Dear Brother Archons,

The Archon office was recently notified regarding the sad news of the passing of Archon Konstantine L. Vellios, age 97, of Brooklyn, NY, who fell asleep in the Lord on January 2, 2026. Archon Kosta was invested with the title of Depoutatos.

Archon Kosta since the time of National Commander Dr. Borden in the 1970s, donated hundreds of thousands of dollars in floral arrangements for all the Athenagoras Human Rights Award Banquets and Bouras Award Banquets for some 50 years! I had the honor to speak with Archon Kosta of blessed memory shortly after this year’s AHRA Banquet to personally thank him for his extraordinary generosity and he expressed to me on the call how PROUD HE WAS OF HIS GRANDSON KONSTANTINE, who was invested this year as an Archon of the Ecumenical Patriarchate!

I will always fondly remember the essential participation of Archon Kosta, along with his close friend Archon Bill Theodosakis, both of blessed memory, speaking emotionally and passionately regarding the Burning of Smyrna, an event they annually had commemorated at their local church in Brooklyn.

On behalf of the Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate we express our deep sympathy to his entire family with abiding faith in our Lord and Savior and with hope in His resurrection!

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” –St. Paul’s Second Letter to Timothy 4:5-8

Ζωή σε σας… Ζωή σε μας…