Archbishop Elpidophoros Visits the St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church in Weston, MA

 

On Sunday, October 6, 2019 His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros visited the St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church on the occasion of the parish’s 60th anniversary. Upon arriving to the parish the Archbishop was warmly welcomed by the priests of the community, Fr. Nicholas Krommydas and Fr. Vincent Minucci, along with members of the Parish Council and the Philoptochos. Archbishop Elpidophoros celebrated the Divine Liturgy together with His Eminence Metropolitan Methodios and other clergy members from the Metropolis of Boston.

The church was filled for this most joyous occasion of the 60th anniversary of the parish. It truly felt like a paschal celebration as Archbishop Elpidophoros noted in his sermon "Every Sunday is a kind of Pascha and a celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. We may not sing Christos Anesti all year long; but on each new Sunday, we commemorate Christ’s victory over death. With every Gospel reading—every parable, every miracle, every commandment of our Savior—the new and better life is revealed, the hope of resurrection shines forth." Click Here to read the sermon in its entirety. 

In his welcoming remarks to Archbishop Elpidophoros, Metropolitan Methodios said:

“Your Eminence, every time you ask me my opinion, and I am truly grateful that you have enough trust in me to ask me my opinion about various things, I always answer ‘experience it for yourself and in a few months you will see if I was right or wrong.’ You asked me about the St. Demetrios Parish in Weston and I told you that you will see a parish which is comprised of men and woman that love God, love each other, are in communion with one another and – as you saw today – because they are in communion with one another they receive the body and blood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ… It is a parish that opens its embrace today to you, the new Archbishop of our Church. 

Your Eminence, the pastor of the parish, Fr. Nicholas, and the President of the Parish Council request the honor of presenting you with a gift as a token of the love and respect of the parish and I ask that you accept it with Paternal love.”

The parish presented Archbishop Elpidophoros with two beautiful icons to which the Archbishop remarked “it is my patron saint, St. Elpidophoros, and my new patron saint, St. Iakovos Tsalikis.”

Fr. Nicholas Krommydas in his welcoming remarks to Archbishop Elpidophoros said:

“Your Eminence, welcome to our parish, it is with great joy that we receive you today. We though it was appropriate to gift you these [icons] as a token of our love and way of expressing to you that we will be by your side, supporting you in every way. Our community is a unique community - we have our Archons , we have 18 Archons within our community, we have many members of Leadership 100, and so many others. I cannot say enough about the wonderful parishioners that we have - the generosity and love they have for their church, their faith, our Metropolis, and our Archdiocese. Please know how much we appreciate this visit, especially as we celebrate the 60th anniversary of our community.”

In his remarks Archbishop Elpidophoros notes:

“I am so very happy to join you on this beautiful day when we celebrate the 60th year of your community. We celebrate this anniversary in this beautiful and magnificent church which reminds me of the architecture of Agia Sophia in my home city, where the Mother Church of Constantinople is. This beautiful dome is an exact copy of the dome of Agia Sophia. I congratulate you and I tell you how happy I am to see the faithful of the Metropolis of Boston and the Archdiocese of America progressing, building new churches such as this one – of this quality, of this good taste, this beauty, and this traditional architecture.”

 

Archbishop Elpidophoros in addressing Metropolitan Methodios said:

“Congratulations, Your Eminence for inspiring these people in all that they are doing. God bless you and grant you many year of health and may God grant you to His Church for a long time – because you are doing great things...

I always ask your opinion because you are the senior Metropolitan of our Archdiocese whose thoughts, evaluations, and opinions are very important to me. Every time you tell me something I treasure it deep in my heart and at the very front of my mind… That which Methodios says is not by chance, he knows what he is saying. Thank you for supporting me, for advising me, and for guiding me in my new role as Archbishop of America.”

Concluding Archbishop Elpidophoros said:

“I want to thank Fr. Nick, the President and all the members of the Parish Council, the Archons and all of you for being here today to celebrate the beautiful anniversary of our parish. I looked around to see a detail that maybe I would change or I didn’t like and I couldn’t find any. So I confess, everything is so beautiful, done with such love and perfection which indicates your good taste, and your love for your community and church. May God bless you all! I look forward to visiting again when the iconography is progressing so I can see how beautiful it is.”

After the distribution of the antidoron the parish held a reception in honor of Archbishop Elpidophoros. At the reception the Archbishop was greeted by the children of the Greek school and Sunday school who offered him a bouquet of flowers and a picture of all the students of the parish in front of their church's iconostasis. Many of the faithful who were present were eager to approach the Archbishop, receive his blessing, and welcome him to the parish.

Watch the Orthros and Hierarchal Divine Liturgy