In honor of Mother’s Day, OCN is pleased to announce our next #myOCN Community Online Gathering
Thursday, May 7th, at 4:00 pm EST with special guests Irene Sakkas and Paraskevi June. This program is generously brought to you by the James and Joanne Mitchell Foundation. If you would like to attend, please register to receive sign-in instructions and invite a friend to join: https://myocn.dm.networkforgood.com/…/let-s-talk-live-mothe…
Join us as we discuss face to face motherhood and faith during a pandemic. Irene and Paraskevi are mothers, members of Philoptochos, moderators of the Greek Orthodox Moms Facebook Group boasting over 26,000 members. Fr. Christopher Metropulos, our Executive Director, will be offering a “Let’s Talk” 45-minute interactive video session on Zoom with limited availability for two-way discussion. We will also be live-streamed on #myOCN Facebook page. Join us and thousands online for prayers and discussion. Families are welcome, and you will have the opportunity to ask questions.
Irene Sakkas
Irene Sakkas holds a BA from Hellenic College, M.Ed in Multicultural/ Multilingual Education and working towards a M. Ed in Educational Leadership from George Mason University. She serves on the Board of Education for the Hellenic Education Center, leads her church’s moms, pops and tots group, and a proud member of Philoptochos. Irene is the founder of the active facebook group “Greek Orthodox Moms” which unites over 26,000 members in faith, culture and parenting. She resides in the metro DC are with her husband and two children.
Paraskevi June
Paraskevi June resides in Seal Beach, California with her husband and three children. Before becoming a stay-at-home mom, she was a public school teacher as well as choir organist and Greek dance director at her home parish of Assumption, Long Beach. She co-founded the church moms and tots program where it continues to grow. Paraskevi and her family took the opportunity to live in Honolulu, Hawaii for five years where they attended Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Pacific. While in paradise, Paraskevi provided support for Hawaii’s Greek dance ministry. Upon returning to the mainland, Paraskevi decided to teach Greek School and join the Greek dance board at Assumption. She coordinates the church’s social media ministry and volunteers for FOCUS, a pan-Orthodox national charity that aids the impoverished in her locale, and a proud member of Philoptochos. Serving as a moderator for the Greek Orthodox Moms page on Facebook and crafting also give her great enjoyment.
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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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