General Assembly, United Nations, Opening of 66th Session, Obama, USA

The 66th Session of The General Assembly Officially began at the United Nations in New York, September 21, 2011. Secretary General Ban Ki moon welcomed the World Leaders, Brazil led off the speeches with President Barack Obama of The USA following, along with other World Leaders.
GANP4NEWS
WWW.PANAGOS.COM

Norwalk, Conn. His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios of America, Officiated at the Liturgy at St. George Greek Orthodox Church in Norwalk Conn.

Norwalk, Conn. His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios of America, Officiated at the Liturgy at St. George Greek Orthodox Church in Norwalk Conn. in attendance of The Pan Pontian Federation of USA and Canada who celebrated their 30th year in existance and the 100 years presence in Norwalk, Conn. His Eminence performed a Memorial Service for those who lost their lives in Pontos and for the Living.
GANP4NEWS
WWW.PANAGOS.COM

His Beatitude Archbishop Ieronimos of Greece is hospitalized today.

His Beatitude Archbishop of Athens andAll Greece Ieronimos entered the Attikon Hospital today August 31, 2011.

The Second Historical Liturgy at Mt. Mela in Pontos Officiated by His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.

NEW YORK – His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios of America upon the invitation of His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and on the occasion of the Feast of the Dormition of the Holy Theotokos, will accompany His All Holiness on August 14-16, 2011 on a pilgrimage to the historic monastery of Panagia Soumela near Trapezounta on the mountains rising up on the south coast of the Black Sea.

On Monday August 15, His All Holiness will preside over the Patriarchal Divine Liturgy in the Monastery for the second year in a row and Archbishop Demetrios will concelebrate in the Divine Liturgy. Last year (2010) on the same day and after 88 years of liturgical silence in Panagia Soumela, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew presided at the first historic liturgy following the permission given to the Ecumenical Patriarchate by the Turkish authorities.

According to tradition, the Monastery of Panagia Soumela was established, in 386 A.D. by the Athenian monks Barnabas and Sofronios on the steep cliffs of Mount Melas, south of the city of Trapezounta (Trabzon) and has been for 16 centuries the symbol of the Hellenism of Pontos.

His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios of America will depart for Constantinople on Friday Aug. 12, 2011 and will then travel together with His All Holiness to Trapezounta. The Archbishop will be accompanied by the Chancellor of the Archdiocese His Grace Bishop Andonios of Phasiane and Archdeacon Panteleimon Papadopoulos, both of Pontian ancestry.

Hellenic Imperial Directors give Press Conference in New York

Kostas Mavrikis and his staff held a Press Conference in New York to introduce the New Route, Athens-JFK, New York which began last Friday with Hellenic Imperial Airways. The Greek Airline will serve 4 times a week, and will ease the travel needs of the Greek American Community who wants to travel to Greece this year. George Kessanis will be the Director responsible for the USA. The Jumbo 747 landed for the first time in JFK last Friday about 9pm and departed at 11:30, its programmed flight to Athens. Within 10 days the new aircraft A340's will take over the route.
GANP4NEWS
WWW.PANAGOS.COM

Greek National Soccer Team at Citi Field, Greece 1-Ecuador 1 match.

Ισόπαλος 1-1 έληξε ο φιλικός αγώνας μεταξύ Ελλάδος και Εκουαδόρ που διεξήχθη την Τρίτη 7 Ιουνίου στο Citi Field Stadium της Νέας Υόρκης παρουσία 39 χιλιάδων θεατών, ομογενών και Εκουαδοριανών. Ηταν ο πρώτος ποδοσφαιρικός αγώνας που διεξήχθη στη νέα έδρα των New York METS.
Πριν την έναρξη του αγώνα, ο δημοτικός σύμβουλος της Νέας Υόρκης Φρανσίσκο Μόγια, με καταγωγή από το Εκουαδόρ, επέδωσε στους αρχηγούς των δύο εθνικών ομάδων τιμητική διακήρυξη του εκ μέρους του Δήμου της Νέας Υόρκης.
Μετά το σφύριγμα της λήξης, οι διεθνείς χάρισαν μια φανέλα με τις υπογραφές τους στον Αρχιεπίσκοπο Αμερικής κ. Δημήτριο, ο οποίος παρακολούθησε τον αγώνα μαζί με τον υφυπουργό Πολιτισμού και Τουρισμού, Γιώργο Νικητιάδη και τον αντιπρόεδρο της ΕΠΟ, Νικόλαο Ανασόπουλο.
PHOTO:GANP/DIMITRIOS PANAGOS
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H.E. Archbishop Demetrios at The White House with President Barack Obama

