We are pleased to announce myOCN Community Online Gathering this coming Thursday, June 25th, at 7:00 pm EST with special guests Maria Logus & Paulette Geanacopoulos. We will discuss how National Philoptochos is responding with a multi-pronged approach to provide financial, emotional, spiritual and loving support to individuals and families impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fr. Christopher Metropulos, our Executive Director, will be offering a “Let’s Talk” 1 hour interactive video session on Zoom with limited availability for two-way discussion. We will also be live-streamed on our Facebook page. Join us and thousands online for prayers and discussion. Families are welcome, and you will have the opportunity to ask questions. If you would like to attend, please register HERE to receive sign-in instructions.
Maria Logus, Esq., National Philoptochos President
Maria Logus is a lifelong resident of the New York City borough of Brooklyn and a parishioner at Kimisis Tis Theotokou Church. She is a retired attorney for the New York State Unified Court System and has had over three decades of legal experience. She studied at New York University and Brooklyn Law School. She joined Philoptochos at age 18, following in the footsteps of her grandmother and her mother, who held several positions in the organization. In 1986, Archbishop Iakovos of North and South America of blessed memory appointed Ms. Logus to the Philoptochos National Board in the role of Parliamentarian.
Multiple leadership roles followed, including Chair for two National Conventions and the role of First Vice President under Presidents Mimi Skandalakis, Eve Condakes, and Georgia Skeadas. She was President of the Board of Saint Basil Academy for several years and served on the boards of Hellenic College Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology and St. Michael’s Home.
Maria provided valuable service to the Philoptochos and to the Archdiocese for many years and that continued when she was appointed president in 2014. Ms. Logus stated in an interview with The National Herald in 2014, that “Philoptochos doesn’t have the luxury of any single priority. We live in a
n increasingly complex world, and we have to be prepared to respond to multiple challenges, both anticipated and unexpected, in vibrant meaningful ways, but we also have to combine the readiness to answer the unknown with an unwavering commitment to the institutions of the Archdiocese.” This statement reflects her vision for Philoptochos.
Paulette Geanacopoulos, LMSW, Director, National Philoptochos Department of Social Work
Paulette Geanacopoulos, a New York State Licensed Master Social Worker (LMSW), is the Director of Social Services for the Greek Orthodox Ladies Philoptochos Society, Inc. Previous positions include serving as Executive Director of the Women’s City Club of New York, the New York Citizens’ Committee on Aging and Assistant Executive Director of Lenox Hill Neighborhood House, a multi-service settlement house in New York City. For several years, she taught social welfare policy and planning at the Fordham University School of Social Services, and at the Hunter College / CUNY Graduate Department of Urban Planning. She has published several faith-based articles on intimate partner abuse and community organizing and has led Orthodox Christian support groups for cancer patients and caregivers.
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Shaped by a life of service to Christ’s Church, Fr. Christopher has dedicated
himself to using all the tools God has placed at his disposal to spread the light of
Orthodoxy across the United States of America and around the world. Speaker,
Radio Host, Professor, Founding Father of the Orthodox Christian Network
(OCN), Pastor, Leader of 12 Pilgrimages to the Holy Land and the Ecumenical
Patriarchate, Author, Father, Grandfather and Defender of the Faith.
As founder, host, and executive director of the Orthodox Christian Network he
shepherds a dynamic and rapidly expanding ministry bringing joy, hope, and
salvation in Jesus Christ to close to 1 million people a month in more than 190
countries. A nationally known radio personality, Fr. Christopher co-hosted the
groundbreaking, internationally televised Epiphany Celebration of Tarpon
Springs, Florida in January 2006, presided over by Ecumenical Patriarch
Bartholomew and seen on the Hallmark Channel. He was also featured in a
2012 television broadcast on TLC entitled “4 Weddings.” In May 2014, he
offered live English commentary from Rome via Radio Vaticana and EWTN for
the worldwide televised broadcast of the historic meeting of Pope Francis and
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in Jerusalem. In November 2014, he
returned to Rome to provide the English commentary on a second Radio
Vaticana/EWTN worldwide televised broadcast, this time on the occasion of
Pope Francis’ visit to the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul in celebration of
the Feast Day of St Andrew. He worked alongside a team of professionals from
the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America on these broadcasts. Currently
serves as Vice President, International Association of Digital Media Orthodox
Pastoral Care.
Fr. Christopher holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Hellenic College of
Brookline, Massachusetts, a Master of Divinity Studies Degree from
Brookline’s Holy Cross School of Theology, and a Doctor of Ministry Degree
from the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. His dedication to the family unit
drove Fr. Christopher to be certified as a Family Mediator by the Chief Justice
of the Supreme Court of the State of Florida. Fr. Christopher has also studied
extensively at the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. He has served
the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese for more than 40 years. He has held many
different assignments as: Representative to the United Nations and United
States Missions; Assistant Priest St. Demetrios Cathedral, Astoria, NY; Dean of
the Assumption Cathedral in Denver, CO; Pastor of the Archangel Michael
Church, Roslyn, NY; Pastor of the St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church in Ft
Lauderdale Florida, President of Hellenic College Holy Cross School of
Theology, Dean of Admissions and Registrar of the Hellenic College and Holy
Cross School of Theology; member of the Archdiocesan Council; President of
the Archdiocesan Presbyter’s Council for two consecutive terms; and council
member of the Metropolis of Denver and the Metropolis of Atlanta. He also
served as Vicar of the South Florida Conference from 1998-2011. In the
summer of 2008, he was elevated by His Eminence Metropolitan Alexios to the
rank of Protopresbyter of the Ecumenical Patriarchate with the blessings of the
Holy and Sacred Synod, the highest honor bestowed on a married clergyman.
Fr. Christopher and his late wife, Presbytera Georgia Mitsos, have six children
and four grandchildren.
With the blessings of His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros and Metropolitan
Gerasimos of San Francisco he was appointed as Interim Pastor of St. Nicholas
Greek Orthodox Church in San Jose, Ca in October 2021.
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