maria Drakos told TNH what
a great thing it was to see so
many Greek Orthodox come to
the site to honor St. Nicholas
and to pray, as did Dorothy Poli.
She was thankful for being able
to avoid the horrors of 9/11. At
the time she worked in a nearby
building but was on vacation
and was spared witnessing the
horrors her colleagues saw.
George Demos, who was a candidate this year for the U.S.
Congress in eastern Long Island’s 1st Congressional District,
championed the rebuilding efforts during his campaign. He
told TNH that the afternoon was
a testament to the strong support in the community for the
rebuilding of the church at
Ground Zero and stated that
during the Christmas season “its
important to rededicate ourselves to the task and to make
sure the PA stops dragging its
feet and does the right thing
once and for all.”
[email protected]
COMMUNITY
THE NATIONAL HERALD, DECEMBER 11-17, 2010
5
Nick Gavalas’ Character Was His Fate, Giving is His Mission
By Stavros Marmarinos
Special to The National Herald
Ever since he was a boy
growing up in Arkesini, Amorgos
– an island in the Aegean Sea’s
Cycladic region – Nick Gavalas
would go and pray at his village’s church, St. Paraskevi.
Years later, on the other side of
the world, Gavalas found himself working as a manager at a
Manhattan hotel. On July 12,
1979, three people – two men
and a woman – knocked on the
door and asked for water. “Just
as I was getting them their water, they hit me over the head
and in the eye,” he told The National Herald in an interview. “It
was a robbery. They asked me
to hand over everything. I gave
them money, watches, and other
items. There was nothing I could
do. Afterwards, they bound my
hands and feet, gagged me, cut
the telephone wire, and left me
for dead after stabbing me 54
times. I used to keep a couple of
coins in my pocket – they happened to be on the side where
they stabbed me. The knife
ended up hitting the coins and
most of my injuries were not serious. I started thinking about
my mother and our parish, St.
Paraskevi, which celebrated its
feast day that month – July. I
started to move, and my hands
were freed. I don’t even know
how this happened. I managed
to untie myself completely and I
stood up. I ran to clean my
wounds. The wet shirt stuck to
my body and the bleeding
stopped. I went to the emergency room the next day, when
I started to swell. In my mind I
prayed to St. Paraskevi, because
I couldn’t speak. I believe this to
be a miracle.” Ever since that
day, when he stared death in the
face and came out alive, Gavalas
made a promise to help the St.
Paraskevi Church and other
churches as much as he could
every year.
Gavalas, a pious and God
fearing man, achieved success in
his personal life and as an entrepreneur. Today, he is widely
known in the Greek American
Community for his philanthropy,
kindness, and goodness. He
never forgets his birthplace, the
beautiful village of Arkesini,
which he visits every year. His
native village is located 15 kilometers southwest of Chora, on
the slope of Mount Korakas, near
the valley of Kato Meria. The few
residents who remain in the village work as stockbreeders and
fishermen.
Gavalas was born in 1946.
His parents had six children,
three boys and three girls. He
attended elementary and secondary school in the island of
Amorgos, and then worked as a
sailor for the merchant marines
traveling across Greece and
other parts of the world. He still
remembers his trips to Brazil,
Russia, Bulgaria, and other
places. There, he had an opportunity to get to know foreign
lands and gain useful experiences that would prove valuable
later in life.
After returning to the homeland, he served in the Coast
Guard. Being an islander, it was
only natural for the sea to attract
him. And so, he spent a period
of time working on tugboats that
were being used to facilitate various projects being carried out
on seaports. He frequently transported cranes and would go to
Nafplio, Crete, and other places
in Greece. When they would
visit islands, he and his team
would stay for stretches of four
to five months at a time working
on building ports and attending
to other needs.
THE FEAST OF AMERICA
Gavalas came to the United
States in 1973. It was September
14th when he arrived, the feast
day of the Holy Cross. “We have
a Holy Cross Church in Amorgos,” he said. “There is a country
chapel in my father’s property
in Arkesini. It’s our church. We
always go to that church. I remember that my mother used to
send me to go and light an oil
lamp there every day when I was
boy,” he said. When he first arrived in the U.S., Gavalas found
work painting buildings, serving
on demolition crews, and picking up other jobs that he would
find. Two years later, although
he was working for others, he
became a partner in a hotel,
where he was given a small
stake. “I cared a lot about my
work and did the best job that I
could, and so they offered me
seven-and-a-half
percent,”
Gavalas said. “I did whatever I
could as a painter, maintenance
man, and electrician. My partner
– he’s Jewish and he’s a wonderful man – appreciated the
work I was doing and wanted
me alongside him at the other
jobs he had.” Together with him,
today Gavalas is a partner in two
hotels in Manhattan, the Belnord
Hotel and the Newton Hotel, in
addition to other businesses.
Gavalas began to get more involved in construction after
1981. He has partnered together
with others, but he also has his
own firm.
Gavalas’ wife, Eleftheria,
tnH/DemetriS PAnAGOS
Nick and Eleftheria Gavalas are seen here with their children
Paraskevi, and twin boys Nicholas, left, and Evangelos.
hails from Crete. They were married in 1981. The couple has
three children, Paraskevi, 19, a
student at St. John’s University,
and twin boys, Nick and Evangelos, who are 12 years old.
Gavalas is proud that his children attended school at St.
Demetrios Greek American
School in Astoria. For the last 10
years, Gavalas has served as
President of the Amorgos Society. Previously, he had served as
a board member of the same organization, as well as Vice President. The Amorgos Society
owns its own headquarters at
26-03 23rd Avenue in Ditmars,
right in the heart of Greek Astoria. It is located in the same
building that houses the popular
store Kyriako’s Deli in its lobby.
Club members go in through the
entrance on 26th Street. he
building itself was bought for
$450,000 and was completely
remodeled. Two apartments
were built on the second floor,
along with two halls – one in the
lobby and the other in the basement. The kitchen is located in
the first hall, while the organization’s office is located in the
second hall. The Amorgos Society spent $100,000 to remodel
the building, and managed to
pay off the $200,000 loan it had
taken out for the building in just
four years.
even more. He makes frequent
mention of his colleagues, whom
he speaks of with respect and
gratitude.
CHARITY OF THE HEART
“I am happy with the
progress that our organization
has made,” Gavalas said. “We
are trying to fix certain things,
and I believe that we will
achieve our goal. We do not owe
any money on our headquarters.
We have paid off the loan. All of
our members contribute to the
organization, and we have love
and understanding for one another. This is a very friendly
group. Our organization has
made all kinds of contributions
to charitable causes, and continues to do so every year.”
Aside from the annual dance
that the Amorgos Society holds
every November, it makes contributions to hospitals and charitable organizations that take in
sick children, like the Deborah
hospital in New Jersey and the
Ronald McDonald House in
Manhattan, whose Greek Division is led by Niki Sideris. The
Amorgos Society, to which
Gavalas has devoted a large part
of his life, holds all of its events
at its headquarters. A few years
ago, during carnival season, an
event was held that was attended by the former Chancellor
of the Archdiocese of Athens
Nick Gavalas with former NY City mayor Rudolph Giuliani.
Gavalas has offered major financial support on several occasions, and backs every undertaking made by the organization.
He says that he feels like the
Amorgos Society is a part of him,
since he has worked for it and
contributed to it in many different ways. Being the humble and
low-key man that he is, he says
he doesn’t feel comfortable discussing his contributions. When
asked about them, he simply answers that he has done his duty
to the best of his ability, and
nothing more. It is evident that
he does not like talking about
himself, and dislikes boasting
Rev. Thomas Synodinos, a top
aide and close friend to the late
Archbishop Christodoulos of
Athens and all Greece. The
members of the Amorgos Society
wanted to express their gratitude for the love Rev. Synodinos
had shown their island and the
projects that began there thanks
to his initiative. During his address, Gavalas noted that all the
members in the organization are
united and that all the events
they hold maintain a strong family-oriented atmosphere.
The President of the Greek
American Homeowners Association, George Kitsios, was also
on hand at this event, and
praised the work that the Amorgos Society has been doing under Gavalas’ leadership as president. Among other things, he
emphasized how pleasantly surprised he is at the love the members share for each other and
the close family ties that exist
among them, which give everyone the opportunity to feel like
he or she is part of one big family.
Last month, Gavalas again received words of praise during
the Amorgos Society’s annual
dance, which was held at Terrace on the Park in Flushing, N.Y.
In addition to the kind words reserved for the evening’s honoree,
the presiding priest of the St.
Demetrios Cathedral in Astoria
V. Rev. Apostolos Koufallakis,
Gavalas received his share of acclaim. The former parish council
president of the St. Demetrios
Greek Orthodox Community in
Astoria and current school board
President Nick Andriotis expressed the sentiments of love
and appreciation that everyone
feels for Gavalas. During his address to the members of the
Amorgos Society, Andriotis
noted that, “Nick Gavalas is one
of your own – a native of Amorgos – but his is one of our own
as well.”
LESSONS OF HUMILITY
Andriotis called Gavalas a
mild-mannered man, ready to offer his services to his fellow man
at a moment’s notice. He also
thanked him for his dedication
and support to the St. Demetrios
Greek Orthodox Community in
Astoria, noting that Gavalas’ children also attended the St.
Demetrios School. On his part,
Rev. Koufallakis, who was the
guest of honor, called Gavalas
“an honorable man who knows
how to love others,” and referred
to him as “a good friend,” and a
“close companion.” Gavalas has
served as president of the Amorgos Society for the past 10 years,
and offered his services as Vice
President for close to another
five years. Gavalas speaks very
highly of his colleagues on the
Amorgos Society board of directors, whom he loves dearly. The
Board of Directors included President Nick Gavalas, Vice President Elefterios Koveos, Secretary
Nikitas Theologitis, Treasurer
Anna Theologitis, and members
Eleftheria Gavalas, Mike Sigalas,
Nikitas Simos, Marinos Prasinos,
Eva Fortes, Michale Fortes, Violeta Smaragda, and Tommy
Gavalas.
The youth of the Amorgos
Society and the entire Greek
American Community is a subject that is never far from
Gavalas’ thoughts. “Times have
changed and have become more
difficult,” he said. “We are trying
to bring our young people closer
together, and I think that we are
doing better. I hope that we will
succeed.” Gavalas has been a financial supporter of the St.
Demetrios Community in Astoria
for many years. He was one of
the first people who immediately
responded when St. Demetrios
Pastor Rev. Koufallakis told
parish members that the façade
of the St. Catherine’s Church in
Ditmars, Astoria needed to be
remodeled. As he explained to
the people, the church’s exterior
needed to take on a more appropriate form, and two bell
towers needed to be built, to ensure that the church’s Orthodox
appearance would be there for
all to see. In addition, an elevator was built to serve parishioners with special needs.
Gavalas immediately pledged
his help to get the project
started. He himself had said that
ever since he had come to the
U.S., he did not like the old exterior of St. Catherine’s Church
and that he had wanted to do
something to help beautify it. He
also made mention of all the
others who helped with the completion of this project, and stated
that he was pleased with the current appearance of the church
building. In fact, he stressed that
the Greek American Community
can help with these projects, and
argued that it is easier if there
are many people who each contribute a small amount rather
than just a handful of donors
who make major donations. “We
must help churches and other
foundations as much as we can,”
Gavalas said. “If they are not receiving public aid, how else are
they going to survive? All of us
who have the means must do
something about this,” he said.
GREEK ROOTS RUN DEEP
When asked what differences
he notices in the Greek American Community today in comparison to when he first came to
the United States, Gavalas responded that, “I think that we
have changed as the years have
gone by. We have become more
American. I don’t believe that
things today are as pure and sincere as they were years ago. Today, many people have different
ideas. Nevertheless, we have to
keep alive our religion, the
Greek language, our customs
and practices, and the Greek traditions, and we must teach our
children about them. Our faith
is stronger than all the rest out
there, and we have a duty and
responsibility to keep these traditions alive.”
Gavalas also took the opportunity to speak about the problems that arise in the relations
ish causes even though I’m not
Jewish, in an attempt to inspire
the Jewish audience members to
contribute.” Gavalas maintains
that those with the financial
wherewithal must help preserve
the Greek identity. “These are
difficult times,” he said. “Each
person can make a contribution
based on what they have.”
Gavalas says that the happiest times in his life were the
births of his children. “I thank
God for giving me my fair share
of happy moments,” he said.
“We have a good and upright
family, and this is a blessing from
God. I don’t think that there is
anything better than that.” Offering some words of advice to
the youth of the Greek American
Community, Gavalas said that,
“They should be careful of the
people they associate with in
life. A lot of bad things begin
when kids start keeping bad
company. They should not be influenced. They should listen to
their parents first, their teachers,
priests, etc.”
THE VALUE OF FAMILY
Today, Gavalas is one of the
most successful people in the
Greek American Community,
and is numbered among many
significant people who enjoy
wide respect. In light of this,
Gavalas advises young people
who dream of achieving finan-
Nick Gavalas is seen vacationing in his native village, together
with the former village president Nikos Nomikos, and his niece
Petroula Zarmakoupi, two sons Nick and Evangelos, and Polycarpos Zarmakoupis.
between Greek Americans. “We
need to be more in unison and
closer to each other,” he said.
“There is great strength in unity.
And we must be wary not to give
in to partisanship. As a Greek
American Community, we have
to set aside the differences that
cause problems in the relations
between us if we want to get
ahead.”
Gavalas is passionate when it
comes to the Greek language.
“The Greek language – especially ancient Greek – is the
greatest language in the world,”
he said. “I don’t understand why
so many foreigners study and
love the language, and so many
of us are indifferent when it
comes to keeping it alive. We all
have responsibilities, especially
parents. My children went to
Greek school, they know how to
speak and write in Greek, they
visit Greece every year, they go
to church, and they pray every
night. As far as we are concerned, my wife and I do whatever we can so that our children
can learn about their roots and
hold on to them.”
WHAT PHILANTHROPY
MEANS
Aside from being honored by
the St. Demetrios Community in
Astoria, Gavalas has also received honors from the Cypriot
organization Zenon, a Jewish organization, and Touro College
on Long Island. “The honor I received from the Jewish group
took place during an event held
at the Waldorf Astoria in Manhattan, with 1,200 people in attendance,” Gavalas said. “That
same night, $1,250,000 was
raised. During the awards ceremony, the organizers mentioned
the fact that I contribute to Jew-
cial success in life “to be careful
and love their jobs. There is time
for having fun, but work demands attention and responsibility. They shouldn’t expect that
anyone is going to be leaving
money right at their doorstep
just like that. They have to work
honestly so they can meet the
challenges of life.” As a parent,
Gavalas also offered some words
of advice to other parents. “We
need to have patience with our
children and to advise them as
much as we can about developing their character. Parents need
to be friends with their children
and to reach an understanding
with them calmly, without causing tension that will only serve
to distance them, not bring them
any closer together.”
Sharing his dreams and
wishes for the future, Gavalas
said he hopes “we stand firm to
the best of our ability, because
these are difficult days we are
living in. I want to see my children grow up to become useful
members of society, lead honorable lives, and walk through society with their heads held high,
just like I did. I want them to
enjoy the love and respect of the
people.” Gavalas is an avid
reader of The National Herald,
of which he speaks very highly.
“I’ve been reading it since I came
to the Unites States. I want to
congratulate your newspaper for
offering so much to the Greek
American Community. Its work
and contribution is invaluable,
because it brings us all together
like one big family. I hope The
National Herald continues to
serve the Greek American Community and Hellenism everywhere with the same exact enthusiasm.”
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COMMUNITY
6
THE NATIONAL HERALD, DECEMBER 11-17, 2010
Former Archbishop Spyridon Has No Regrets, But Some Questions
Continued from page 1
every encounter is welcome and
every type of dialogue is beneficial.” He spoke candidly on a
range of other issues in the interview that follows:
TNH: How does it feel to be
back in Boston for your friend,
Leo Condakes’ Memorial Service?
