How the Orthodox View the Dormition How The

O C V ΓΡΑΦΕΙ ΤΗΝ ΙΣΤΟΡΙΑ Bringing the news ΤΟΥ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ to generations of ΑΠΟ ΤΟ 1915 The National Herald Greek Americans A WEEKLY GREEK AMERICAN PUBLICATION c v www.thenationalherald.com VOL. 11, ISSUE 566 August 16, 2008 $1.25 GREECE: 1.75 EURO How the Greece’s Best Athletes Make Strides at Beijing Olympic Games Orthodox Basketball Team Rebounds After Spain Loss, View the Crushes Germany, Boxer Advances to Final Eight By Mark Frangos drum-banging Greek fans who Special to The National Herald brought a little atmosphere to the Dormition 18,000-seat Beijing Olympic Bas- NEW YORK – Vasileios Spanoulis ketball Stadium. While the former and a dogged Greek defense curbed European champion runners-up The Falling Asleep Of Dirk Nowitzki in a 87-64 win over closed to within 10 points, the Germany in Olympic Group B bas- Spanish held on for the comfort- The Virgin Mary Is A ketball Tuesday, setting the stage able win. for a much-anticipated clash with Vasileios Spanoulis led the scor- Great Mystery & Feast the United States at press time. ing for Greece with 15 points. Spanoulis led scoring for the Greece shot only 44 percent By Evan C. Lambrou Greeks with 23 points, while Now- from the field, while Spain man- Special to The National Herald itzki of the Dallas Mavericks was aged only slightly better at 45 per- held to just 13. cent, harried by the tough Greek NEW YORK – Each year at this “We played good defense and defense. time, the Orthodox Christian offense. Everyone contributed,” While Greece has yet to win a Church commemorates one of its captain Theodoros Papaloukas medal, some Greek athletes have apex feasts: the Dormition – Koimi- said. excelled in their sports. sis, the Falling Asleep – of the Vir- Greece, runner-up to Spain at Ilias Pavlidis, was a 7-3 winner gin Mary, the Mother of God. the 2006 World Championships, over Milorad Gajovic of Montene- Orthodox Christians honor stretched a two point margin at the gro in the heavyweight category. Mary as the supreme living icon of end of the first quarter into a com- Efthalia Koutroumanidou and the Church, the Mother of all Chris- manding 44-33 lead at the half. Maria Tsiartsiani defeated Judith tians because, as the holy fathers The Greeks held Germany to just Augustides and Vitalina Nel 2-0 in explain in their writings, she is the 11 points in the third quarter, then their second match for Women’s “New Eve,” the new Mother of Hu- lengthened their lead to 27 points Beach Volleyball Group D. manity who, through her obedi- in the final period before Konrad The Greek sailing team is also in ence, reversed the curse which fol- Wysocki drilled the three with 20 contention for medals. lowed Eve’s disobedience, and seconds left. Former medal winner Nikos brought to the world the “New The Greeks nailed 57 percent of Kaklamanakis resides in eight place Adam,” our Lord & Savior Jesus their field goals, against just 36 in the Olympic sailing men's RS:X Christ, Who restored humanity’s percent for Germany, while (windsurfing) standings. communion with God the Creator. Spanoulis was nine for 13 from the Andreas Kosmatopoulos and Although Christians everywhere floor and four for six from behind Andreas Papadopoulos are in sixth – Orthodox and non-Orthodox the arc. place after six races in the Men's alike – venerate and feel a deep AP/HERBERT KNOSOWSKI Greece's defense double-teamed 470 - Two Person Dinghy. sense of pious respect for Mary, per- From left to right: Nikalaos Kaklamanakis, Greece, Jonas Kaeldsoe Poulsen, Denmark, Andreas Cariolou, Nowitzki and commanded the lane, haps nowhere else on Earth is the Cyprus, Shahar Zubari, Israel, and Benjamin Barher, USA compete in Beijing on Monday, August 11. while their offense repeatedly Continued on page 7 observance of the annual feast of caught Germany sleeping. Ger- the Dormition, celebrated each many's shots just wouldn't drop for year on August 15th, more strongly them, while they appeared sluggish emphasized in Orthodox Christen- on the fast break. dom than in Greece, where it is not Papaloukas contributed another only a major religious observance, How the Church Functions in the U.K. 15 points for Greece, while De- Palestinian but a national holiday at the height mond Greene and Sven Schultze of summer, when many Greeks are By Theodore Kalmoukos menical Patriarchate for appointing years, 20 of which he has served as added 11 each for Germany. Priest Against on their month-long vacation. Special to The National Herald me as its representative to the Cler- its Archbishop, Gregorios noted “If you play against Greece you Millions of Greeks leave Athens gy-Laity Congress, and also to Arch- some differences. have to play as great at defense as in August, when the city seems al- BOSTON – Archbishop Gregorios of bishop Demetrios and his clergy, “You have organization and fi- they do, and we didn't do that,” New Vicariate most empty, and head for their an- Thyateira & Great Britain, who rep- who extended a very warm wel- nancial leisure