AIOPA - Monthly Meeting
Atlanta Inter-Orthodox Parish Association Meeting 1/27/2026
Attendees: Fr. Christos Mars, Fr. Anthony Salzman, Fr. Michael Tishel, Spyridoula Fotinis, Jackie Sarantis, Steve Sarantis and Rebecca Showalter
Opening Prayer offered by Fr. Anthony Salzman
Fr. Christos welcomed everyone and thanked them for their time and efforts with AIOPA.
Our focus is on several events taking place in the coming months.
1) Sunday of Orthodoxy Pan-Orthodox Vespers with His Eminence Metropolitan Gregory of Nyssa as our guest.
Spyridoula gave us an update on the Assembly of Bishops:
We launched 6 new IPAs last year by God's Grace. The press release includes a video highlights reel and more information HERE
We launched 4 new IPA facilitators in four IPAs. You can learn more about the facilitators role HERE
We are soft launching our new IPA Course - From Vision to Ministry: A Practical Path to Building Inter-Parish Associations. The Atlanta IPA is very welcome to sign up and check it out. It will also give access to our national online network and online community feature. I recommend joining to learn from other IPAs. Link HERE
And finally, we are keeping conversations going with FOCUS and OCF and would like to know what's helpful to the Atlanta IPA.
Other Parish Events:
· The Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Annunciation
o Sunday of Orthodoxy Pan-Orthodox Vespers with His Eminence Metropolitan Gregory of Nyssa presiding on Sunday, March 1 at 5pm.
· Holy Transfiguration Greek Orthodox Church
o Will host a Valentines’ Day dance sponsored by Greek School on Saturday, February 14.
o OCF will go see the movie Moses the Black as a group to the local Theater.
· St. Christopher Greek Orthodox Church
o Will be hosting a Lenten Retreat on Saturday, March 28 from 9am - 2:30pm.
o The community will be doing their groundbreaking for their new church, on Sunday, February 22 at 2:00pm. We are all invited to attend
· St. Philothea Greek Orthodox Church
o Nameday Celebration February 18-19
· St. John the Wonderworker
o Will have their Barn Dance on February 6 from 6 to 10pm (see attached flier)
· FOCUS North America
o They are doing many things in 2026 and are in need of items. A link of basic needs that FOCUS has so that parishes can help as much as they can is attached HERE
· OCF
o Will have their Public Lecture Series that will be taking place on Thursday, January 29, Thursday, February 5 and Thursday, February 13. Please see the attached link and attached flier for more details HERE
o WorkDaze will take place from March 27-29 with Fr. Barnabas Powell will be the guest speaker.
o Georgia Tech will have an apologetics event on Saturday, February 7 at 6:00pm. They are welcoming Dr. James Alter to speak at this year’s City Symposium. He will speak on “History, Hype, or Holy: Debating the Veracity of the Bible.” This event is for believers who want to strengthen their faith and also self-identifying atheists or non-religious as well. Dr. Alter will speak in a relaxed setting that will include Q&A at the end of the talk. Attached is the flier along with a link for registration HERE
· Liturgical Arts Academy
o Will take place at the Alexios Retreat Center from February 9-15. See link for more information HERE
Closing prayer offered by Fr. Micheal Tishel.
Our next meeting to take place on Tuesday, February 24 at 7pm.