SPYRIDON: I am grateful to
God for making it possible for
me to once again come to the
beautiful city of Boston. This
time, I came to conduct the
memorial service for my loyal
friend and benefactor, the late
Leo Condakes. I consider it a
blessing that during these difficult moments of grief I was able
to be with Leo’s family and, in
particular, with his wife Eve, former president of the National
Philoptochos Society.
TNH: Do you miss being
amidst the Greek American community?
SPYRIDON: I happen to be a
genuine offspring of our Greek
American community. I was
brought up in the bosom of this
community.
Moreover, I entertain numerous contacts with Greek Americans, many of whom are very
close and loyal friends. Therefore, to answer your question directly, I have much love for our
Greek American family and of
course I miss it a great deal.
TNH: How closely do you follow the affairs of our Church
and our Greek American community?
SPYRIDON: I continue to follow closely and with undiminished interest all developments
within the Church of America
and our Greek American Community. I rejoice for every step
of progress they make and I regret every setback they experience.
TNH: Do you now view certain things differently, 11 years
after you left the Archepiscopal
ministry? What things would
you now do differently and what
different decisions would you
have made?
SPYRIDON: Every period is
judged on the basis of its own
needs and concerns. At that time
the priorities were different. The
on-going rapid de-Hellenization
of our Greek American community was a serious problem back
then. Another great issue was
how to keep our Church from
coming under the influence of
other religious and worldly realities. The decisions taken at
that time were consistent with
our concerns and I don’t think
they could have been different.
TNH: Are there any things
you regret you did or didn’t do?
SPYRIDON: There is no
place for regret when, as a responsible church leader, one is
called to take grave and difficult
decisions, however recondite
they may be and to whatever degree they might appear tough to
outsiders. One must make one’s
decisions and bear responsibility
for them to the end.
TNH: What is your take on
what is happening at the Saint
Irene Chrysovalantou Monastery
in Astoria? The monastery was
brought under the jurisdiction
of the Ecumenical Patriarchate
during your Archepiscopal ministry in America.
SPYRIDON: I am saddened
by all that is being rumored
about the Monastery. It pains me
even more to know that so many
of our believers are being scandalized by such rumors. I would
like to believe that the truth is
different from the unverified rumors spread around. As a key
player in bringing the Monastery
under the Patriarchate’s jurisdiction I am especially sorrowed.
My prayer is that passions now
running high will be put aside,
logic will prevail and peace and
order will return to the
Monastery.
TNH: Did you know at that
time that there were issues of irregularity such as those now
brought to surface?
SPYRIDON: No one had ever
heard the slightest thing, neither
at the Archdiocese nor at the Patriarchate, about what is being
persistently rumored at present.
TNH: At this point, what do
you think should be done at the
Chrysovalantou Monastery?
SPYRIDON: I am confident
that the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate, that is responsible for
looking into the issue and has
knowledge of all the details, will
come up with the proper solution.
TNH: What do you believe
about homosexuality at all levels
of the clergy?
SPYRIDON: I believe what
all Orthodox believers across the
world believe. I believe in what
is written on such matter in the
Holy Scripture, especially in the
Letters of Paul to the Corinthians
(I) and Timothy (I). I believe in
what is decreed in the Sacred
Canons of the Church.
TNH: Would you ordain a notoriously known homosexual?
SPYRIDON: According to the
Canonical Praxis of our Church,
a documented case of homosexuality constitutes an insurmountable impediment for ordination.
TNH: How would you comment on the fact that, since
2000, the Archdiocese has defrayed over $18 million in indemnities to the victims of pedophile and homosexual clerics?
SPYRIDON: I can only be
profoundly grieved by such a
fact. It damages irreparably the
prestige and credibility of our
Church.
I also experience intense sor-
tnH/tHeODOre kAlmOukOS
Archbishop Spyridon, formerly of America, is seen leading the
funeral procession for the late Leo Condakes, following a service at the Annunciation Cathedral of New England in Boston.
Addressing the Condakes family, he noted, “Leo did a lot of
good.” Cathedral Dean V. Rev. Cleopas Strongylis (L,) is seen
behind the Archbishop. while Rev. George Dragas, Professor
of Patristics at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology
in Brookline, is seen on the right.
row for our believers, the ones
who in reality bear the enormous financial burden of these
indemnities.
In the final analysis, such a
fact is yet another indication of
the worrisome level that our ecclesiastical life has reached.
TNH: What course is our
Theological School following today?
SPYRIDON: The course we
all knew and know. We are all
on the lookout for a few signs of
some type of academic and spiritual rebirth. We are all kept
waiting.
TNH: What do you think
about the option that Hierarchs
who serve in dioceses outside
Turkey, have to acquire Turkish
citizenship?
SPYRIDON: I think a lot of
unnecessary fuss is being made
about a matter that is really insignificant. I am unable to grasp
how this issue has acquired such
importance when in fact it is
crystal clear that hierarchs who
acquire the Turkish citizenship
do not give up their previous nationalities. They simply acquire
an additional citizenship.
TNH: If you were the Archbishop of America today would
you become a Turkish citizen
just because that suits the Patriarchate and will make things
easier for the election of a new
Patriarch when that moment
comes?
SPYRIDON: I would do
whatever works to the advantage of the Patriarchate.
TNH: Do you feel the Patriarchate is slowly dying out?
SPYRIDON: There are many
who think the end is near, very
near. I don’t belong to that
group. The Patriarchate is a centuries-old institution and such
institutions cannot be easily dismantled just because of contextual difficulties and adversities
of political character. I continue
to remain optimistic about the
Patriarchate’s future. I remain
confident that it will continue to
carry out uninterruptedly its’ sacred mission where History and
the piety of the people have
placed it.
TNH: Do you have any suggestions regarding the future of
the Patriarchate?
SPYRIDON: My suggestion
cannot differ from all Orthodox
believers’ prayer: that the Patriarchate, anchored where the
centuries have held it, might
continue to send forth its bright
light like a lighthouse on a high
rock beaten constantly by the
waves of the ocean.
TNH: Do you think the Patriarchate should create a second
headquarters, outside Turkey, for
instance in New York or Washington?
SPYRIDON: Of course that
could be done as well. Perhaps
a second headquarters would
make certain things easier on a
practical level. It could even
serve
the
nontransparent
schemes of other major players.
But this would surely be not
the prologue to the end but the
very epilogue of the end.
TNH: Do you think that finally Autocephaly in America
can be avoided?
SPYRIDON: No such issue
has been brought to the table as
of yet. But even if it were to be
brought I don’t know what the
outcome of such an attempt
would be. For the Archdiocese
to become independent and obtain the status of an Autocephalous Church is easier said
than done. The new administrative structure of the Archdiocese
(Archdiocese-Metropolises) as
well as the new reality created
by the resolutions of the last
Pan-Orthodox
Conference
(Chambesy, Switzerland) feature
autocephaly as a quasi-unattainable undertaking. Of course, we
all know that for decades the
goods of autocephaly have been
persistently propagandized in
certain Church circles. But I personally see no benefit from autocephaly. I can only see a
greater separation from our
Church roots and our origins.
TNH: You are a young man,
no doubt with much knowledge
and many experiences. Don’t
you think you don’t have the
right to remain away from active
church service especially during
these times where the lack of
churchmen at the Phanar and in
the Church overall have become
almost a nightmare?
SPYRIDON: I have said it repeatedly: whatever I had to offer
I have already offered to my
Church. The call now is for
younger people, those who have
a fresh enthusiasm and a new
sacred zeal for the ministry. The
future belongs to them.
TNH:
What are your
thoughts about the so-called
“para-ecclesial” organizations in
Greece and in this country?
SPYRIDON: As the Greek
term “para-ecclesial” indicates,
these organizations, despite the
fact that they are composed of
members of the Church, exist
and operate parallel to the
Church. As independent, they
are not incorporated in our
Church structures and their activities are not organically interwoven into the overall mission
of the Church. Such organizations could perhaps be merged
into the Church one day, especially those known for their
unique services, as this has occurred in similar cases in the Roman Catholic Church.
TNH: What does Hellenism
mean to you?
SPYRIDON: Hellenism is a
way of life and thinking. It is a
particular reason of pride and a
particular calling to incarnate
the noblest ideals that the history of mankind has brought
about. To be Greek today is a
challenge as well as a responsibility.
TNH: You once had dreams
for Greek Education. What were
those dreams?
SPYRIDON: We all wanted
and still want our Greek American offspring to be bearers of
the centuries-old message of
Hellenism. For such a purpose,
a new educational system would
have been necessary, i.e. a system that, together with a modern method of teaching Greek,
would make our children knowledgeable in the fields of Greek
history and Greek culture. Of
course, such an educational system would have to derive directly from our local community
school experience.
TNH: Do you think the current administrative structure of
the Archdiocese, based on its
partition into Metropolises, has
hurt the unity of the Church and
our Greek American Community?
SPYRIDON: I believed in the
past and I still maintain today
that the current administrative
structure, an Archdiocese divided into Metropolises, is not
the most ideal means to enhance
the unity direly needed by the
Greek American Community in
order for it to survive in such a
multicultural melting pot that is
America.
TNH: What would you suggest?
SPYRIDON: I think the issue
should have been studied at
length and carefully in all its’ details. This could have helped to
develop a comprehensive administrative structure: one that
would promote the unity of the
Greek American Community and
at the same time serve the legitimate ecclesiastico-political goals
the Phanar is striving to achieve
with the current system.
TNH: Archbishop Dimitrios is
already 83 years old. Who do
you think will be his successor?
Could you name one or two candidates?
SPYRIDON: I believe all
speculations as to who will be
the Archbishop’s successor are
at this moment indecorous and
indicate a serious lack of respect
for the archiepiscopal institution
and the person of the current
Archbishop. However, I am certain there are many candidates
for the Archepiscopal throne,
from America and Europe as
well. And perhaps one should be
ready for any unexpected development.
TNH: How do you view the
situation in Greece today?
SPYRIDON: All Greeks, in
Greece and abroad, are concerned about the financial situation in which Greece finds herself today. I’m afraid though the
consequences of such financial
impoverishment and bankruptcy
will prove to be even more worrisome. They will certainly have
a painful impact on the promotion of our so-called national issues. I would like to believe that
some useful lessons will be
drawn from such a financial decline so that the country can get
back on its feet as soon as possible and trace a new course of
progress and prosperity for itself.
Paisios Escapes Punishment, Bishop Ilia Takes Over N.Y. Monastery
Continued from page 1
accept his resignation and remove him permanently from the
Monastery.
The National Herald has
learned that although the Patriarchal Exarchy did not find during its investigation improprieties against Vikentios, the
Synod requested his resignation
on the basis that while he knew
about Metropolitan Paisios’ alleged doings he did not inform
the Ecumenical Patriarchate.
The Synod did not accept Vikentios’ explanation that for the
last12 years he did not dwell in
the Monastery. He stayed at the
Archdiocesan Cultural Center in
Astoria while he was its Director
for almost nine years and the
last two or three years he stayed
at the St. Nectarios Dependancy
in Brooklyn pastoring the St.
Nectarios and St. Nicholas Dependencies.
The Synod insisted that
Vikentios should have been
dwelling in the Monastery as a
member of the Monastic Community and also as its Deputy
Abbot. Both Metropolitan
Paisios and Bishop Vikentios
have been instructed by the
Holy Synod to remain outside
of the United States. Sources
told TNH that if either of them
defies the decision or attempts
to involve themselves in the affairs of the Monastery or the
Church in general and create
problems, they will be subject
to punishments under Canon
Law. Bishop Vikentios arrived in
New York on Dec. to gather his
personal belongings and leave
from the U.S. permanently according to the decision of the
Ecumenical Patriarchate.
During a phone call placed
by The National Herald to Metropolitan Paisios at his home in
Athens, he hung up the phone
as soon as the newspaper identified itself and then refused to
answer further calls. Bishop
Vikentios told TNH: “No comment from me, thank you.”
The Ecumenical patriarchate
issued the following official announcement:
“In its deliberations, the Holy
and Sacred Synod revisited the
issue of the Patriarchal and
Stavropegic Monastery of St.
Irene Chrysovalantou in Astoria,
New York. After examining the
report of the commissioned Patriarchal Exarchy, the Holy and
Sacred Synod unanimously decided:
•
To accept the submitted resignations of the Abbot,
His Excellency Metropolitan
Paisios of Tyana, and of the
Deputy Abbot, His Grace Bishop
Vikentios of Apameia, both of
whom are henceforth to remain
away from America
•
To assign as Acting Ab-
bot of the Monastery His Grace
Bishop Ilia of Philomelion who
serves in America
•
To send a small brotherhood of monks in order to assist the work of the Acting Abbot
Late in the afternoon on Dec.
2, during the Synodal meeting,
the Chief Secretary of the Patriarchate Archimandrite Elpidophoros Lampryniadis called
Bishop Vikentios in Athens and
told him that, “The Patriarch
and the Synod are requesting
your resignation from the position of deputy abbot of the
Monastery” and Bishop Vikentios sent his resignation immediately.
ACTING LEADER
Bishop Ilia Katre, who is of
Albanian origin, was born in
Sault Ste Marie, Michigan. He
mastered both the Greek and Albanian languages while still in
high school. Bishop Ilia gradu-
Bishop Ilia of Philomelion.
ated from Hellenic College and
Seminary at Holy Cross Greek
Orthodox Theological School in
Brookline, Massachusetts, with
a Bachelor in Theology Degree
in 1961. He was ordained to the
priesthood in Boston in 1962
where he served at Holy Trinity
Albanian Orthodox Church until
August 31, 1983. He pursued
advanced degrees including a
Masters of Divinity before being
assigned as Dean of Student Affairs at Hellenic College and
Holy Cross School of Theology.
He remained there until 1988.
He also held the position as
Vicar General of the Albanian
Orthodox Church of America
until May 2002.
The Holy and Sacred Synod
of the Ecumenical Patriarchate
elected Bishop Ilia Katre as Titular Bishop of Philomelion to
lead the Albanian Orthodox Diocese of American in 2002, following the passing of his wife,
Helen. They were married for
39 years before her death in
2001. Bishop Ilia has two children, Sotir Mark and Eugenia,
and three grandchildren.
Capital Link Forum Promotes More Investment and Confidence in Greece
By Constantine S. Sirigos
TNH Staff Writer
NEW YORK – For about a year,
since the disclosure of the depth
of Greek economic problems, the
Papandreou Administration has
been banging the drum announcing a new Greece, but the question in the air at the 12th annual
Capital Link Investor Forum –
Greece, at Manhattan’s swanky
Metropolitan club on Dec. 3 was:
can Greece get investors to dance
to this new beat? Not yet, apparently, but the measures Greece
has been taking may be getting
their attention. That is the purpose and value of efforts like Capital Link and its President
Nicholas Bornozis. The theme of
the Forum was Reforming
Greece: Opportunities and Challenges, and at the very least, the
Greek government must hope it
is gaining some credibility among
financiers – who were wary of
Greece long before the current
crisis - by association with ideas
that seem new for Greece, and
with sounder practices and
steady reports of progress.
The Forum was divided into
morning and afternoon sessions
with panels focusing on the reform program and status reports
on specific sectors and industries.
The morning began with opening
remarks by Vassilis Kaskarelis,
Greek Ambassador to the U.S.
and Daniel Speckhard, the former
U.S. Ambassador to Greece.
Yvonne Bendinger-Rothschild,
Executive Director of the European American Chamber of Commerce, said she was surprised that
some of the presentations were
not as upbeat as she expected.
The guests were welcomed by
Bornozis who said 1000 people
registered. Chris Vassiliades, City
Country Officer for Greece, spoke
and acknowledged that while
Greece was hit hard by the global
financial crisis of 2008, the effect
was multiplied by its longstand-
ing structural problems and failings. He admitted that the government has taken unpopular and
grave measures and that crucial
reforms are taking place. He
added, however, “Greece needs
a vision for growth based on its
traditional strengths and competitive advantages and will need to
continue to build relationships
with sovereign investment funds
and other large investors.
