AROUND & ABOUT BRITISH COLUMBIA
By Dimitrios & Katerina Angelatos
PRIEST IN SURREY CALLS IT QUITS
On Sunday, January 2nd Fr. Fotios Cici, the priest at Ss. Constantine & Helen Church in Surrey announced at the end of the liturgy that he was resigning, effective that day.
There has been an ongoing struggle between the priest and some of the parishioners, especially some of the directors of the Greek Orthodox Community of Surrey and Fraser Valley, ever since the priest arrived to take up his duties at the beginning of July. The priest did not agree with the wishes of some of the directors and members to turn the premises, now a church, back to its previous use as dance hall and part-time church. Fr. Fotios announced that he had originally intended to stay at few more months to give time to Archbishop Sotirios to find a replacement but an altercation with some of the directors just before the Sunday service made him decide otherwise.
Fr. Foti said that he would be very sad to leave many of the faithful of the parish but felt it was pointless to stay and work under the present hostile conditions. He also said he was disappointed that Metropolitan Sotirios had not given clear direction to the community on the matter. He was told one thing by the Metropolitan, the directors were told something else and the people something else again.
A disturbance took place in the church while the priest was talking. Cell phones could be heard ringing before the president Pavlos Kaltsidis quickly made his way to where Dimitrios Angelatos of Patrides was sitting with some of his family. Mr. Kaltsidis tried to forcibly take away the tape recorder that Mr. Angelatos was using. The priest was made aware of what was going on and admonished Mr. Kaltsidis for causing the disturbance. Mr. Kaltsidis shouted that Mr. Angelatos had no right to do any taping in the church. He (Kaltsidis) was the president and it was up to him to decide who was allowed to tape in his church. Fr. Foti pointed out that he had asked Mr. Angelatos to tape the sermon. Also everyone had the right to tape the sermon and service quietly and did not need the president’s permission to do so.
Within hours of the priest’s resignation rumours were flying all over town as to his whereabouts. Contrary to what was said, the priest was still around weeks later. He is taking a rest, recovering from all the emotional stress of the past few months. During the past weeks he has taken part in services at St. Herman (OCA) in Langley, St. Elais (OCA) in New Westminster and St. Nicholas (OCA) in Langley. He is now waiting to see if he will accept if Metropolitan Sotirios offers him another Greek parish in Canada. If not Metropolitan Sotirios will release him to return to the Orthodox Church in America, Canada from which he was “on loan”. It will then be up to Bishop Seraphim to decide his future.
For several months before the resignation of Fr. Foti a number of Greek men and women had been going around, claiming they were going to make life so uncomfortable for him that he would be forced to resign. No wonder the community has trouble holding onto its priests if they have to endure such unchristian behaviour. Other individuals beside the priest have been treated in this vile manner as well. Does this look like the type of action that should be condoned by Orthodox Christians? Surely this type of disrespectful behaviour only serves to bring shame on all the Hellenic people. Perhaps the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese should enshrine a code of conduct into its constitution that would exclude people who acted in such a manner from holding office in the Greek Orthodox communities.
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR SURREY COMMUNITY?
Ss. Constantine & Helen church (Greek Orthodox Community of Surrey & Fraser Valley) is temporarily being served short-term by a Russian priest. It remains to be seen if any new priest assigned to Ss. Constantine & Helen Church in Surrey will fare any better than all the previous seven ones. Given the track record of that community it is highly unlikely but only the future will tell for sure.
A number of the people who attended church regularly in Surrey have become very disillusioned. Some are now attending St. George Cathedral or SS. Nicholas & Dimitrios Church in Vancouver while others are going all the way to St. Sophia in Bellingham, USA. Some have gone to other Orthodox churches while some seem to have given up on attending church at all.
The future of the church and community is now in the hands of the new directors.
They must welcome everyone, members and non-members alike and not continue the past practice of trying to exclude some people because of personal dislikes or for political reasons. They will have a hard task before them to regain the confidence of the people. Perhaps it is time for them to start looking around for new premises for the church if they insist on using the present one as a dance hall. Then maybe both factions of the community can come together to work as one, for the better of all. The priests come and go over the years. The rest of us remain here, having to deal with problems created over the years. We can not expect the priests or the bishop to build the church or community and cultural center for us. It is up to all of us to pull together to ensure the future for our children and grandchildren.
SUPPORTING THE TSUNAMI RELIEF EFFORT
Saturday, January 8th was a national day of remembrance for all those who lost their lives in Asia, in the earthquake and the tsunami that followed on December 26, 2004. All across Canada special memorial services were held.
In the Greek Orthodox churches across Canada memorial services were held on Sunday, January 9th. One of those churches commemorating the victims of the recent disaster was St. George Cathedral in Vancouver. The people of Canada opened their hearts to the victims of the disaster, raising huge sums of money across the country. St. George Cathedral also contributed by giving its entire collection plate for the day for disaster relief in the stricken area.
NEW PRIEST TO BE ORDAINED IN VANCOUVER
The Greeks of the greater Vancouver area are awaiting the arrival of a young deacon from eastern Canada. He will be inducted into the priesthood here. There are two parishes that are presently without a priest, SS. Nicholas & Dimitrios Church in east Vancouver and SS. Constantine & Helen Church in Surrey. It remains to be seen to which of the parishes the newly ordained priest will be assigned. Both churches now only have temporary priests.
The parish of SS. Nicholas & Dimitrios Church (Greek Orthodox Community of East Vancouver) is the older of the two. There the church is well established and the board more experienced, which should help an inexperienced priest ease into his duties.
If he is sent to SS. Constantine & Helen Church (Greek Orthodox Community of Surrey & Fraser Valley) he will have to work with a community very divided. If he goes along with those wishing to have the church and the dance hall in the same room he will lose the support and respect of many Christians. If that community is able to separate the church and dance hall by finding another location for one of them then the priest has a chance and the problems of the past will fade. Otherwise the priest and the people will be at loggerheads again.
