Orthodox Observer

11/12/2025

On Sunday, Nov. 9th, St. Michael’s Home hosted its Annual Name Day Gala at the Metropolitan Club in New York City. This year’s event honored distinguished members of the community Libby & Mike Angeliades with the 2025 Archangel Michael Award, in recognition of their accomplishments in the world of commerce and especially their magnanimous support of so many worthy causes.

Introduced by Fr. Alex Karloutsos, Mr. Angeliades, born on the island of Simi, accepted the award “on behalf of all the early immigrants who built brick-by-brick the churches, schools and institutions of our Archdiocese.”

Read the full article at the link in the comments below.
Photos courtesy of Christopher Bucello

11/12/2025

Orthodox Volunteer Corps (OVC), an agency of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America, is now recruiting Orthodox young adults for its fall 2026 cohorts in Boston and Pittsburgh.

The ministry offers a 10-month residency experience for young adults that integrates service placements with vulnerable communities, weekly formation in Orthodoxy and leadership development, life in community with other young adults, and immersion in the life of the Church.

OVC’s early application deadline is Jan. 26, and the regular application deadline is Feb. 19. Orthodox Christians who are eager to serve and aged 21-29 can learn how to apply here. If you would like to nominate someone, you may do so here.

In a social media post, OVC issued the following statement:

“Today we officially launch our 5th season of recruitment for the Fall 2026 full-time program of OVC. In September 2022, we began with six participants in one city. Now we have 16 FT Corps Members across two cities–Boston and Pittsburgh. Every year, we facilitate a year of immersive service & learning with our most vulnerable neighbors and rooted in the Orthodox faith. Every year, participants tell us the difference it makes. We now have 27 alumni working in a variety of settings (medicine, engineering, education, HR, direct service, Orthodox ministries) and others pursuing advanced degrees. Want to join with others to put your faith in action? See yourself at OVC.”

A link to apply can be found in the comments below.
Photos and article courtesy of the OVC.

11/12/2025

The faithful of the Holy Resurrection in Brookville, NY, witnessed the ordination of Dn. Gregory Gatanas to the Holy Priesthood by His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America on Sunday, Nov. 9, the Feastday of St. Nektarios.

Fr. Gregory has served the Brookville community for the past five years and will now continue his ministry at Saint Sophia Cathedral in Washington, D.C., alongside his Presvytera Eleftheria.

In his words to Fr. Gregory, His Eminence said, “Let your ministry as a priest be marked by mindful prayer and humble praise of the Most High, so that, like Saint Nektarios, you are not pointing a microscope on your own life, but you are rather telescoping your love into the universe – even beyond the very stars, to the Throne of Heaven, that is ‘like a vision of jasper and sardius, glowing like an emerald rainbow.’ May you enjoy many, many years of service before the Throne of God, the Holy Altar that is upon the earth. May your ministry be blessed as was that of the Saint whose memory we celebrate today, that your life and the life of your family be a happy one, filled with the satisfaction that comes from the ministry of love and service to others.”

Photos by Orthodox Observer/Dimitrios Panagos

11/11/2025

On this Veterans Day, we bow before those who accepted danger—and the families who shared the burden. As a Church that prays at every Divine Liturgy for “our country, its civil authorities, and its Armed Forces,” we must move from performative gestures to real support: healing, connection, and pathways to work and housing. May the God of peace strengthen every veteran.

Photo by Orthodox Observer/Brittainy Newman

11/11/2025

11/10/2025

"God bless the Lord’s creation, the innocent animals. Service animals are a gift and a blessing," parishioner Jackie Morfesis writes to the Observer.

Read her full article at the link in the comments below.

11/09/2025

November 9, 2025 - 7th Sunday of Luke - Ordination of Dn. Gregory Gatanas Want to learn more about our community visit: www.resurrectiongoc.org Want to light...

11/01/2025

The second day of the Orthodox Observer’s conference on artificial intelligence (AI) and theology, held at the Maliotis Cultural Center in Brookline, Mass., continued conversation around its titular question: “Do the Divine and Digital Intersect?”

Michael Kratsios delivered the conference’s second keynote address. As the thirteenth Director of the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy, Kratsios oversees the development and ex*****on of the U.S.’s science and technology policy agenda. He leads efforts to ensure American leadership in critical and emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence.

“The wisdom of Orthodoxy can speak to one of the most important issues of our time,” Kratsios said, drawing from His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew’s recent reflections on nepsis, ascesis, and metron: watchful vigilance, self-discipline, and proper measure.

Kratsios encouraged using new tools “responsibly, for the good of others,” while acknowledging that AI simultaneously makes clear “the necessity of faith.”

The morning’s session opened with a panel entitled “Christian Personhood and AI,” moderated by Dr. Claire Koen and including presentations from Fr. John Chryssavgis and Drs. Aristotle Papanikolaou and Gayle Woloschak.

Fr. John cautioned that AI may bring “newer and faster ways to discriminate against and further divide people and communities,” citing as examples employment opportunities, housing applications, medical treatments, and parole grants.