Greek Minister of State Haris
Pamboukis called the forum “a
point of reference for the Greek
economy and for the identification of opportunities. Greece is
finally facing its challenges“and
is committed to changing its business environment and to reversing the attitudes of investors towards Greece,” he said. He also
pointed out that Greece’s “banks
are not broken” and that they will
assist in the Greek recovery. Pamboukis noted that Greece was not
alone in making the mistake of
not responding quickly enough
to the dramatic changes in the
globalized economy. He said
Greece must “seize the day,” and
noted that Parliament has already
taken action with crucial legislation that has been passed, including Fast Track legislation for foreign direct investment. He said
more legislation is pending that
aims to cut through red tape and
to simplify procedures for making
investments and establishing new
businesses and increase private
employment, promote innovation and support sustainable development.
There are also include
stronger economic ties with
countries such as China and
Qatar and initiatives with Israel
and India. The bright spots continue to be tourism and shipping,
and renewable energy is the sector that may have the most potential. Dominique Cerutti, President and Deputy CEO of NYSE
Euronext, the conglomerate of financial exchanges formed by the
New York Stock Exchange Group
and the UK-based Euronext in
2007, noted that after the UK,
Greece has the largest number of
companies listed on the NYSE
and said Greece is an important
part of NYSE’s global strategy,
which was indicated by the participation of the guests of the Forum in the NYSE’s closing bell
ceremony on Dec. 3.
Attorney John Stratakis, Chairman of the Hellenic American
Chamber of Commerce said he
was not concerned about the bad
publicity of the past year, telling
TNH that the phrase “all publicity
is good publicity” applies even to
Greece. He joined others who
noted that if the news from here
on is good, Greece will even benefit from the criticism by having
been placed on the radar of investors, though Bornozis told
TNH the challenge is to turn curiosity into action by providing
investors with a steady supply of
quality information about what is
happening in Greece.
Markos Kaminis, whose Wall
Street Greek blog follows Greek
developments showed some concern however, noting that the
austerity measures may be choking off growth that Greece needs
for its salvation, and hoping the
IMF will not exert more fiscal
pressure, though he agrees that
the reforms have been necessary.
The experience of attorney
William Kambas of Withers
Bergman was a good example of
the value of the Forum. He had
good conversations with attorneys who play a role in foreign
investment and deal-making,
hedge fund representatives and
investment bankers. He found
there was a good mix of Greeks
and non-Greeks. He said he attended because he is looking to
expand his practice in Greece,
and had a good exchange with
the owner of with an established
company who wants to open an
office in the U.S.
ARTS&CULTURE
THE NATIONAL HERALD, DECEMBER 11-17, 2010
7
ALL HISTORY
George Regas, Man of Movie Disguise, Was Hard to Recognize
By Steve Frangos
TNH Staff Writer
By 1940, George Regas was
a veteran stage and film actor
who had toured Greece and the
Mediterranean long before he
made Hollywood his permanent
home. Greek-Americans knew
of their patrioti and avidly followed his film career. Nonetheless this much-respected actor
has slipped from the pages of
Greek-American history. A better
understanding of Regas’ life can
aid in understanding the actual
public standing of Greeks during
the 1920’s to 1940’s. While Regas, in his over 100 screen appearances, performed as the
leading man on more than one
occasion and more often than
that as the principle villain, he
is today best known for playing
supporting roles. An added twist
to Regas’ roles was that he predominately assumed the role of
“The Native” in the widest possible sense of that term acting
as an Arab, Latino, Native American (and/or half-breed,) Pacific
Islander, Italian gangster and
even a Greek. Regas certainly
did not always play the villain
or sneering henchman although
film buffs today cite most frequently those portrayals. He
also appeared as the police or
army lieutenant, fearless pilot,
Indian
chief,
Hindu
chief/emir/or khan leader, and
high priest.
Regas is one of less than a
dozen Greek-born actors to appear in Hollywood films from
the silent era into the glory
years of American cinema. Curiously, among students of film,
Regas, for various reasons, is a
very well known individual. He
was born Yorgios Regaskos in
the village of Goranoi, near
Sparta, on Nov. 9, 1890. From
his early youth, Regas appeared
in a touring repertoire company
managed by his father. Regas
eventually played Romeo in a
Greek production of Shakespeare’s classic. Later Regas was
chosen for the titular part in Son
of a Shadow, and toured the
Mediterranean countries before
An image from the 1940 film Virginia City with the actors (L-R) Moroni Olsen; John Murrel
(rear in cowboy hat;) Humphrey Bogart, Randolph Scott and George Regas, holding the lamp.
coming to the United States. Regas claimed that his stage career
in Greece included roles in Redemption and Ghosts. During
his tour of North America, Regas
reprised his role of Romeo (in a
Greek-language theatrical presentation), which opened to notable reviews in New York City
before traveling across the nation.
SILENT PICTURES
Regas appeared in 10 silent
movies: The Love Light (1921);
The Dangerous Moment (1921);
Omar the Tentmaker (1922);
The Rip-Tide (1923); Fashionable Fakers (1923); The Wanderer (1925); That Royle Girl
(1925); Desert Gold (1926);
Beau Geste (1926); and The
Rescue (1929). Regas’ appearance in four other films in 1929
were all in the new technological format of sound or so-called
Talking Pictures: Redskin, The
Wolf Song, Sea Fury, and Acquitted. How did an American
audience respond to Regas in
these early silent films? As one
news account reports, “George
Regas, a Greek actor, did so well
in The Wanderer that Paramount has persuaded him to
sign on the dotted line.” Most
documentation today
cites that Mary Pickford
(1893-1979,) at the very height
of her career as the reigning female star of Hollywood, saw Regas’ stage work and thought he
would be just as good in feature
films. Which theatrical production Pickford attended is never
mentioned. This is a key point
since Regas is not credited with
any stage work, in English, until
1937. Did Pickford, known the
world over as America’s Sweetheart, go to see Regas in a Greek
language production? Pickford
immediately hired Regas to appear in her film The Love Light,
as the character Tony. Such was
Regas’ success in this film that
he was offered the lead role in
The Besetting Sin. But, mysteriously, no record of the film exists so it may have been
planned, with Regas in the lead,
but never produced.
There is another contradiction in the available news accounts of 1921. We hear that
Regas “appeared in pictures for
several years without obtaining
the recognition his talent deserved until he played with
Mary Pickford.” Regas’ first film
role was in La Boheme. While
several films, in a number of
countries, were made with the
title La Boheme during the late
1900’s and early 1920’s, Regas
receives no credit for appearing
GREEK POETRY
Deathfeast
Tears scorched me as I wrote
alone, what was I, speaking
like this with
year upon year quickening the
lost faces, and from the
windows came
glory, dull golden light, benches
and tables all about and
windows mirroring the underworld. And they came
dismounting one after the other,
Porporas came and Kontaxis,
and Markos, and Gerasimos,
dark hoarfrost on the horses and
the day slanting down
through quiescent air, Bilias
came and Gournas,
gypsies imprinted on the dusk,
and Fakalos, carrying
mandolins, flutes, guitars,
the soul leapt at the sound, the
house smelt everywhere
of rain and wood, and when,
only when they'd lit a great blaze
to warm themselves,
then only did I call to them.
There came Sarris, and
Tsakonas,
Farmakis, Toregas, and
Face pox-scarred, bitter, clawed
the ground with his nails
by the castle at Akova, he bled,
babbled of torture and
debauchery, so dark was he that
I became afraid, ran
stumbling off down the hill.
We took the low road, ashes
everywhere, iron, burnt earth,
a black X painted on the doors
and you knew death had
passed this way, days and nights
with the machine guns
reaping and you would hear oh!
and nothing more. And many
came. Before them came Tzannis,
Eleminoglou, Paparizos,
followed by Lazarithis, and
Flaskis, and Konstantopoulos no one knows in which church
they were laid to rest, in
what ground buried.
Then I helped him climb out, he'd
fallen backwards in the
ditch, and as I held him he died
in my arms, and the next
month his wife smelling of grass,
at noon deep in the
garden telling her how he died,
the full dark body
whimpered on my chest, at night
the forests would glow
and the roots would glow, for
years and years the voice
persisted and.
Moon, moonlight, close days,
winter building itself a tower
of stone, sunless and hard, I
heard the first knock and the
next, at dawn they smashed open
the doors and dragged
us out breathless, "wait here",
and so much light was dawning.
There came old men and children.
How could they survive in such
ragged clothes,
how could the children grow up
in such horror?
The old ones creaking, taller than
their bodies.
And the children,
clutching the axe, the knife, the
hatchet
contempt and menace in their
eyes, nor did they speak.
Ditches, wastelands, mothers in
black wailing, whom did
you kill, whom did you kill, how
many have we killed?
So much blood and Loukas'
hands, and others severed at
the wrist, we'd find them in the
gully after months on the
move,
here today, tonight elsewhere
murderers, narks, thieves and
fornicators, soldiers,
policemen, householders and
shopkeepers
and many others riding on time's
back and amongst them
ruin's daughters stepped out,
hunger and fever, put up
against the wall, an ill wind
blew. And there came
Fanni and Litsa sweet-apple
trees, Dona came and Nana,
slim as the wheat, Eleni's maidenhair still green,
laurels, myrtles, wild vines
small lost rivers.
And one morning,
that morning when I woke the
tree had turned all green,
I loved it so much that it rose to
the sky.
And there came birds, birds of
sunlight and joy, filling the
place with colours and feathers,
perwits and felderels and
other such fantastic species, skimmers and calicocks and
morrowdims, and
deeper yet into Kastoria,
a black pestilence on the map,
Greece's breath rasping we held a count that Easter in deserted Kozani,
how many stayed on high, how
many travelled on
stone, branch and hill,
down the dark river.
Prosoras came holding his broken
rifle,
Alafouzos, and Bakrisioris, and
Zervos
approached the gathering. Look,
I shouted, and we
looked:
a flood of light, the fruitful sun a
monument
to the obscure dead. The years
have passed, I told them,
our hair's turned grey.
Tzepetis came, and Zafoglou and
Markoutsas
they settled themselves on the
bench
while Konstantinos nursed his
foot at the far end.
The voices gradually grew calm.
gifts of the Lord, merry birds,
constant slashes in the blue
sky. And among them came
Gradually, as they had come,
they vanished,
slipped down the valley, scattering in the wind.
Yannis Makris, Petros Kallinikos,
Yannis the lame.
For the last time I watched them,
called to them.
We sat on the embankment,
Rouskas took out his pocket-knife
and cut down the young grass.
The fire sank to the ground and
from the windows came -
And mist over the plain. And you
could hear spring
coming, a door whose wood
smelt of the sky.
Then came the days of forty-four
and the days of forty-eight.
And from the Morea up to
Larissa
How just a single star can make
night navigable.
How in the empty church is the
unknown dead anointed
his body laid to rest among the
flowers.
Takis Sinopoulos
Translated by John Stathatos
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Regas was much
respected in Hollywood
which acknowledged him
as an authority
on Greek drama
(1940.) Given the sheer number
of Hollywood films in which Regas appeared there are literally
dozens and dozens of other such
films available.
A PRIVATE SIDE
Little is publicly known of
Regas’ private life. Regas’
younger brother Panagiotis Regaskos came to Hollywood and
also became a hardworking
character actor under the name
Pedro Regas (1882-1974.)
These men are often confused
in the Hollywood literature so
care must be taken when researching their careers. Regas
married Reine Davies, a former
vaudeville singer and actress
and was, by all accounts, a
steadfast stepfather to her two
children Charles and Josephine
Lederer. Regas was much respected in Hollywood which acknowledged him as an authority
on Greek drama and that he has
had several books published on
its history and technique. Regas
died on Dec. 13, 1940, of a
heart attack following an operation for a throat infection. He
was entombed, at Hollywood
Forever Cemetery in the Abbey
of the Palms Mausoleum (Sanctuary of the Refuge) Crypt 720.
So far apparently, no study has
yet examined the lives of those
Greek immigrants, from the
1890 to 1920 wave of arrivals,
who became notable national
figures. As researchers from
other ethnic groups fall over
themselves to research the lives
and careers of prominent historic individuals from their cultural backgrounds, Greeks in the
United States continue to ignore
theirs. It is as if Greeks, in their
drive and endless desire to advance in the world, cannot acknowledge the success of other
Greeks. Even when rediscovering this shared past can only
add to a fuller more authentic
history of the activities, accomplishments and non-Greek opinions held of our ancestors and
community in general.
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and marry the girl.
To prevent all these commendable plans, the picturesque
Savanis plants a pair of his own
hirelings on the boat. They tamper with the diving apparatus,
cut the anchor chain, fiddle
around in the engine room and
even work up a bit of insubordination among the crew. “But
one can’t stop a lad when virtue
and the dialogue writer are on
his side. Regas makes the villain
not only black-hearted, but almost human, and that is a feat,”
the New York Times reported on
Jan. 19, 1934. This image of
Greek sponge divers in Florida
continued in 1948, with the film
16 Fathoms Deep. Here Lloyd
Bridges is the hero and
Creighton Chaney (now calling
himself Lon Chaney Jr.) is the
bad guy, in essentially, the very
same Romeo and Juliet among
the sponge divers plot. It is only
in 1953, with the film ‘Beneath
the Twelve Mile Reef with
Robert Wagner, as the hero, and
Gilbert Roland playing his Greek
father that Hollywood finally introduces some actual ethnic
Greek elements into the film.
Remastered DVDs of any
number of Hollywood films in
which Regas appears can be easily ordered. Among these films
are his first silent film success,
The Love Light (1921); as well
as Battling With Buffalo Bill
(1931) as the leering Breed’
Johns or the principal villain
Boniface in the Nelson Eddy (as
the fearless Mountie) and
Jeanette MacDonald (the daring
opera singer looking for her
dare-do-well brother in the
Canadian wilderness) adventure
musical Rose Marie (1936); or
in his last role as Sergeant Gonzales in ‘The Mark of Zorro’
ACCIDENTS - MEDICAL MALPRACTICE
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in any. Whatever research may
report it is clear that once The
Love Light was released on Jan.
9, 1921, Regas was forever after
an established fixture in Hollywood.
A FAMILIAR FACE
Regas was known or recognized as a Greek by the vast majority of Greek-Americans. In the
early 1920’s, much talk was
given to patents and who owned
films or filmed events. This led
to long and complicated legal
battles with the real possibility
that a single monopoly - or as it
was known during this time, a
film trust’ - would own and produce all Hollywood films. Here
is one such news account, pointing to the end of these lengthy
legal battles. “The chances of
there ever being a motion picture trust become fewer and
grow slimmer everyday. Frank
E. Woods and Thompson
Buchanan have withdrawn from
the Paramount organization to
devote all their time to their
own independent productions”
… and after mention of other
such ventures we learn … “And
last but by no means least
George Regas, the celebrated
Grecian star, will abandon his
dramatic work in behalf of the
biggest producing companies to
head his own unit, which it is
rumored, will have the financial
backing of about 5000 well-todo Greek-Americans, who are
proud of their fellow countryman’s histrionic triumphs on the
screen.
While it is an established fact
of history that a sizable consortium of Greek immigrant movie
theater owners and stock holders backed the involvement of
Spyros Skouras (and his brothers) at Twentieth Century Fox,
Regas’s earlier efforts to establish an independent production
company are still to be investigated, yet it is still clear that Regas was a known actor and fellow Greek to a sizable number
of Greeks in North America.
HOLLYWOOD REGULAR
Given that Regas appeared
in more than 100 films, with
many uncredited roles, poses
some difficulties in any survey
of his career. First, clearly Regas
was not afraid to work, no matter how big or small the role.
