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Published
by the Greek Orthodox
Archdiocese of America, June 15, 2004
CIA Director
George Tenet, UN Ambassador John Negroponte extol
Their Faith and Heritage at Dinner for Supporters
of New Endowment
New York – The
recently resigned Director of the Central
Intelligence Agency, George F. Tenet, and the
United States Ambassador to the United Nations
John D. Negroponte, designated to be Ambassador to
Iraq, came home to their Church and Community on
June 7 as guests of honor at a dinner hosted by
His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios at the Greek
Orthodox Archdiocese of America for supporters and
friends of "Faith: An Endowment for Orthodoxy and
Hellenism".
His Eminence introduced Director Tenet and
Ambassador Negroponte as representatives of
national security and diplomacy, respectively, at
the highest levels, who embody the faith and
values of their Orthodox faith and Hellenic
heritage.
The CIA Director said that the Greek Orthodox
Christians are a people for truth and values who
are characterized by tolerance for others, and who
understand Greek culture as an open opportunity
for the whole world. He said that Greeks were
people of great ideas who believed in fairness and
who have developed a keen sense of justice from
having known both liberty and oppression. They
adhere to a culture that knows what terrorism is
and how to deal with it more effectively by
understanding its roots and causes.
Director Tenet concluded that this gives those who
are of the Orthodox faith and Hellenic heritage a
special responsibility to carry forward these
values.
Ambassador Negroponte said we are witnessing the
attempt to use the power of belief and turn it
into a weapon making religion a destructive force
in the world, thus generating mistrust, cynicism,
suspicion and fear, but this is not the essence
and role of religion. He declared that the
sincerity of religious practice in every corner of
the globe would help resolve conflict since almost
all religions were founded on the basis of
assisting human endeavor towards developing
peaceful co-existence among the peoples.
He said we have enormous opportunity to tap into
the wisdom traditions espoused by great but
diverse religious leaders to help us heal the
division between states and peoples and to promote
international understanding by reflecting openly
and deeply on our beliefs and values. The new
Ambassador to Iraq said that on every diplomatic
assignment he pressed the need for dialogue with
religious leaders and that this will prove to be
the case in his assignment in Iraq.
The dinner meeting was opened to questions and
both Director Tenet and Ambassador Negroponte
stressed the importance of public service as
integral to the Hellenic tradition and values and
the importance of allowing young Greek Americans
to aspire to serving their country.
In concluding remarks, Archbishop Demetrios spoke
of the Hellenic heritage as a source offering the
immensity of knowledge, the love of beauty,
harmony and order, and the language as a superb
vehicle of communication. He also spoke in terms
of the Orthodox tradition as unsurpassed theology,
promotion of the holy and the sacred, and
apotheosis of love. With Orthodoxy and Hellenism
understood as described above, and with the
opportunities existing in America, we might be
reaching the age of a great American Orthodoxy.
Michael Jaharis, Vice Chairman of the Archdiocesan
Council, ended the evening and spoke of "Faith: An
Endowment for Orthodoxy and Hellenism" as a new
important national initiative creating an
Endowment with the sole purpose of funding the
National Ministries and Institutions of the Greek
Orthodox Archdiocese of America, and thus
advancing Orthodoxy and Hellenism.
The initial founders of the new endowment include
George D. Behrakis of Lowell, Massachusetts,
Nicholas J. Bouras of Summit, New Jersey, George
Coumantaros of New York, Michael Jaharis of New
York, Peter T. Kikis of New York, James H.
Moshovitis of Washington, D.C., John G. Pappajohn
of Des Moines, Iowa, John A. Payiavlas of Warren,
Ohio and Alex G. Spanos of Stockton, California,
and Angelo Tsakopoulos of Sacramento, California.
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