Members of the St. Athanasius Greek Orthodox Church in Arlington, MA are crying foul of their parish council’s “desperate moves” to raise cash for refurbishment of sacred liturgical vessels.
Items used to share Holy Communion, scripture books used during Divine Liturgy and other vessels and containers for Holy Water were— literally— put on display on a table with what appeared to be price tags laid on top of them, itemizing the cost to repair or refurbish each item.
The action caught many parishioners by surprise.
Toni Pakas, a member of the parish took photos and circulated them on her Facebook page.
“How low has St. Athanasius parish council and Priests gone? Putting the “Sacred Altar Vessels on display in the back of the church? Near the kids play room? With price tags? Parish Council needs more money to pay for upgrades? The Parish Council should pay for refurbishment not asking for more donors! Anyone can handle these Sacred items play with them and grab them for the right price… DROPI! AFTA THEN INE PEXNIDAKIA”
In Pakas’ last words of her post, in Greek, she wrote “Shame! These aren’t toys!”
Some were confused by the post, thinking the items were up for sale, but parishioners who knew of the real situation confirmed that the parish council was simply trying to attract donors for the refurbishment and cleaning of each item.
“Refurbishment not sale, but still an inappropriate way to do this. So sad!” according to Ioannis K. Moutsatsos, a parishioner at the suburban Boston church, which has been plagued with controversy since July when long-time parish priest Fr. Nick Kastanas, was fired after almost 30 years at the parish.
Corina Kapetanakis also commented: “So sad.. What a disgrace… Such holy items should not be left on tables for everyone to touch and inspect.. I’m confused as to who would allow such a disgusting display to happen!! I didn’t realize we turned the church into a second hand thrift store.”
Metropolitan Methodios, the head of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Boston has yet to comment on his reasons for firing the popular priest and hundreds of families have been staging protests and withholding their financial contributions to the church, opting instead to pay into a GoFundMe account to support the embattled priest.
The unpopular move by the Boston-based bishop has drawn ire from many families who have been established at the Arlington church for several generations and many have left the parish for other Greek Orthodox churches in the area, as well as other denominations all together.
12 comments
As usual, Pappas Post, you are on top of the news!!! Thank you for that!!! And I’m grateful for your exposure of the “off-the-wall” behavior of the Metropolis of Boston clergy, the ones who dismissed our beloved Father Nicholas Kastanas and are now searching desperately to raise church funds by disgracefully selling holy relics of Saint Athanasius Greek Orthodox Church, Arlington MA!!!
Try reading the article – THESE HOLY IMPLEMENTS ARE NOT FOR SALE!! The church is seeking funds to RESTORE them.
It’s clearer everyday of the culture of that parish.
No wonder the priest was removed.
That place is a mess.
Agreed….they should be a part of the church to get closer to god, not in order to serve a priest…
Also, do NOT understand their outcry in response to the parish asking for donations to refurbish these items. Most things in a church are result of donations, such as icons, and no one says ‘boo’ about that. Clearly it’s just another cry for attention by some of the parishioners mentioned in the article…
To Honestly? , Agreed? and Kritrina?,
We understand that the parish council is asking for these items to be refurbished but the way the are displayed is an absolute disgrace. As written in this post it looks like a yard sale! This is an absolute shame to be running what looks like a yard sale inside our beloved church. Many families have donated icons because they wanted to not becuase they were displayed on a table , in church and with a price tag. I’ve been a member of this church for 39 years and have never seen a display like this before. To Agreed, yes, we all go to church for God but we also need a loving, trustworthy and dedicated priest. God is everywhere and with everyone but we do need priest in every church, right? We had the best priest but our loving atmosphere was destroyed by a handful of nasty people. To Kritrina, Agreed and Honestly I believe you are all one of those nasty people from our church. If you were not involved in this heinous display then you wouldn’t disguise yourself when leaving a comment. If you are not one of those nasty members, please accept my apology, and read all the wonderful comments about Father Nick. These commnets can be found on the petition to Bring Back Father NIck that was signed by over 2000 people. Our parish is a mess now but it wasn’t a mess when Father Nick was our priest.
