ASTORIA – With a great turnout of the faithful, both at the church services and the cultural events, the Sacred Patriarchal and Stavropegial Orthodox Monastery of St. Irene Chrysovalantou in Astoria celebrated its namesake saint during its four-day festival July 25-28.

As the Archimandrite Fr. Meletios Bougas, who is in charge of administration, told The National Herald: “By the grace of God, we celebrate this year the memory of our Holy Mother of Peace, the Abbess of the Chrysovalantou Monastery, and as is known, the Holy Patriarchal Monastery celebrates here in Astoria with a large pilgrimage of Greek expatriates, not only from Astoria, but also from other areas.”

“This year’s celebration began on July 25 with the Great Vespers in the evening and the consecration of the Festival,” Fr. Bougas continued. “On Saturday morning, the Divine Liturgy will be celebrated, in the afternoon of the same day the official Hierarchical Vespers is planned, while on Sunday morning the Divine Liturgy, during which the Patriarchal Message will be read, before the procession.”

“On Sunday, the procession of the icon of St. Irene will take place here in the streets of Astoria, a spectacle unique by American standards,” Fr. Bougas noted. “I don’t know if there is any other church that makes a procession of an icon in the way we know it from our homeland. We will also have buses with the faithful from other States. There are many people who will follow her icon, and then we will line up here in front, pass the icon over the people for help and support.”

“The services will be officiated by His Grace Bishop Nektarios of Diokleia and Chancellor of the Archdiocese of America, as designated by the Ecumenical Patriarchate,” Fr. Bougas said. “On this occasion, I would like to thank all the volunteers who work for the festival and the donors, especially Nikolas Gavalas, Nikitas Theologitis, the bakeries ‘Lefkos Pyrgos’, ‘Martha’s’, and ‘New York’, the Stamatis Restaurant, and the Buccaneer Diner, which sponsors the food.”

Nikitas Theologitis, the person in charge of the festival, thanked the visitors and the faithful for their presence and support. He said: “Like every year, this year the festival of St. Irene Chrysovalantou takes place along with the pilgrimage and people come from all states to pray to the Saint.”

“With the good weather as an ally, we are successful at the festival, people always come and support us, and we thank them very much,” Theologitis continued. “They worship in the church, have fun with music, traditional dances, Greek food, while for the little ones there is an amusement park and games.”

“At the same time, however, it also has a cultural character that is important, especially in this country,” he noted. “We highlight things that the foreigners who attend will see and we give a testimony of both faith and Hellenism.”

“It is also important from an economic point of view,” Theologitis added. “After all, St. Irene is not a church that has other financial resources other than the festival. Only the pilgrimage, and with this money, the expenses in all the Dependency churches are paid.”

Finally, the person in charge of grilling, Sotiris Tsakonas, emphasized that the preparation starts almost three months in advance and that this year there is an abundance of everything, with souvlakia, kokoretsi, kontosouvlia, and much more for festival-goers to enjoy.