Religion

Church celebrates naming on feast day

Christ the Savior Greek Orthodox Church honors its first feast day with a banquet and visit by a bishop.

BROOKSVILLE - Christ the Savior Greek Orthodox Church celebrates its first feast day this weekend.

The celebration commemorates the naming of the church a year ago. The church is actually named Christ the Savior Greek Orthodox Church Presentation of Christ at the Temple, in recognition of the day Joseph and Mary presented the Christ child to the temple for the first time.

As part of the festivities, the congregation will hold its feast day banquet tonight at the Wellington at Seven Hills clubhouse. On Sunday, morning services at Christ the Savior Church, 13460 Olympic Village Lane, Brooksville, will be led by Metropolitan Alexios, the spiritual leader of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Atlanta.

A native of Patras, Greece, Alexios was educated in his homeland before coming to the United States. He has served in clerical roles in Vermont, Brooklyn and Paris, France. In 1989, he was assigned the parishes in Queens, Long Island, southern Connecticut and upstate New York. He also was named director of the Hellenic Cultural Center in Astoria, N.Y.

Alexios, 61, who also carries the title of bishop, served the Atlanta Diocese as archepiscopal vicar of the Atlanta Diocese from the beginning of 1997, until his election and enthronement as bishop of Atlanta on May 22, 2003.

Although many churches celebrate a feast day with festivals where the people come and spend their money and buy different types of food, Christ the Savior has decided to have a dinner and dance and invite Metropolitan Alexios to come, said parish president Paul Cosmadelis.

"We're glad he accepted," Cosmadelis said.

Each church in the Greek Orthodox faith celebrates 12 major feast days in addition to a feast day recognizing the saint or other person for whom their church was named. In the future, each Feb. 2, Christ the Savior will celebrate its feast day.

This year the celebration was late because the pastor, the Rev. Stanley Harakas, 73, underwent open heart surgery several weeks ago, and there were other unavoidable delays.

Since Harakas is house-bound and will not be able to attend the festivities, someone will read his prepared message at the banquet. He said he has really enjoyed working with the people of the parish.

"They are responding with amazing enthusiasm and cooperation," said Harakas, a theologian and author of books on Orthodox Christian ethics.

"We have been growing in numbers and have had increased financial support from the stewards of the church and the archdiocese to the point where the chapel was in danger of being too small for our worship needs," he said. The congregation has grown from 30 families to about 81 families. To accommodate their growing numbers, members remodeled the fellowship hall, leaving the dining hall intact.

The congregation obtained an icon screen from Holy Trinity Orthodox Church of Spring Hill. St. Andrew's Ukrainian Catholic Church of Spring Hill gave Christ the Savior their old pews, "not knowing what we would do with them," Harakas said.

"The Lord works in mysterious ways, and the new pews went into the temporary church. It's beautifully appointed with very little money, since all the work was done by the parishioners," he said. "It all happened just by the breath of a spirit. People just appeared and volunteered their talents without having to be asked."

Harakas also talked about plans to sell 21 acres of church property, which includes the worship facility at Brooksville Olympic Village Camp.

Since the present location, off Sunshine Grove Road, is difficult to find, the proposed new location on Anderson Snow Road, between Spring Hill Drive and County Line Road, is directly opposite the Hernando County recreational facility and easy to reach from the Suncoast Parkway.

"And besides," said Harakas, "we might build something that would be seen from the Parkway so we could make a witness there also."

Cosmadelis, 73, has been with Christ the Savior since it became a mission and is in his second year as parish president. He is also excited about the congregation's prospects. The lifelong Greek Orthodox Christian saw an advertisement for Christ the Savior investigated, liked the people and type of service and stayed with it. "It seemed to fit with us," said the married father of two grown daughters.

"The congregation has probably doubled since Father Stanley's been here, and a lot has to do with his leadership," Cosmadelis said. He would like to see the church grow to become self-sufficient financially and to hire a priest.

"Right now, Harakas is practically working for us pro bono," Cosmadelis said.

Cosmadelis acknowledges that he, Harakas and other members of the congregation are getting old and Christ the Savior must find a way to attract younger people, entice them to get involved in the church and become officers to run the church.

Sunday morning worship services will be at 10 a.m. at Christ the Savior Greek Orthodox Church, 13460 Olympic Village Lane, which is off Sunshine Grove Road north of Brooksville. Metropolitan Alexios, the spiritual leader of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Atlanta, will lead the service. For information, call Paul Cosmadelis at 686-1199

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