An institution’s new website often heralds changes behind the scenes that are even more momentous than what the viewer sees. Visitors who go the website of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese at goarch.org will encounter a new more attractive, functional, and resource-rich, environment, but according to Chief Information Officer Theo Nicolakis, “When we refer to the new website, what we are really talking about is the introduction of an entirely new global communications system for the Church.”

The Ecumenical Patriarchate’s hundreds of millions of spiritual children are scattered across all continents and time zones. Staying connected with the people of God in the 21st century is a challenge, but the Church has modern tools, which the Internet Ministries and IT Departments of the Archdiocese put in the service of the mission of Orthodoxy.

What is not visible to the website’s visitors is the infrastructure and administrative breakthroughs that enable Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to communicate directly with each of his spiritual children. The changes affected the website of the Archdiocese and the Ecumenical Patriarchate, and the infrastructure of the Archdiocese and the Metropolises.

“Through 2012 we worked to transition the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s website so it can serve as a source of global communications, including news, photos and videos from the Patriarchate in real time to eparchies and parishes,” he said.

They were able to update the site without touching the graphics users see. “To use an analogy, it’s like we installed a new, high–powered engine and control panels without touching the car’s body,” he said with a proud technician’s smile. The IT Department has also prepared a number of other systems the Ecumenical Patriarchate will be able to start using globally.

“Everything under-the-hood is new and ready to hit the road.”

As part of the Archdiocesan Technology Committee’s technology roadmap, in 2007 Nicolakis and his team began to bring Archdiocese’s and Metropolis’ systems onto a common technology platform in 2007 to elevate the latter’s IT systems to meet their national standards. “We’ve tied together dozens of previously disparate applications and services and are now seeing benefits like a secure, national Wi-Fi network, which the Archdiocese began rolling out this past fall.”

Nicolakis used the same set of technologies during the 2014 meeting of Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in Jerusalem and the Holy and Great Council in Crete this past summer. “We’ve repeatedly proven these technologies globally on the largest and most mission–critical scale possible.” he said.

The work on the new www.goarch.org site and communications tools were often interrupted because of Nicolakis’ team’s responsibilities for monumental international projects like the 2014 meeting between the Patriarch and the Pope in Jerusalem and the Holy and Great Council on Crete in 2016. Nevertheless, they were able in that period to develop the Archdiocese’s new website and migrate and further classify all the content–over 10,000 documents and other assets–from the old site. “It involved incredibly selfless teamwork and lots of late nights and weekends,” Nicolakis said.

Among the most exciting new features of the new site is a full online newspaper with the latest news and information from around the world. In fact, the new Archdiocese site communicates with the Patriarchate’s platform in real time. As soon as the Ecumenical Patriarchate posts something, it gets handed over electronically to the Archdiocese, and then down to the Metropolises.

Through the Archdiocese’s technology platform, Metropolises can now to produce regional online newspapers with their own news and events, plus Archdiocesan and Ecumenical Patriarchate sections, a national events calendar, and Orthodox World News.

“We have prototypes already completed in collaboration with the Metropolis of Denver and Pittsburgh,” Nicolakis said, “We have the Metropolises of Boston and San Francisco up next.”

While most of their work is invisible, the Internet Ministries and IT Department teams are well pleased with the reception the new website has received.

“The new site has been redesigned and rebuilt from the ground up. We’ve re-envisioned the experience of Orthodoxy online and this is the first of many forthcoming phases.” he said.

Some elements of the old goarch. org site have withstood the test of time, but they have been redesigned and enhanced, like the Online Chapel “which brings the liturgical and prayer life of the Church to the online user,” and where multimedia elements are now more in the forefront. Most importantly, the entire website is mobile friendly, now working on iPhones, tablets, and desktop computers. Nicolakis especially noted that Archbishop Demetrios’ sermons and Bible studies are part of the new site and that Fr. Andrew Demotses, pastor emeritus St. Vasilios in Peabody, Mass., recorded 300 new sermonettes for the new website.”

The “Library” section is brand new, although it contains familiar content. Nicolakis said it is a “par excellence resource for our faithful.” The Library takes the old “Our Faith” and “Resources” sections plus new content and has reorganized the material from scratch to function more like a library. You can now browse material topically or by personal context, ie. priest, layman, youth leader, Sunday school teacher.

Another valuable addition is the inclusion of online directories for parishes, various ministries and institutions, and organizations. The team continues to move forward with enhancements and expansion at all levels.