2017 Metropolis Awards Dinner

Friday, June 16, 2017

On Sunday, June 11, 2017 over 800 stewards from throughout New England gathered at Lombardo's in Randolph to honor the recipients who were designated by the parishes of the Metropolis of Boston.  Mrs. Cathy Sakellaris was the masters of ceremonies for the evening’s program.

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2017 Awards Dinner

Metropolitan Methodios’ Remarks

      Today, we commemorate All Saints Sunday, i.e. the Feast of all the Saints of our Church.  The Church celebrates all her known saints today, even though they each have their own special feast.  We celebrate as well the feasts of the saints who are not known, those who glory in anonymity, many of whom shed their blood to nourish the Tree of Christian Faith.  This great feast is always scheduled on the Sunday after Pentecost to remind us that sainthood is the normal flowering of every Christian.  We honor tonight the flowers which the earth brings forth in every age from the soil (which is) continuously refreshed by the streams of the Holy Spirit.  Today we celebrate the feast days of two beloved hierarchs, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Metropolitan Barnabas of Neapolis and Stavroupolis. Let us pray that the Lord grant many years to our Ecumenical Patriarch to continue serving world Orthodoxy. (Fimi of Patriarch) Also pray for the well-being of Metropolitan Barnabas, who has visited our Metropolis many time. Who is also offering philanthropic ministry, which prepared and provides 7,000 meals to the needy everyday.

        This evening, we gather from throughout New England to thank God for our honorees who labor tirelessly to manifest God’s name in the world.  We gather as a family comprised of 61 parishes. We gather to celebrate our unity.  To mentor and encourage one another.  This year, several communities are celebrating their 100^th Anniversary, Cambridge, Holyoke, Andover, and Woburn. Our Springfield community is celebrating its 110^th Anniversary. Everyone in this banquet hall knows that the purpose of our communities is to preach the word of God --- To teach and sanctify the faithful.  We all believe that every Parish must be a modern-day Jacob’s Well, a spiritual oasis where men and women may dialogue with Christ and quench their spiritual thirsts.  We believe that every community must be a sycamore tree that the Zaccheus’ of our time may climb to have a clear view of the Savior.

        This evening we gather to take pride in the achievements of our communities and to resolve to do even more to reach out to the unchurched.  Each year on the second Sunday in June, we gather to express our gratitude to the faithful who do so much for their local parishes and their Metropolis.  I refer to the elderly psalti who glorifies Christ by chanting without remuneration, the grandmother who brings her grandchildren to church as faithfully as she had brought her own sons and daughters, the lady in the Philoptochos Society who has dedicated her life to those who are homeless and hungry, forgotten and abused, to those in our midst who are innocent victims of greed and corruption.  In short, all those described by Jesus as “the least of our brethren.” 

        We gather to honor the Sunday School teacher and the teacher in the Greek afternoon school who never ask for any recognition. This past weekend, our Metropolis hosted the National Oratorical Festival in Woburn. During the program you will hear the orations of the winners of the Metropolis Oratorical Festical, Alexandra and Nathaniel Nichols from Cranston, RI. I am grateful to George and Margo Behrakis for underwriting the whole program this weekend.

        This year in the persons of Fr. Andrew Demotses and Presbytera Maria, we thank God for all our ordained priests and presbyteres who work tirelessly to serve the faithful entrusted to their care. 

        And finally, this year we gather to bid farewell to our Consul General Ifigenia Kanara whose four-year tenure in Boston is coming to an end shortly. We pray that God continue to bless her and her family as she assumes her new responsibilities in Russia.

The 2017 Honorees

Recipient Designated by His Eminence Metropolitan Methodios

Rev. Fr. Andrew and Pres. Mary Demotses

CONNECTICUT

St. Sophia New London, CT - DEMETRIUS E. TASOULAS

MASSACHUSETTS

Sts. Constantine and Helen Webster, MA - CYNTHIA JOHNSON

Sts. Constantine and Helen Andover, MA - ROBERT AND PATTY TRANT

St. Athanasius Arlington, MA - SPIROS PROIS 

Annunciation Cathedral Boston, MA - NICHOLAS FOUNDAS

St. John the Baptist, Boston MA - PAULA KITAS

St. Catherine, Braintree, MA - VASILIOS KESARIS

Annunciation Brockton, MA - SAM & SOULA PSYCHOS

St. George Dartmouth, MA - JENNY BOTSEAS XIFARAS

St. Luke East Longmeadow, MA - MARION DASCO

St. Nicholas Lexington, MA - LEONIDAS & LARIZA PANAGIOTOU

Holy Trinity  Lowell, MA - CANELI CONNIE PANAS

Transfiguration Lowell, MA - ELLEN KOUTSIS DOBI

St. George Lynn, MA - CHRISTY OFILOS

St. Gregory the Theologian Mansfield, MA - THOMAS MOUSTAKIS

Sts. Anargyoi Marlborough, MA - PETER MICHAEL CHRISAFIDES

Annunciation Newburyport, MA - IRENE KATSOULIS & DAPHNE TIKELLIS  

St. Vasilios Peabody, MA - PAMELA KARAMAS KATSIRIS

St. Nectarios Roslindale, MA - SOPHIAPAPAKONSTANTINOU-DONOVAN

Dormition of the Virgin Mary Somerville, MA - CHRISTOS KARAVITIS

Taxiarchae Watertown, MA - ARTHUR AND TOULA PATSIOS

St. Demetrios WESTON, MA - PATRICIA LAGANAS DUKAKIS

Annunciation Woburn, MA - MAGDALENE CAROS

St. Spyridon Cathedral Worcester, MA - PARASKEVI KASIDAKOS HELALI

NEW HAMPSHIRE

Holy Trinity Concord, NH - CHRIS PAPPAS

Annunciation Dover , NH - NANCY HOUREAS TRUDEAU

Assumption Manchester, NH - ANDROMAHI ANDREA LEKKAS MOUTSIOULIS

St. George Cathedral Manchester, NH - FRANK COMERFORD

St. Philip Nashua, NH - KATHERINE RICHO

St. Nicholas Portsmouth, NH - VIOREL COSTEA

RHODE ISLAND

Annunciation Cranston, RI - ELENI TRIKOULIS

Assumption Pawtucket, RI - BRIAN FROMENT

VERMONT