Holy Trinity’s Holy Land pilgrims found themselves this evening at a Desert camp in Wadi Rum, Jordan after a day in Petra and spending the afternoon in the Arabian Desert.
“UNITED AGAINST HATE”: ARCHBISHOP DEMETRIOS JOINS
RELIGIOUS LEADERS IN SOLIDARITY WITH PITTSBURGH
NEW YORK – His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios of America, joined other distinguished religious leaders today in the Park East Synagogue, in a memorial event titled “United Against Hate,” an inter-religious gathering of Leaders in solidarity with Pittsburgh and the victims of the massacre at the Tree of Life Synagogue.
“This is a gathering of brothers and sisters coming and sitting together in peace,” said Rabbi Arthur Schneier who led the event and is the founder of the Appeal of Conscience Foundation and Senior Rabbi of the Park East Synagogue, cosponsors of the event.
Michael Peterson, on behalf of the Appeal of Conscience Foundation presented the program as a children’s choir sang “A prayer for Peace.” Rabbi Schneier spoke of the present very painful time in our country and of the holocaust, of which he is a survivor. He memorialized the victims of Pittsburgh and thanked all the religious and political leaders present for their solidarity, saying “you stand with us and we stand with you.”
Secretary General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres, who spoke next, mentioned the growing number of incidents of anti-Semitism and the alarming signs of neo-Nazism, xenophobia and racism. Following the Secretary General and offering messages of condolence, solidarity and peace were Archbishop Auza, the Papal Nuncio and Permanent Observer of the Vatican to the United Nations; His Eminence Timothy Cardinal Dolan, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of New York; the Rt. Rev. Clifton Daniel III, Dean of the Cathedral of St John the Divine; the Very Rev. Father Daniel Findikyan, Diocesan Primate for the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church of America; Sheikh Musa Drammeh, Chairman of the Islamic Cultural Center of North America; and the Consul General of Israel in New York, Ambassador Dani Dayan.
His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios, Primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in America said that “no proper words can express my sorrow and that of the Greek Orthodox Community in the United States,” and reiterated the unequivocal condemnation for the acts of hate, evil and violence. The Archbishop talked about his personal connection with the “Tree of Life Synagogue” back in 1965, and then added that the Pittsburgh massacre brought back very bitter memories from the Summer of 1944, when during the Nazi occupation of Thessaloniki, Greece; close to 60,000 Jews, friends, classmates and neighbors were forcefully loaded to trains for a horrendous trip which ended in the crematoria of Auschwitz.
Furthermore, Archbishop Demetrios, in his personal meeting with Rabbi Schneier, conveyed the condolences and the very sincere feelings of sympathy of His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who is a true universal apostle of reconciliation and peace, and has visited the Park East Synagogue in his 2009 US Patriarchal Trip.
Also present at the gathering were other religious leaders, political and diplomatic dignitaries, police and community representatives.
1st day of our pilgrimage to the Holy Land. We visited the Baptismal site of Bethany, beyond the Jordan (in Jordan), the church and Monastery of St. John the Baptist, where our Lord was baptized, we celebrated the Blessing of the Waters , met Metropolitan Benedict of Philadelphia and subsequently the Site of Saint Mary the Egyptian and Prophet Elijah’s hill, the place where prophet Elijah ascended to heaven in the ninth century BC and finally we rested in our hotel by the Dead Sea.
There were 17 Children and 12 parents at the Mommy and Me Halloween party held this afternoon at the church.
Our Greek School commemorated the 78th Anniversary of OXI Day with poems and patriotic songs.
Apple picking leads to apple pies! Our GOYA will be selling home made apple pies Sunday after the Liturgy. Let’s support our GOYA!
by Despina Kartson
During last night's soup run, after we served what we thought was the last of our 120 chicken dinners, one guest approached and asked for food. And then we realized that a volunteer was heading home on the subway with two remaining meals to give away. As happens so often, seemingly out of nowhere, we had one more meal to give to the last person we met.
There seemed to be fewer guests than usual on the street so our volunteers went into Penn Station and also walked around the block distributing food, blankets and toiletries. We met Bill, 80 years old, who was happy to receive all that we offered and said he is fine but waiting to get new teeth in two months. We talked with a woman who said the icon we gave her was the best gift of all. We offered a man a prayer card, and he said, “Only if it has your phone number on it.” Replying, “Better yet, it has God’s phone number on it.“ He took the card. One of our volunteers brought a coat for a special guest who was thrilled to receive it and completely touched that we would think of her.
There are so many caring and generous supporters involved in the soup run every month. It truly takes a village and our village has expanded well beyond the borders of New Rochelle! We thank and acknowledge the following:
the anonymous sponsor of this month's soup run
spot purchases of specially requested items by Deb van der Hayden
Manny Louros and Zachary Karounos for cooking and Kelly Sisco for helping to pack the food
Constantine Caviris for making sandwiches and cookies that we were able to give to our guests as an extra meal
Fr. Nick and Cyndi for donating two new folding tables
Alexandra Baudouin for donating winter jackets and hand warmers
Sock donations from Bombas
Minos Samoladas for his ongoing financial support, clothing and blanket donations
Tina Marie LePage, sister of Dino Yotides, who joined us from Boston, bringing with her 60 new sweaters!
The Southampton Philoptochos for sending two boxes of toiletry kits they secured from Colgate.
Amazing to see the far-reaching support for our soup run!
One final note, tomorrow is Make a Difference Loukoumi Day during which 100,000 children across the country will be sharing their good deeds. The Good Deed Celebration will take place tomorrow at Holy Trinity New Rochelle from 6-10pm. The children have been invited to donate one pair of socks to our soup run. Please support Make a Difference and join the celebration or donate at www.loukoumifoundation.org.
Our next soup run is the Thursday after Thanksgiving, November 29. Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving surrounded by family, friends and the many blessings of life!
Elizabeth Zoulis spearheaded once again, Holy Trinity’s participation in the annual Making Strides Walk on Sunday, October 21st. The participants raised $3672 for the American Cancer Society.
