The Christos and Georgia Trakatellis Fellowship Fund was established in 2011 by His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios and his brother, Prof. Antonios Trakatellis in memory of their parents. The purpose of the fund is to offer Fellowships to graduates of Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, who are planning to continue their studies in the Greek language, Hellenic culture and liturgical practice. This study could be part of an established Doctoral or Masters level program, or part of a free program, which, however, should be well structured and clearly defined, in view of the above stated purpose of the fund.  These studies could take place here in the U.S., or preferably in Greece or the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople.

Candidates for The Christos and Georgia Trakatellis Fellowship shall be chosen based on “merit” and “need.”  The amount of the Fellowship is $3,000 per semester for up to two semesters, totaling $6,000. One or more full, or partial, Fellowships will be awarded annually.

To obtain an application for the 2012-2013 academic year  visit http://www.goarch.org/archdiocese/administration/chancellor/trakatellis or contact the Chancellor’s Office (scholarships@goarch.org) tel.: (212) 774-0513.  The application needs to be completed in full and together with all the necessary documentation, sent to the Chancellor’s Office by the April 20, 2012 deadline. Application does not automatically guarantee an award.  Each application will be considered individually in conjunction with the supporting documentation provided by each candidate.

NEW YORK – Applications and instructions for the three scholarships administered by the Chancellor’s Office of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, are now available for awards to be made for the 2012-2013 academic year. Two of these scholarships are for undergraduate studies: the George & Naouma (Gioule) Gioles Scholarship and the Katina John Malta Scholarship; the third one is the Paleologos Graduate Scholarship, which is awarded for graduate work of a non-theological nature. Each of these scholarships was established through generous gifts from dedicated Greek Orthodox Christians who wanted to provide financial assistance towards the education of young people from our Orthodox community.

The deadline for applying for all three is April 20, 2012. Further details, including complete instructions and applications, are available on-line on the website of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America at www.goarch.org. Applications may also be requested by e-mail at scholarships@goarch.org, or by written request to the Scholarship Committee, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, 8-10 East 79th Street, New York, NY, 10075.

CATECHETICAL HOMILY

For Holy and Great Lent

+ B A R T H O L O M E W

By God’s Mercy Archbishop of Constantinople-New Rome

and Ecumenical Patriarch

To the Plenitude of the Church:
Grace and Peace from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
And Prayers, Blessings and Forgiveness from Us

“O faithful, let us joyfully welcome
the divinely-inspired announcement of fasting”

Beloved brothers and sisters in the Lord,
In recent times, we observe an elevated level of concern. Many challenges arise. The world is suffering and yearns for help. Indeed, we are going through a general test. Some people call it a financial decline; others refer to it as a political crisis. So far as we are concerned, it is a matter of spiritual perversion. And a solution exists. Many resolutions are proposed and numerous viewpoints are heard. Yet, the problems persist. People feel deserted and alone. Their deeper nature is ignored. They remain in the gloom of confusion and depression.

Irrespective of the direction or solution proposed, the various answers that are offered cannot redeem humanity. For, from the outset, they render it captive to corruption and death. The Church is the divine-human Lord, who alone can liberate our soul. Upon entering the space of the Church, we enter the atmosphere of divine consolation, of reconciliation between heaven and earth. We are at home. Our spirit is calm. We discover a heavenly beauty and a spiritual maturity, “a holy fragrance capable of reaching the ends of the world.” The Church knows all that we suffer. It speaks the whole truth. And it urges us to face reality as it is; to recognize that we are earth and dust.

The Great Canon of St. Andrew makes mention of repentant tears of and sorrowful mourning, namely the pain of our wounds. Nonetheless, what follows is the rest of the soul, the health of the spirit. We have our Creator and Savior. Through the abundance of His mercy, he has placed us at the intersection of incorruption and mortality. He has not forsaken us. He came to save us. Through His cross, He abolished death. He granted us incorruption of the flesh.

Since, therefore, we are planted with Christ, why are we troubled in vain? Why do we not run toward Him? The Church neither dwells on nor abandons us to corruption. It knows our deeper inclinations and comes to our support and salvation. We need nourishment. Yet, “man does not live by bread alone.” (Matt. 4.4) We also need spiritual understanding; however, we are not bodiless. In the Church, we discover the fullness of life and understanding as a divine-human balance. Away from God, we are perverted and corrupted. Wherever material goods are plentiful and waste is glorified, scandalous temptation and dark confusion prevail.

Wherever human beings live with reverence and receive all things with gratitude and thanksgiving, all things are sanctified. The little is considered blessing; the corrupt is dressed with the glory of incorruption. Human beings enjoy what is ephemeral as a gift from God, while at the same time being nourished from here and now by the pledge of the future life. Not only are problems solved, but even the suffering of trials are transformed into the power of life and a reason for giving glory. When this occurs with our soul, w For the rest of this News Release, visit the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America website