ΕΑΝ ΠΡΟΤΙΜΑΤΕ ΤΑ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ ΠΑΤΗΣΤΕ ΤΗΝ ΣΗΜΑΙΑ ΣΤΟ ΚΑΤΩ ΜΕΡΟΣ ΤΗΣ ΟΘΟΝΗΣ
TO SUPPORT SOPHIA AND HER FAMILY PLEASE LINK TO THIS GOFUNDME ACCOUNT
By Helleniscope’s Editorial Team
The tragedy that struck Minneapolis this week has left the city reeling—but for the Greek-American community, the pain is intensely personal. Among the young victims of the Annunciation Catholic School shooting is twelve-year-old Sophia Forchas, a bright, energetic seventh grader whose life now hangs in the balance.
A Family Shattered in an Instant
Sophia was critically injured during morning Mass, a sacred moment shattered by gunfire. She was rushed into emergency surgery and remains in the intensive care unit, her condition grave but hopeful. At the same time, her younger brother—also present in the church—escaped physical harm, though the scars of what he witnessed will remain long after the sirens fade.
The family’s suffering deepened in a way almost too cruel to comprehend. Sophia’s mother, a pediatric intensive care nurse, was working when victims began arriving at the hospital. Only later did she discover that one of those children on the gurneys was her own daughter. No training, no professional strength, can prepare a parent for that moment.
The Strength of Faith and Community
In these darkest hours, the Greek Orthodox community of Minneapolis has come together as one body in Christ. The Forchas family is active parishioners at St. Mary’s Greek Orthodox Church, where Sophia is remembered for her energy and her joy. Father Timothy Sas immediately called for a special prayer service, and the church was filled with flickering candles, whispered prayers, and tearful embraces as the faithful turned to God for mercy and healing.
Although the Forchas family are devout members of the Greek Orthodox parish of St. Mary’s, both Sophia and her younger brother attend Annunciation Catholic School. Like many Orthodox families in the Midwest, they chose the school for its strong academics, Christian values, and close-knit environment. On the morning of the tragedy, the children were present at the daily Catholic Mass celebrated for students and faculty.
The spiritual embrace extends beyond Minneapolis. Metropolitan Nathanael of Chicago, moved by the depth of this tragedy, has pledged to travel personally to the city to lead prayers and stand by the Forchas family.
A Wave of Compassion
Support for Sophia and her family has surged far beyond the parish walls. A fundraiser launched in the wake of the shooting has drawn thousands of donations—some large, many small, but each a symbol of shared humanity. What began as a simple appeal has evolved into a nationwide outpouring, as Orthodox Christians, neighbors, and strangers alike step forward to shoulder the burden of medical bills, counseling, and the long, uncertain road to recovery.
TO SUPPORT SOPHIA AND HER FAMILY PLEASE LINK TO THIS GOFUNDME ACCOUNT
As the Greek-American community watches with heavy hearts, our thoughts and prayers remain firmly with Sophia. We pray that God’s healing hand will guide her doctors, strengthen her family, and restore her to health. May her suffering be met with our unceasing prayers, our compassion, and our resolve to stand united beside her family until she walks again among us in joy.
August 28, 2025, n.stamatakis@aol.com www.helleniscope.com
DISCLAIMER: The views and statements expressed in this article constitute constitutionally protected opinions of this author.
Hoping Sophia survives. May the emotional scars heal. Prayers.
As we all know, the shooter obtained all three guns legally. This nation is condemned, like Sysyphos, to keep suffering the loss of its children, while all we hear is (our thoughts and prayers). Prayers do NOT work., As the mayor of the city said, the children were inn church praying at the time of the shooting.
TThe fact that the shooter might have been mentally unstable only reinforces this society’s ignorance of human natture. If you provide easy access to guns, some of those guns will take lives.
Nothing wrong with a hunting rifle, after training and psychological evaluation. But this trend of each statte and tthe Supreme court, knocking down any pro-active laws to save lives is just crazy.
This logic could have some basis if the shooter himself did not declare that his change of sex drove him nuts!! Otherwise I would be justified to also demand that they impose very strict rules that wouldn’t allow much of us old-geezers drive a car!! And that eventuality would bring some of you crazy lefties back to your senses..
I have no doubt that he was crazy. It could even be caused by his change of gender. But other countries have the same amount of mental health issues and they have more transgender than we do. But I can’t remember of anyone shooting up a school. Why is that, you very sane rightists? Because they don’t have access to guns. This shooter had purchased three guns legally.
Many of you “sane” rightists iinsist that it’s not the gun, its the person. There’s only one solution to that. Don’t arm the person.