Remarks of His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios of America
On the Occasion of Greek Independence Day of March 25, 1821

The White House
March 25, 2011



Mr. President,

It is a joy and a privilege that we are your guests at the White House once again as we mark the 190th anniversary of the Greek Revolution of 1821 and the 25th anniversary of the celebration of Greek Independence Day at the White House. Thank you for the honor that your invitation bestows, not only on us, but also on all Greek Orthodox Americans.

The day of Greek Independence is celebrated throughout the Greek-American community with joyous gatherings and solemn declarations that God has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted the humble, even as we read in the Gospel (Luke 1:52). Our presence here at the home of the leader of the free world is both a celebration of this sacred word and its actual fulfillment.

The proclamation that you signed today tells the same story of an incredible reversal of fortunes. Prior to March 25, 1821 the Greek people were in a condition of abject oppression lasting four centuries. Under the Ottoman occupation they lived in poverty and religious oppression, deprived of human dignity. From them, in essence, every good thing had been taken away.

Everything, that is, except their faith. They never lost their faith in the God who exalts the humble and opposes the arrogant. With that faith came heroic courage. With that faith came a spirit of amazing self-sacrifice. With that faith came the visionary foresight to hope and to strive for a day when their children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren could without fear sing songs of victory and freedom and rejoice over the exaltation of the lowly and the overthrow of the haughty and mighty.

Mr. President, your proclamation honors those faithful patriots of 1821. But it also issues a challenge to us in our world of the present day. Every March 25th we celebrate the miraculous reversal of fortunes, not only for a single generation of Greeks, but as an expression of divine justice that will occur, by God’s grace, in every generation. We cannot champion this idea without also asking ourselves where are we at the present time. To the extent that we do not raise our voices on behalf of the downtrodden and the oppressed, to the extent that we do not share our blessings with the needy and destitute, to the extent that we do not provide freedom and dignity to the enslaved and the exploited by tyrannical regimes, to that same extent we seat ourselves alongside the arrogant and mighty, with the result that we invite upon ourselves their same ultimate fatal destiny.

For this reason, Mr. President, please know that you and your family remain in our fervent prayers as you lead our great nation. May God grant you wisdom and courage as you contend daily with tremendous challenges in our own land and around the world. May your voice be strong and clear in advocating for democracy and freedom for all people, based on the principles of self-determination, religious freedom, and the rule of law.

We take this opportunity today to thank you personally for your continued specific leadership in matters relating to the rights of our Ecumenical Patriarchate in Turkey, for the safety and freedom of religious minorities in places of oppression, for satisfactory and fair political solutions in Cyprus and the FYROM in the Balkans, and for the success of democratic movements in all parts of the world.

Not only do we thank you, Mr. President, but we also offer the support of the Greek Orthodox community of America in your efforts to provide aid to the victims of the huge catastrophic events, like the tsunami in Japan, to establish stability to our economy, and environmental well-being to our planet, and to assist the peoples of Northern Africa, Near, Middle and Far East in their noble fights for freedom and democracy. Indeed, in every way that you are laborious for the reversal of fortunes of the oppressed, we ask for the honor of being your fellow-laborers. For this is for us the truest celebration of the spirit of the Twenty-Fifth of March and the Day of Greek Independence.

Again, Mr. President, thank you, and may the blessings of the Lord be richly upon you, your beloved Family, and our noble Nation.