Archbishop Elpidophoros of America

09/08/2026

As the nation begins a week of remembrance marking the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America joined public officials, Port Authority police officers, and community leaders for the dedication of the new Port Authority Memorial in Lower Manhattan. The memorial stands beside the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine, overlooking the 9/11 Memorial at Ground Zero.

Among those attending the ceremony were New York Governor Kathy Hochul, Port Authority Executive Director Kathryn Garcia, Port Authority Board Chairman Kevin O’Toole, Congressman Dan Goldman, State Senator Brian Kavanagh, Assemblymember Grace Lee, Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal, World Trade Center Memorial Fund President Paul Iannacone, as well as current and retired Port Authority police officers, family members, friends, and supporters.

“It is deeply meaningful that we gather here beside our Saint Nicholas National Shrine,” the Archbishop said. “This little church was itself lost on September 11. Today, it stands again overlooking Ground Zero, not as though the tragedy never happened, but precisely because it did.”

Drawing a connection between the rebuilding of St. Nicholas and the resilience of the city and nation, Archbishop Elpidophoros described the shrine as a powerful symbol of hope born from tragedy.

Read more at the link in our bio. (Photos by Orthodox Observer/Tom Galanis)

09/07/2026

On this Labor Day, I am reminded that everything around us was built by someone’s hands. The road, the harvest, the meal, the machine. I am also reminded that the ordinary protections of a working day, its hours and its safety, are the outcome of the pursuit of countless men and women who struggled. We honor all who labor: in the field and the factory, in the kitchen and the hospital ward, at the desk and behind the wheel, and in the home where the work never ends. Our Lord Himself worked with His own hands in the carpenter’s shop before He spoke a word in public.

May the Lord our God, Who sanctified human labor by the work of His own hands, bless the work of your hands, minds, and hearts. We offer this prayer as work itself is being remade. Artificial intelligence and robotics are entering the field, the clinic and the office, and no tool arrives innocent; each carries the purposes of those who built it and decided where it would be used. Let these technologies lighten the burden of human labor. Let them never become the reason a person is treated as a cog to be discarded, nor the pretext for handing to an algorithm a judgment that requires a conscience. The human person is created in the image and likeness of the living God and must never be reduced to something expendable.

Photo by Orthodox Observer/Brittainy Newman

09/01/2026

Marking the New Ecclesiastical Year, September 1st, is a most significant day for our Church and the entirety of humanity. Our Ecumenical Patriarchate, and especially His All-Holiness Bartholomew, for decades have been emphasizing our relationship with the Earth and all creation, as the God-given environment in which the human family is called to serve as stewards of creation. This contains all that we hold dear on our “Big, Blue Marble” – the land and the seas, the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the creatures with whom we share this planet.

We are indeed blessed that we have a “Green” Patriarch who understands the sacred nature of creation, which we celebrate and acknowledge in every icon fashioned for the sanctification of the Faithful. His All-Holiness has been leading the way for a truly Patristic and theological ecology that applies not only across the Christian world in all its diversity, but throughout the interfaith and interspiritual communities as well.

The devastating fires across North America and the recent tragedy in Nepal, where a glacial collapse unleashed a catastrophic cascade of ice, rock, mud, and floodwaters, are stark reminders of the intensifying consequences of climate change, the fragility of our common home, and our sacred responsibility to care for it.

As we commence this New Ecclesiastical Year, may we each pause for a moment to remember the created order with which God has graced our lives, and may we each, in our own way, commit to protecting, enhancing, restoring, and safeguarding the precious gift of the created universe, beginning with our Mother Earth, above whom “the heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims the work of His hands” (Psalm 18:1 LXX).

Icon: Deisis Christ Pantocrator, c. 1261, Hagia Sophia, Constantinople.

08/27/2026

WASHINGTON, D.C — At the invitation of Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Riley Barnes, His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America visited the U.S. Department of State for a substantive and constructive meeting on issues of mutual concern.

There was a warm discussion on the protection and advancement of religious freedom, the longstanding efforts and very hopeful advancements in securing the reopening of the historic Theological School of Halki, and the importance of safeguarding the rights and institutions of religious communities throughout the world. His Eminence underscored the significance of Halki not only for the Ecumenical Patriarchate and global Orthodoxy, but also as an enduring matter of religious liberty and human rights.

The Archbishop and Assistant Secretary Barnes also discussed the situation facing Christians in the Middle East and the importance of ensuring the protection, security, and religious freedom of the region’s historic Christian communities. Their discussion emphasized the need to preserve the Christian presence in the lands where Christianity has flourished since apostolic times and to safeguard the ability of these communities to live, worship, and serve freely and in peace.

Read more at the link in the comments below. Photo by Orthodox Observer.

08/23/2026

With profound sorrow, I learned of the sudden passing of Ioanna Giannopoulou. Through more than two decades of devoted service to Cosmos FM and GAEPIS, Ioanna helped sustain a vital voice of Hellenism in America and strengthened the bonds uniting our community with Greece. She served with faith, warmth, and tireless generosity, and her legacy will endure in the institution and the people she loved. On behalf of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, I extend heartfelt condolences to her sons, George and Thomas, to her entire family, and to the Cosmos FM and GAEPIS family. May her memory be eternal.

