Alexander Kitroeff - The Greek Orthodox Church in America (NIU Series in Orthodox Christian Studies)

The Greek Orthodox Church in America

A Modern History

ALEXANDER KITROEFF

Northern Illinois University Press
an imprint of
Cornell University Press

Ithaca and London

For Speros Vryonis (19282019)
Beloved teacher and friend

This book owes its existence to a generous grant from the Jaharis Family Foundation, which deserves the greatest part of my gratitude. His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios granted me access to the Greek Orthodox Archdioceses archive, where archivist Nikie Calles was an extremely helpful guide while also sharing the extraordinary knowledge she acquired in her long service first at the side of Archbishop Iakovos and later as archivist. Father Robert Stephanopoulos generously shared his knowledge as well as his extensive library with me. Anita Isaacs helped me plan the project and deal with the logistics of doing research in New York City. My thanks also go to Photini Tomai, director of the Historical Archive of the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and her staff; Andrea Bainbridge, university archivist, DePaul University Special Collections and Archives; Daniel Necas, archivist at the Immigration History Research Center Archives, University of Minnesota; George I. Paganellis, at the Tsakopoulos Hellenic Collection at the California State University, Sacramento; Rob Haley, interlibrary loans librarian at Magill Library, Haverford College; and Art Dimopoulos, who gifted me a part of the material collected by his father, the late Father George Dimopoulos of St. Demetrios Church in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. The late Peter B. Christie granted me access to material related to the early history of the Annunciation Church in Philadelphia, which later moved to Elkins Park, Pennsylvania.

Numerous persons with direct experience of Greek Orthodoxy in Americas recent history were kind enough to share their knowledge in informal conversations, which provided valuable background information. They are Simos Dimas, a New Yorkbased attorney who served on the Archdiocesan Council; Michael Jaharis, a long-standing member of the Archdiocesan Council; Father Alex Karloutsos, who worked closely with Archbishop Iakovos and later with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew; Christine Lee Vicar at All Angels Church in New York; Maria Makedon, former education director at the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese; the late Panayotis Makrias, who had a long career in the Greek American press; Peter Marudas, an official of the Orthodox Christian Laity Organization; Fevronia Soumakis, whose doctoral dissertation completed at Columbia University is on the archdioceses schools in New York; and Rev. Robert Stephanopoulos, former dean of the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of New York.

I made four public presentations based on my ongoing research for this book, and I thank the organizers for their invitation and the audiences for their valuable comments and questions. These were the Annual Zamanakos Lecture at the University of Massachusetts in Lowell; an invited lecture at the Hellenic Studies Program at the State University of California in Sacramento; a conference in Athens on the fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of the Greek dictatorship in 1967; and a paper at a conference in Oxford on Greeces relations with its diaspora. I published an article based on my research about the 1970 Clergy-Laity Congress in the online journal Ergon Greek American Arts and Letters, and I thank the editor Yiorgos Anagnostou and two anonymous readers for their comments that in turn helped me sharpen the relevant section in this book.

My understanding of the interface between Greek America and its church has also benefited from listening to or reading the insights of very many friends and colleagues, too many to list here. I should mention that film director Maria Ilious invitation to serve as historical consultant in the documentary The Journey: The Greek Dream in America helped me focus my long-standing awareness of the importance of the church in the history of the Greek American experience. The late and much missed Charles Moskos always offered great encouragement and inspiration, including how to do on-the-spot research when he bounded up the steps of a Greek Orthodox Church in Astoria, New York, crying out Kalispera (good evening) to a startled elderly cleric who was peacefully sitting on a stool at the entrance. Finally, the late Speros Vryonis honored me by praising the way I dealt with the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria in my first book and from then on helped me embark on an academic career. Fittingly, he was able to attend the presentation based on this book I made in Sacramento and commented on the significance of the churchs ecclesiastical and legal status in America in understanding its history. I have approached this book by using that particular status and the wider structural context of the interactions between Greek America and Greek Orthodoxy to frame the inquiry.

Books on Greek America are not best-sellers, maybe with the exception of Jeffrey Eugenidess Middlesex , so I wish to express my profound gratitude to acquisitions editor Amy Farranto and Orthodox Christian series editor Roy Robson at the Northern Illinois University Press for believing in the value and potential of this book. The two outside readers the press selected both wished to remain eponymous, so I am pleased to acknowledge the advice, comments, and encouragement of Yiorgos Anagnostou of Ohio State University and Theofanis Stavrou of the University of Minnesota. My thanks also to everyone else at the Northern Illinois University Press and Cornell University Press for helping to transform the manuscript into book form.

I have transliterated Greek language words according to the guidelines of the Journal of Modern Greek Studies . I have rendered the titles of Greek and English-language documents in the Archive of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese in English for reasons of consistency.

Signs with the words Greek Festival, usually in blue against a white background, signifying Greeces national colors, appear on roadsides in towns and suburbs across the United States in the late spring and early fall. They announce a three- or four-day event, part food fair, part bazaar, and part cultural festival, with Greek music and folk dancing, organized by the local Greek Orthodox church. Although the event takes place on the grounds of the church, which will keep its doors open for worshippers and visitors, the catering and the cultural performances will attract the most attention. In many parishes, especially those in the suburbs and exurbs that have ample space, the food offerings as well as the dancing are rich both in flavor and culinary or cultural sophistication. Some of these events have become famous beyond their locale. For example, the annual Greek food festival held by St. John the Baptist Church in Las Vegas gained national recognition when National Geographic Magazine deemed it the top food event in Nevada in its survey of food festivals across the United States.Orthodox Church has sought to preserve both their religious and their cultural identity with almost equal zeal.