Ten roles or more a year were
common, and given that many
were in the uncredited category
it may yet prove to be the case
that, on average, he appeared
in a movie every other month
over his 19 years as a Hollywood actor. Not every role,
credited or not, was notable although Regas has had more cinematic impact than one might
assume.
Certainly among Regas’ most
recognized film roles are his portrayals of the noble Black Eagle
in Daniel Boone (1936); the diabolical Bokor in Mr. Moto Takes
a Chance (1938); or the valiant
Sgt. Garcia in The Legion of
Missing Men (1937). Regas’ role
as the Thug Chieftain, in Gunga
Din (1939) is said, by many
sources, to have directly inspired
Steven Spielberg. The Thuggee
leader in Indiana Jones and the
Temple of Doom is credited as
being based directly on Regas’.
What of Regas’ film successes
playing as a Greek? We need
only read: “The action melodrama, although it rarely pops
its shaggy head into the comparatively effete Broadway area,
has a place of its own among
the cinema delights. Sixteen
Fathoms Deep, which achieved
that accolade at the Mayfair yesterday, is a good swaggering
specimen, exciting, plausible
and a lot of fun. Mr. Savanis, an
oily rascal who makes the fishermen toil and sweat, rates a
punch in the nose on half a
dozen counts. Sixteen fathoms
down in the sponge beds is a
long way when Mr. Savanis has
poured sand into the gears of
the oxygen machine … the belle
of the fishing village, Sally
O’Neil … is also coveted by Mr.
Savanis.” Most of the story describes his efforts to get a good
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OBITUARIES CLASSIFIEDS
8
THE NATIONAL HERALD, DECEMBER 11-17, 2010
DEATHS
n GEANOS, FAYE
LORAIN, Ohio - The Morning
Journal reported that Faye
Geanos, 94, passed away on December 2 at EMH Regional Medical Center. She was born in Titani-Corinth,
Greece
on
November 16, 1916 and lived
in Elyria until 1948. She was a
homemaker and a member of
St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox
Church in Lorain, Ohio and was
also a member of the Philoptochos Society. Mrs. Geanos was
preceded in death by her
beloved husband, George
Geanos in 1976. She is survived
by her sons, John (Eileen)
Geanos and Paul W. Geanos; six
grandchildren; nineteen great
grandchildren; and five great
great-grandchildren. Visitation
and a Trisagion prayer service
were held at the Reichlin
Roberts Funeral Home. Funeral
services were held at the St.
Nicholas Greek Orthodox
Church with the Reverend Father Michael Gulgas officiating.
Memorial contributions may be
made to St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church 2000 Tower
Boulevard, Lorain, Ohio. Online
condolences for the family may
be
left
at:
www.reichlinroberts.com.
Reading is to the mind what
exercise is to the body. It is
wholesome and bracing for the
mind to have its faculties kept
on the stretch.
Sir Richard Steele 1672-1729, British
Dramatist, Essayist, Editor
TNH Bookstore
Exercise your mind...
(718) 784-5255
[email protected]
n GEORGACAKES, DEAN
GRAND RAPIDS, MI - The
Grand Rapids Press reported
that Dean Georgacakes, 83,
passed away peacefully in his
sleep at Blodgett Hospital on
December 1 surrounded by family. He was born in Grand Rapids
at Butterworth Hospital on April
1, 1927 to John and Nicoletta
Georgacakes, both immigrants
from Tripoli, Greece. He married
Angeline Paulos on September
12, 1948. Dean served in Korea
and was honorably discharged
from the Army in December of
1946. He began his work career
at Lear Inc. in Grand Rapids and
eventually became a restaurateur who owned and operated
several restaurants throughout
his life, his last being Deans'
Cafe on 28th Street in Grand
Rapids. He was an active lifelong member of Holy Trinity
Greek Orthodox Church and
joyfully sang in the choir for
over 65 years. During his retirement years he especially enjoyed the church Tuesday
Group. He also enjoyed playing
cards and traveling. He was preceded in death by his sister,
Sophia Merkouris and his sonin-law, David A. Lemmink. Dean
is survived by his loving wife of
62 years, Angeline; his children,
John George, Paul (Cheryl)
Georgacakes and Connie Lemmink; his grandchildren, Christine (Tom) Verlin, Nicholas
(Christine) Georgacakes, Timothy (Austin) Georgacakes,
Charles Lemmink, Angela Lemmink, Elisabeth, John Lemmink,
Christina (Justin) Herpolsheimer, Carolyn (Ryan) Counterman and Maribeth Triemstra;
his great grandchildren, Noah
and Owen Verlin, Isabelle Georgacakes, Parker Georgacakes
and Victoria Menzel, Jack and
Gabe Herpolsheimer; his siblings, Jean (Gus) Regas and
Reverend Peter (Christine)
Georgacakes; and many nieces,
nephews and cousins. Funeral
services and a Trisagion prayer
service were held at Holy Trinity
Greek Orthodox Church. Memorial contributions may be made
to the Church, 330 Lakeside Dr.
NE. For further information,
visit: www.memorialalternatives.com.
n GRivON, HAiDO
HOUSTON, Texas – The Houston Chronicle reported that
Haido Grivon, 89, passed away
peacefully in her home after a
brief illness on November 30
surrounded by her loving children and grandchildren. Haido
was born in Greece and immigrated to the United States in
1948. In 1950, she met and
married her beloved husband of
51 years, George Michael
Grivon and moved to Houston
where they raised their family.
Haido was a cherished mother,
grandmother and loyal friend.
She was a completely selfless
and humble Christian, who devoted her life to her family, her
church and her friends. Haido
was a faithful steward of Annunciation Greek Orthodox
Cathedral for 60 years. Each
year she looked forward to helping in preparing food for the
Greek Festival. Nothing brought
her more joy than to cook for
her family, friends and those in
need. Haido was preceded in
death by her devoted husband,
George Michael Grivon; her parents, Evangelia and Nikolaos
Dislianis; and her brother, Yannis Dislianis. She is survived by
her children, Evelyn (John)
Hritcko, Frances (George) Hadjigeorge and Michael (Marlene)
Grivon; her adored grandchildren, Nicole Grivon, George
(Maria)
Hritcko,
George
Michael Grivon, John David
Hritcko, Nicholas Hadjigeorge
and Alex Grivon; her siblings,
Vasilis Dislianis, Iraklis Dislianis
and Anastasia Stoikou; and numerous nieces and nephews.
Visitation and a Trisagion prayer
service were held at the Jasek
Chapel of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons.
Funeral services were held at
the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral, 3511 Yoakum
Boulevard in Houston. In lieu
of customary remembrances,
the family requests that memorials be directed to Hellenic College/Holy Cross, 50 Goddard
Avenue, Brookline, Massachusetts, 02445.
n KAlEAS, ANNE
TORONTO, Canada – The
Toronto Star reported that Anne
Kaleas, 88, passed away peacefully on November 29. She was
predeceased by her beloved husband Dan and her daughter Gloria. She is survived by her son,
Tom; her sister, Trifon; her
niece, Violet; her nephew, Andoni; her sister-in-law, Netsa;
and numerous relatives and
friends in Toronto and Kitchener-Waterloo. Visitation was
held at the Heritage Funeral
Centre and funeral services
were held at the St. Demetrios
Greek Orthodox Church. The
family would like to thank the
staff at Toronto Western Hospital for their excellent care and a
special thank you to the staff at
the O'Neil Centre. Online condolences may be made at:
www.heritagefuneralcentre.ca.
n KOSMANOPOUlOS,
EFTERPi
FLINT, MI – The Flint Journal
reported that Efterpi Kosmanopoulos, 80, passed away peacefully on November 27 at her residence. Efterpi was a member
of Assumption Greek Orthodox
Church. She was preceded in
death by her beloved husband,
Panagiotis in 1998 and her parents, Kyriakos and Aspasia Paiou
She is survived by her children,
Aspasia (Yanni) Mavrikos, Christos (Kelly) Kosmanopoulos and
Gus (Barbara) Kosmanopoulos;
her grandchildren, Mike (Toni),
Paul, Angelina, Christina, Gage,
Jimmy, Lily and Patrick; her
great-grandchild, Journee; her
sister, Vaso Babanika; and many
nieces and nephews. Funeral
services were held at the Assumption Greek Orthodox
Church with Father Angelo Maggos officiating. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made
to the Assumption Greek Orthodox Church. Your condolences
may be shared with the family
at: swartzfuneralhomeinc.com.
n lOUZiOTiS, MiCHAEl
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The
Salt Lake Tribune reported that
Michael F. Louziotis, 73, passed
away peacefully on November
30 in Salt Lake City. He was
born on February 26, 1937 in
Patras, Greece to Fotis and
Goldie Louziotis. He married
Artie Kamilakis on March 4,
1962. Michael enjoyed sports,
especially soccer. He was preceded in death by his parents
and his brother, Father Nicholas
Louziotis. He is survived by his
beloved wife of 48 years, Artie;
his daughter, Christine (Charles)
Cram; his sister-in-law, Irene
(Bill) Vanikiotis; and many
nieces and nephews. Funeral
services and a Trisagion prayer
service were held at Holy Trinity
Greek Orthodox Cathedral.
n MAKRiS, SOTiRiOS
PENSACOLA, Fl. – The Pensacola News Journal reported
that Sotirios Makris, 59, passed
away peacefully on December
2. Sotirios was born on March
25, 1951 in Akrata, Greece. As
a young man he immigrated to
America and then married his
wife, Cleopatra. Sotirios was a
loving father and a proud grandfather. His heart belonged to his
daughter, Nina, and his only
grandson, Dimitri. He was a
mentor to his son, George, who
aspires to be a great chef just
like Sotirios was. He graduated
from culinary school and
worked in many cities as a chef.
His last employment for many
years had been with Gulf Coast
Enterprises. Sotirios enjoyed
playing with his grandson, fishing and going to the races at the
dog track. He was a strong and
very brave man who fought a
battle with lung cancer for 18
months. He is survived by his
beloved wife, Cleopatra; his siblings, Angela, Panos, Christos
and Costas; his children, Nina
and George; and his grandson,
Dimitri. The family would like
to thank Dr. Thomas Tan and
his staff at the Woodlands for
providing such compassionate
care. Visitation and a Trisagion
prayer service were held at the
Waters and Hibbert Funeral
Home. Funeral services were
held at the Annunciation Greek
Orthodox Church with Rev. Peter Papanikolaou officiating. In
lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the
Greek Orthodox Church. Waters
& Hibbert Funeral Home is in
charge of arrangements.
n PATTERSON, GEORGE
AURORA, Ill. - The News Sun
reported that George William
Patterson, beloved owner and
operator of Louie's Restaurant
in Waukegan, passed away suddenly on November 29. George
was born on March 19, 1923 in
Gargaliani, Greece, the youngest
son of William and Helen Patterson. George immigrated to
the United States at the age of
14 and learned English while attending Waukegan schools. He
had a determined, strong work
ethic and studied at Northwestern University. He proudly
served during the Korean War,
then came back to Waukegan
and earned an accounting degree at Lake Forest College. He
worked at Blumberg Furniture
in accounts and with David Rose
as a CPA. He married his wonderful wife, Theofane 52 years
ago this December. He loved his
many sisters and brothers-inlaw and numerous nieces and
nephews and his former daughter-in-law, Tammy. A huge
source of pride and biggest
hobby of George was his five
grandchildren. He was a member of St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to
the St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church Building Fund.
George will be forever remembered for the love he had for his
home and family, his wit and
jokes and infectious smile and
business savvy. His twin older
siblings, Peter and Katherine,
preceded him in death. Visitation and a Trisagion prayer ser-
vice were held at Peterson &
Patch Funeral Home, 408 N.
Sheridan Rd., Waukegan. Funeral services were held at St.
Demetrios Greek Orthodox
Church with Father Cosmas
Halekakis officiating.
n SPiRiDAKiS, GEORGiA
NEEDHAM, Mass. - The Needham Times reported Georgia
Spiridakis, 93, passed away on
November 11 while under the
compassionate hospice care of
the Stanley R. Tippet Home in
Needham. She was born in the
town of Katsifargiana, Chania,
Crete. She was the daughter of
Nikolaos and Konstantinia
Drakakis. Upon completing the
High School of Vamos, Crete,
she married and immigrated to
the United States as a young
bride. She resided with her husband John and their children,
first in the Washington Heights
section of Manhattan and later
in Sunnyside, Queens in New
York. She worked for many
years in the garment industry,
while raising a family and tending to the needs of relatives she
brought from Greece. She and
her husband were active in the
Cretan Society of New York and
the parishes of St. Spyridon and
St. Constantine. She was an excellent cook and enjoyed telling
stories drawn from life that
were intended to illustrate a
useful truth or a moral principle.
With her wit, humor, affectionate ways, and engaging personality, she became an instant
friend to many. She was predeceased by her beloved husband,
John Spiridakis and her brothers, Demetrios and Haralambos
Drakakis. She is survived by her
cherished children, Erasmia (Fr.
Alkiviadis) Calivas, Anthony
(Caroline) Spiridakis and
Nicholas (Paula) Spiridakis; her
stepson Alexander (Eugenia)
Spiridakis; her step-grandsons,
John, Harry and Tony; her
grandchildren, Kathryn (Fr.
Thomas) Chininis, Constantine
and Evangeline Calivas, Olga
and David Newkirk, Joan Smith,
and Susan and Mike McCaslin;
Mark Spiridakis, John and Kelly
Spiridakis and Stephen and
Amy Spiridakis; her greatgrandchildren, Alexis, Nicole
and Christopher Chininis, Andrew, Matthew and Damon Calivas, Anastasia and Zachary
Newkirk, Nicholas and Alexandra Smith, Gus Spiridakis, and
Charlotte Spiridakis; and by
many nieces, nephews and
cousins, both here and abroad.
Funeral services were held at St.
Catherine Greek Orthodox
Church. Memorial donations
may be made to the St. Catherine Church Building Fund, 119
Common Street, Braintree, MA
02184. Funeral arrangements
were made by the Faggas Funeral Home of Watertown.
n vAlOS, NiCK
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. - The Bakersfield Californian reported that
Nick George Valos, 88, the last
member of one of the original
pioneer Greek families in Bakersfield passed away peacefully.
Nick was born on September 20,
1922 in East Bakersfield to one
of the first Greek immigrant families to reside in Bakersfield. He
was one of the seven children
born to Tom Valos, from Messenia, Greece and Irene Caotusses,
from Leos, Greece. He was one
of the first draftees of Kern
County and served in the United
States Air Corp. While working
for Fred Pinetta, delivering chickens, he met the love of his life,
Mary Karastathis from Fresno,
who became his wife of sixtyfour years. During his business
career, he and his brother, John,
started Valos Brothers Poultry.
During this course of time Nick
along with his brothers John and
George opened up a restaurant
and bar known as Valos Chicken
House. Additionally, Nick was
very instrumental in serving the
St. George Greek Orthodox
Church. From the icemaker in
the Green Hall to the pews in the
church and all repairs in-between, Nick was always there to
fix anything and everything that
needed to be repaired. Nick was
also a member and served as
president of the East Bakersfield
Exchange Club and East Bakersfield Progressive Club. He also
belonged to the Elks, American
Legion and Order of the AHEPA.
He was preceded in death by his
parents; his sisters, Pearl Balasis,
Fersina Bisbis, Katherine Chicklenis and Hazel Pierucci; his
brothers, George and John Valos.
He is survived by his beloved
wife, Mary Valos; his son, Dr.
Nick (Pamela) Valos; his grandchildren, Nicholas, Kehaulani,
Philip and Victoria Valos; and numerous nieces and nephews.
Pallbearers were, Thomas Valos,
this is a service
to the community.
