BOSTON – The General Assembly of the Federation of Hellenic-American Societies of New England expressed themselves with enthusiasm and words of praise about the unanimous election of His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America by the Holy Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate at its regular meeting on Wednesday May 22 at the Maliotis Cultural Center.
The General Assembly decided unanimously to send a congratulatory letter to Archbishop Elpidophoros and also to place welcoming greetings and wishes in The National Herald.
It was reminded that Archbishop Elpidophoros is not a stranger to the Federation because he was present at the celebration of the 25th anniversary of its creation when he was a visiting professor at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology. He had also participated in events of its member societies and associations.
Demetrios Tsoumbanos, former president of the Federation, said it was “a good gesture that Archbishop Elpidophoros recently communicated personally via a teleconference with 400 priests, including retired clergy. This manifests that that he cares deeply about the Archdiocese of America and we wish him every success.”
Photo: TNH/Theodore Kalmoukos
John Nikolaou, Chairman of the General Assembly and former president of the Federation said “the Archbishop is also a Hellenist and we extend to him our prayers and wishes that the two, Orthodoxy and Hellenism, be promoted and all of us will be at his side to help him in every way.” Many expressed the desire to attend the Archbishop’s enthronement on Saturday June 22 at the Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in New York.
The General Assembly commenced with the chanting of Christos Anesti by all the members present.
Sunday, April 5 was announced as the tentative date for the parade of the year 2020, while the assembly as a whole and the associations in particular expressed their gratitude to the Federation’s President Vasilios Kafkas for this year’s successful parade.
President Kafkas delivered a detail report for his presidency and thanked everyone for their help. The treasurer of the organization, Takis Lampropoulos, summited a detailed report of the general finances of the Federation as well as a separate report for the parade. Auditing committee chairman Themis Karatzas said that “the committee audited the finances and we found them to be in order.”
The General Assembly congratulated the Greek-American unit of evzones which is comprised of 22 young men of the Greek-American Community of Boston.
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