here. Archbishop said Germany's coach Dirk Bauer- cestral villages throughout the resented the Ecumenical Patriar- come to me, and gave me the oppor- Demetrios told me that the organi- mann. “I'm disappointed with our Greek mainland or on any number chate of Constantinople at the Greek tunity to fully participate in the zation of the Clergy-Laity Congress effort.” By Theodore Kalmoukos of Greek islands where, in getting Orthodox of America’s recent Cler- workings of the Clergy-Laity Con- will cost around one and a half mil- Greece recovered after losing to Special to The National Herald together with their families, they gy-Laity Congress in Washington gress and get a broader perspective lion dollars, of which the participa- Spain 81-66 in their first game on commemorate the central role of D.C., expressed his gratitude to His on its work,” adding that he was im- tion of the delegates is not covered,” Sunday. BOSTON – Fifteen Palestinian and the Theotokos in the redemption All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch pressed by the number of partici- he said, noting that in America, “es- The teams, who met in the final Jordanian Orthodox communities and salvation of humankind. Bartholomew of Constantinople, pants and the variety of meetings oteric coherence and conciseness, of the 2006 World Championships in the United States refuse to ac- The feast of the Dormition was and to His Eminence Archbishop and the organizations within the which are very basic elements, have in Japan, where Spain prevailed cept the recent agreement between firmly established in the Sixth Cen- Demetrios of America. Archdiocese. been cultivated.” 70-47, remained close through the the Ecumenical Patriarchate of tury, although its roots go back to In an interview with the National Compared to the Greek Ortho- Only one Clergy-Laity Congress second quarter, after which Spain Constantinople and the Patriar- earlier centuries, especially the 5th Herald, Archbishop Gregorios said, dox Archdiocese of Great Britain, in opened up a 62-46 lead in the third chate of Jerusalem, according to Century, following the dogmatic “I express my gratitude to the Ecu- which he has ministered for 49 Continued on page 4 period, quieting the singing, bass Rev. Nicola Matar, a priest who decision of the Third Ecumenical serves the Blessed Virgin Mary Council of Ephesus (431 AD) to ac- Church in Anaheim, California. cept and use the term “Theotokos According to a news release is- (God-Bearer)” as the defining de- sued by the Greek Orthodox Arch- scription of the Blessed Virgin and diocese of America on August 5, All-Holy Mother of our Lord in the Greeks and they will be under the ecclesiastical Church. jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Pa- According to Ioannis Fountoulis, Popular triarchate through the Archdiocese professor of Liturgics at the Univer- and their new vicar. sity of Thessaloniki, this feast was A little less than 30 years ago, joined to an earlier feast in honor of American Song the above-mentioned communities the Theotokos at the famous had sought to place themselves un- Church of the All-Holy Virgin Mary der the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, in Gethsemane, which had been By Steve Frangos which had sent Archbishop erected by Byzantine Emperor Special to The National Herald Damaskinos of Iopes to look after Maurice over her tomb. their interests (e.g., offering coun- In the annual cycle of festivals For nearly two hundred years sel on canonical matters), though observed by the Orthodox Church, Americans have raised their voices he was not an exarch, but acted as the feasts of the Theotokos are in song and danced the night away an official “visitor” without techni- ranked second only to those of to popular music whose central cal jurisdictional authority. Christ because, after the Lord Him- theme and only subject is none oth- In February 2006, Archbishop er than the Modern Greeks. Since Demetrios of America and Metro- Continued on page 3 no one expects Americans to sing of politan Meliton of Philadelphia Greeks, let alone to dance in their traveled to Jerusalem on behalf of honor, the array of popular songs the Ecumenical Patriarchate and composed with Modern Greeks in worked out an agreement with Pa- mind have never been systemati- triarch Theophilos of Jerusalem – cally studied and compared. but without consulting or notifying Delivering Aid I offer here a selection of those the parishes in question, Rev. Matar songs, undoubtedly there are many told the National Herald in an in- To Georgia many more. terview. When news of the Greek War of The Palestinian/Jordanian com- Independence reached American munities had alerted Patriarch Conflict Areas shores, the subsequent public out- Theophilos that they would not ac- cry known as ‘the Grecian Fever’ cept transference to the Archdio- caused not only hundreds of Amer- cese, but their pleas and demands CHICAGO – Through its medical icans to join the Greeks in battle went unheeded, according to Rev.

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