Dormition Cathedral in Southampton, NY welcomes Archbishop of America

The community of Dormition of the Virgin Mary Cathedral in Southampton, NY had the honor of the visit to their Cathedral of His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America on Sunday, August 30, 2026. Welcoming the Archbishop were Grand Protopresbyter of the Ecumenical Throne Fr. Alexander Karloutsos and Rev. Fr. Constantine Lazarakis, parish council members and faithful of the community, including many altar boys.

Also attending the service was His Grace Bishop Athenagoras of Nazianzos, who read the Patriarchal Message for the Beginning of the Ecclesiastical Year and the Solemn Day of Prayers for Natural Environment, which is celebrated each year on September 1. In this year’s Message His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew states, “We are convinced that highlighting the religious and ethical dimensions of the ecological threat will lead to an awareness of the pivotal importance of  ‘ecological responsibility.’ Humanity must at last cease acting as though it does not know and definitively cast aside the illusion that planet Earth can in perpetuity withstand the burdens and destruction caused by human activity, or that nature has the power to renew itself of its own…