NEW YORK – The Philoptochos of St. Paraskevi Greek Orthodox Shrine Church in Greenlawn sponsored a free concert at the Northport VA Medical Center for the veterans and the community. President of the Philoptochos Georgia Constantine spoke to The National Herald about the event.
She told TNH, “As we continue our two-year National Philoptochos Chapter Challenge to support our Veterans, we sponsored one of the VA Summer Concerts this year. When we found out that one of the entertainers was blind, we made an immediate connection between the Danny Kean Band and our Patron Saint Paraskevi.”
Danny Kean was born in 1983 in Farmingdale, NY and is blind since birth. He is an accomplished singer, songwriter, producer, multi-instrumentalist, and actor.
Saint Paraskevi is of course well-known for healing eye ailments and as Constantine told TNH, the ladies of the Philoptochos presented Kean with Holy Water from the Shrine of Saint Paraskevi.
The music-filled evening was unfortunately cut short by the rain, but Constantine noted that Joseph Sledge – Health System Specialist and Senior Leadership Assistant at the Veterans Administration, assured her that the veterans had a great time. He observed that many often spent their days indoors so being outdoors even in the summer rain was an exciting experience for them.
Constantine noted that the Philoptochos was happy to sponsor the concert and meet with the veterans including a 95-year-old World War II veteran and a Vietnam veteran. The Philoptochos continues to do wonderful work for the church and the community. Their recent veterans’ shower provided much needed items for veterans moving into their new homes after serving our country. They plan to continue their efforts helping veterans.
More information on St. Paraskevi Greek Orthodox Shrine Church and on the Philoptochos is available online www.stparaskevi.org and on Facebook.
About Saint Paraskevi
Saint Paraskevi, who was from a village near Rome, was born to pious parents, Agatho and Politia. Since she was born on a Friday (in Greek, Paraskevi), she was given this name, which means “preparation” or “preparedness” (compare Matt. 27:62, Mark 15:42, Luke 23:54, and John 19:31, where ‘Friday‘ is called “the day of the preparation”). From childhood she was instructed in the sacred letters and devoted herself to the study of the divine Scriptures, while leading a monastic life and guiding many to the Faith of Christ. During the reign of the Emperor Antoninus Pius, she was apprehended because she was a Christian and was urged to worship the idols, but she answered with the words of Jeremias: “Let the gods that have not made heaven and the earth perish from off the earth” (Jer. 10:11). Because of this she endured exceedingly painful torments, and was beheaded in the year 140. The faithful pray to her for the healing of eye ailments.
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