Announcements of deaths
may be telephoned to the
classified Department of
the national Herald at
(718) 784-5255,
monday through Friday,
9 a.m. to 5 p.m. eSt
or e-mailed to:
[email protected]
Philip Valos, Nicholas Valos,
Tommy Felactu, Tom Drulias,
and Greg Hanson. Honorary Pallbearers included, Jim Vlamis,
Mike Huston, Richard Lemucchi,
Dr. Peter Plessas, Greg Pierucci,
George Valos, Harry Chicklenis,
Tom Savage, Don Galey, Jerry
Reynolds and Frank Pierucci.
The family would like to thank
Dr. William Baker and Molly
Waite, PAC-C. The family would
also like to extend their appreciation to the staff of Mercy Southwest Hospital, Calloway Gardens, Hoffmann Hospice, and a
very caring nephew, Harry Chicklenis, who was always with his
uncle during the good times and
also in his time of need. Funeral
services and a Trisagion prayer
service were held at St. George
Greek Orthodox Church with Father Joseph Chaffee officiating.
In lieu of flowers, donations may
be made to St. George Orthodox
Church (Nick G. Valos Memorial
Fund) or Alzheimer's Disease Association of Kern County, 5500
Olive Dr., 393-8871. DoughtyCalhoun-O'Meara is in charge of
arrangements. For further information,
visit:
www.bakersfield.com/obits.
n ZOlOTAS, CONSTANTiN
CALGARY, Alberta, Canada The Calgary Herald reported
that Constantin Zolotas, 74,
passed away peacefully on De-
cember 2. Constantin was born
in Matesi, Ileias, Greece on November 15, 1936 and immigrated to Calgary, Alberta in
1966. Soon after, he met and
married his bride and they began their lives and raised their
family together. He will be remembered for his strength of
body and fullness of heart. Constantin was predeceased by his
parents and his sister. He is survived by his beloved wife of 43
years, Panayiota; his children,
Euyenia (Dave) Nyenhuis,
Panayiotis Zolotas, Nikolitsa
(Ryan) Kvisle and Tracy Cross;
his grandchildren Marika
Rachel, Joshua Kosta, Elena
Kristina
and
Kassandra
Panayiota; and his brothers and
many beloved nieces and
nephews. Funeral services and
a Trisagion prayer service were
held at St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church with the Very
Rev. Dimitrios Rougas officiating. Photos, memories and condolences may be forwarded to
the family through: www.evanjstrong.com. Donations in memory of Constantin may be made
to the Alberta Cancer Foundation, c/o Tom Baker Cancer
Centre, 1331 - 29 Street N.W.,
Calgary, T2N 4N2 or at:
www.albertacancer.ca/memorial. Arrangements in care of
Evan J. Strong Funeral Services,
(403) 265-1199.
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n AlvANOS, STAvROUlA
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. The Republic reported that Stavroula
"Stella" (Portoglou) Alvanos, 65,
a longtime resident of Springfield was called safely home on
Saturday, December 4, 2010.
She passed into Eternal Life
from Mercy Medical Center in
Springfield surrounded by the
care and comfort of her loving
family and her wonderful caregivers. She was born in Agia
Paraskevi Mytilini, Greece on
January 13, 1945, a beloved
daughter of the late Niko and
Maria (Fanara) Portoglou. She
was raised and schooled in
Greece and in 1966 at the age
of 18, she came to the United
States from Mytilini with her
husband and daughter and settled in Springfield, Massachusetts. Stavroula was employed
as a seamstress and worked at
the former Bobbi Fashions in
Springfield until that company’s
closing and then worked at
Fleming's in Chicopee until she
retired in 1994. She was a loving wife, mother, mother-in-law,
grandmother, sister, sister-inlaw, aunt and friend. She
adored her family and showered
them with her love and affection
which was returned to her a
thousand fold. She truly enjoyed
being a homemaker for her family. She loved to cook her favorite Greek foods which she
enjoyed sharing with her family,
friends and co-workers. During
her quiet times at home, she and
her husband enjoyed cultivating
their beautiful flower garden
which was enjoyed by their family and their neighbors. Besides
her family and Greek heritage,
the most important thing in her
life was her faith and being an
active communicant of Saint
George Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Springfield. She leaves
her beloved husband and best
friend, Haralabos Alvanos. They
were married in Greece on April
28, 1963 and were blessed with
over 47 years of happiness together. She also leaves her two
loving children, Kathy AlvanosPolitakos and her husband, Marios of Springfield and John Alvanos and his wife, Sotiria of
West Springfield; her two cherished grandsons whom she
adored, Bobby and Haris; her
dear brother, Haralabos Portoglou and his wife, Sophia of
Melbourne, Australia; her dear
sisters, Mersina Vardos and
Dimitra Thotosopoulou and her
husband, Theo, all of Canbera,
Australia and her many dear
nephews and nieces. She also
leaves in Greece her loving godson, Stratos and many nephews,
nieces, cousins, koumbari, and
friends. Her family received
friends at the funeral home in
the Chapin Chapel on Thursday,
December 9 and the funeral began Friday morning, December
10 at the St. Pierre Phaneuf
Springfield Chapels. The funeral
service followed at 10 a.m. in
the Saint George Greek Orthodox Cathedral. She was laid to
rest at Oak Grove Cemetery, 426
Bay Street in Springfield. For
those who prefer, Stavroula’s
family suggests that their
memorial donations may be
made in her memory to Saint
George Greek Orthodox Cathedral Building Fund, 22 St.
George Road, Springfield, MA
01104.
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GREECE CYPRUS
THE NATIONAL HERALD, DECEMBER 11-17, 2010
9
Onassis Cultural Center Celebrates Opening in Greece
The President of the Republic of Greece, Karolos Papoulias, was present for the rise of the
newest star in Athens’ cultural heavens, the Onassis Cultural Center of the Onassis Public
Benefit Foundation. The stellar event, attended by government ministers, diplomats and leading
cultural and academic figures was dedicated to those who worked for the creation and com-
pletion of the impressive new building on Sygrou Street. The structure’s exterior is graced with
modern sculpture (top left), as is the lobby (bottom left). The president of the Onassis Foundation, Antonis Papadimitriou, appears with Greek Minister of Culture Pavlos Geroulanos (top
right) and with Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki and Theodore Angelopoulos (bottom right).
Greece Denies Deal Made To Give Up Marbles Claim
Continued from page 1
Curiously, Geroulanos himself did not address the report,
but his office issued the statement denying it was giving up
the claim to what Greece calls
the Parthenon Marbles and
what the British call the Elgin
Marbles, named after the diplomat who stole them. The Times
that “Greece was trying to break
decades of stalemate with
Britain over the Elgin Marbles
by dropping its long-standing
claim to ownership of the sculptures in return for the British
Museum sending the Acropolis
artifacts back to Athens on a
long-term loan.” The report said
that Greece, in return, would offer the British Museum some of
its best classical artworks,
"changing the exhibition every
few years to give London one of
the richest permanent displays
in Western Europe of sculpture,
carvings and art from ancient
Greece.”
Elgin with the permission of
the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, which then ruled Greece,
shipped to London after the
British Parliament agreed to buy
them. Greece regards them as
having been looted, the newspaper said.
The marbles have remained
in London’s British Museum
ever since and the museum’s curators said in a statement that
no new approach had been
made, and there was no reason
to suppose the trustees would
change their view that the sculptures must stay in the museum,
the Times said. The Parthenon,
a temple dedicated to the Greek
goddess Athena, was completed
in 438 B.C.
While there was no response
from Greece apart from the
press release, there were more
passionate demands from others, including Australians and
British, who support the Greek
claim. “Today I call upon the
British Museum to conduct itself
as a museum, a contemporary
museum, and not as some colonial power clinging to a prized
trophy,” Virginia Judge, Minister
for Arts in New South Wales,
Australia said.
Her speech was attended by
David Hill, the President of the
Committee for the Reunification
of the Parthenon Marbles. The
Minister added:
“I do not ask the British Museum to return a vase or some
statue with a missing limb. I ask
the British Museum to return
half the Parthenon; return it to
Greece so that it may be re-
united with the rest of itself …
if we agree with the Code of
Ethics of the International Council of Museums, ownership of
material culture, which is the
result of a transaction with an
occupying force, in itself is questionable and unethical.” The
Australian Minister is a member
of the government, which has
consistently supported Greek efforts to take back the Parthenon
Marbles.
The marbles are a 160-meter
long strip of marble that
adorned the Parthenon until
1801, before being removed and
stolen by Elgin. The sculptures
include depictions of religious
and mythological scenes. Greece
built a $160 million New Acropolis Museum which was designed to be a new home for the
Marbles and Greek officials the
British could no longer say
Greece didn’t have a suitable
home for the sculptures. The
new 20,000-square-meter museum is near the base of the
Acropolis and gives visitors a
view of the Parthenon as well.
The British Committee for
the Reunification of the
Parthenon Marbles has long
maintained the marbles belong
to Greece and part of their manifesto states that, “The
Parthenon is the most important
symbol of Greek cultural heritage and according to the declaration of universal human and
cultural rights the Greek State
has a duty to preserve its cultural heritage in its totality, both
for its citizens and for the international community. Therefore
the request for the reunification
of the sculptural elements of the
Parthenon is ipso facto a rightful
if not a legitimate request.”
eurOkiniSSi
Greek Culture and Tourism
Minister Pavlos Geroulanos
Anniversary of Riots, Austerity, Brings Protests, Students in the Streets
Continued from page 1
fic and a civil servants’ union
called a three-hour strike, and
two days later all public transportation in the city stopped for
24 hours, leaving Greeks to get
around the city as best they
could. A demonstration also
took place in the northern city
of Thessaloniki, Greece’s second
largest.
Adding to the chaos, protesters set fire to piles of rubbish
left uncollected by a previous
garbage collectors strike that
created a backlog to be picked
up, and protesters pelted police
with rocks and petrol bombs as
violence escalated throughout
the anniversary of the shooting.
About 100 protesters were arrested, according to Greek media. “There are many school kids
taking part in these protests, not
just students and extremists,”
one witness outside the Athens
polytechnic where riot police
were firing teargas to disperse
a large crowd of youths, The Fi-
AP PHOtO/AlkiS kOnStAntiniDiS
A protester throws a stone as a kiosk burns during a student
protest to mark two years since the fatal police shooting of a
teenage boy that sparked Greece's worst riots in decades, in
central Athens on Dec. 6, 2010. Police closed roads and deployed
several thousand officers around the city, amid event to commemorate the death of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos.
nancial Times reported. The
clashes erupted after a march to
parliament by the protesters
that had been organized by leftwing political parties. There had
been sporadic bursts of stone
throwing during the day after a
march by students and teachers,
but the extent of the late-night
violence appeared to have taken
police by surprise.
TERROR ARRESTS
The heightened security
showed the socialist government’s determination to prevent
a repetition of prolonged street
violence in central Athens during
2008 that undermined its conservative predecessor’s grip on
power. Student and anarchist
groups took over university
buildings in the city centre – traditionally off-limits to police – as
a base for two weeks of violent
demonstrations following the
teenager’s death. Christos Papoutsis, citizens’ protection minister, made it clear the Socialists
were taking a tougher approach
to street protests. He said in a
newspaper interview that, “We
have to protect freedom of expression . . . but when violence
becomes a political practice, it is
bound to provoke a harsher
stance by the state authorities.”
Earlier that day six suspected
members of a terrorist group appeared before an Athens prosecutor following the discovery of
explosives and weapons – including handguns, grenades and automatic weapons – in a flat in
the city centre. Greece’s anti-terrorist unit was examining
weapons from similar caches
found in several Athens suburbs
and in the western town of
Agrinion, police said. Last
month, a leftwing group known
as Conspiracy of the Cells of Fire
claimed responsibility for failed
parcel bombings. Two suspects
were arrested who admitted to
being members of the group, according to police. Most of the 14
packages found were sent by
courier to European embassies
in Athens. One reached the office
of Angela Merkel, German chancellor, in Berlin, while another
was addressed to Nicolas
Sarkozy, French president.
IMF TOUGH TALK
The protests came the day
before Dominique Strauss-Kahn,
Director General of the International Monetary Fund, which,
with the European Union, has
lent Greece $146 billion to stay
solvent but demanded harsh
austerity measures came to
Athens to check on the status of
reforms and meet political leaders. In a briefing with the Greek
Parliament’s Economy Committee, he considered the possibility
of the extension of the loan’s repayment time without new
terms as being a foregone conclusion, but stressed the need
for structural reforms with
salary and pension cuts since,
as he said, there is no other way
for productivity to be balanced.
Strauss-Kahn pointed out
that although achieving the target of fiscal restructuring is difficult, there are many sectors in
which expenditure cutbacks can
take place and appeared convinced that if the measures proposed by the IMF are implemented without deviations then
the program will succeed, the
Athens News Agency reported.
He claimed that Greece had
no other choice since, as he said,
“in May when it resorted to the
IMF it was on the cliff’s edge”
and stressed that the success of
the program is linked “with the
AP PHOtO/AlkiS kOnStAntiniDiS
Protester attacks a riot police officer during a rally in Athens
on Dec. 6, 2010. Youths hurled rocks and oranges.
degree of justice that it will inspire in the people and commenting on the protests against
the measures noted that “if I
were a Greek I might also be in
the streets.” He further said, “All
must realize the situation and
each to assume his own share
of responsibility,” adding that
“you must show that in this national effort all are participating.” The IMF declared last
month that Greece’s fiscal and
structural reform program was
“still broadly on track” but said
the government should accelerate restructuring of loss making
public sector enterprises and the
healthcare system.
Revenues are falling behind,
with the finance ministry scrambling to raise an extra $8 billion
this month. The government has
launched a 100-day drive to
catch up with legislation and
implementation of reforms before the next EU-IMF monitoring mission in March.
EDITORIALS LETTERS
10
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
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Debts and contributions
“It’s sad because it’s a little piece of Dad gone away,” said George
Tenet, the former Director of the CIA, about the closing of Scobbe,
a diner in Queens, NY, that shut down last week after being in
business for seventy years.
Scobbe, under a different name, once belonged to the Tenet
family, where the twin brothers, George, and William - a well
known cardiologist in New York - worked as teenagers.
George, according to a story in the NYT, used to visit the place
fairly often, no doubt in memory of his parents and as a marker on
his own incredible journey, one of those “only in America stories”.
There are a number of stories recently in the papers about
diners that have shut down. Stories that cause the eyes to well up,
not only for the loss they constitute for the owners of these establishments and their employees, but for what they represent for
most of us.
Many of us - including the writer of this piece – remember
vividly the memories of the days and nights when we also worked
in a diner, to pay for tuition or to make ends meet, as a dishwasher,
a bus boy, a cashier, a waiter or as an owner. Thousands of Greek
Americans still do. We are fearful, when we hear such news, that
this is a sign of a shrinking community.
Certainly there is some truth there. The dramatic reduction in
immigration from Greece and Cyprus during the past several
decades shrank the pool of young, ambitions Greeks that would
enter this extremely demanding business of the diner.
Yet, as the pool of the new diner dreamers is apparently shrinking - unless we see a new wave of immigration, given the dire financial situation Greece is in - a new cycle has begun: the children
of the diner owners have gone into the professions – or have moved
up to building fancy restaurants - fulfilling the dream of those who
plunged into this kind of work with the innocence of a child but
the stubbornness and determination of an elephant. Was is it not
the reason they immigrated?
There are thousands of people whose parents – fathers, but
mothers too - sacrificed their lives in the kitchens and counters of
the diners so that they could give their children the opportunity to
live a much better life than they did.
The Tenet brothers are definitely such an example.
Another example is Peter Peterson (Petropoulos) the billionaire
co-founder of The Blackstone Group, who, in his biography “The
Education of an American dreamer” devotes whole chapters to his
family.
In the book, but also in a recent interview in the NYT magazine
- November 28 - he speaks about his dad: “The place wasn’t closed
for 25 years. When it came time to close it, there was no key, because it had never been closed before. He used to say to me:”
We’re going to buy you the best education money can buy. I want
you to do better than we did.” And Lord knows I did.”
