OLIFebruary2014 MAZI Your guide to Faith, Dance, and Fellowship #FDF2014 www.yourFDF.org What’s New? 1 Get connected! As a parallel to our theme this year, we are launching an FDF app! Find the app by searching “Greek Orthodox Folk Dance & Choral Festival” in the app store. Available on iOS and Android products! (Available for Windows and Blackberry via web browsing.) 2 #ThrowBackThursday! For the past 4 weeks, we’ve asked you to share your favorite FDF memories via social media. Check some of our favorites out on page 24. 3 Glykeria in concert! Legendary Glykeria will be performing an exclusive FDF performance. 4 A sit-down awards banquet is back! In the past few years, venue constraints meant that we had to In this issue: separate dinner from our awards program. However, this year we’ve been able to secure the neighboring convention center to host our full Sunday Night Dinner & Awards Banquet! Welcome Letter from His Eminence Metropolitan Gerasimos 2 Letter from His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios 3 Letter from Congressman Edward R. Royce 4 Welcome to our Guest Hierarchs 5 Welcome Letter from Fr. Gary Kyriacou 7 Letter from the 2014 Managing Director 8 Metropolis News- Strategic Plan to Chart New Course for Metropolis 9 Metropolis Philoptochos News 10 Memorials 11 Metropolis Calendar Of Events 12 Metropolitan Anthony Humanitarian Award 13 Elios Society Award of Excellence 15 “Theres An App for That!” 16 Diakonia 18 Workshops 20 Congratulations! 23 A Thracian Treasure from a Young Greek American 23 Social Media Shoutout 24 Friday Night Glendi Musicians + Margarita! 26 Glykeria 28 Youth and Young Adult Ministries Update 30 St. John Chrysostom Oratorical Festival 31 Summer is Back! 32 Greek Village Immersion Camp 34 Ionian Village 36 Judge Bios 39 [email protected] /FOLKDANCEFESTIVAL @YOURFDF @YOURFDF 1 February 13, 2014 Aquilla & Priscilla the Apostles Beloved in the Lord, “But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another….” I John 1:7 I greet you with joy in the Lord as we gather for yet another wonderful weekend of Faith, Dance, and Fellowship at the 38th Annual Folk Dance and Choral Festival in Anaheim, California. During these next three days together, we will have many opportunities to share time in fellowship, prayer, and Christian unity. We are honored to welcome His Eminence Metropolitan Elpidophoros of Bursa to FDF for the first time. Metropolitan Elpidophoros is the Abbot of the Holy Patriarchal and Stavropegial Monastery of the Holy Trinity on the island of Halki, and is also the Dean of the Halki Theological School, which was forcibly closed by the Turkish government over 42 years ago. Metropolitan Elpidophoros has been a strong voice for the reopening of this important theological institution and for the religious freedom of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. His Eminence Metropolitan Nikitas of the Dardanelles will also be visiting FDF for the first time. Metropolitan Nikitas previously served as the first Metropolitan of Hong Kong from 1997 – 2007. He grew up as a dancer in Tarpon Springs, Florida, and he has tremendous knowledge, respect and love for the preservation and perpetuation of our Hellenic culture. Metropolitan Nikitas presently serves as the Director of the Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute in Berkeley, CA. The presence of these two distinguished hierarchs underscores our connection to the Ecumenical Patriarchate as the foundation of our faith and culture, which are essential to our spiritual development and witness to the world. It is now up to us to connect our faith with our actions so that all that we do emulates a holy Orthodox Christian life. Walking in the light of Christ and following His commandments is not always an easy road, but it is one with everlasting rewards. Let us strive to connect our Orthodox Christian values to all aspects of our lives and allow God to work in us and through us so that we may be instruments for His glory! With Love in Christ, Metropolitan Gerasimos of San Francisco 2 3 Welcome to our Guest Hierarchs! His Eminence Metropolitan of Bursa and Exarch of Bithynia was born in 1967 in Bakirköy, Istan- bul. He studied at the Department of Pastoral Theology, Theological School of the Aristotle Uni- versity of Thessaloniki, from which he graduated in 1991. In 1993, he finished his postgraduate studies at the Philosophical School of the University of Bonn, Germany submitting a dissertation entitled, “The Brothers Nicholas and John Mesarites”. He was ordained a Deacon in 1994 at the Patriarchal Cathedral and was appointed as the Codecographer of the Holy and Sacred Synod. In 1995, he was appointed Deputy Secretary of the Holy and Sacred Synod. From 1996-1997 he studied at the Theological School of St. John the Damascene in Balamand, Lebanon, where he improved his knowledge of the Arabic language. In 2001, he presented a doctoral disserta- tion at the Theological School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki under the title: “Severus of Antioch and the Council of Chalcedon” proclaiming him a Doctor of