“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


Saturday, September 8, 2012

Nick Colessides Responds to the Metropolitan's Latest Letter to Our Community

Dear All,

During the Watergate days Senator Sam Ervin was right.  He said “follow the money."

Once again the Denver Metropolitan, by his latest correspondence proves that in his mind “it is all about the money.”  He wants to get his greedy hands on the Parish’s money.  All the money that our Parish/Community has, in the accounts he has referenced, belongs to the Community.  The money belongs to the Greek Orthodox Church of Greater Salt Lake.  That money can ONLY be disbursed by the commands of the community's General Assembly; not his.

We have only one answer for him:  Μολών Λαβέ!  It is the answer that the Greeks gave to the Persians.  It is the reason that the 300 Spartans sacrificed themselves against tyranny.

The Denver Aghios flip-flops on his word.  He prevaricates.

We need immediate action to repel the aggressive, unchristian actions and words of the Denver Metropolitan.  This fight will never end until the Denver Metropolitan is replaced by a caring and loving man of God.  And, the sooner the better.

Filakia to all.

Nick Colessides

P.S.  Please distribute as widely as you can, and ask our parishioners, and those in other parishes, to join the fight against the Denver Metropolitan's inequities and offensive conduct.

2 comments:

John Saltas said...

After reading the latest nonsensical and divisive letter from the Metropolitan, the obvious becomes even more so: The single common thread of 50 years of confusion in the Salt Lake City Parish is the Metropolitan himself. This community has behaved honestly and ethically--he has not. He disavows fair elections. He makes excuses and false rationale. He sets a bar, then moves it. He orders secret acts (establishing Prophet Elias as a corporation for dubious reasons) from parishioners then seems amazed at what comes.
How many good people--our friends and neighbors--have left due to his behavior? How much has that cost this community in hurt feelings? Hurt our image? Hurt this community financially?
This is not a Salt Lake City problem. This is not a problem of the people comprising this parish. This is a problem of the clergy and leadership Greek Orthodox Church and it is rooted in the Metropolitan seat in Denver.


Bill Rekouniotis said...

What was the movie with line "show me the money". We'll "show" but we ain't "given". It's time to remove Rev. Kouremetis and ratify Mr. Armaou.