While words expressing gratitude to those who have benefited
us is very important, actions speak louder. A larger question looms:
Ask not what our immigrant parents did for us, ask what we can
do for our immigrant parents.
Have we done something to keep their memory alive, to pay
them back in any way we can for what they have done?
Have we built a school, a library, a cultural center, a museum?
Do we not have a duty, as the ancient Greeks would say, to honor
our parents? And do we not, in so doing, honor ourselves?
Fresh thinking on the marbles...
For the last fifty years Greece - and especially Cyprus - have seen
their fortunes suffer because of unrealistic policies espoused by
their politicians and the media for their own ends.
The most obvious example is the Cyprus problem: the numerous
plans for its solution that were presented through the years and were
rejected would be looked upon today as heaven-sent.
The Greeks during those decades acted on the basis of emotions,
on the basis of what is right and what is moral, but also while
ignoring the limitations imposed by the realities of international affairs.
Having made this preface we come to he issue at hand:
The Minister of Culture and Tourism of Greece, Panos Geroulanos
through an interview with the London Times, proposed to the British
Museum that they loan the so called Elgin marbles to Greece - named
after the British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire who grabbed
them from the Parthenon - for an “ extended period of time”.
This is a clear break with the past. Up to now many of us we were
fighting for the return of the marbles to their lawful owners, the
Greek people. Nothing else would suffice.
Now, the new proposal calls for them to be loaned to Greece.
When the story broke the ministry of Culture tried, in the usual
silly way, to back peddle on the story, that is, to deny that the
Minister of Culture had said exactly that.
In any event , that silly effort aside, we believe that this is a proposal that cannot be dismissed out of hand. It needs to be examined
and put into effect.
There is no question that the overwhelming majority of the Hellenes the world over, if given a choice, would opt for the permanent
return of the marbles to Greece. Count us among them.
It must be noted that ever since the actress-turned-politician
Melina Mercouri brought the issue up, there has been a tremendous
mobilization in an effort to pressure the British to repatriate the marbles.
Still, the British are unmoved. Even today, with the new and glorious Acropolis museum in place, and even though the designers
have left space for the real marbles to be placed in it, instead of the
copies that are there now, the British do not seem to be impressed.
Either the pressure brought to bear upon them is not enough or
they will not bend under the weight of that pressure. Can anyone believe that they will change their minds some time in the future? Not
unless we can force them to do so. Can we do that?
Therefore, if we care about achieving results rather than just blowing off steam, we should use the doreion horse method.
Such a solution could be the one Geroulanos proposes.
Provided, one, that mother Hellas does not renounce her rights as
the owner of the marbles. And two, that an extended period of time
is agreed to, a period of more than 15 years.
Were the marbles loaned under these conditions, would not Greece
benefit tremendously in national pride and tourism?
Still there is a good chance the British, in their arrogance, will
turn down this sensible proposal.
Would not Greece still come out looking like a winner?
THE NATIONAL HERALD, DECEMBER 11-17, 2010
Congratulations to TNH for
13th Anniversary
To the Editor:
Congratulations on The National Herald’s 13th anniversary
and to your success as a publisher to the Greek American
Community. Best wishes for continued success. Axios!
Stephen G. Yeonas
McLean, VA
what it could in these difficult
times.
In the past, I would have
urged Greece to do more along
these lines, to reach out to nonGreeks and Greek Americans
alike, especially the majority of
the latter who speak Greek less
than their parents and grandparents, but who still love and
want to learn more about their
Greek heritage. But until Greece
recovers it’s up to our organizations and the affluent Hellenes
among us to keep the torch of
Greek culture brightly lit.
Theodore Kamarinopoulos
Chicago, Illinois
fotograffiti
Bravo to The Readers of
Homer
To the Editor:
I read with great pleasure
and hope the article on the presentation of the Odyssey by The
Readers of Homer. It was correctly stated that the future of
Hellenism in America and
throughout the diaspora will depend on innovative and imaginative ways of presenting the
great works and achievements
of ancient, Byzantine and contemporary Greece.
The combination of text, music and dance must have
brought the great Greek epic to
life in a powerful and memorable way.
And it is no accident that the
event at New York’s renowned
92 Street Y, obviously result of
the efforts of many, was spearheaded by a dynamic duo of
Greek and non-Greek descent.
Yanni Simonides and Kathryn
Hohlwein are to be more than
commended, as is the Greek
government, who provided
AP PHOtO/GiOrGOS niSSiOtiS
Teach Your Children Well
Greece’s next generations of graffiti artists get their first lessons drawing on the street until
they’re big enough to write on the walls. What’s next - milk bottles into Molotov cocktails?
ΛΟΓΟΣ
The Spirit and Deeper Meaning of Dialogue is Here
With the launching of the
Athens Dialogues organized by
the Onassis Public Benefit Foundation a window of opportunity
has been opened. Dusan Sidjanski, a special adviser to the Presof
the
European
ident
Commission and one of the
keynote speakers at the Dialogues, went so far as to say
that all Europeans are Greek.
Like the famous quote from the
English Romantic poet Percy
Bysshe Shelley - We are all
Greeks - the simple-sounding
words of Sidjanski state the obvious considering the contributions Greece has made to
Western Civilization over the
ages while what he said can be
viewed as a provocative and urgent call to action. With the insidious economic crisis plaguing
more than just Greece, the idea
that “all Europeans are Greek”
and that “We are all Greeks” has
taken on new meaning and significance.
The timing of the first Athens
Dialogues, designed primarily
as an international conference
on Greek culture and its role in
modern society, comes at a critical time - an existential crossroads - for Greece. As someone
who has spent most of his adult
life seeking to bridge theory and
practice, it remains to be seen
how much action results from
the thinking, no matter how
lofty and grand, that takes place
in a conference setting. I’ve always considered myself to be a
“pracademic,” a term coined by
the late Professor Dwight Waldo
who was a political scientist and
perhaps the defining figure in
modern public adpher Martin Heiministration. Bedegger pointed out:
cause I too am
“What can logic …
trained academido if we never
cally as a political
begin to pay heed
scientist and served
to the logos and folas an elected memlow its initial unTo
ber of the National
folding?”
Council of the
Heraclitus, this iniunfolding
American Society
tial
for Public Adminisviewed the logos as
tration, I am forturesponsible for the
nate to have been
harmonic order of
by Dr. AlEX
able to call him a
the universe, a cosPATTAKOS
dear friend. I can
mic law that desay, as I’m sure Proclared that “One is
Special to
The National Herald
fessor Waldo would
All and Everything
too, that the word
is One.”
“dialogue” is often misunderThe doctrine of the logos
stood, misused, and even was the linchpin of the religious
abused and real dialogue is thinking by the Jewish philosomuch easier said than done.
pher Philo of Alexandria, who,
Why? Let’s try to understand while not always consistent in
what is meant by the word dia- his use of the term, established
logue at its root. As I noted in my it as belonging only to the spirfirst Logos column on Feb. 14, itual realm. Philo sometimes
2009, the word dialogue a comes suggested that the logos is the
from two Greek words, dia, “highest idea of God that
meaning through, and logos, fre- human beings can attain …
quently but roughly translated in higher than a way of thinking,
English as “the meaning.” The more precious than anything
various translations of the word that is merely thought.” For
logos, a common Greek word, re- Philo, the logos was Divine, the
veal that it has deep spiritual source of energy from which the
roots. The concept of logos can human soul became manifest.
be found in most of the great Consistent with the logo-centric
works describing the history of character of Philo’s thought, “It
Christianity, as well as in the lit- is through the Logos and the
erature of religion and Western Logos alone that man is capable
philosophy. One of the first refer- of participating in the Divine.”
ences to logos as spirit came Philo’s confidence in the human
from the Greek philosopher Her- mind rests on the self-assurance
aclitus, around 500 B.C. The that intellect is related to the dilogos of Heraclitus has been in- vine Logos, “…being an imterpreted in various ways, as the print, or fragment or effulgence
logical, as meaning, and as rea- of that blessed nature, or …
son. But, as the German philoso- being a portion of the divine
ether.” To Philo, the origins of
logos as spirit were well documented in the writings of the
early Greek philosophers and
theologians of his era. This kind
of interpretation of logos received attention more recently
in Karen Armstrong’s bestseller,
A History of God, in which she
notes that St. John made it clear
that Jesus was the Logos and
that the Logos was God.
Herein, lies the difficulty associated with engaging people
in authentic dialogue. It cannot
happen if we are prisoners of
our thoughts. You can never
enter into a relationship with
others if you believe you have a
monopoly on truth. True dialogue will only occur if the participating stakeholders are
willing to enter the spiritual
realm of the logos and converse
on this deeper level. Cognitive,
so-called knowledge-based interactions are not sufficient for
authentic dialogue. One must
be open and willing to entertain
a diversity of thought and discover a common ground by
going to a higher ground. So
let’s hope the Athens Dialogues
not only bring together thought
leaders in conversation with
each other but enables them to
discover common ground by
going to a higher ground and a
spiritual level.
Dr.
Pattakos,
author
of
Prisoners of Our Thoughts, is
co-founder of a business initiative on how to live a meaningful
life inspired by Greek culture.
Readers may contact him at:
[email protected].
COMMENTARY
Theodorakis Has the Real Spark to Rekindle Greece
The euro is in trouble again.
What a surprise. After Greece
was subjected to the international
ridicule of a modern-day battle
of the Caudine Forks, a 321 B.C.
non-battle in which Roman soldiers surrendered because they
were trapped in a waterless
place, it turns out that Greek statistics is not the worst of the Eurozone’s problems. Ireland’s
bankers gave ample proof of this
last month, as the once affluent
Celtic Tiger ended up rubbing up
against the legs of the International Monetary Fund/European
Union/European Central Bank
combo known as The Troika, although Hydra would be more appropriate. It’s almost certain that
the troika’s next stop will be Lisbon. And when Portugal sneezes,
its far larger Iberian neighbor
Spain will end up getting sick and
throw the euro into a full-blown
crisis. Belgium is in trouble too.
Besides its inability to form a government because the Flemish
don’t like the French and viceversa, it also has financial problems. Everyone’s got problems,
but it seems that Greece still ends
up being labeled as the only
problem child among the EU’s
Les Miserables. Part of this is the
fault of Greeks’ themselves, who
willingly engaged in more selfflagellation than an Opus Dei
convention planned by Dan
Brown.
but not the slightest
For
months,
hint of changing the
Greek politicians
problematic articles
went about blaming
in the Constitution?
their predecessors
No concern about
in the government
the hooligans who
(for doing just as
wreck Greek univerthey did before) and
sity property like it
looking for sympawas a sport, labor
thy from their interleaders who pervert
national partners.
syndicalism
and
Prime
Minister
turn it into a springGeorge Papandreou
by Christopher
board for political
told an internaTRiPOUlAS
office, labor unions
tional conference of
who care more
Socialists
that
Special to
The National Herald
about holding the
Greece was “responcitizenry hostage
sible for some very
bad practices” but Portugal and and storming Greek monuments
Spain do not warrant “suspicions, than they do about protecting the
rumor and maltreatment.” Public rights of the worker, political parhumiliation will get you nowhere ties that defy the very meaning
and it helped those crusty old of democracy through the autotechnocrats in Brussels come up cratic rules of their charters.
with new jokes and with new and None of these factors were
improved ways of impoverishing deemed to be a priority, because
they can’t be translated quantifithe poorest of Greeks.
Taxes are skyrocketing, pen- ably onto technocrats’ reports in
sions and wages decimated, the Brussels and Washington, DC.
No one is questioning if the
cost of everything continues rising, but there’s no justice in sight. financial targets are pertinent any
What monopolies have been bro- longer, rules adopted before the
ken up, which cartels disassem- euro was in circulation and Gerbled? Which public agencies many realized it could attain
were punished, or at least pub- dominance over the continent by
the
weaker
licly berated for sadistically tor- bankrupting
economies of other countries
turing the citizenry?
Over a year has passed since which no longer had the luxury
the election of a new government of devaluing their currency, as
with a mandate and enough world powers such as the U.S.,
power to enact sweeping changes Brazil, Russia, India and China
have done.
The problem is more than just
a financial crisis. It’s an identity
crisis. The EU is seen as infallible
and Greeks are told they are the
ugly ducklings of the European
family. Until that mentality
changes, Greece will always be
an easy target for public mockery.
The famous composer Mikis
Theodorakis recently announced
the formation of an independent
citizens’ movement called Spitha
(Spark) dedicated to fighting the
austerity measures unilaterally
placed upon the Greek people.
The composer feels “We’re ceding
national sovereignty to foreign
powers,” and envisages “a movement to help Greeks express their
concerns and work up ideas on
how to face the crisis.”
Theodorakis knows about
struggle. He was exiled for being
a Communist in Post-WWII
Greece and again during the
junta. Still, Theodorakis did not
hesitate to butt heads with the
Communist party over national
issues. Theodorakis’ music (and
words) ring louder in international circles than the noise coming from most Greek politicians,
reporters, or other’ opinion makers eager to take on the role of
errand boy. Listen to him. Maybe
his words will finally provide the
spark needed to help Greece rid
itself of much of its political dead
weight.
VIEWPOINTS
THE NATIONAL HERALD, DECEMBER 11-17, 2010
LETTER FROM ATHENS
If Greece Loses The Marbles,
We’ll Get Them Back
chusetts and did
Some years ago,
graduate studies at
while sitting with a
Harvard and MIT.
group of Greek
Maybe that AmeriAmerican friends in
can sojourn washed
a bar after playing
the Greek out of his
basketball, and a
blood because he
few too many
has less fight in him
ouzos, I hatched a
than the Italians
hare-brained Topdid when the
kapi-like scheme for
Greeks were bootus to fly to London
ing them back to
and concoct some
Rome in World War
kind of plan to get
by ANDY
II. They risked –
into the British MuDABiliS
and gave – their
seum and take back
lives for Greece
the Parthenon MarSpecial to
The National Herald
while this guy has
bles stolen by
– allegedly - been
British diplomat
Lord Elgin from 1801-12. They doing some backroom wheeling
are called the Elgin Marbles by and dealing, begging the British
the British because they think to loan Greece its own property?
they own them. He had been Do they have tar and feather in
given permission by the ruling Greece?
The Times, citing GerTurks to take the stones, thinking that justified his claim, the oulanos, first reported that:
kind of ruse the British are fa- “Greece was trying to break
mous for, usually when they’re decades of stalemate with
colonizing countries. The British Britain over the Elgin Marbles
Museum bought the stolen prop- by dropping its long-standing
erties from Elgin, whose real claim to ownership of the sculpname was Thomas Bruce, be- tures in return for the British
cause they are masterpieces of Museum sending the Acropolis
Greek thinking and sculpture, artifacts back to Athens on a
unlike the pile of rocks in Eng- long-term loan.” The report said
land called Stonehenge. Still, the that Greece would offer the
idea of the Brits keeping them British Museum some of its best
got our Greek American blood classical artworks, “changing the
boiling and we wanted to get exhibition every few years to
them back to Athens where they give London one of the richest
belonged. We couldn’t figure out permanent displays in Western
exactly how to do it, although it Europe of sculpture, carvings
seemed like a good idea at the and art from ancient Greece.”
time to distract the guards by Once the news got out, Gertelling them there was a pile of oulanos started backpedaling
free fish and chips and pints of faster than the Italian army and
ale in the front lobby if they’d had his office issue a press reall just go there while we lease stating that, “Permanent
watched the Marbles to make return of the Parthenon Marbles
to the new Acropolis Museum
remains the steadfast demand of
the Greek state.” But it also said:
“Greece is prepared to offer the
British Museum classic masterpieces of the country for periodical exhibitions.”
