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Athens News Agency - March 12, 2001

Spyridon's Biography Presented in Montreal

Journalist Justine Frangouli-Argyris' book The Lonely Path of Integrity was presented yesterday for the first time in America.

The new book is a bold biographical account of former Archbishop of America, Spyridon, with particular emphasis on his stormy three-year ministry in America (1996-1999).

The event, organized by the Cultural Department of Montreal's Hellenic Community, was dedicated to the presentation of the new publication, while the proceeds from book sales made during the event will go to support the Community's Greek-language day schools "Socrates".

In the Hellenic Community Center hall, packed with Greek Canadians, Greece's Consul General in Montreal, Ioannis-Gavriil Papadopoulos, spoke at length of the Archbishop's personality. Mr. Papadopoulos who knew Spyridon since the times he served as consul in Rome, stressed the fundamental role played by the Archbishop in organizing the Greek-Italian community and his tireless efforts to set up a Greek-language school in Rome. He commented that Spyridon's ousting from the archiepiscopal throne of America was clearly due to the fact that the antiquated institutions of Orthodoxy are perhaps not yet ready to bear a new generation of church leaders.

The event was attended by Greece's ambassador to the ICAO, Lefteris Karayannis; the former Quebec minister Christos Syrros; municipal councillor Mary Deros; former presidents of the Greek Community Nikos Pagonis, Adrianos Maris and Dimitris Manolakos; and large numbers of distinguished members of the local community and interested individuals. The presentation was enriched by the personal testimonies of two acquaintances of the former Primate, those of professor Constantinos Lagouros and notary public Dimitris Manolakos, Archon of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.

The event concluded with an epilogue delivered by the Hellenic Community's Secretary for Culture, Dimitris Koufoyannis.

[ Translated from Greek ]

[ Αθηναϊκό Πρακτορείο Ειδήσεων - March 12, 2001 ]