OCTOBER LETTERS

Moderator's Note: the two letters below, one from our Parish Council president, Mr. Dimitrios Tsagaris, and one from His Eminence, Metropolitan Isaiah, were recently distributed to the community's membership. The originals of these letters may be viewed here.

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October 2, 2012
VIA FAX AND FIRST CLASS MAIL

His Eminence Metropolitan Isaiah
Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Denver
4550 East Alameda Avenue
Denver, CO 80246-1208

Your Eminence,

l humbly and sincerely thank you for giving me the opportunity to meet with you in your office on Thursday, September 27, 2012 where we discussed many issues facing our beloved community.

I felt the meeting was very open, sincere, productive, and informative for both of us.

A report of our meeting was given to the entire Parish Council during last night's October 1, 2012 meeting.

The Parish Council thanked me for taking the initiative to meet with you on a one-to-one basis, and also expressed their gratitude for your encouragement to continue our communications with you at any time. We further thank you for planning to visit with us at the near future.

During our October 1, 2012 meeting, we discussed ways in which we might acknowledge and thank the many volunteers who provided exceptional service during the critical time period before and during our annual Greek Festival, along with other events. We have begun with letters to the overall chairpersons for the festival. Over the coming days, we will work on acknowledging the many others, without whom the success of this summer's events would have been greatly diminished.

The Parish Council directed me to copy you on one of those letters. I thank you for your time and your concern for our efforts.

In His Name and Service,
/s/
Dimitrios Tsagaris
2012 Parish Council President
enclosure

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GREEK ORTHODOX METROPOLIS OF DENVER

October 1, 2012

Rev. Michael Kouremetis, Proistamenos
Rev. Matthew Gilbert, Proistamenos
Mr. Dimitrios Tsangaris, Council President
The Esteemed Parish Council
Greek Orthodox Church of Greater Salt Lake
Holy Trinity Cathedral
Prophet Elias Church
279 South 300 West
Salt Lake City, UT 84101

Beloved in the Lord,

On October 20, 2010 I wrote a letter to Father Michael Kouremetis in response to a telephone call I had received from him informing me that an icon of our Lord Jesus Christ began to exude oil at the Prophet Elias parish. My emotions took hold of me since in our Metropolis Center we have an icon of the Theotokos which is over two hundred years old and which continues to exude oil. Several persons who have been anointed with the oil have been healed of various maladies. Among them is one woman who had been diagnosed with cancer and on a later examination was told that she had no malignancy.

Two years have passed from the time I was informed of your icon of the Lord. Yet I have never received any information regarding healings attributed to the oil from the icon at Prophet Elias. On the contrary, recently I have received written information signed by individuals that oil has never actually come forth from the icon in question.

Please know that when I was first informed of this reputed phenomenon, I immediately believed that this was a sign from the Lord that the problems in the community would come to an end and that unity and peace would prevail. Obviously, this has not happened.

My fear at this time is that this event was either imagined by those who also wanted to see an end to the anomalies in the community, or that it was orchestrated for personal reasons. If it was done deliberately, then this was a sacrilegious act which can bring judgmental consequences against those responsible.

In order to verify the truth in this very serious matter, I am asking that anyone who has been anointed with the oil from the icon and who has received relief or healing in any way, to inform me, so that I may know definitively that my letter of October 20, 2010 reflects a true phenomenon, and was not based on imagination or biased intentions.

With paternal blessings,
/s/
+Metropolitan Isaiah of Denver