Bob font avoid the difficult question- face the truth by hard numbers: we have over 40,000 gun deaths annually in the US and over 40,000 car deaths… Are you ready to propose banning cars? No, of course not… Further, are you ready to ban alcohol as a major “root cause” behind both car and gun deaths? Another prohibition in America? Of course not!!! We have learned the lessons right? There is a cost to pay for what we still call FREEDOM… which is never free of cost, directly or indirectly…
Nick. You forget one very important thing. Guns are made to kill. ONLY. Cars have many uses other than to kill. Life is dangerous,. We’re not going to crawl under the bed to avoid death. However, a civilized society has the duty to prottect itts citizens from unnecesary danger. That’s why they have seat belts and air bags.
Now as far as freedom due to gun proliferation in America, its a falacy, packaged by the gun sellers and sold to naive people. Western Europe has a much higher freedom score, according to freedomhouse.org, than America. And they dont have guns to “intimidate” their government, as many gun nuts think they do. Guns in America are turning our schools, businesses, churches, into prisons. I used to walk into my kids’ school to pick him up. The door wasn’t locked. Now, they turn the schools into fortresses. That’s freedom to you?
Yes packaged by our stupid founders in the Second Amendment…
Bob,
If you want to solve a problem, it’s always best to solve the root cause…remember what happened in 1958 at the “Our Lady of the Angels School” in Chicago, with 95 deaths and no shots fired?
Identifying who is “crazy”, rescinding the illogical statute that Jimmy Carter signed into law giving “rights” to those in the Asylums, such that you can’t put away anyone who is crazy until they actually do something harmful is a more effective start…that would have prevented the Parkland, FL tragedy (and most others), given that the police had already visited that nut-job’s home several times to investigate threats made before he actually conducted the massacre, but Jimmy Carter’s law wouldn’t allow them to lock him up…
Bottom line…the overwhelming majority of these cases center around individuals that have psychological-psychiatric problems.
By the way, there’s already a law that says such a person can’t possess a firearm. A good screening at a young age in school can put the ones that fit a problematic profile on a “watch list”, including a list that doesn’t allow them to purchase weapons, etc…why don’t they do something this simple? Because another stupid Clinton-era restriction on HIPAA privacy remains in effect, and doesn’t allow psychiatrists and insurance companies to provide the FBI background-check database a list of those taking certain drugs…
Another stupid law/common practice wipes clean the record of juvenile offenders, but some of them should really be on the FBI’s “do not allow them to purchase a firearm list” for at least 20 more years, and that doesn’t happen today, resulting in more “preventable tragedy”…again, simple solutions, but the government can’t get out of its own way…Between Jimmy Carter and Clinton’s laws, they created a bigger problem. But ironically, the Republicans don’t seem eager to solve this problem either (whenever they are in power), because this 2nd amendment issue motivates people to vote, and that’s what both sides of the aisle want at the end of the day…don’t you get it?
Then why are native English and Scots suffering from an increasing number of horrific knife attacks?
We have to admit that multiculturalism doesn’t work. When you add the volatile ingredient of transgenders into the mix, then the formula becomes combustible.
Great Britain had 550 murders last year. One of the lowest total that she had since before multiculturalism. Great Britain has strict gun control. If America had the same gun control that Great Britain had, there would have been 2500 homicides in America, counting the population difference. Our homicide total was a 22 thousand people, plus 80 thousand serious injuries, requiring life time care and disability.
And to prove how pro active the Brittish are, they are curbing the sale of knives used by gangs. That is smart.
The fact is that multiculturalism and transgenderism doesn’t kiill people on its own. Guns in people’s hands kill people.
Britain is NOT a free country by any measure… if the Brits had guns the clowns (of the City of London oligarchs) who pretend to be their political leaders would be scared to appear in public…
You write”If America had the same gun control that Great Britain had, there would have been 2500 homicides in America, counting the population difference. Our homicide total was a 22 thousand people”
I agree with you that gun control would save lives as the crazies in our society would be unarmed!
You ask:
Then why are native English and Scots suffering from an increasing number of horrific knife attacks?”
Answer: because they’d have allowed many Muslim jihadists to settle there!
That’s part of the problem. Perhaps the British elites wouldn’t have encouraged this mass migration if they knew their native population was armed?
Just wondering.
Bob, you’re incorrect: guns are not made to “kill people.” They are made to “protect the innocent.” Big difference.
Bob, read the adverse effects of trans hormones and drugs. You forgot to mention that our nation bombs millions of people. We have the second amendment to defend ourselves against our nation if need be.
What about watching our nation bomb other countries every day. What does that do to the human mind?
Are we the only country that has transgender people that take hormones? European countries have a higher percenntage than we do. Why are they not shooting up schools? Because they dont have guns.
Gee, Bob, I grew up in the ancient fifties. School doors unlocked. Home doors unlocked. Car doors unlocked. No shootings in suburbs. School days were happy. God was important to most folk.
Doors unlocked and plenty of gins around!.. And no deaths!! How come? May be sensible policing? And more sensible policies?! That would be a novelty for one-sided, monolithic liberals!!!
