By Mihalis Kakias
BROOKLYN – Hearts were breaking during the funeral service at Saint Nicholas and Saint Marina Greek Orthodox Church for Greek-American Manos Ikonomidis, who was laid to rest on June 28. Weeping relatives and friends attended the Wednesdaymorning service presided over by the Abbot of the Sacred Patriarchal Monastery of Saint Irene Chrysovalantou of Astoria, His Grace Bishop Ierotheos of Efkarpia.
The deceased, as the National Herald wrote, was killed at dawn on June 19 in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn, and since then the Greek community with grief and emotion has been following the investigations into the crime.
Last week, 24-year-old Christopher Membreno and 24-year-old Gabriel Dos Santos were arrested and accused of the Greek-American’s death, and a manhunt continues to locate the third suspect.
The church was filled with a crowd of people who had come to say the last goodbye. The tragic figures of Manos’ mother Maria and his father Nikolaos stood in shock with untold pain engraved on their faces. They cannot believe that their Manos, their noble boy, is no longer here, he is no longer with them.
Throughout the solemn funeral service, the sorrow was unspeakable and palpable among the countless mute and tearful faces inside and outside the church, with the same mournful expression and the repeated question, why? Why should he lose his life so prematurely, so unfairly, and violently, Manos, a young man at the very beginning of his life?
His Grace Bishop Ierotheos of Efkarpia in his statements to the National Herald expressed his deepest condolences to his parents and wished God give them strength and courage.
“It’s very sad,” he said, “for such a young man to lose his life. We are committed to the family in mourning, so we are here today. I pray that they will find the power to lift this cross. May God rest his soul.”
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