Hold

Published by The National Herald, June 10, 2005

Archdiocese: Don't Hold Corona Press Conference

NEW YORK - The Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York refused to allow a press conference by the Archdiocese-ousted parish council of the Transfiguration Church in Corona, Queens to take place at the main hall of the Stathakion Center, its central facility in Astoria last Thursday, June 2.

Members of the Transfiguration community blamed the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America for pressuring the Federation to prevent them from holding their meeting on Federation grounds.

His Grace Bishop Savas of Troas, Chancellor of the Archdiocese, told the National Herald by telephone this past Tuesday, June 7, that Archbishop Demetrios of America exerted at least some indirect pressure on the Federation.

The Archbishop "made an inquiry," Bishop Savas said, and asked Federation officials if they were going to allow former members of the Transfiguration parish, who were recently ordered by the State Supreme Court in Queens County to cease interacting with the parish, to present themselves as parish representatives.

The Archbishop advised Federation officials that it is "not in the Federation’s interests to do that," the Archdiocesan Chancellor added.

According to the Transfiguration Church community’s unrecognized parish council president, Basil Livanos, the dissolved council had booked the Federation’s main hall for a total of $500, which included post-meeting refreshments and food.

The Federation notified members of the rejected parish council about the unavailability of the hall two days before the scheduled date of the press conference, Mr. Livanos said.
Federation President Nikos Diamantides told the National Herald that the booking had not been entered in Federation records, which he also conceded was "a mistake."

Both available rooms at the Stathakion Center were eventually used by the Nafpaktian Brotherhood of New York and the Federation’s cultural committee that evening, while some 50 members of the Transfiguration Church’s parish community (unrecognized parish council members and their supporters) waited outside on the street.

Some 50 people, most of them members of the Corona parish community, showed up for the press conference last week. Due to its cancellation, however, they eventually walked to the nearby Stamatis restaurant on Ditmars Boulevard, where they held the press conference.

At the restaurant, Demetrios Spanos, vice president of the dissolved council, criticized the Archdiocesan Spiritual Court’s recent decision to excommunicate the members of the former council. Mr. Spanos also insisted that recognizing the Archbishop and the Ecumenical Patriarchate was not an issue, and that the Archdiocese broke its own rules, citing an opinion solicited from Dr. Ioannis Konidaris, professor of Ecclesiastical Justice at the University of Athens, which points out some technical errors made by the Archdiocese in reaching the decision to impose the penance of minor excommunication.

In that document, Dr. Konidaris wrote that the replacement of the dissolution and subsequent replacement of the Corona parish council was in violation of the Archdiocese’s own procedures, and that "therefore the decisions that were pronounced are not legal nor canonical. He also recommended an "immediate revocation of the inflicted penances," and called for the election of a new parish council, "in which it would be possible for all parishioners who have met their financial stewardship obligations to the parish to become candidates."

Bishop Savas said Dr. Konidaris’ opinion is based on incomplete information, and that the Archdiocese has prepared a response.

"Professor Konidaris received information from members of the former parish council, but he didn’t communicate with us about it; not to my knowledge, anyway. They caught him off-guard. He wasn’t familiar with the Corona case, at all. Dr. Louis Patsavos has written a response, which we’ll be releasing in fairly short order," His Grace said (Dr. Patsavos is professor of Canon Law at Holy Cross Greek orthodox School of Theology).

At Stamatis, several members of the Corona community expressed their disappointment with both the Archdiocese and the Federation.

Paula Asimakopoulos, a professor at Columbia University, referred to the attempted press conference and the need for a subsequent gathering at the restaurant, as "sad and shameful developments."

Stelios Tsatsis blamed the Federation for its refusal to allow the press conference to take place at the Stathakion Center and proposed reaching out to the entire community in order to assemble a "Friends of the Corona Community" group.

Evan Tziatzias told the Herald that the Archdiocese is trying to conceal the truth behind the latest turmoil by withholding financial documents which could reveal the Church’s real finances. He criticized the Archdiocese’s alleged ridiculing of the community, which has led to division among its members.

In a related development, Mr. Spanos spoke for well over an hour at the Stathakion Center last Sunday, June 5, in an event organized by KRIKOS. The topic of discussion was "The Status of the Greek Church and the Diminishing Role of its Laity," with Peter Maroudas, now retired longtime aide and chief of staff of United States Senator Paul Sarbanes, as the featured speaker (see related story, this page).

Mr. Spanos summarized the Corona parish case history, from his perspective, for an audience of around 60 people. One of the most poignant aspects of his presentation involved his view of the Transfiguration parish’s former pastor, the Very Rev. Cleopas Strongylis, and the role the priest allegedly played in dividing the community.

Mr. Spanos publicly implied that the Very Rev. Strongylis, who was transferred from Corona to serve a parish in Massachusetts in the Metropolis of Boston, mismanaged several hundred thousand dollars in church funds, and said the Archdiocese is culpable because it gave the priest too free a hand.

"This was a very loving and close-knit community. So the question is, how could one priest upset such a community and leave it so divided? The answer is very simple. He got involved with the community’s financial and administrative matters, and the Archdiocese gave him the right to do these things," Mr. Spanos said.

After checking the parish’s financial records, he added, "we found that $300,000 were missing."

In a question posed by the Herald whether any criminal proceedings against the Archimandrite were anticipated, Mr. Spanos said that the Queens County District Attorney’s office requires sufficient evidence from an audit of parish records, but that the Archdiocese seized those records and will not presently release them.

When asked if the Archdiocese could be legally compelled to release those records, Mr. Spanos said Mr. Livanos was initiating a lawsuit against the Archdiocese and other parties to do just that.

Mr. Livanos confirmed by telephone that he had initiated a multi-faceted lawsuit, part of the purpose of which was to compel the Archdiocese to release journals, checkbooks, receipts and other accounting records which he said were taken to the Archdiocese by Diamond Prasakos in October 2003 (Mrs. Prasakos was serving as treasurer of the parish council at the time).

The lawsuit was not specifically for the purpose of prosecuting the Very Rev. Strongylis, Mr. Spanos explained, but so that a proper audit could be performed. "Once an audit is done, then the DA would have the necessary evidence to prosecute (or not)."

The Archdiocesan Chancellor acknowledged that the Archdiocese had "a year’s worth of (the Corona parish’s) financial statements" in its possession, and that those records were brought to the Archdiocese by Mrs. Prasakos, but said he did not believe there was any evidence requiring a criminal prosecution of the Very Rev. Strongylis.



Volume 7 Number 24 - Tuesday, June 14th, 2005	A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY