Iakovos Garmatis

Amid mounting tension over Archbishop Elpidophoros in the Orthodox Archdiocese of America, the head of the Archbishop Iakovos Leadership 100 Fund, a non-profit NGO dedicated to the advancement of the Orthodox faith, has weighed in in his favor.

I first met Andrew Liveris in 2012 in Florida, at the most significant annual meeting of prominent Greek Americans of the Leadership 100 organization, which had been founded by Archbishop Iakovos. It was during the peak of the Greek economic crisis and the forecast was grim.

Greece grew and won important battles when it counted on the support not only of its citizens, but also of Hellenism as a whole. The diaspora is a power multiplier. The important leaders of this country understood its role and cultivated it carefully.

A funeral is planned Friday for the leader of the Greek Orthodox Church in the US Midwest who died last week at age 89.

Greek priests and Muslim refugees pray to their Gods for the hundreds of refugees and migrants who have perished in the Aegean Sea while trying to cross from Turkey to Greece and reach Europe for a better life.