 By Fr. Nick Kotsis - Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ, like most of you, I assume, I've been terribly saddened by the recent events that have taken place throughout the country starting from the killing of George Floyd.
 By Fr. Nick Kotsis - Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ, if one were to rank the most influential people in terms of their legacy upon world history, a historian worth his salt, and not subject to the vacillations of revisionism or political correctness, would have to put Saint Constantine on that list. It’s one thing that he had the foresight, intelligence, military acumen, and political sensibilities to forge a second capital of the Roman Empire which allowed the Empire to flourish for another 800 years and continue to last for a total of more than 1,100 years. It’s another thing to understand that his faith in Christ completely, and to a certain extent, radically, changed the face of the Western world (and the world as a whole); and those changes are still present in our day and age.
 By Fr. Nick Kotsis - Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ, that is the official tourist slogan of the state of Texas. I remember it from the commercials I would see on television as a kid. They are telling the truth.
 By Fr. Nicolaos Kotsis - Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ, I learned a lot of things working in the cafeteria. Some things had to do with the running of a kitchen. Some things had to do with dealing with co-workers (as in all the jobs I ever worked). Some things had to do with dealing with customers (disgruntled seminarians). Some things had to do with understanding people.
 By. Fr. Nick Kotsis - I attended Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology from 1996-2000. I loved the experience at the seminary, and I became friends with many good people there; koumbaroi with a few. I miss seeing those people on a regular basis, even to this day. Mostly, I miss the atmosphere in the chapel with the daily Orthros and Vespers services.
 By Fr. Nick Kotsis - Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Christ is Risen! Christos Anesti! On behalf of Fr. Alex, Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers, grandmothers, and godmothers in our communities.
By Fr. Nick Kotsis - Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ, when I was in Thessaloniki in 1999 studying Greek at the Aristotelian University, I used to take a bus from our little village of Paleokastro into the city. The bus would drop off us near the intersection of Lagkada and Via Egnatia. From there it was about a 15-minute walk to the University.  
By Fr. Nick Kotsis - Today was just a beautiful day. This weekend brought us the nicest weather we’ve experienced seen since last fall. It was as if the Lord unlocked our jail cell and waited to see what we would do. It took me a day and a half, but I finally came to my senses and bolted.
By Fr. Nick Kotsis - As I wrote the other day, before my final year at Holy Cross, we were sent on an extraordinary trip to Greece. Part of the trip included visiting the Patriarchate in Constantinople. We spent a week in Istanbul. We stayed at the Theological School in Halki (Halki is an island in the Bosporus) and took ferries to the city every morning. We visited His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and the Patriarchate several times, visited all the major churches and historical sites in Istanbul (all but the Blue Mosque and the Grand Bazar are from the Roman Empire (Byzantium)), took a trip to Nicea (a former capital of the empire and home to the 1st and 7thEcumenical Councils), and met many wonderful people. I must say, the Turks we encountered along the way were very welcoming, nice, beautiful people; as I’ll explain later, those associated with the government were different. It was a fantastic trip.
By Fr. Nick Kotsis - Since I came to Ann Arbor as a student in 1992, I have always enjoyed the fall in this beautiful town. The fall here has, at least in semblance to me, been replete with warm, sunny days and cool, crisp evenings. In the first few weeks of September, the cicadas still cry out in the night; perhaps in lamentation of summer’s pass, but more likely in calls to attention at the great transformation their lofty abodes will soon undergo. And when their echoes fade, the blended colors of the maples, oaks, and all the other trees transform the vista into something Jackson Pollock could not imitate.
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Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church
3109 Scio Church Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48103
Phone: (734) 332-8200
Fax: (734) 332-8201
Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church
3109 Scio Church Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48103
Phone: (734) 332-8200
Fax: (734) 332-8201
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