EDITOR’S NOTE (Nick Stamatakis): PLEASE FOLLOW THE LINK TO THE AMERICAN RED CROSS TO DONATE BLOOD
At 0:40 of the video below you can see Bishop of Mesogaias Nikolaos participate in a blood drive near Athens and explain in a very enlightened way that “wearing masks and keeping social distancing rules, seemingly are bringing us apart but in essence they are bringing us closer to each other because we have the opportunity – with our actions and not just words – to give something of our own to protect and save others… We are thinking of others more than we are thinking of ourselves… The same reason why we are here today, despite all the fear that prevails in society, to donate our blood… This is a sacred moment, where people have come to give their blood… I come here from the holy liturgy, where we also have blood, the blood of Christ. We take blood, we give blood, we share blood, we share Life, we share the Truth of this World… This is an act of sharing at the center of Faith..” explains with unparalleled eloquence, one of the most charismatic hierarchs of Orthodoxy today.
The American Red Cross has been calling for days now for blood donations.
Where are our priests and bishops? Yes, many of them are doing God’s work near the suffering… Where are the Metropolitans? Their monetary donation is helping GOA – but how about the people? Where is AB Elpidophoros? What would Archbishop Iakovos do if he were among us today? Would he plan for an April 2 start of the re-building of St.Nicholas – in the midst of this catastrophe? Alas, NYC shut down all construction amidst the crisis… Would Iakovos be confined in the headquarters doing teleconferences? No, of course not. He would not let such an occasion to show his abilities go wasted… He would act as all true leaders do, getting ahead of the events, doing what he is expected to do… Why AB Elpidophoros is letting such an occasion to become a true “hope-bearer” go to waste? He is young, healthy and personable. If he does not act like a leader now, when? This could be his true “Martin Luther King moment”…
What would the “Archons” do if the “Prince of Darkness” Fr.Karloutsos was NOT their “spiritual” leader? They certainly would not write editorials in WSJ proclaiming that this is “a coronavirus boom market for groceries”, as John Catsimatidis did… How selfish is that from the leader of the Archdiocesan Council!…(Frankly, we are hoping to be proven wrong and that Catsimatidis and the Archons have already taken action)… If they had a true spiritual adviser instead of Fr.Karloutsos – and if they were not so self-serving, they would make offers from their supermarkets for the needy… They would organize groups of young people per parish to offer food to the vulnerable and the aging, who cannot go out to the stores (Some parishes, to their credit, already do – but why should they do it individually and not in a collective fashion? Do they have leadership? Apparently not…) They would set aside $2 million out of the $40 they supposedly raised for St.Nicholas Shrine to buy equipment, food and supplies for those doctors and nurses who are fighting in the front lines…
Above all, what would St.Nicholas, the Saint of selflessness, would want all of us to do in these circumstances? He would certainly not want us to build this extravagant and lavish monument, costing $23,000 per square foot, in his name… May be it is St.Nicholas himself who is intervening in his divine way and is blocking this construction in so many ways, not allowing them to desecrate his memory of selflessness… Instead, St. Nicholas would want all of us to take action and GIVE whatever we have – if possible ANONYMOUSLY – to help and save others!… This is what St.Nicholas would do…
We are tired with the futility of complaining about the inadequacy of GOA leadership. HELLENISCOPE.COM is calling all Hellenes, all Orthodox faithful and all of our friends to get in touch with the American Red Cross and donate blood. Even more important, those thousands of people who have already recovered from Covid 19, among them many Hellenes and Orthodox, they can donate their convalescent plasma and help those who are ill to recover faster. Christianity was always about giving to help our brothers!!
To all those who cannot donate blood: Why don’t we pick up the phone and call someone who is recovering from COVID-19, or someone who is suffering from any other disease or ailment…. Or simply why don’t we each call those who we know that they have low morale in this disaster and isolation and encourage them… Tell them that everything will be OK, tell them a joke, tell them that we care… We are all in this together. And this may be the greatest outcome of this war with the invisible enemy: a sense of belonging and a sense of community we had lost.
April 4, 2020, n.stamatakis@aol.com www.helleniscope.com
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