In Astoria, they whistle indifferently – as if nothing is happening…

 

In Astoria, they whistle indifferently – as if nothing is happening…

By Nick Stamatakis

Almost two weeks went by since the publication of our previous article about the community of Astoria – a piece that caused a real earthquake… Characteristically, we were told that a special engine of the Fire Department had to be called to collect the rivers of tears of Mrs. Evangelia – she is known to be a real tear-shedder…

But to get back to seriousness, I will start by saying that the key troublemakers in the community whistle indifferently and pretend they have not heard, seen, or known anything. We are now talking about a huge problem of “deaf” and mute executives of Saint Demetrios! …

Mr. Fotis Papamichael, Vice President of the Parish Council, is holding exactly the same position he had in 1982!! (see our main photo), along with the position of the president of the School Board. In more than 40 years he has been elected to all positions! He does not care much to explain to us the reason why at an advanced age, instead of rejoicing his children and grandchildren, he should bother to “serve” the community again. In fact, at the moment and for many of these 40 years he has had a very serious “conflict of interest”, as an employee of ALMA Realty, which is known to do business with the community. Not only himself but his relative Nikos Andriotis had a professional relationship with ALMA Bank – ALMA Realty … Why do they pretend to be deaf and dumb? Exactly two years ago, the then chancellor of the Archdiocese, Fr. Andreas Vithoulkas, sent a letter to the community on the issue of “conflict of interest” of the then-president Gary Sideris, whose wife was (and is) the director of the elementary school (and the daughter a teacher …) Fr. Andreas asked them to apply the Archdiocese’s Rules of Procedure on the issue of conflict of interest (SPECIFIC GOA POLICIES ON CONFLICT OF INTEREST)… When will they finally take the lesson?

Ms. Evangelia Zinonos, who had stated in March that she would leave in June, as soon as the parish finally hired a “bookkeeper”, also whistles indifferently … What stops her? Books are not kept anyway. Is she afraid of losing count? Do not worry, no one knows left from right, or what is paid and when. And no one has submitted financial data for eight months, since the dismissal of the previous treasurer Mr. Asprogerakas … In fact, my friends, no one has given a formal accounting of the financial status of the parish!! So, what does Mrs. Evangelia expect? She should be more worried about what documents she will present and how she will do it to the new “bookkeeper”, than about “not losing the setting” … What “setting”? There has never been transparency, so she should worry about other types of “settings”… Why does she not open her mouth to explain to us the myriad of “irregularities”? We are Christians and we know what it means to truly “apologize” … But the Prosecutor does not know anything about apologies and such … Especially when the ad for hiring the bookkeeper in TNH will catch his eye. In which Mrs. Evangelia used her personal e-mail (she changed it after many days)…

What is it with all those people to believe that the Church and the School is a property they inherited from their grandfather!! And that the parish’s business is their own business!! In fact, we recently learned and confirmed that Mrs.Evangelia’s husband has been employed as a “doorman” at the Saturday school for many years… Guess who writes how many hours he worked in order to receive his pay: You are correct, his wife, Mrs. Evangelia… I can already see the tears she will shed for the “unfair” accusations… Please call the fire department immediately!

But those who have literally swallowed their tongues are the Papazafiropoulos brothers who work and collaborate in the Archdiocese, Fr. Nektarios as chancellor, and Fr. Panagiotis as his brother’s assistant but also as the Archbishop’s chief of staff. First of all, can anyone explain to us why these two brothers have to control such high positions in GOARCH? This particular “conflict of interest” stands out. Has the Archbishop ever received legal advice on the matter? If so, why does he refrain from publishing it, so as not to offend the faithful? Then how did this “miracle” happen and did Fr. Panagiotis become “Protopresbyter of the Ecumenical Throne” and assistant to AB Elpidophoros, while Fr. Nektarios almost simultaneously became chancellor of GOARCH? This is a great …”miracle”, which must be celebrated annually by the Church … Because Fr. Nektarios lacks even basic qualifications, while any qualifications of Fr. Panagiotis do not justify such honors… Yes, you can say to me that the former metropolitan of New Jersey, Evangelos, was a “satrap” … How did he do it? How did he get elected as a Metropolitan? The evil tongues say that he had”oiled” the always …rusty screws of the Patriarchate with a very significant amount… Let’s see if we will learn something similar about the Papazafiropoulos brothers… In the meantime, the two brothers have been doing anything possible so that “their” priest, Fr. Nikolaos Paros (already serving there) be appointed as the presiding priest in Astoria. The whole “clique” considers Fr. Nikolaos an excellent choice even though he has little experience… So far one thing is well-known about Fr. Nikolaos, that he plays the role of the “snitch”…

Finally, I am not a lawyer and I can not give legal advice … But from the facts that I have learned, it seems that teacher Peggy Simakou was seriously attacked.  If she was not the good teacher that she is and did not have much love for school she could cause major legal problems in the community… But did she hear any apology from those who attacked her? If so, we will be very happy to post it…

When will the abusers of Astoria finally leave? The time is now and not tomorrow…

In fact, lately, these unacceptable characters say right and left that they have no more interest in serving in offices and “offering to the community”… Of course now that they have destroyed everything, what interest do they have? A few years ago, on weekends like this, the community had 20-25 ceremonies every weekend, baptisms, weddings, funerals, etc … Now it has less than 5… Now that they have destroyed the community and pushed away the younger people, of course, they will have no interest!! But now it is the community that has an interest and it must turn against them and ask for remuneration for the damage they have caused… Something the parish (or the parishioners) should do if these abusers do not have the “philotimo” to do it themselves… For example, the eternal example of the Greek philotimo would point to Nikos Andriotis, at a time that he will go to meet, like all of us, the Lord, to leave his property to the community … Instead, we have information that the $300,000 he had donated to a special account for school support has disappeared! …

Finally, Helleniscope is really tired of talking about the same issue of “conflict of interest” … We have written a lot of articles (link here, here, here and here for the most important of them). The next time we encounter the same indifference, the next time we will need to write once again about conflicts of interest, we will ask our readers to contact the Special Office of the Prosecutor for non-profit organizations and file an official complaint. Enough is finally enough!!

June 25, 2022, n.stamatakis@aol.com   www.helleniscope.com

DISCLAIMER: The views and statements expressed in this article constitute constitutionally protected opinions of this auth