“Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them,

and they that are great exercise authority upon them.

But it shall not be so among you:

but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;

And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant:

Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto,

but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:25-28, KJV)


The word the Athenians used for their Assembly was Ekklesia, the same word used in the New Testament for Church
(and it is the greatest philological irony in all of Western history that this word,
which connoted equal participation in all deliberation by all members,
came to designate a kind of self-perpetuating, self-protective Spartan gerousia -
which would have seemed patent nonsense to Greek-speaking Christians of New Testament times,
who believed themselves to be equal members of their Assembly.)

- Thomas Cahill, Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter




ΦΙΛΟΤΙΜΟ: THE GREEK SECRET


Thursday, May 27, 2010

Now he wants WHAT?

Several years ago our community began raising funds for the renovation of our Holy Trinity Cathedral through the Hellenic Heritage Campaign. In addition to renovating our Holy Trinity Cathedral, several projects were included relating to the Holy Trinity campus. The then parish council was instructed by the general assembly how these funds were to be administered.

In the 8 years the proistameno of Prophet Elias only has been here, there has never been an attempt to access these funds outside their specific purpose. That all has changed beginning with the "Skedros" funds. These funds were raised for a specific purpose and should remain where they are so the project can be completed.

As such, the following letter is being sent to Metropolitan Isaiah:


Yannis Armaou
2751 Highland Dr.
Salt Lake City, Utah 84106

May 26, 2010

Via fax: 303/333-7796
Original via mail

His Grace Bishop Isaiah
Metropolitan of Denver
4550 East Alameda Avenue
Denver, Colorado 80246-1208

Invocation of Article 35 of the Uniform Parish Bylaws
Addendum B


Request is hereby made by and the undersigned do hereby request the application of the dispute resolution process prescribed by Article 35, Addendum B, of the Uniform Parish Bylaws, the “UPRs” hereinafter collectively referred to as the “Addendum,”

The undersigned are parishioners as the term is defined under the terms of the Addendum.

A dispute has arisen as it relates to the control and appropriation of certain funds, the “funds” held by the custodian of said funds National Financial Services. The funds were collected for the specific purpose of creating and financing the Cathedral Campus construction of Sunday School rooms, and other community wide improvements as more particularly set forth in the Cathedral’s master plan. The master plan was originally created by Chris Kamanges, AIA, and the local firm of architects Stransky et. al. The funds were generated and raised by the Hellenic Heritage Campaign Committee, the “Committee.” The Committee was established solely by express authority of the General Assembly.

The Parish Council has demanded that the funds be under the exclusive control of the Parish Council. The Parish Council position and demand for control of the money, and the use of the money for use as the operational expenses of the Parish is contrary to the UPRs, and the express position espoused by Metropolitan Isaiah.

The undersigned verily believe that the funds belong exclusively under the jurisdiction of, and may be expended by, and are controlled by, and appropriated by the General Assembly, George Metos, and Manoli Sargetakis, two of the three signatories to the account as the account is now established and administered at National Financial Services. The undersigned wish to participate in the dispute resolution both personally and by counsel of their choice.

Relief requested: The undersigned request that the funds remain in the custody of the Bapis Group, subject only to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Parish General Assembly, and also subject to the here signatory requirement, as directed by the General Assembly.

The undersigned believe that the best way to resolve the dispute is to invoke the provisions of Article 35 and the Addendum, and its appellate processes. Please note and apply the provisions relating to conflicts of interest.

Dated this 25th day of May, 2010.

/s/

Yannis Armaou

cc: Rev Fr. Michael Kouremetis, via fax: 801/424-1296
Rev Fr. Matthew Gilbert, via fax: 801/328-9688
Mr. Jim Mylonakis, President, via fax: 801/328-9688
Mr. Michael Petrogeorge, Esq., Secretary, via fax: 801/328-9688
Mr. Andrew Kornreich, President, Director HighTower, via fax: 773/326-0994

(handwritten post-script added, as follows:)

UPRs have never been followed since Fr. Kouremetis came to SLC.
The Parish Council is hand-picked to serve his agenda!
Leave the money where it is!
Nick Bapis has done so much for this community.

1 comment:

Steven Gamvroulas said...

I find it humorous that the current appointed parish council is so versed on the UPR's when they can use them to attack the reputations of certain persons in our community. Their questionable interpretations of the UPR's are used only when they benefit their greed and intent to use the Hellenic Heritage Campaign for purposes they were not intended.

In 2002 certain current appointed parish council members chose to ignore the UPR's in order to cover up verifiable financial indiscretions. I keep coming back to the word "hypocrisy" when I think of our current situation.

There is not one person on the current appointed parish council who has been involved in or raised the monies that were raised by Mr. Bapis, Mr. Anderson or Mr. Collesides. They have been pillars in this community and have worked tirelessly to improve our facilities at BOTH of our churches in this community.

Why should the monies raised by them be put in the hands of those who have brought us to the brink of bankruptcy? They can not be trusted to control these funds! It is time for the appointed parish council and the proistamenoi to publicly apologize to the members of the foundation and end their campaign of threats, harassment and outright libel. They should do that immediately or they should gracefully resign their appointed and unelected positions before their actions cause any other irreversible damage.

I imagine that my willingness to defend the innocent will once again make me unqualified to run for the parish council again this year. So be it.