NEW YORK — Ioanna Antzouli-Giannopoulou, the longtime Director of Operations of Hellenic Public Radio–Cosmos FM and a beloved figure in New York’s Greek American community, passed away suddenly in her native Lamia, Greece, on Sunday, August 23, 2026—the day of her 72nd birthday.

Born in Lamia and raised in Athens, Giannopoulou moved with her family to Brooklyn in 1973. She studied English writing at New York University and earned a liberal arts degree from Brooklyn College.

After stepping away from radio to raise her two sons, George and Thomas, she served her beloved Three Hierarchs Greek Orthodox parish as Parent-Teacher Organization president, a School Board member, and a Philoptochos volunteer.

Read more about Ioanna’s life and legacy at the link in the comments below. Photo courtesy of Cosmos FM.

08/14/2026

Tomorrow we transit from the Fast to the Feast of the Dormition, our solemn observance of her passage from death to eternal life. Our cessation from fasting is more than an occasion for feasting. Our embrace of the Virgin’s crossing over into the infinite Kingdom of God is an acknowledgment of our own destiny. She traverses perfectly the Way, the Truth, and the Life, pointing us in the direction of eternity. She is the model for every one of us, for within her holy womb, she bore the Lord Incarnate, and in our lives, we are also called to bring forth the Lord Christ through our thoughts, our intentions, and our actions. May our celebrations of her Holy Dormition be a renewal of our own journey heavenward, with the Panagia as our guide, our protector, and our most loving Mother.

Χρόνια Πολλά!

(Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos. Mosaic in Chora Monastery)

08/06/2026

As we celebrate the glorious Feast of the Lord’s Transfiguration, let us listen closely to His Message for us. He Who is the Fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets spoke with the Lawgiver, Moses, and the Prophet Elias. He spoke to them of His own “exodus” (Luke 9:31), His preparing to “pass over” from death to Life. Peter, Iakovos, and John were overcome by the experience, and Peter tried to capture it in the three “tabernacles” he unwittingly suggested they build for the Lord and his heavenly interlocutors. But the vision they were granted of the resplendent Lord of Glory was not for them alone. Rather, it was a foretaste of the Resurrection. And so may it be for us as we celebrate this major Feast of our Master Christ. May we recognize that the sacrifice of the Cross is the door to Eternal Life, and behold the Uncreated Light of God in our hearts, that we may become living examples of the Message that was unveiled on the Holy Mountain Tabor.

Icon: The Transfiguration of Christ: Part of an iconostasis in Constantinople style (Saint Catherine’s Monastery, Sinai, Egypt). Middle of the 12th century.

08/01/2026

Today, we joyfully embark upon the Fast for the Dormition of the Theotokos. These days of the Paraklesis, when we supplicate her to intercede for our lives, our families, our communities, and our world is a time of spiritual intensity. Thus we fast, in order to soften our hearts and to prepare for the “Little Pascha” of her passing into eternal life. She leaves this world where her motherhood is limited, to reign from Heaven as the Mother of us all. By her holy intercessions, may we find our hope restored, our faith strengthened, and our love deepened.

Icon of the Theotokos at Chora Church, Constantinople. Photo by Orthodox Observer/Brittainy Newman

07/22/2026

With profound joy, I extend my heartfelt congratulations to my beloved brother in Christ, His Eminence Archbishop-elect Apostolos of Canada, upon his elevation by the Great Church of Christ to shepherd the Sacred Archdiocese of Canada.

As he begins this new chapter of his archpastoral ministry, I pray that His Eminence serves with unwavering devotion, pastoral sensitivity, compassionate wisdom, and steadfast fidelity to our Mother Church, the Ecumenical Patriarchate. May he strengthen the clergy and faithful entrusted to his care, respond with love and discernment to the needs of the Greek Orthodox community throughout Canada, and advance the sacred mission of the Church with humility and resolve.

I pray that our Lord will grant him abundant strength, wisdom, and every heavenly blessing as he undertakes this sacred responsibility. May his archpastoral ministry be fruitful and enduring, to the glory of God, the advancement of the Church, and the service of the Ecumenical Throne.

Ἄξιος!

(His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America with His Eminence Metropolitan Apostolos at the dinner commemorating the 10th anniversary of Metropolitan Apostolos’ episcopal ordination, January 13, 2025. Photo by Orthodox Observer/Dimitrios Panagos)

07/20/2026

On this solemn anniversary, we remember the illegal invasion and occupation of Cyprus by Türkiye that took place fifty-two years ago. Peace and justice for Cyprus remain unfulfilled, and we affirm our unwavering solidarity with Cyprus and its people. We continue to pray and work for a just, peaceful, and lasting settlement that will reunify the island.

(Pictured, His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America speaks at the 102nd Annual AHEPA Supreme Convention in Limassol, Cyprus, in July 2024, marking the 50th anniversary of the invasion of Cyprus. Also pictured, from left, are former AHEPA Supreme President Nick Karacostas and Savas Tsivicos, AHEPA Supreme President at the time. Photo by Orthodox Observer/Dimitrios Panagos)