10/10/2026
Remembering our own Rev. Father Thomas Fitzgerald. May his memory be eternal. ✝️
Remembering the Life and Legacy of Rev. Dr. Thomas FitzGerald
A Diakonia of Love
Eulogy offered by the Rev. Fr. Robert Arida, Retired Dean of Holy Trinity Orthodox Cathedral, on the First Anniversary of the Falling Asleep of Rev. Dr. Thomas FitzGerald December 29, 2024
There are few things that should be pointed out about the life of Fr. Thomas FitzGerald that really concerns not only the life of this particular person but the lives of those who seek to serve the Church. The first thing is that Fr. Thomas was a man of love and that love was first and foremost shown to and with his wife Dr. Kyriaki. They were a very close intimate couple and their lives formed a symphony of authentic diakonia for the building up of Christ’s Church. Both taught at Hellenic College Holy Cross in Brookline. Fr. Thomas was not only a Professor of Church History but also was Dean for a while of the theological school. As a priest he exemplified what is absolutely fundamental to anyone serving in the Church particularly in the capacity of a presbyter. And that was seen in his ability to intertwine inextricably his scholarship with his pastoral responsibilities. In other words, he was a good theologian because he was a good pastor, he was a good pastor because he was a good theologian.
We live in a time where there are many people studying theology, particularly Orthodox theology and yet there is no connection with the ‘Other’ and dare I say little connection with God himself. Theology is often an enterprise of people immersing themselves in the Philokalia, the Cappadocian Fathers, Palamism, etc. etc. All of this is done without a real connection with God. As mentioned in his homily this morning, hope is fundamental to our faith. Yet we must remember that this hope is not wishful thinking, but is based on the encounter with the transcendent and living God. And this encounter is what instills hope. Fr. Thomas was precisely one who personified a person of hope, a person who encountered the living God and who wanted to share that encounter with the other through his scholarship and being a pastor to his students and to his little flock in New Hampshire and to anyone who came into his life. He is an important example – even though most of us did not know him, never even seen him – he was a man who shared this real encounter with the living God with others. And finally, because of his concern for the Orthodox Church maintaining its integrity in the 21st century he was open to others. He was involved in the Ecumenical movement. He and his wife Dr. Kyriaki who also taught pastoral theology at Holy Cross were for a time in Geneva at the Ecumenical center there and both of them were people who were not afraid to encounter the non-Orthodox. They were not afraid to share with the non-Orthodox what our Church has to offer. In addition to this he was not afraid to learn from the non-Orthodox. As we know Orthodox Christians can be extremely smug, closed, provincial. I would venture to say that Fr. Thomas and his wife Dr. Kyriaki FitzGerald were anything but closed or provincial.
We pray for the repose of his soul, we pray that the Lord have mercy upon him, forgive him all of his sins voluntary and involuntary and that his legacy may continue here and now for the building up of the body of Christ. Amen
