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GOARCH - January 13, 1998
OFFICIAL NEWS

Archdiocese to Celebrate Hellenic Letters and Arts throughout U.S.

NEW YORK - Archbishop Spyridon, Primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in America, has announced the nationwide celebration of Hellenic Letters and Arts by the Archdiocesan School System in conjunction with the Feast day of the Three Hierarchs on January 30th.

Highlighting the celebration will be a 10th Anniversary Luncheon to be held on Sunday, February 1 beginning at 1:00 p.m. at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City and sponsored by the Department of Education with the cooperation of the Committee of Hellenic Letters and Arts,

The theme will be the rich cultural heritage of Byzantium and the impact it has had on Western Civilization, according to Luncheon Chairmen Fannie Petallides-Holliday and Elias J. Kulukundis.

"Gifts from a Forgotten Empire: Byzantium and the Western Heritage" is the title of the presentation by the main speaker, universally respected Byzantine scholar, Dr. Annemarie Weyl Carr, Professor and Chairman of Art History at Southern Methodist University, Dallas.

Proceeds of the luncheon will be used for scholarships for seminarians of Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology at Brookline, MA. at the request of His Eminence Archbishop Spyridon, believing it is "imperative that our seminarians be provided tuition scholarships so that they may pursue their theological studies and fulfill their priestly vocation without an undue financial burden."

On Friday, January 30th, His Eminence will preside at the Divine Liturgy at the Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity (319 E. 74th St.) for principals, teachers and students of all parochial school (grades 5-12) in New York City, and will recognize the students who have achieved the highest grades in the 1997 Comprehensive Examinations in Modern Greek (Regents). His Eminence will host a Vassilopetta Reception in honor of the teachers at 5:00 p.m. at the Archdiocese.

The Archdiocese Department of Education , under the direction of Dr. Nicholas Kladopoulos and Asst. Director Maria Makedon, annually sponsors the celebration of Hellenic Letters by the some 30,000 students nationwide in the Archdiocesan School system of 19 parochial day schools and 300 afternoon Greek schools. The events are held in conjunction with the Feast Day of the Three Hierarchs on January 30th, commemorating the fourth century scholars and theologians: St. Basil the Great, St.Gregory the Theologian and St. John the Chrysostomos, who espoused Christianity with Hellenism, its language, philosophy,drama, poetry and art. Three Hierarchs Day was first celebrated in the year 1100 A.D. when the Byzantine Emperor Alexios Comninos proclaimed that January 30 be set aside to honor these men whose writings contributed to the formulation of Greek Orthodoxy, Greek culture and education.

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  January 13, 1998 ]