'Father Stathi' says farewell to Greek church
Orthodox News
'Father Stathi' says farewell to Greek church
Priest helped heal and revive Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral in
Charlotte.
By Tim Funk
Posted: Monday, Oct. 04, 2010
The murder of a prominent journalist half a world away is having
repercussions at Charlotte's Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral.
On Sunday, the church - host of the popular Yiasou Greek Festival every
September - officially and emotionally said goodbye to their No. 2
priest, who happens to be the son of their No. 1 priest.
When the Rev. Efstathios Varvarelis, then 29, arrived nearly four years
ago to work alongside the Rev. Michael Varvarelis, then 56, lay leaders
thought the father-son combo would give the church long-term stability.
That's exactly what they were looking for after a few years of stormy
times, with the coming and going of priests and parishioners and even,
at a low point in 2002, two rival parish councils, with competing
lawyers, police calls and padlocked offices.
But the Mafia-style assassination in July of Sokrates Giolias, a Greek
investigative reporter and blogger, is causing the younger Varvarelis -
"Father Stathi" to his Charlotte flock - to leave Holy Trinity this
month and move to Greece with his wife and two young daughters.
The reason: The slain journalist was the Charlotte priest's
brother-in-law. Shot 16 times by masked gunmen during an early-morning
ambush, Giolias left behind a 27-year-old wife who is pregnant with
their second child. The widow is the younger sister of Rev. Varvarelis'
Greek-born wife, Paraskevi.
"The situation is very difficult," said the priest, who was born in the
United States but educated in Greece. "This (move) is something we need
to do. The family is very close."
The assassination in Athens sent shock waves through Greece and
garnered headlines across Europe. Giolias, 37, was reportedly about to
release an investigative series on corruption when he was killed by a
group called the Sect of Revolutionaries.
'He was there for us'
On Sunday in Charlotte, it was clear that members of Holy Trinity -
spiritual home to more than 1,000 families - understood and accepted
the reason they were losing their young, soft-spoken priest.
But there was grief in their voices as they said their farewells - from
the older Rev. Varvarelis, saying goodbye to a son and colleague, to
the church's teens, who are losing a chaplain who attended their
basketball games, started an award-winning Byzantine chant group and
encouraged them to emulate Christ in their lives.
"Father Michael," the church's Greek-born dean since 2005, said he was
"numb" at the prospect of his son's imminent departure. "Tears come to
my eyes. But God bless the (nearly) four years he was here."
The youth of the church, who established a close bond with Father
Stathi, gave him an icon of St. Demetrios, the patron saint of the
parish he'll be assigned to in Almyros, Greece, a small town near the
metropolis of Volos.
"He was always there for us," said Sarantos Kaperonis, 18, now a
student at the University of South Carolina.
Effie Fotopoulos, a Sunday school teacher who worked closely with
Father Stathi, cried Sunday. She said the priest was at the hospital
constantly when her father underwent brain surgery.
"When you lose somebody like that, you lose part of the family," she
said.
Father Stathi, like his father and many priests in Greece, wears a
black robe, a beard and long hair. He also fought tears Sunday, asking
the hundreds of members at a sumptuous goodbye lunch to remember him
and his family in their prayers.
And, he added, "please take care of my father. I'm not going to be
around every day. Be there for him."
In the Greek Orthodox church, married men can be ordained priests. And
sons sometimes follow their fathers into the ministry. But it's rare
for a father and son to team up to run a church - as the Fathers
Varvarelis have done at Holy Trinity.
Alexios, the Greek Orthodox "metropolitan," or bishop, in Atlanta, has
already assigned a replacement for Father Stathi at Holy Trinity.
Philemon Patitsas - a deacon in his 40s who knew Father Michael when he
was assigned to a church in Pennsylvania - will start at Holy Trinity
on Oct. 15. He will be ordained a priest two days later. The church
also plans to hire a lay youth director, said John Karagiannis,
president of the parish council.
He added that Patitsas' recent visit to the church went well and that
he and other lay leaders expect a smooth future for Holy Trinity.
Founded in the 1920s by Greek immigrants, the church was for decades a
close-knit congregation. For 30 years, (1966-96), it was shepherded by
the Rev. Phaeton Constantinides, a beloved priest - his flock called
him "Father C" - who baptized, married and buried generations of
members.
But after his death, the church seemed to split apart. In 1998, 60
families left to start St. Nektarios, near the Arboretum area south
Charlotte - a move that caused hurt feelings among some of the older,
Greek-born members. Then, in 2002, church factions at Holy Trinity
openly clashed. Some Sunday services were even canceled as the two
rival parish councils - and their attorneys - fought over which would
prevail.
Church united again
Judging by Sunday's outpouring, the father-and-son priests have brought
parishioners together again.
"I will continue here," Father Michael said. "And we have been blessed
with a youthful parish council."
Karagiannis, 37, a software company consultant who's president of the
parish council, said the divisiveness of old "is behind us ... We're at
a point now, where we have a very cohesive board. We're looking to the
future."
Parishioners like Aphrodite Katopodis, 35, were hoping that that future
would include Father Stathi.
A lifelong member of Holy Trinity and now the parent, like Father
Stathi, of young children, she was among those who stood in a long line
Sunday to whisper a goodbye into his ear.
"He's definitely going to be missed," she said. "I was looking forward
to growing old with him here."