0 bRINGING 2 S / the NewS to 7 W 2 E ND / GeNeRatIoNS oF N 6 22 0 GReek- ameRIcaNS The National Herald an ni versary a weekly GReek-ameRIcaN PUblIcatIoN 1997-2019 VOL. 23, ISSUE 1186 thenationalherald.com July 4-10 , 2020 ekirikas .com $1.50 Nicole Contos on Patriarch Warns of Aghia Sophia Conflict the Art and Philosophy Conversion to mosque of Beauty could sow Muslim- Christian discord By Yana Katsageorgi well-traveled and cultured, she TNH Staff also brings a sincere care for the TNH Staff person who delivers herself into NEW YORK – When Nicole her hands. She discovered Ecumenical Patriarch Contos saw her reflection for the through her experience that we Bartholomew said if Turkey first time in the mirror, a little all see ourselves through the turns the ancient revered Aghia girl then, she didn't even know eyes of others and we are anx - Sophia cathedral in Constan - that there were words and con - iously looking for ways to fulfill tinople into a mosque that it cepts around her image that an ideal image of beauty. could pit Christians against would define her later life. To - Under her own philosophy, Muslims again, 567 years after day, the owner of the Smooth Smooth Synergy does not try to the city fell to Ottoman invaders Synergy Medical Spa and Laser identify with the existing beauty and is now called Istanbul. Center, one of the first medical standards, but improves or elim - The Orthodoxia news agency spas in New York, which opened inates damage and asymme - said the spiritual leader of the in 2002 in Manhattan, now tries, without disturbing the Greek Orthodox Church was knows that the question of physical and mental balance. speaking to a congregation at a beauty is open to many answers. Yes, Nicole can transform you church in the city when he ex - She learned through her 18- into Helen of Troy, Cleopatra, pressed his worry over the plans year career in maintaining Aphrodite of Milos, or even Her - set forth by Turkish President youth and beauty that our emo - mes of Praxiteles, under one Recep Tayyip Erdogan to turn tional response to beauty is not condition: to follow her own the UNESCO World Heritage one, but differs depending on rules of well-being and ele - site, one of the most important people's psyche, trends of each gance, which make her spa monuments of the Orthodox era, the current social condi - stand out from most spas today. world, into a mosque. tions, and prevailing percep - Here is her story: “The potential conversion of tions. I was born in New York. My Aghia Sophia into a mosque will An intelligent woman, full of mother, Carol Hadzidimitriou turn millions of Christians life, a lover of life and optimism, DeMetro, was born in America, around the world against Is - but speaks fluent Greek. My fa - lam,” Bartholomew warned. ther, Demetris Contos, was an aP Photo/emRah GURel “We hope that wisdom and rea - Athenian. My older brother Aghia Sophia is a UNESCO World Heritage site which opened in 537 AD as a Christian patriarchal George and I spoke Greek be - cathedral and then was converted into a mosque in 1453, and into a museum in 1935. Continued on page 11 fore we even spoke English. I grew up in a very loving home with grandparents and a large Greek family, with relatives from Greece, who often visited us. I EU Foreign Policy Chief Rips Turkey SNF Co-Pres. was very attached to my father, who loved me and made me feel safe, loved, beautiful, and in - TNH Staff America, warned Turkey and issued only press releases in Dracopoulos valuable, something that all President Recep Tayyip Erdogan support. children should experience from European Union foreign pol - that any further attempt to un - His visit came after Prime their parents. icy boss Josep Borrell said his dermine Greece’s sovereignty Minister and New Democracy on Giving My dad, even though he was visit to Greece, and the border would be seen as breaching the leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who a successful businessman, with Turkey, showed him that EU as well. has preferred mixing diplomacy TNH Staff taught me that the most impor - Turkey is raising provocations The EU, however, has issued with veiled warnings, spoke tant values in life have nothing that could be seen as an assault only soft sanctions against with Erdogan on the phone for ATHENS – “Those who have to do with money. He encour - on the bloc as well, although lit - Turkey for unlawful drilling in the first time in months after more should do more,” said tle is being done to stop it. Cypriot waters – exempting Er - Stavros Niarchos Foundation Nicole Contos. Continued on page 4 Borell, said the Voice of dogan and top politicians – and Continued on page 15 (SNF) Co-President Andreas Dracopoulos, who spoke with the Greek newspaper Kathimerini