For the politically uninitiated,
here’s the translation: Greece
will give up its claim to the marbles in return for a long-term
loan, because these kind of denials are face-saving window
dressing by political cowards
and not unlike the owner of a
baseball team giving a vote of
confidence to his manager,
which means you know he’s
gone (can anybody say “Billy
Martin?”) IF this deal is done,
Geroulanos should worry that
the late, great actress, Melina
Mercouri, the champion of the
Melina Mercouri
Marbles return and who had real
sure no one like us would take Greek defiance and courage,
them. Then there was the logis- doesn’t rise up from her crypt in
tical problem of how do you Athens’ First Cemetery and walk
sneak out of the museum while into his office and spit in his
carrying 247 feet of marble face. Mercouri was once Culture
sculptures, half of what was Minister too, someone who
fought for Greece and didn’t
once on the Parthenon?
Nonetheless, we wanted to view the office as something to
try because the Parthenon and put on your resume, and in one
Acropolis are the national sym- of her more famous appearances
bols of Greece, and there are did a video making the case
plenty of other people fighting what the Marbles mean to
for their return too, such as the Greece, but maybe Geroulanos
American Committee for the Re- was watching videos of PASOK
unification of the Parthenon pep rallies for Prime Minister
Sculptures, and the great Eng- George Papandreou and missed
lish-American writer Christopher it. Mercouri has more spirit in
Hitchens. He, as did I, said one her dead than this guy has alive,
of his greatest honors was shak- although someone should check
ing the hand of Manolis Glezos, his pulse to make sure he is, or
who, at age 19 in 1941, with his at least do a blood test to check
friend Apostolos Santas, sneaked for Greek DNA. On YouTube,
onto the Acropolis and tore Mercouri, with that signature
down the Nazi flag and raised smile that can freeze your blood
the Greek flag, such was the and melt it again, laid out the
meaning of that magnificent ed- case for Greece, so someone
ifice that rises above Athens. please get in touch with GerNow they’re all about to possibly oulanos (I tried six times, no anbe sold out by Greece, which re- swer) and tell him to watch it.
portedly was ready to end its With consummate elegance and
long-running dispute with the pride, she said: “What does
British Museum by saying the Shakespeare mean to England?
Greek Marbles rightfully belong St. Paul’s Cathedral? What doe
to the British – in return for the the Taj Mahal mean to India?
museum throwing Greece the What do the paintings on the
bone of a long-term loan of its Sistine Chapel mean to Italy?
own properties, rather like The Parthenon Marbles are our
someone occupying your house pride. They are our identity.
and allowing you to live upstairs They are today’s link with Greek
excellence. They are creations
for the summer.
Are there no more Greek synonymous with our concepts
fighters left? If this is the deal – of democracy and freedom.”
and no one knows because Those apparently are either alien
Greek Culture Minister Pavlos or forgotten by today’s Greek
Geroulanos, who, according to politicians, none of who had to
the Times of London, agreed to climb a cave under the Acropolis
this cockamamie scheme to fur- and take down the Nazi flag in
ther embarrass Greece, denied the shadow of the desecrated
it as soon as he heard about it. Parthenon. The British Museum
He did so, of course, through a will never relent because the
press release and wasn’t ready Brits like having pieces of
to face the Press or the heat al- Greece. The British Ambassador
though he should have come out lives in a stately mansion in
swinging in person. Since he Kolonaki, Athens’ fashionable
didn’t, you can bet this is really neighborhood. It sure is a nice
what’s being decided with your place, maybe because it was
heritage by politicians. Of built for Greek statesman Eleftcourse, there’s the big IF, that herios Venizelos, who is to
being IF that’s the deal because Greece what Churchill is to Engit’s as unclear as any episode of land.
So IF it turns out, as it will,
the TV series Lost. But IF it’s
true, Glezos, 88, and still that Greece will give up the
tougher than most men, could claim to the Marbles when the
be dispatched to kick some sense heat dies down, Geroulanos’
into Geroulanos because IF name would be put right next
Greece gives up the Parthenon to Ephialtes. But don’t worry
Marbles it would be the biggest about the Marbles, I’m on the
disgrace and humiliation Greece phone right now to my buddies
would face, apart from wars and in Boston and am going to meet
the economic crisis in which real them in London, and we’re not
people are suffering. You’d ex- flying British Air.
pect better from a guy who went
to Williams College in Massa- [email protected]
11
Corruption in Greece and America, Democracy Betrayal
By Evaggelos Vallianatos
Special to The National Herald
At its revolutionary moment
in 1776, America recognized its
debt to ancient Greece, borrowing Greek democracy and wisdom.
Thomas
Jefferson,
schooled in Classical Greek
learning, met the great Greek
scholar Adamantios Koraes, who
was working in Paris for the liberation of Greece from Turkey.
Jefferson advised Koraes how
the emerging Greek Republic
should organize itself. Now
America is bereft of politicians
like Jefferson, keeping the
Greek Classics strictly in the college classrooms. Politicians
dream of empire and wealth.
They, and those who fund them,
resemble the oligarchy of the
Roman Empire. They are obsessed with money and security
to protect their ill-gotten riches.
Greeks and other Europeans
come to America to learn how
to make money the American
way. This moneymaking machine, known as globalization,
wrecks national cultures and
threatens the viability of the
planet. Big corporations are free
to do as they please, so they pollute and undermine life on
earth. Global warming is largely
a corporate product. America’s
preoccupation with money and
greed is a universal corruption,
eating away at democracy and
recreating feudalism. In the case
of Greece, globalization pushed
the country to its current existential crisis. Evidence of this
crisis in Greece is how the International Monetary Fund now
manages Greek finances. The
IMF routinely impoverishes national economies for the benefit
of its corporate masters.
The Greek kleptocrats have
the same masters as the IMF.
They receive their education in
America and do internships at
the IMF and the World Bank, a
sister institution of IMF. Greek
Prime Minister George Papandreou was born and educated
in the US. Former Prime Minister, Kostas Karamanlis, studied
at Tufts University outside
Boston. Tufts and American universities are caught in the frenzy
of money as well. They ignore
their mission of educating good
men and women. Instead, they
model their training after Wall
Street. The best and the brightest from American universities
fail to study the Greek classics,
history, science, and engineering. They go straight to law or
business schools and the
bonuses of Wall Street. The result of this collusion of state,
academia and Wall Street is a
cannibalistic monster of capitalism devouring democracy and
civilization for a short-lived extravagance of riches for the very
few and abuse and violence for
the many. Wall Street nearly annihilated the US in 2008. Millions of Americans lost their jobs
and homes. Wall Street executives responsible for that financial calamity are not in prison
but continue making enormous
profits. The administration of
both George W. Bush and
Barack Obama bailed out the
banks that brought the economic meltdown on America.
This catastrophe has been
the business product of decades
of corruption. Corporate lobbyists bribe politicians who then
“deregulate” the government’s
oversight of corporations. In
fact, deregulation also brings
corporate power within the government, essentially the government becoming a colony of polluters and oligarchs. The spring
2010 poisoning of the Gulf of
Mexico by BP was a direct effect
of deregulation of the oil industry. In Greece, corruption of the
political system has created a
curious phenomenon of the
country being an almost private
fiefdom of a handful of families
producing prime ministers. The
American-educated politicians
have stripped the country of industry and self-reliance. Greece
even follows America’s terrible
agribusiness practices. From
millions of peasants working the
land and growing the country’s
food, now Greece imports food
while hundreds of villages are
ghosts of their former self. Rural
people have flocked to Athens
and a few other large cities,
abandoning the countryside to
the toxic grasp of agribusiness
and the church.
The Greek government borrows continuously but fails to
tax the rich and the church, the
country’s richest institution and
largest landowner. Greeks don’t
trust their government. Instead,
they periodically take it to the
street in protest but fail to terminate the rule of family oligarchy. In desperation, many try
to join the civil service that
guarantees a modicum of security. Small shopkeepers and cottage industry offer an alternative but limited future. They get
little support from the government hell-bent on globalization
and multiculturalism, two faces
of the same corporate monster:
wrecking local industry with imports and abandoning the
guarding of its borders. But such
policy is undermining Greece
that can barely support its own
people much less hundreds of
thousands of illegal foreigners
(largely from Africa, Pakistan,
Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran)
crossing into the country from
Turkey. Meanwhile, Papandreou
The IMF routinely
impoverishes national
economies for the benefit
of its corporate masters.
calls himself and his party Socialist but his Greek and foreign
allies are millionaires. Papandreou mirrors Obama: saying
and doing different things. Papandreou’s government is building a future almost hostile to
Greece: undermining education,
democracy, the territorial integrity of the country, and national defense.
Americans and Greeks are
unlikely to get rid of corrupt
politicians any time soon. Their
only effective antidote to the
corporate class is democracy, the
more, the better. Greece has several parties but, like America,
only two of those parties take
turns in governing the country.
With the exception of the tiny
Ecological party, Greek parties
peddle foreign ideas and interests. They are a legacy of the
French, British and Russian parties foreigners imposed on
Greece after the country’s Independence in 1828. The postWWII division of Greece into
communist and capitalist further intensified foreign influence in Greek politics.
Greeks need to look after
their national interests: invigorate tourism with the country’s
glorious classical heritage; teach
Greek students ancient Greek
and Latin in both elementary
and high school; spread public
libraries all over the country;
put people to work by having
them manufacture ships, cars,
and weapons; rebuild the universities to high standards of excellence; revitalize the countryside
with
small
family
agriculture; abolish monasteries; tax the church and the
rich and strengthen national
defense. Greeks no longer need
parties with their toxic baggage.
They need only look back at
their history and borrow their
ancestors’ direct democracy for
governing their country. As for
America, the monopoly of the
two parties and the imperial
presidency fighting perpetual
petroleum wars is a recipe for
disaster. They have been emasculating democracy and replacing it with a corporate-government-academic agency, what
President Dwight Eisenhower
called the industrial-military
complex, that resembles an incipient police state without the
storm
troopers. America needs an
adequate defense force but not
a Pentagon of hundreds of military bases all over the world,
mercenary armies, a gulag archipelago of secret prisons and torture, and a defense budget that
is larger than the military budget of the rest of the world. This
is where systematic corruption
and danger come from. America
must abandon its empire and return to its democratic traditions.
Empire and democracy don’t
mix. Unless Americans move
their country back to democratic
armed forces and democratic
and just economy, the imperial
presidency and corporations, including “Too Large to Fail”
banks, will take a hold of the
country for good. The victory of
Republicans in the midterm
elections brings the country another step closer to tyranny.
Both Obama and the Democrats
must fight this danger openly
by embracing democracy: end
the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan; break corporate
power; start manufacturing
most things at home; and put
the unemployed to work.
Evaggelos Vallianatos is author
of This Land is Their Land, and
The Passion of the Greeks.
In The End, You Will Always Go Home to Greece Again
By Helene Liatsos
Special to The National Herald
I return home to Greece
every day. After I park the car
in the driveway, I walk on the
whitewashed flagstones, pass
the pots of geraniums lining the
pathway, to the front door
painted Aegean blue. In the
midst of modern, ranch-style
and McMansion homes, my
white house with blue trim is a
Mediterranean oasis. It is a testament to my Hellenic roots; it
honors my mother and father;
it represents who I am. Born in
Greece, my parents carried me
to America at the age of nine
months. My older sister, Tina,
and I grew up in New York City
and attended St. Spyridon
Parochial School in Washington
Heights, located in upper Manhattan, then a predominantly
Greek community. That is where
we learned how to speak, read
and write Greek. It was our first
language. Everyone in our
world was Greek. The butcher,
the baker and the banker were
all Greek. Relatives, friends and
schoolmates all spoke Greek; we
played with all the neighborhood children, but only the
Greek ones were invited to our
birthday parties, along with
their parents. As we grew into
the high-school years and ventured out into a wider community, we wrestled with identity,
fluctuating between – was I a
Greek living in America or was
I an American of Greek descent?
I felt too Greek to be totally
American and at the same time,
too American to be totally
Greek.
In my early teens, we visited
Greece for the first time. As we
drove into Athens from the old
airport, and turned the corner,
my aunt pointed out the window and said “kita ekei.” I
looked out the window and
burst out crying. The Acropolis
in all its glory shined its magnificent light for my first impression of the country of my birth.
A few days later, we climbed the
steps and I touched the
Parthenon. It brought to life all
the books I read and all the stories I heard back in Greek school
… Greece, the land of the ancients…this was where my journey began. Then the time came
to go to the horio. Before we
left, my sister and I made my
mother promise that we would
be in the horio for only two days
– after all, we were from New
York City – what could the horio
be for us but boring and dull!
We wanted to go to the discos
that we heard about in Mykonos
and Corfu. We made the trek
from Athens to the high mountains of central Greece, outside
of the city of Karpenisi. One look
at my mother’s village, Mikro
Horio, and I fell in love. The
charming Town Square, the
small but pretty homes, the cobblestoned pathways, and the tall
fir trees were picture perfect.
Meeting my grandmothers for
the first time, kept us all in tears
until my maternal grandmother
asked me if we had tomatoes in
America! Then she chastised my
mother for not making our skirts
longer (mini’s ruled) and that if
she didn’t have enough money,
she would give her some. In my
father’s village, Megalo Horio,
my father’s cousin took me by
the hand and in her bedroom
she opened a chest filled with
linens. She told me I could have
anything I wanted. Another of
his cousins spent the day gathering flowers from the fields;
she gave me the glorious bouquet and told me that, “This is
all I have to give you.” I could
not stop crying and hugging
these women that I had never
met before. The hospitality and
generosity of the villagers, both
relatives and horiani, is something I will remember for the
rest of my life. I went back to
Greece 12 times in the course
of 10 years. But back then, being young and vulnerable and
influenced by my peers, I spent
the weeks and months dancing
in the discos and tanning on the
beaches of the Aegean and Ionian Seas. The horio was not on
the itinerary.
And then we moved to California. Careers took off, other
interests ensued and Greece
seemed a long way, away. I was
Greek to some extent, but it had
been pushed into the background. Yes, I still spoke Greek
to my parents and their friends,
I went to church and the festivals, had some Greek friends,
but as an American I lived an
American life. In 1997, my father, John Liatsos, died. The
grieving process was the driving
force bringing me back to my
Greek roots. I got involved with
the various Hellenic organizations in Los Angeles, I performed in live Greek theater
where the Greek language
rolled readily off my tongue, I
subscribed to Greek magazines
and newspapers and I started to
feel the pull of visiting Greece
again. Then my mother, Maria
Priovolos Liatsos, took ill and
needed daily care. She succumbed in 2003. If there was
ever a time when the thread to
Greece was hanging precari-
ously, this was it. A trip to
Greece was now mandatory. My
homecoming took place in
2005. I arrived in Mikro Horio,
along with my two nieces and
one nephew-in-law. Our first
stop was my mother’s paternal
home. Showing them the house
where she slept, ate and lived
was heart-wrenching, the tears
we shed were for her and her
legacy to us, which still lived in
our blood. The taxi driver who
accompanied us joined us in our
tears because he was so moved
with our love and appreciation
of our roots. There were only a
handful of people left who still
remembered my mother and we
sat and talked to them for a long
time. We ate in the platia where
we reminisced about all the sto-
“My white house with blue
trim is a Mediterranean
oasis. It is a testament to
my Hellenic roots; it honors
my mother and father; it
represents who I am...”
ries my mother, their yiayia, told
us. Their favorite was about the
little white dog she had who
yipped and yapped all night
long. One day she awoke and
found the dog dead; someone
got tired of all the barking and
fed it some old meat. It was
funny to them because yiayia always acted out the dog barking.
It was sad to them because they
have dogs in their homes. We
went to my father’s village.
Walking toward his paternal
home we encountered an old
woman who was hunched over
carrying sticks on her back and
wearing black from head to toe.
