The Lonely Path of Integrity Presented in Montreal
Sunday, March 11, 2001 saw the presentation of journalist
Justine Frangouli-Argyris’ book The Lonely Path of Integrity, an account
of the life of Spyridon, former Archbishop of America.
The event, organized by the Cultural Department of Montreal’s Hellenic
Community, was dedicated to the presentation of the new book, 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.
The Consul General commented that Spyridon’s ousting from the Archiepiscopal
throne of America was clearly due to the fact that the antiquated institutions
of Orthodoxy were perhaps not yet ready to bear a new generation of church
leaders.
After giving a brief account of her book, the author read out a message from
Archbishop Spyridon: “I find particularly moving –says the Archbishop--
the news that the proceeds from book sales on this occasion will be dedicated
to the needs of the Hellenic Community’s ‘Socrates’ day schools.
Their reputation has spread beyond the shores of Canada and their structure
and system of teaching is today, in the world of Greek education, a model
for imitation for the whole of the Greek world outside Greece.”
