By Nick Stamatakis
In my almost 40 years of living on Long Island, I have always been attracted to this beautiful little parish and Church of the South Shore near Long Beach. Nested among a very close-knit Greek community on one of the long local streets, Panagia of Island Park had always had an aura of divine blessing. I must say that Long Island, in general, especially the South Shore, is blessed with good priests… But something special about this little parish of Island Park made it attractive to me for many years.
These days, the blessing has a real name in the face of the priest Fr. George Kazoulis, who has truly given new life to the community with his youthful energy, his young family, and his joyful sociability.
This was the scene we all witnessed as friends decided to defy the light rain and go to Panagia’s Greek Festival last Saturday. Father George embraced all of us with true joy and welcomed us with his heartwarming presence to sit under the huge tent. The music had already started, and some dancers were enjoying the tunes. Among them, I soon saw a group of teenage girls dancing everything, from tsamiko to ikariotiko to pentozali.
Oh, I thought to myself, as long as these 15, 17, and 18-year-olds are dancing so passionately our dances, there is no way their identity and their cultural roots will ever be eliminated.
And if this big tent can be almost full on such a dreary evening, I can imagine what participation Panagia’s Festival can attract on a nice sunny day… Actually, I don’t need to imagine, I have been to other Festivals there when the weather was perfect, and I can tell you it was hard to navigate the crowds… Father George proudly showed me a video of the Epitaphios procession, which a disproportionate number of people attended, showing their love for this little church and the warm, traditional Greek community that surrounds it…The general feeling of the neighborhood gives the impression of life on a Greek island, with its devotion to tradition and hospitality.
Oh, I forgot to mention that I never tasted a better “ekmek” or “baklava” than the truly homemade ones at Island Park. They were truly amazing! There is no comparison with the Astoria pastry shops! The desserts at Island Park were divine!
Keep up the excellent work, Father George! Congratulations to all dedicated and hard-working members of the parish council!
Bravo!
I cannot find anything on the internet about the date the church was built. My beloved father, forever in our hearts, was one of the founding members. Our beloved mother’s name was Panaghia. If you have any info on the date the church was built I would appreciate it. I think is was around 1982?