Dear Paul,
I am sorry I will not be able to join you and participate in the 29th, the prodromos of the milestone 30th Anniversary of the Hellenic News of America. Congratulations for a ministry well done.
Back in the early eighties, we met for the first time outside the newly built Church of Holy Trinity in Egg Harbor Township. In addition to my duties as priest of Holy Trinity I was also a tenured professor of History and Religion at Stockton University of New Jersey, teaching the history and civilization of Hellenism, ancient and byzantine, as well as the history and teachings of undivided Christianity. In brief, my focus has been Hellenism and Orthodox Christian thought, the two polls of my pastoral and academic life.
In our discussions, you impressed me as a learned and ambitious young man. You spoke about your central common ideals, Hellenism and Orthodoxy,but also for the need of a newspaper, established in Philadelphia but serving as a link between all our communities of the Metropolitan area and beyond. For nearly two years I was a regular contributor to the weekly Detroit Greek Tribune and its publisher had related to me of the difficulties “the agones and the agonies” a newspaper faced in any Metropolitan area.
I heard you, I admired you but I thought you were a dreamer!
Well, 29, nearly 30, years later you proved that dreams can become realities. You began with dreams, determination, but inspired by ideals-and you succeeded. We should be grateful to you for your successful services to the Omogeneia and its institutions.
Dear Paul go forward, χαίρω καί συγχαίρω, αιέν αριστεύειν
Fr. Demetrios J Constantelos, Ph.D.D.D. Retired, Professor Emeritus
Demetrios J. Constantelos is a retired priest of the Greek Orthodox Church, a Distinguished Research Scholar in Residence and the Charles Cooper Townsend …