“How is the veneer of objectivity to be reconciled with the reality of subjectivity?” he asked. “But what is far more challenging is … whether human judgment remains indispensable in determining the nature and scope of life’s paramount values.”

Read the full story at the link in the comments below
Story by Corinna Robinson

10/31/2025

The Orthodox Observer’s conference on artificial intelligence and theology opened on Thursday evening at the Maliotis Cultural Center in Brookline, Mass., its title asking a provocative question: “Do the Divine and Digital Intersect?”

With presentations from theologians, clergy, and engineers, the event’s first night explored how Orthodox Christianity can guide faithful–and society at large–through the challenges artificial intelligence (AI) presents.

In his opening remarks, GOARCH Director of Communications Dr. Stratos Safioleas warned that what was once a novelty “has become now an emergency.”

“The questions around artificial intelligence extend far beyond technology,” Safioleas said. “They touch on social, economic, and ethical issues, and perhaps more importantly, they present existential issues.”

Theologians are “uniquely equipped to speak with depth and wisdom about these matters,” Safioleas said.

His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America echoed the assertion that the Church is called to ethical leadership. “The question of where and how the divine and digital intersect is an urgent one,” he said. “One that must not be avoided by the Church.”

“The possibility of a ‘technological tsunami’ should be motivation enough … we owe this to our faithful,” the Archbishop said.

Read the full article at the link in the comments below.
Photos by Orthodox Observer/Dimitrios Panagos

10/30/2025

His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America will open our conference, "Do the Digital and Divine Intersect?" at the Maliotis Cultural Center of Hellenic College Holy Cross today at 5 p.m.

Register at the link below.

Church! Our colleagues from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America have generously invited the WHOLE CHURCH to attend this important conference on theology and artificial intelligence in Brookline this week at the Maliotis Cultural Center of Hellenic College Holy Cross. Tickets have been made free for local churches. Please consider attending for your continuing edification. With hope, ~ Rev. Laura Everett

The Orthodox Observer warmly invites you to a two-day conference on Artificial Intelligence and Theology: “Do the Divine and the Digital Intersect?” This interdisciplinary gathering explores the theological, cultural, and societal implications of artificial intelligence through the lens of Orthodox Christian thought.

📅 Date: October 30–31, 2025
📍 Location: Maliotis Cultural Center, Hellenic College Holy Cross, Brookline, MA

Register at the link. Limited seating available.

Keynote speakers include Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (Oct. 31), and Dr. Yannis Papakonstantinou, Distinguished Engineer at Google Cloud, adjunct professor, UCLA San Diego (Oct. 30).

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/do-the-divine-and-the-digital-intersect-tickets-1661380727479?aff=oddtdtcreator

10/30/2025

On Oct. 30, Yannis Papakonstantinou will present a keynote address at the Orthodox Observer‘s conference on artificial intelligence and theology.

In an interview with To Vima, Papakonstantinou challenged a widespread assumption that innovation drives people away from God. He insists the opposite is true. The Orthodox faith, he said, is oriented toward the future. It remembers not only where humanity has come from but what it is called to become. He believes the Church is uniquely prepared to guide a world where artificial intelligence may one day think and act beyond human comprehension.

Papakonstantinou is a Google Cloud Distinguished Engineer. His work is on the intersection of GenAI and databases, technically leading novel features and products in support of GenAI and agentic applications over databases. He also holds an Adjunct Professor position of Computer Science at UCSD after many years of being a regular faculty member. Previously he worked at Databricks and Amazon Web Services. Earlier he was the CEO and Chief Scientist of Enosys Software, which built and commercialized an early Enterprise Information Integration platform for structured and semistructured data. It was sold under the BEA Aqualogic brand name and eventually acquired by BEA.

Prior to the AI area, his R&D work had been mostly on query processing and search with focus on querying semistructured data. He has published over one hundred twenty research articles that have received over 21,000 citations. He holds a Diploma of Electrical Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens, MS and Ph.D. in Computer Science from Stanford University (1997).

Read the interview with To Vima in English and Greek and register for the event by visiting our website at the link in the comments ⬇️

10/29/2025

Church! Our colleagues from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America have generously invited the WHOLE CHURCH to attend this important conference on theology and artificial intelligence in Brookline this week at the Maliotis Cultural Center of Hellenic College Holy Cross. Tickets have been made free for local churches. Please consider attending for your continuing edification. With hope, ~ Rev. Laura Everett

The Orthodox Observer warmly invites you to a two-day conference on Artificial Intelligence and Theology: “Do the Divine and the Digital Intersect?” This interdisciplinary gathering explores the theological, cultural, and societal implications of artificial intelligence through the lens of Orthodox Christian thought.

📅 Date: October 30–31, 2025
📍 Location: Maliotis Cultural Center, Hellenic College Holy Cross, Brookline, MA

Register at the link. Limited seating available.

Keynote speakers include Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (Oct. 31), and Dr. Yannis Papakonstantinou, Distinguished Engineer at Google Cloud, adjunct professor, UCLA San Diego (Oct. 30).

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/do-the-divine-and-the-digital-intersect-tickets-1661380727479?aff=oddtdtcreator