It was our sincere pleasure to have Archon Commander, Dr. Anthony Limberakis join us for a weekend in the Queen City of Charlotte N.C. Commander Limberakis was invited to our parish of St. Nektarios to present on October 2nd the oppressive situation our spiritual Father and Patriarch Bartholomew is faced with in Istanbul. A crowd in excess of 100 people gathered to see the eye opening presentation Dr. Limberakis had to offer and left the evening more aware of the plight of the Patriarchate and how they could help.

The evening presentation was preceded by a dinner attended and sponsored by the Archons of the Charlotte area who were joined by their wives. In attendance at this dinner were N.C. Senator Robert Rucho and his wife Teresa. It was Senator Rucho who sponsored and helped gain the approval in the N. C. state Senate of the resolution on religious freedom in Istanbul. We are currently working on getting the same positive results in the N. C. House of Representatives as the resolution will be introduced in January by N.C. Representative Becky Carney. Also in attendance were Fr. Steve Dalber, Protopresbyter of St. Nektarios, Our Vicar Fr. Demetri Kangelaris and Fr. Kevin Millsaps also of St. Nektarios.

Commander Limberakis and his wife Maria, who also joined the commander on this trip, joined the entire community of St. Nektarios for Divine Liturgy on Sunday and offered more pertinent comments on our Patriarchate to a filled house of over 400 people.

The entire weekend was part of our Adult Religious Education Speaker Series, Strictly Speaking, at St. Nektarios and was a weekend that left a huge impact on our community. We thank Commander Limberakis and Maria for taking the time out of their busy schedule to join us for this illuminating presentation.

Gerry Clonaris
Archon Depoutatos