She asked me where were we
going and I said I was looking
for my father’s house. She told
me that she knew where it is,
and then said I shouldn’t go
there because “I will be in too
deep.” I paused and thought
about this, she knew that it
would hurt to see it so she was
being wise and kind to tell me
not to go. But we did and she
was right. It was very painful
and yet necessary to do. The
kids left and I stayed another
week. One day, as I took a walk
around the village I wandered
into the churchyard. I sat on the
low wall encircling the church
and stared up at my mother’s
paternal house, which stands
above the village square. I visualized my mother as a young
woman, grabbing her young
cousin and putting him on her
back as she climbed up the
mountain when the church bells
rang announcing the approaching invading army during the
war. I thought about her standing behind the bushes, giggling
with her friend and looking
down at the panigyri taking
place in the platia, where she
first saw my father. She couldn’t
go to the party because she didn’t have a male escort. Her father died when she was nine
and her brother was away. She
met Dad a year later when he
worked for her uncle. Dad
watched and waited as suitor
after suitor was declined by my
mother because she wanted to
marry for love. And so, she did.
This trip to Greece changed my
life in more ways than one. Not
having married before, I lit a
candle in the Panagia Prousotisa
Monastery near my parent’s villages and asked to be blessed
with a wonderful man, as my
parent’s would have wanted for
me. And true to God’s promise,
I was. We met two weeks after I
returned to California. We went
to Greece in 2007 for the first
time together; we went again
earlier this year and spent 31
days on Greek soil. We plan to
go again in 2012 … and again
and again, as long as we are
able. My husband, Zafiris, is
Greek, just like me!
Some say that they feel
Greek in their heart; others say
that they are Greek in their
spirit and still others say they
are Greek in mind. I am Greek
in my bones. It is the physical
manifestation of my being. I can
switch from Greek into English
and back to Greek in thought
and word and deed, it is not
strange for me to make tiropites
from scratch and serve them
with t-bone steaks and corn on
the cob. It is normal for me to
swing with Sinatra with one CD
and do the syrtaki with another.
I have learned that I need not
be one or the other. I can be
both at the same time. There is
nothing truly more joyous than
celebrating both countries, for
they have both made me what I
am today. My country is America and my heritage is Greece.
As we sit in the back yard, under
the growing grapes hanging
over the table, my husband and
I contemplate whether or not
we should make our own wine.
It’s such a Greek thing to do!
Helene Liatsos-Tsimahides was
born in Lamia, raised in New
York City and lives in Los
Angeles with her husband
Zafiris. She is President of her
own business management
firm.
THE BACK PAGE
12
THE NATIONAL HERALD, DECEMBER 11-17, 2010
Remembering Dimitri Mitropoulos, The Monkish Maestro
Continued from page 1
was discussed by two men who
worked and made music with
him, - renowned composer Gunther Schuller and Stanley
Drucker, who played clarinet in
the orchestra for 62 years - and
two women who have studied
his life and career intensely,
Philharmonic archivist and historian Barbara Haws and documentary film maker Valery Kontakos. The panel, titled
Considering Dimitri Mitropoulos, was part of the Philharmonic’s Insight Series and was
part of a special tribute sponsored by the Niarchos Foundation. Mitropoulos, born in
Athens in 1896, was a musical
prodigy, making his American
debut in 1936 with the esteemed Boston Symphony Orchestra and was conductor of
the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra from 1937-49.
Everything about the man,
who seems to have always been
filmed or photographed in harsh
light and shadows, is a study in
contrasts, ironies and contradictions. Mitropoulos fled the
monastic life that called a number of his relatives, yet no one
lived a more ascetic life in one
of the worldliest on places on
earth, a penthouse suite on the
ninth floor of a hotel in midtown Manhattan. Schuler told
the audience of an almost ritualistic pattern to his days. After
a performance, he would flee
the spotlights and both the applause and criticism of one of
the world’s temples of music to
enter the dark spaces of Times
Square movie houses where he
watched his era’s B movies,
what he described in an interview with legendary newsman
Edward R. Murrow as his fastfood version of the common life,
which his schedule would not
permit him to experience. “Like
spaghetti out of a can,” the only
nourishment his basic humanity
tasted the shy musician told
Murrow whom he so respected,
one of the few permitted to interview him.
After the movie, he would be
asleep by midnight, only to
wake up again at 4 a.m. Like
Orthodox monks who must attend services through the day
and night, Mitropoulos was
ready for his next ritual: In his
study, surrounded by music
scores, images of his favorite, if
not his patron saint, Francis of
Assisi, and a crucifix, he would
begin an intensive four hour
study of those scores. Schuler
said he would often finger his
rosary but having spent time on
Mount Athos, it may well have
been a komboskini, an Orthodox prayer rope. Murrow’s film
crew found him gazing at the
stars over Manhattan, lost in
solitude. In a sense, he followed
the footsteps of his uncles, the
monks who lived on a mountain, beneath the stars, only
meditating on musical notes
rather than the words of
prayers. There was a poignant
and ironic moment in the interview – he was clearly uncomfortable throughout it and
Schuller noted he was trying
very hard to be relaxed – when
he revealed that he is lucky to
have escaped the fate of his uncles the monks, dying alone in
their cells. Still, there was a
powerful pull from that world
and he said that, “St. Francis inspired and guided me practically
all my life.”
POLITICS AND CULTURE
DON”T MIX
Conflicting reports note he
was revered and disrespected by
his musicians; the performances
he conducted were spectacular
and ragged, he was both
beloved and unpopular with the
public. Haws acknowledged that
the man was irreducibly enigmatic, but her research yielded
a somewhat coherent explanation for the divergent views of
2
1
4
5
1. A younger Mitropoulos at the piano. 2. On the cover of one
of his noted recordings. 3. Mitropoulos' leap into the air sends
a powerful message to his musicians. 4. He preferred using his
hands but here uses a batton to conduct. 5. He was an introspective man. 6. Cutting one of the orchestra’s records.
3
the man, and some “political”
background is required to understand what was going on.
During Mitropoulos’ tenure,
there were bitter battles among
the orchestra’s Board of Directors over and Haws said that in
many ways he was, collateral
damage in a war that was really
about efforts to oust the orchestra’s manager, Arthur Judson,
who was there from 1928.
Mitropoulos did not make
things easier for himself. He was
devoted to the music and the
composers he presented but not
defend himself when he was attacked. His concerts featured
the most modern music, the
works of Alban Berg, Anton Webern and Arnold Schonberg
which added atonality and other
innovations to the rhythms and
dissonances of the early 20th
century that still did not suite
the taste of many.
It was not just modern
sounds which moved him –
Drucker said Mitropoulos loved
“the total landscape of music”
and turned in brilliant performances composers as early as
Monteverdi, and Schuller said
he witnessed “incredible performances of Tosca and Boris
Gudunov – but Mitropoulos was
powerfully devoted to 20th Century composers, especially his
contemporaries whose works
were neglected or maligned.
Drucker told The National Herald that in New York, it was expected that a great orchestra
would perform a variety of music, but Schuller said Mitropoulos overdid it.
Missing from the discussion
was an examination of his Greek
background and life experiences
and how that shaped his personality. A Greek would have
brought up the word “pisma”,
stubbornness. Clearly there was
some of that, but there is a spiritual element too. It was not
clear from the discussion exaclty
what place Orthodox Christian-
6
ity heldin his life, but he was
clearly a very spiritual man. In
a fascinating Life Magazine article by Winthrop Sargeant on
Feb. 18, 1946, it was revealed
that Mitropoulos “grew up with
the notion that he would become a monk on Mount Athos,
like one of his two uncles.”
Sargeant wrote: “That he failed
to pursue this ambition is
mainly attributable to a native
rebelliousness against dogma
and a lifelong love of instrumental music, which is not permitted in the rituals of the Greek
Orthodox Church.” The article
also mentioned that “Local dignitaries of the Greek church (in
Minneapolis) have long been
deeply offended because on the
few occasions when he attends
services,” he shows a preference
for a local Presbyterian, church
but the maestro said that was
because he liked the pastor. The
piece described Mitropoulos as
“strictly an individualist where
his religion is concerned, and
quoted him saying, “Music for
me is concerned with religious
feeling and mystical expression.
It arouses feeling towards God.”
He often prayed in his dressing room before a concert.
Mitropoulos said he had a
mission, and although he did
not take orders from what he
called “the Bishops” of the music
world, it did not seem motivated
by a need to rebel. Rather, there
was a personal dimension,
rooted in his desire to help his
fellow man, composers in particular, with whom he identified
and helped to the detriment of
his career. Drucker said, “He
was ahead of his time, but
mainly he tried to give new
composers a platform.” They
deeply appreciated it. Schuller
said he wrote a piece that included a 5/8 rhythm, to honor
the maestro’s heritage – noting
many Greek songs have oddnumbered beats, 5, 7, 9, etc.
“He never swears or scolds,” the
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Life article noted. “He talks to
the men as if they were his closest friends, which in fact many
of them are ... Mitropoulos
never conducts an orchestra
without first memorizing the
name of every man in it.”
Reports of his life are dominated with stories of the maestro
assisting musicians and others
in need, buying instruments and
paying medical bills to the point
almost of destitution where he
himself needed help with medical payments – he suffered two
heart attacks in this Philharmonic days. The one consistent
criticism that does not meet with
much sympathy among musicians is his conducting without
a baton. Drucker explained that
he was not the only conductor
to do so, but apparently his hand
movements that were related to
keeping the beat were too subtle
to be followed by players who
were not used to him. Eventually
they caught on, “it really
worked,” said Drucker, but it
caused much frustration. His
hand movements added to the
Mitropouos experience. They
were dramatic and passionate,
matching his facial expressions.
Drucker said he was very emotional when he conducted,
sometimes “crying, pleading,
saying ‘gentlemen, gentlemen,’”
begging his musicians to get exactly the sound and feeling he
wanted. Life magazine reported:
“Privately he admits he dislikes
using a baton because it is a
symbol of authority.” When
Murrow asked him about conducting with his hands, he speculated about himself that he was
reaching for their souls, for all
they could give, and perhaps
even for their love.”
THE EROTIC PROPHET
Schuller said he was almost
in an altered state of mind when
he conducted and that
Mitropoulos’ physical reactions
to the music could only be described as musical orgasms. So
there may have been an element
of the non-rational in the programs he presented, but who is
qualified to mess with an artist’s
eros? Mitropoulos may have assuaged his anger over his leav-
ing the Philharmonic, whether
he showed in or not, with the
faith that that the music’s time
will come. Mitropouolos was
not just a musical missionary as
he and others made him out to
be. He was a musical prophet,
compelled to follow a lead from
within and ignoring the demands of his environs. But he
clearly needed those people too.
At one point he told Murrow,
just after speaking about the
solitary Assisi, that “only people
who are worshiped and loved
are worthy of eternity.” That
strange utterance again suggests
that his Greek and Orthodox
background needs further exploration, as all his life he had
heard the words, at funerals and
memorial services “aionia i mnimi” – eternal be his memory.
His detractors were few in
the beginning. The Life article
was titled A fabulous Greek with
monk-like habits is making music history in Minneapolis. The
panelists noted that Mitropoulos
fascinated and delighted both
musicians and audiences, just
emerging from the horrors of
wars, were ready for something
new. Bruno Walter never played
the music of the newer composers and Leopold Stokowski
did so only at the end, under
pressure. But over time, New
York, the city Mitropoulos loved,
fell out of love with him.
Schuller said Mitropoulos’ aim
was “to be of complete service
to humanity” through his chosen pieces, “but gradually they
turned against him and his music: audiences, press, and even
musicians who resented the music he was foisting on them.”
Mitropoulos had one more
passion besides music. He told
Murrow “some people have passions for women, or drinking or
cars, but he loved mountain
climbing, and noted he would
have preferred to live 30 stories
high. Murrow’s intuition picked
up on the piano in the maestro’s
study and he got him to confess
that through the years he had
neglected it and that, “I now like
to listen better than to play,”
suggesting a now-faded passion
of a man who was a piano virtuoso. He was always credited
with a photographic memory,
but denied it. Mitropoulos told
Murrow that he had to work
very hard to memorize scores,
but even though he said he no
longer conducted from memory,
Schuller said he continued to
torture himself to memorize
scores almost always right down
to his last performances. One of
the benefits of this practice was
the amazing speed with which
his orchestras learned pieces,
causing one participant to comment “he must have at least
pleased the record companies
paying by the hour.”
Haws said another myth pertains to bad blood between
Mitropoulos and Bernstein, who
reportedly pushed or elbowed
out the elder maestro through
his superior political skills. She
said that Mitropoulos presented
his successor with a medallion
that he wore all his life.
He said that “Music is my
life,” and the recordings of his
concerts are all preserved.
Hawes, when referring to the
criticism that some performances were ragged, said,
“When you listen to the recordings you don’t hear that at all.
Drucker added: “They are amaz-
ing,” and added that despite being often attacked by critics,
some of Mitropoulos’ concerts
received the most fantastic reviews he ever saw.
FANTASIA, A LITTLE
STRAVISKY ON THE SIDE
The Mitropoulos enigma invites speculation. Schuller told
of the powerful experience of
seeing the movie Walt Disney’s
Fantasia in 1940, a masterpiece
of early animation that is also
memorable for its film score
filled with classical musical favorites. He said that’s when he
he first heard Stravinsky’s Rite
of Spring and that was when he
was determined to become a
composer. But “Rite” might still
be as modern as many music
lovers still will go. Perhaps the
1950’s was the worst time to
‘overdo’ the moderns. The horrors of World II and the Holocaust prepared audiences to receive music that was not lush
and lachrymose. On the other
hand, they could not let go of
the romanticism that the 20th
Century was killing. The terrors
and fears of the cold war – shelter drills and film clips of nuclear bombs being tested, the
armistice that ended the Korean
war that could come undone at
any time, may have required
Chopin and Strauss as antidotes.
And Vietnam lurked. For many
patrons the music was not just
edgy, but provoked fears that
the world was going over the
edge. Or maybe modern music,
whether for physiological, or
cultural reasons, is an acquired
taste whose audience had yet to
reach a critical mass, which the
maestro failed to understand.
That was more than 50 years
ago. Audiences still have their
limits, though young musicians
now seem to love the stuff
Mitropoulos played. Bernstein
was once quoted saying: “The
20th Century was the century
of death and Mahler was its Musical Prophet.” Two world wars
and many of history’s horror
shows had to pass before the
mainstream could accept his
music. Perhaps Mitropoulos was
the prophet of the barely-suppressed angst of the cold war.
As the international crises
mounted and the nuclear blasts
continued, he may have been
the unwelcome herald of a disturbing era and was pushed
away by a populace that desperately needed escapism and
could bear music like the Rite
of Spring as no more than an
occasional spice during a main
musical course of Fantasia.
MUSICAL CHRIST OR
SOCRATES?
Was he a martyr for music?
One characteristic of the maestro that his supporters very
much regretted was his unwillingness to fight back or defend
himself. Schuller said, “He was
almost a masochist.” He related
the story of an orchestra in full
rebellion against him over a
piece of music. Mitropoulos
bore the insults for a full week,
and when they finally performed it was the most beautiful
performance of Weber Opus 21
Schuller said he’d ever heard.
Mitropoulos also loved to read
Greek drama and philosophy,
especially Plato and Kierkgaard.
He had some traits in common
with Socrates, also done in by
his rivals and “the public.”
Schuller said, reaching to explain some of the strains
Mitropoulos experienced with
both his orchestras and audiences, that, “He did not look like
the other conductors, central
European or South European.”
He certainly didn’t resemble the
Greek gods depicted in the
sculptures at many of the
world’s
cultural
centers.
Schuller said “Nobody had a
face life that.” Life described
him thus: He is a wiry man with
a deeply tanned complexion and
pale, childlike blue eyes that
contrast curiously with his
craggy features and shiny
scalp.” There was a mystical intensity to his countenance, and
his outward appearance transcended the beauty-ugly dichotomy. But the notion he did
not look Greek is puzzling. He
had roots in Sparta, and the
faces of modern Greece are multiform, but Mitropoulos showed
he was in a Pantheon of One.