Theology. In 2004, he was invited to Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Boston, where he taught as a visiting professor for one semester. In March 2005, at the proposal of His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, he was promoted by the Holy and Sacred Synod to the position of Chief Secretary and was ordained to the priesthood by the Ecumenical Patriarch in the Patriarchal Cathedral. In 2009, he submitted two dissertations to the Theological School of Thessaloniki and was unanimously elected Assistant Professor of Symbolics, Inter-Orthodox Relations and the Ecumenical Movement. The dissertations are entitled: “The Synaxis’s of the Hierarchy of the Ecumenical Throne (1951-2004)” and “Luther’s Ninety-five Thesis. Historical and Theological aspects. Text - Translation - Commentary “. In March 2011, he was elected Metropolitan of Bursa and in August of the same year was appointed Abbot of the Holy Patriarchal and Stavropegial Monastery of the Holy Trinity on the island of Chalki. He has served as the Orthodox Secretary of the Joint Interna- tional Commission for the Theological Dialogue between the Orthodox Church and the Lutheran World Federation and as a member of the Patriarchal delegations to the General Assemblies of the Conference of European Churches and the World Council of Churches. He was the Secretary of the Pan-Orthodox Synods in Sofia (1998), Istanbul (2005), Ge- neva (2006), and Istanbul (2008). He has been a member of the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches since 1996. His Eminence Metropolitan Nikitas of the Dardanelles was born in 1955 in Tampa, Florida where he was raised with his brother, John. A member of Savant, the University of Florida Honors Society, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts with Honors from the University in 1976. He is listed in the Who’s Who of American Colleges and Universities in 1975 and 1979. Metropolitan Nikitas attended Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, MA where he received his Master of Divinity with Honors in 1980. He was a Rotary International Graduate Scholar from 1980 – 1981 and a Graduate Scholar, Ministry of the Exterior, Greece, from 1981 – 1982. He pursued his graduate studies at the University of Thessaloniki, Greece, until Novem- ber 1982. He further studied the Russian language at the St. Petersburg Theological Seminary in St. Petersburg, Russia from late 1992 through mid-1993. His Eminence Metropolitan Nikitas’ first assignment upon ordination was Associate Pastor at Saints Constantine and Helen Cathedral in Merriville, Indiana. He remained at the Cathedral un- til 1987 at which time he became the Chancellor of the Greek Orthodox Diocese of Chicago, Illinois. During his tenure as Chancellor from 1987 to 1995, he was involved in numerous educational, community service and interfaith activities including: Lecturer in Orthodox Christianity; Teaching theology at Loyola University, Chicago, Illinois, from 1988 to 1991; Member, Board of Directors, the Hellenic Foundation (1989 – present); Member, Board of Directors, the Hellenic Museum (1991 – 1992); Teen Living Program Volunteer (1990 - 1992) and Volunteer of the Year, Teen Living Program (1992); Member, Executive Committee, National Workshop – Relations between Christians and Jews (1991); Member, Steering Committee, 32nd Biennial Clergy-Laity Congress. In 1994, he was appointed Director of Development for the International Orthodox Christian Charities and on July 1, 1995, he became Pastor of St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church in Chicago, Illinois. On Saturday, December 14, 1996, His Eminence Metropolitan Nikitas was consecrated a Hierarch and named Metropolitan of Hong Kong and South East Asia. This historic event took place in the Patriarchal Cathedral of St. George the Great Martyr, Phanar, Istanbul. He was enthroned as the first Metropolitan of Hong Kong and South East Asia (the Exarchates of China, India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Singapore) on Sunday, January 12, 1997 at the Cathedral of St. Luke the Evangelist in Hong Kong. In March of 2007, His Eminence Metropolitan Nikitas was appointed Director of the Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute in Berkeley, California. Metropolitan Nikitas serves as the Chair of the Patriarchal Committee on Youth, just as he represents the Patriarch on the Steering Committee of the Elijah Foundation, an international committee on interfaith dialogue. His Eminence Metropolitan Nikitas is fluent in English, Greek and Russian and has a working knowledge of Latin, Church Slavonic and Spanish. 5 voula pam christine george Welcome to #FDF2014 vasili Connect! By Fr. Gary Kyriacou FDF Chairman christa anthony FDF stands for Folk Dance Festival and we also commonly use it to stand for Faith, Dance, Fellowship, so FDF is both the name and motto of this ministry kristina konstantino and this weekend. Our theme this year is CONNECT because FDF is a fantastic opportunity to connect with old friends, new people, our culture, our christine religion, God and each other.