“I want to take advantage of all the needs of the people. First of all, we have children who know about electronic systems and we started all this effort in 2013. First with the radio, in order to cover the needs that existed and then with everything else. So we took the first steps timidly. “Then the virus came and found us ready,” confesses to GRTimes, Father Nikiforos Kontogiannis, pastor of the church of the “Great Martyr Agios Georgios”.
A church that, thanks to the pioneering ideas of Fr. Nikiforos, has made technology available to the faithful and in some cases has even saved them from theft. “Right now there are two big screens. One is at the bottom of the temple and the other in the peristyle for those who live outside. I can tell you that this project has gone very well, because in this way a large number of people are served who want to go to church in a Holy Temple that is not very large “, notes Fr. Nikiforos.
The latter adds that after the end of the Divine Liturgy, people do not leave the church, as “under the benches we have placed loudspeakers and we play music to them. Theodoraki, Hatzidaki, classical music, whatever they like “.
The meter so that you do not go up the stairs unfairly in the women’s room
The second great invention that has changed the lives of the believers who come to the Holy Temple of “Agios Georgios”, is undoubtedly the place counter in the women’s room.
“Because there are many elderly people who attend the Divine Liturgy, we have installed a special device that informs the attendees, how many seats are vacant in the women’s ward or if there are seats in general. It is a pity that they climb so many stairs and find that they can not sit because there are no seats. “Now they know and they do not go up,” Father Nikiforos told GRTimes.
On – line candle at gallilea.gr and free Rapid test
As he admits, the parish of “Agios Georgios” extends in a slum at the end of Larissa, near the intersection of the old National Road. “Our parish is very poor and the church was too small to meet the needs of the faithful. On my own initiative we expanded it. It is not big, nor does it have revenue. “Most of the work is done by volunteers and we try to help where we can,” he notes.
“We chat with everyone who comes. With grace and love, as a church should function. They come and tell me “we can not pay for the Rapid Tests. We tell them it does not matter, do it and we will pay for it. And indeed, we give them the Rapid Tests and then they go to a microbiological laboratory with which we work and they do it and officially pass the results. Nor does the microbiologist get paid for this work. “There are not many who have not been vaccinated, but we want to help them all,” Father Nikiforos told GRTimes.
Also, for those who have a serious reason and can not come to the parish, they can light their candle, via the internet. “They enter galilea.gr, light their candle virtually, write the names in the application and then we mention them in the Divine Liturgies and the Prayers. This application gives you the opportunity to make a symbolic free if you want in the parish and we later send him the receipt “explains Fr. Nikiforos.
Young people are coming to us – Online lending library
But the actions of the parish do not stop here. “The truth is that we have the pleasure of having many young people with us. And we do different things. For example, we have put photovoltaics, which help us cover a very important part of the energy consumed by the parish. We also have a lending library with 3,000 books inside the temple and another 4,000 online. We have the radio, we have the web-tv, we do everything in our power to facilitate the people “emphasizes, among others, Fr. Nikiforos who, due to his status, has helped many young people to get away from drugs.
“I do it with great pleasure, but also because I want to take advantage of all the needs of people. For this reason, we have made a vegetable garden, we have meals for the needy, we have a pharmacy, we have a wardrobe. “We want the people to come to us, because the people are the ones who give us the strength to continue to offer”, concluded the pastor of the church of “Megalomartyros Agios Georgios”.
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