I don’t think there is ANYONE happy with what has occurred. But the movement to bring Father Nick back has sabotaged itself. Just what is the plan, to insult the hierarchy enough that they will change there minds? Is there a specific number of memes they think will do the trick? It has completely devolved to a point where there is zero chance of our beloved Priest returning. And Vicky, BTW, feel free to add your LAST NAME to your posts, so as not to disguise yourself…
Honestly,
My name is Vicky Tingos. Please feel free to look at all my comments and you will see that I have never insulted the hierarchy. We just need a fresh start with all new PC members! Are you still disguising yourself? If yes, why? We are all entitled to our opinions.
Arlington has become a ” Den of Thieves””as written in tbe Bible..
From the Church Bulletin: A careful inventory of all the altar vessels and liturgical objects in the altar and sacristy of our parish reveals that for the most part, they are all badly worn and in need of repair after many years of constant use. All of the chalices and patens are unusable in their present condition and must be restored and re-guilded in gold plate so that they can be returned to service.
Our sister parishes in Peabody and Lynn have graciously lent us chalices and patens for our current use, but the need to repair and re-guild our own is urgent.
Honestly, honestly honestly, s.t..f.u…. I’ll insult the hierarchy, as much as I want Freedom of speech and I happen to speak the truth.Honestly your a F….idiot,,,,, yeah this is exactly what were all going to keep on doing exposing these criminals that call themselves our leaders and. As our leaders. I’m disgusted by the leaders or spinners of Yarn, my new one for them envelope sniffers. .. If there happens to be an envelope they will find it asking as there is cash inside. If it’s a letter to ask for justice it simple will be ignored. Honestly you idiot, what would you like us to do pretend this didn’t happen,go. Back to church and play star wars with assistant Skywalker or this temp fake PRIEST. Who writes a letter telling us all to stop depending on the other person…. That’s what were doing…… We stop they win. I’ll insult the slime ball bishop and his brown knows sniffing chancellor all the way to the patriache…. Cause I can and I will. Cause I feel like it, cause it’s my right as an American Citizen, because if you don’t speak then nothing well every change, people under estimate social media and the power it powered. Honestly . Idiots like you can honestly use it for no reason and people like me Honestly can use it for its good and make shit change… Honestly you probably are one of the few responsible for this you called out Vicky. She answered ,,, looks like honestly your the one who is afraid to be know. HONESTLY. till Father Nick comes back this will not get any better. Might as well put a for sale sign on the church, cause they’re going to need Alot more do actions then for the refurbished holy objects, and everyone’s wallet . Well Honestly till Ft. NICK IS BACK IS SLAMMED SHUT.. Honestly..no one go to church,no one make any donations, but to Father Nicks page, and Honestly don’t do a damn thing for this Metropolitan and his sheep. Till he gives us the people what we want….simple enough our PREIST Back.
The Orthodox Church has survived & still survives centuries of turkish & arab rule. They will pull through this episode of parishioners finally participating (albeit too late) in their church. Fr. Nick is a great man and I hope he returns, but acting like children is not going to bring him back. You can rant, rave & use ‘STFU” as much as you want… maybe create another meme? I heard the Bishop will cave if he gets another nasty meme…
Seriously Greg. For you to equivicate a garage sale “like” spectacle to parishoners trying to raise money to refurbish liturgical items (which is a good work) is what we call fake news. There is nothing wrong here, just the “clickbait” title of your column and the gossipy spin that you put in your article. While the method of placing the liturgical items out for them to see (for which they would like to donate to refurbish) could have been done differently, it certainly wasn’t scandalous. While I’ve seen you do good work before, please place more focus on things that matter. Thanks.