on June 28 about the future of Greece, the lessons Archdiocesan Antetokounmpo Mural Defaced in Athens that the world community can learn from the COVID-19 crisis, and the notion of philanthropy Council Meets TNH Staff in general. Regarding COVID-19, Dra - ATHENS – He’s the pride of copoulos noted that the pan - Via Greece – but not of all Greeks – demic "bared all the weaknesses as was shown when a mural of of the system, all the inequali - NBA MVP and Milwaukee Bucks ties and above all, which I be - Teleconference superstar Giannis Antetokoun - lieve will stay with us, is the fact mpo, a naturalized citizen born that the feeling of trust has been By Theodore Kalmoukos in Greece to Nigerian parents – lost. Towards everyone and TNH Staff was vandalized with his face everything… It is also an oppor - scratched out and Nazi insignia tunity to comply as a society. To BOSTON – The Clergy Laity added. rebuild institutions, not to allow Congress of the Greek Orthodox The graffiti artwork is in the polarization to breed, which of Archdiocese of America in 2022 neighborhood of Palaio Faliro will take place in New York City and was defaced, with a Continued on page 5 to mark the centennial of the swastika and the Nazi SS logo establishment of the Archdio - painted on his arm and while cese. The necessary communi - no one claimed responsibility, cations with the Marriot Mar - the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn has quis Hotel in Manhattan are slurred him before. Dr. Geladakis already underway. During the The painting was done via teleconference Metropolitan Athens’ Pictures and Dreams ini - Savas of Pittsburgh expressed tiative with the original artwork Leads RODI the desire to host the 2024 is available at EuroHoops, re - Clergy laity Congress in Cleve - ported the site The Spun, noting land, Ohio. This year’s Clergy- that in 2017 a mural of him Pharmaceutic Laity Congress had been sched - painted on a basketball court in uled to be in Cleveland but it the neighborhood of Sepolia was postponed due to the Coro - where he grew up was also van - By Constantine S. Sirigos navirus. dalized and defaced. TNH Staff The teleconference was con - The damage was undone and eURokINISSI vened in a good atmosphere and Social progress is often “two steps forward, on step back,” but this lurch into the past is dis - ATHENS – One of the silver lin - began with the keynote address Continued on page 16 turbing: vandals defaced a mural of NBA MVP and devoted Hellene Giannis Antetokounmpo. ings during the Greek economic of His Eminence Archbishop crisis was the emergence of Elpidophoros of America, which world-class startups both inside is printed in this edition. and outside Greece created by Among the issues that were Hellenes in many fields, but discussed was the completion of Novartis Final Farewell for George Zapantis most impressively in high tech - the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox nology. One of those promising Church and National Shrine on firms is RODI Pharmaceuticals. which Denis Mehiel and Michael Bribed Docs, By Matina Demelis would cover the funeral ex - Dr. Barbara Geladakis, MD is Psaros reported, noting that the penses for George Zapantis, the founder of RODI Pharma - necessary funds have been col - WHITESTONE, NY – Family who died last Sunday of a heart ceuticals. Like many entrepre - lected and the project is moving Not Pols and friends said a final farewell attack following police officers neurs, the path to her dream on June 29 to their beloved tasing him twice. was not a direct one, but talent, Continued on page 12 TNH Staff George Zapantis at the Holy “As a Greek Orthodox com - intuition, and perseverance Cross Greek Orthodox Church munity, we are so sad, disap - proved to be sure guides to suc - While no evidence has been in Whitestone. Among those pointed, and often angry with cess. produced linking 10 political ri - present was his mother, Athana - this injustice done to one of our Her roots are in Mani and For subscription: vals of the former ruling Radical sia Zapantis, mourning the loss brothers. I will not preach about Crete, which may explain the 718.784.5255 Left SYRIZA to taking bribes of her 29-year-old son, the human rights when I have a drive and determination – the [email protected] from the Swiss pharmaceutical younger of her two children. dead young man in front of me, rest of the formula includes company Novartis, an investiga - The funeral service was but I will address his mother,” genes from gifted parents and tion by Americans claimed the presided over by His Eminence said Archbishop Elpidophoros, growing up in an intellectually firm paid off Greek doctors to Archbishop Elpidophoros of who was particularly concerned enriched environment.