New York – The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, through its National Department of Greek Education and the Direct Archdiocesan District Office of Education, organizes a series of events in celebration of the Feast of the Three Hierarchs and the Day of Greek Letters.

On Saturday Jan. 28, at 5:00 p.m., His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios Geron of America will honor the students who excelled in the Greek language and present them with the Three Hierarchs Award of Excellence and an icon of the Holy Three Hierarchs. The ceremony will take place in the Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Manhattan. Dr. George Liakeas, president of the Hellenic Medical Society of New York will be the main speaker. A reception and a festive musical program featuring the students of the St. Demetrios School of Astoria, as well as dances from Kappadokia performed by the dance group of Kimissis tis Theotokou of Brooklyn will follow in the adjacent Cathedral Community Center.

On Monday Jan. 30, Feast of the Three Hierarchs – Saint Basil the Great, Saint Gregory the Theologian, and Saint John Chrysostom, His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios of America will celebrate the Archieratical Divine Liturgy at the Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Manhattan, which is offered especially for the students, teachers, principals and parents and of the parochial Greek American Schools. Archbishop Demetrios will address the students on the life and works of the Three Hierarchs and the importance of Greek Letters and Hellenic heritage. Following the Liturgy, the Archbishop will cut the Vasilopita for the teachers and administrators in the adjacent Cathedral Community Center.

Later in the evening, at 6:30 p.m., the Department of Greek Education is organizing a lecture with the Rev. Dr. Emmanuel Clapsis, Archbishop Iakovos Professor of Theology, at Holy Cross School of Theology in Brookline, Mass. The topic of the lecture will be “The Holy and Great Council and the Mission of the Orthodox Church in The World.”

Following the lecture, Archbishop Demetrios will present a historical account of the return of the 9th century Greek manuscript of the New Testament, known as Codex 1424, to the Holy Metropolis of Drama and the Holy Monastery of Panagia Eikosifoinissa, from which the manuscript had been stolen by the Bulgarians in 1917. This event will also take place at the Community Center of the Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity.

All of the above are open to the public. The Archdiocesan Cathedral and the Community Cultural Center are located at 319-337 East 79th Street, NYC.