Dear Fellow Parishioners and new Friends of Saint Thomas, Happy New Year!

I send you my greetings and I pray that this message finds you and your families well in this new year, 2022. My name is Fr. Avgoustinos Psomas, and it is truly an honor and a privilege for me to serve as your new priest here at Saint Thomas.

It is a great blessing to have you all, not just as part of our parish family, but also my family. I am forever grateful to His Eminence, our Archbishop Elpidophoros of America, for assigning me to one of the most beautiful parishes and congregations within our Archdiocese. I am grateful for the blessing received from His hands allowing me to be your priest, honored and humbled to be a part of this parish, and already amazed and thankful to God for the commitment, dedication and love you all show towards our Community, our Church, and our Orthodox Faith.

I am looking forward to working with you all, inviting and supporting every parishioner to become a disciple of Christ, as well as an active member of our family, building our Parish, our Community and God’s Church through our prayer, service, and outreach to others in faith. Here at Saint Thomas, we will strive together to bring to life the words of our mission statement: “To Love God. Love Your Neighbor. Make Disciples of Christ.” Working together, we will seek to build a strong parish community where all feel welcome and inspired by the Gospel to live God’s mission with faith, hope and love.
Saint Thomas has been in service to the community in the pursuit of serving God for over 50 years! Please join me and all of our family members, as we spend the next months in renewal and re-commitment to Christ through our continued faithful stewardship. We would be honored for you and your family to be a part of our growth in the years ahead. I invite and encourage you to connect with me, to connect with the parish council members and ministries of our parish community. I pray that all of us will find warmth, encouragement, and spiritual growth in Saint Thomas in the days to come, and I look forward to getting to know you personally in the weeks and months ahead.

My great thanks to my beloved brother Fr. Christoforos for all the amazing work you have done these past years, for your devotion, for your hard work, for your love and for the heavy but so blessed inheritance you are now passing on to me. Above all I thank and appreciate you for making yourself available to me and to our community for the years to come in order for us to continue to grow our community. Thank you also Father Christoforos for it is your brotherly love together with His Eminence’s paternal Blessings that brought me here to this awesome and great Parish! I am grateful also to His Grace Bishop Apostolos of Medeia for his friendship and support. Thank you also to the president of the Parish Council, Mr. Sandilos, and all of your beloved Board Members for your openness to welcome me into this great Community, as your priest and pastor, and as your spiritual brother and friend in Christ. Yes indeed, it is an honor for me to be your priest and fellow member of this Community!

My brothers and sisters, as we undertake this blessed work together, please pray for me, pray for our Council, for our staff, and for all our lay leaders here at Saint Thomas. Although we’re experiencing tough times, the days ahead are full of hope and potential for our Community, and we need every single one of you and the gifts the Lord has given you to build up the Body of Christ here in our Home, in your Home, at Saint Thomas!

I wish you all a Healthy, Blessed and Joyful Year! May Saint Thomas keep, protect, strengthen, and enlighten us all. Amen!

Yours in Christ,
Fr. Avgoustinos Psomas

Biography
Fr. Avgoustinos Psomas was born and raised in Corfu and settled in the village of the Saints Theodore in Lefkimmi, Corfu. While completing his undergraduate studies, he studied electrical engineering at the Electrical Engineering Department of the Sivitanidios Technical School in Athens. He also attended Byzantine music classes at Saint Marina in Illisia under Dr. Athanasios Vourlis.

After completing his military service in 2000, he passed the qualifying exams for admission to the School of Theology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in 2003, from which he graduated in 2007. In 2008, he graduated from the Conservatory of Northern Greece, where he completed his Master’s Degree in Byzantine Music with courses in Speech Training, Choir Directing, Liturgical Studies, and Reciting Readings.

During his theological studies, he studied for three consecutive years in the Byzantine School of Music under the guidance of the famous Panagiotis Neohoritis. He served the Holy Analogion of the Church of St. George of Ormylia, where he had the privilege of serving as the head chanter from 2004-2012 until he arrived in the United States. From 2013 to 2019, he served at the Hellenic Community of Saint Demetrios of Astoria as head chanter until his ordination to the Holy Diaconate on Christmas Eve 2019. He was then ordained to the Holy Priesthood on September 29, 2020, and elevated to the rank of “Archimandrite” on June 21, 2021, both by the hands of His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America. Since his ordination to the holy diaconate, he served the Greek Orthodox Community of Holy Trinity in New Rochelle, NY. He recently graduated from the Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology program in Boston.