Fr. Demos, a native of Chicago, Ill., has served as a priest of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese for forty years. He has served parishes in Rochester, Binghamton, and Greenlawn, NY; Charleston, W.Va.; Bethesda, Md; and Boston and Peabody, Mass. He has also served Hellenic College/Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, Mass., in a variety of capacities, including Dean of Admissions and Development Officer. For the past seven years, Fr. Demos has served as Chancellor of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Boston. He holds a Masters of Divinity in Theology from Holy Cross and a Doctor of Ministry degree in Pastoral Psychology from Andover-Newton Seminary in Newton, Mass. While serving as Archiepiscopal Vicar, Fr. Demos will also pastor the parish of St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church on East 17th Street in New York City.

Fr. Demos and his wife of forty years, Presvytera Carol (Psaros), are the parents of two sons, Constantine and Mark.


Contact: Stavros Papagermanos
Tel.: 212.570.3556

Archbishop Demetrios also offered a Prayer of Invocation at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colo. on Wednesday, August 27, 2008.

Contact: Stavros Papagermanos
Tel.: 212.570.3556 Fax: 212.774.0237

Encyclical, September 1, 2008

Prot. No. 1091

+ B A R T H O L O M E W
BY THE MERCY OF GOD ARCHBISHOP
OF CONSTANTINOPLE, NEW ROME AND
ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH
TO THE PLENITUDE OF THE CHURCH
GRACE AND PEACE
FROM THE CREATOR OF THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE
OUR LORD, GOD AND SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST


For creation was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who subjected it ... For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now. (Rom. 8. 20,22)

Beloved Brothers and children in the Lord,

Once again, as the ecclesiastical year begins, we are called to reflect – with renewed spiritual intensity in Christ and especial sensitivity – on the state of our bountiful planet, and to offer particular prayers for the protection of the whole natural world.

Many things have changed since our predecessor, the late Patriarch Dimitrios decided, over two decades ago, that September 1st should be dedicated as a day of supplication for the preservation of God’s beautiful creation. In assuming that initiative, the late Ecumenical Patriarch also issued a message of warning about the destructive consequences of abusing the environment. He noted that, in contrast with most other forms of human misuse and violation, environmental pollution has the potential to cause vast and irreversible damage, by destroying virtually all forms of life on the planet.

At the time, of course, this warning may have sounded exaggerated to certain sceptical ears; however, in the light of what we know now, it is abundantly clear that his words were prophetic. Today, environmental scientists expressly emphasize that the observed climate change has the potential to disrupt and destroy the entire ecosystem, which sustains not only the human species but also the entire wondrous world of animals and plants that is interdependent upon one another like a chain. The choices and actions of what is otherwise civilized modern man have led to this tragic situation, essentially comprising a moral and spiritual problem, which the divinely inspired Apostle Paul had articulated with colorful imagery in underlining its specifically ontological dimension in his Letter to the Romans nineteen centuries ago: “For creation was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who subjected it ... For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now.” (Rom. 8. 20,22)

At this point, however, we are obligated to state that this spiritual and moral dimension of the environmental problem constitutes today, perhaps more so than ever before, the common conscience of all people, and especially young people, who are well aware of the fact that all of humanity has a common destiny. An increasing number of people comprehends that their overall consumption – namely, their personal involvement in the production of particular goods or their rejection of others – touches not only on ethical, but also on eschatological parameters. An increasing number of people understands that the irrational use of natural resources and the unchecked consumption of energy contribute to the reality of climate change, with consequences on the life and survival of humanity created in the image of God and is therefore tantamount to sin. An increasing number of people characterizes either virtuous or else vicious those who correspondingly treat created nature either reasonably or unreasonably.

Nevertheless, by the same token, even as people’s awareness of the For the rest of this News Release, visit the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America website