By Catherine Tsounis
Eastern Orthodox Easter week is the highlight of Christianity for all Orthodox churches. Eastern Orthodox Christians are 220 million Christians. I attended daytime Services at Saint Nicholas Shrine Church of Bayside New York during Easter week. His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America gave a memorable sermon on Good Friday, April 10th at 2 PM. Rev. Economos Aristidis Garinis presided over his second Easter service as Protopresbyter (First Priest). Retired priest Rev Paul Palesty, who served the community as protopresbyter for 27 years, with Rev. Alexandros Douvres celebrated the liturgies. The 111th precinct under the command of Captain Ramnauth Ramlochan provided excellent police protection.
“Father Aristidis Garinis and Father Alexandros Douvres are American born priests with excellent command of the Greek language. We will have more Greek American born priests in America,” said Archbishop Elpidophoros. “We must continue to teach Greek in our schools. Our children will get an insight into the language. They will learn Greek.” His Eminence is committed to Greek education in our parochial schools emphasizing language, culture and Greek Orthodox.
“The iconography of Saint Nicholas Church is beautiful, “ said Archbishop Elpidophoros . The two angels holding the church in their hands remind this author of similar Byzantine angel iconography from St. Vitali Basilica in Ravenna, Italy. The Basilica of St. Vitale is considered a masterpiece of Byzantine architecture. it is the only major church from the period of the Emperor Justinian I to survive virtually intact to the present day. Furthermore, it is thought to reflect the design of the Byzantine Imperial Palace Audience Chamber, of which nothing at all survives.1
The parish council with volunteers managed the crowds efficiently. Michael Giannakos, whose family is from Parakalamos, a village in Pogoni, Ioannina, Epirus captured outstanding videos and photographs. Visit St. Nicholas page on Facebook
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