Η σημερινή έκδοση του Orthodox Observer τονίζει τις ελληνορθόδοξες κοινότητες στην αμερικανική Δύση, με την επίσκεψη του Σεβασμιωτάτου Αρχιεπισκόπου Αμερικής Ελπιδοφόρου στο Cheyenne του Ουαϊόμινγκ αυτό το Σαββατοκύριακο, αρχειακό περιεχόμενο και συνεντεύξεις με κληρικούς και λαϊκούς της περιοχής.
Wyoming Winds and Welcomes
This weekend, His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America rambled out of New York town for the western skies of Cheyenne, Wyoming, marking the city’s first Archiepiscopal visit in nearly five decades.
Wyoming’s roads are lined with roaming cowboys, tumbleweeds, and establishments whose names recall frontier pasts and prairie roses. Warm welcomes are offered freely here, and as Sts. Constantine & Helen Greek Orthodox Church’s priest Fr. Michael Sergakis notes, what Cheyenne’s Greek Orthodox community may lack in numbers, they make up for in steadfastness of faith, dedication, and hospitality.
Anticipating the Archbishop’s presence, Cheyenne’s two parishes – Sts. Constantine & Helen and Holy Apostles Orthodox Christian Church – welcomed dozens of visitors this weekend, with faithful traveling from other Wyoming cities of Laramie and Casper as well as parishes in Colorado, Nebraska, and Texas. As they eagerly awaited His Eminence’s arrival, many Sts. Constantine & Helen parishioners recalled Archbishop Iakovos’s 1976 visit.
The historic visit is well-documented in the parish’s Hellenic Heritage House, as are other significant moments in the community’s history – from the railroad beginnings of Greek-Wyomingites to Cheyenne Greek Festival, which curator Billie Zumo proudly shared is among the state’s largest events, second only to the world’s largest outdoor rodeo. Zumo, a Cheyenne native, says that the archives pay tribute to those who struggled on the frontier to help found the city and “make a name” for Greeks out West.
While Cheyenne founders may have felt lonesome as the region’s few Greek Americans, according to His Eminence Metropolitan Constantine of Denver the Metropolis has never felt more connected to the rest of the Archdiocese. This increased unity is perhaps best exemplified in Saturday’s baptism of Fr. Michael and Presvytera Stephanie’s daughter Dionysia, namesake of her godfather Archdeacon Dionysios Papiris. In addition to the Archdeacon’s travel with Archbishop Elpidophoros from New York, family and friends came from every corner of the country to help welcome little Dionysia into the body of Christ.
Many attendees were teary-eyed at the beautiful baptismal service as well as Metropolitan Constantine’s reminder to Fr. Dionysios that though his new goddaughter is small now, soon enough he will look her eye-to-eye. On Sunday, Archbishop Elpidophoros stressed the centrality of children in our Church, expressing that “it is possible for children to soften the heart and crack open the soul to the presence of God” and that the children of Sts. Constantine & Helen are “a gift of inestimable value.” The church’s website informs visitors that they “expect Christian children to be raised in the church and to do that, they too join us in worship,” and the presence of another of Fr. Dionysios’s goddaughters at the baptism highlighted His Eminence’s assurance that “our children are just as much members of our Churches as any adult.”
After Saturday’s Great Vespers of the Hypapantē (“Encounter”) at Holy Apostles, the Archiepiscopal visit culminated in a jointly-celebrated Divine Liturgy at Sts. Constantine & Helen on Sunday morning. The two parish communities have a collaborative relationship, with Fr. Michael sharing that since his arrival in Cheyenne the priests have tried to “show a united front to all of Cheyenne so that we can see the Orthodox faith grow with fervor.”
At the liturgy and luncheon that followed, the Archbishop shared that he prefers the term “encounter” for what he experienced this weekend because “at every turn, there was something new and wonderful to experience,” and expressed marvel at the region’s “dynamism” he witnessed in both its parishes and natural beauty.
The community’s surroundings leave an impression on its natives, too, with parishioners joking that here, references to My Big Fat Greek Wedding’s “that’s okay, I make lamb” become “that’s okay, I make bison.” Beyond laughing matters, however, Holy Apostles priest Fr. Joseph Collins also views the bison as a symbol of toughness and community: they are “an animal who stands facing the wind,” he said, and as one local asked, “when is it not-windy in Wyoming?”
The rural distances between the Metropolis of Denver’s parishes indeed impact the faithful, but in Metropolitan Constantine’s view the harsher conditions strengthen his communities’ devotion. As the Archdiocese’s largest Metropolis in land and smallest in population, His Eminence stressed that many of his parishioners travel several hours to attend services, demonstrating their dedication to their faith and one another.
The only phrase heard more often than “welcome to Cheyenne!” this weekend was Archbishop Elpidophoros’s promise that Wyoming need not wait another fifty years for his return, and the Archbishop closed his time by concluding that Cheyenne is a “nearly magical place.” Cheyenne’s two parishes are truly, as one bison-ranch greeting reads, “the West the way you want it.”