Dont forget there were no AR-15s or other type of military weapons in the 50’s. Kids used to bring their rifle at school to practice shooting in rural areas. The NRA changed all that in the 70’s. From an organization dedicated to gun safety, it was transformed into a shill for the gun sellers. The second amendment never intended to arm every idiot that wanted to play soldier. The 2nd Amendment says “As part of a well regulated militia”. Which translates to the National guard of today. .
There is always room for common sense solutions to every problem
Bob have you repented? Donate To Sophia’s fund Buddy. You need redemption, for what you speak are lies straight from the pit of Hell! Repent!
“ Over 65% of adults are on pharma drugs. Roughly 30% of the American population, including children, take more than 4 prescription meds daily. The cumulative effect is unknown, the affects of these witches brew concoctions is an unknown given pharma never conducts such trials. Why? Because such a trial would likely reveal that Americans are on a cocktail of drugs far more serious than Hitler’s addiction. Leading him to making exponentially more and more fateful decisions that cost him the war.
Transgenders take a tremendous cocktail, not just for testosterone or hormone replacement but for depression, anxiety, and a host of other infections and ailments that arise from the pits of pharma hell. What pharma does not like to reveal is exactly how many drugs the average American is consuming and instead provides low estimates and crystal ball guesstimates to legitimize their way out of culpability. ”
Helena Glass
Dear Bob,
This is not about guns, cars, knives or any other external factor. When perversity abounds in a society, in the lives of its people and leaders, then evil proliferates. Oh Lord, we pray, show us how to live in this life so we can be with You throughout eternity. Your will be done.
Manny~
You are exactly right! We pray for the light of Jesus to shine thru the darkness revealing all the plans for folly and evil by the wicked. Trust in He who will prevail! God NEVER fails.
Lord, I pray for Bob to see the error of his ways. He knows you not. I pray that Bob will see the true light of true light and come into a relationship with You, our Heavenly Father.
This barbaric act was not so much a Tragedy as it was a Travesty.
Listening to the irresponsible, yet at the same time, fully responsible Minnesota politicians warn against (functionally nonexistent) anti-transvestite crimes, was tantamount to justifying similar future action as preemptive.
As honest medical analysis has shown, affirming and “treating” confused and lost youth, by the cabal of the greedy medical/government complex and out and out “groomers” has caused far more damage and little to no good.
Prayers do help! And just because all are not answered does not mean they should be abandoned as the God-less liberals decry.
If we abandoned all things that don’t work, the idiots running the entire state of Minnesota would be unemployed.
Nice of Met. Nathaniel to go to Minneapolis to comfort families. But I remember Met. Nathaniel was dismissed from Holy Synod last year by the Patriarch…
confused what this means.
We will explain soon… but for starters look at Elpidoktonos’ knife that came out under the table…
Sadly, this Story is about an atrocity of epic proportions. One of pure insanity and premeditated evil created by BIG $$$ PHARMAKIA $$$ interests. A Gun was only one of the many possible methods which could have been used to commit cold blooded murder.
Prescriptions and drugs are to blame for contributing to an already lost, unstable, and mentally disturbed individual who was so conflicted because of the transitioning drugs he took, he hated himself for the mistake of the lies he bought into as he was transitioning further away from God’s perfect body image and divine design.
One of the many victims in this entire story is about a young, innocent Greek girl who was attending a private Catholic School where she felt “safe” and was unsuspectingly shoot unmercifully and is now in serious condition.
This article is NOT about someone’s ignoramus comments wanting to divert attention to a cause, group think or ideology! Comments which were meant to distract the attention from the human suffering which took place. Comments which are based on lies…Comments which feed the self-righteous and indignation of the poor in spirit. These baseless comments made by someone well known in this blog, who is also afflicted by satan’s brainwashing tactics of optics, media propaganda filled with distortions of reality and lies from the enemy.
Let us pray:
Dear Father, as we gather together and read as a unified community of Orthodox Christians let us welcome the Holy Spirit into our prayers and breathe life into your daughter and all others suffering without justice caught in the crosshairs of evil. Lord we pray for Sophia’s complete recovery and restoration of injuries sustained. Surround this girl and her family Lord with your loving arms and comfort. By the stripes on Your holy back, we believe Sophia will be healed in Your mighty name.
Lord we pray for the families of those who have fallen victim. We ask that You be in their midst of prayers while they seek answers. May the tragedy bring them to draw closer to you in their time of sorrow, suffering and pain. Lord may you fan into flame just a small flicker of hope within each of them so that they come to know you as the great I AM.
Satan you have NO STRONGHOLDS over those who live in the light. Get thee behind me where you are cast into the lake of fire. Your reign on earth will soon be over as God’s final judgement has already been cast and is manifest. Prophecy promised and already in the making.
Lord we thank You for the gift of Today. Your breath in our lungs and our bodies made perfect in Your image. Thank you for life, for health, family and love. Thank you for being with us giving us peace, solace, and courage to face each new day dawning with the hope and trust in You for our journey. Thank you for forgiving us with an abundance of grace we did nothing to earn for our sinful nature. In the mighty name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.