The parishioners of the new Greek church had the golden opportunity to listen to the speech of Mr. G. Nicolopoulos, Dr. of Philosophy, delivered on the occasion of Xmas day.

"What was the political condition of the world when Christ was born, what was the mental condition, the religious condition, and the moral condition of that time?

Politically the world was good, because the Roman Empire which controlled the known world of that time established its laws to operate and function immutably for all. Money, communication, weights, punishment, and justice, were the same for all, over the huge Empire.

"The mental condition of the world when Christ was born was also good, due to the fact that, from end to end of that tremendous Empire, the Greek language was spoken. The Greek language and Greek civilization were spread over all Asia, by Alexander the Great, and became the language and civilization of 2the whole Roman Empire. The world of that time was distinguished for its unity under one empire, and for its unity under one language and civilization.

The religious condition of the world of that time was very bad. The Greeks were worshiping many gods, gods having the virtues and vices of humans; the Romans were worshiping gods of war; the Anatolians were worshiping trees, snakes, and stones; the Egyptians, cats and crocodiles. Such religious conditions were driving people away from Monotheism and pushing them to Atheism.

The moral condition of the world at that time was also very bad. The people under the Scepter of that Empire were divided by law in two classes, the slaves and the masters. The women were considered as objects belonging to men; their life was at the mercy of men. The religious and moral conditions of that time tolerated sacrifices of human beings, and other deplorable and immoral ways of worshiping the many gods.

Plato said to the Athenians, 'We are heading for destruction, unless Divine Providence sends us a Master.'

Four hundred years later the Star of Bethlehem was guiding the shepherds and the Wise Men to go and worship the Master of the world. Today we celebrate the birth of the Savior whose teachings of the existence of a true God no predecessor paralleled. The Master of all abolished Polytheism and led the world to salvation.

Today, in this church, we are all in unity, glorifying his name and spreading his teachings to the four corners of the world. The Greeks in this church or any Greek church the world over sing the birth of the true God. Churches, therefore, are places of his spiritual unity, of glorification of his name and perpetuation of his teachings.

We, the Greeks of Chicago, must be the prototype of Churches and schools, and urge the Greeks of this Country to build better and bigger churches, in order to serve the needs of each community. The maintenance of our religious grandeur can be accomplished, achieved and perpetuated, by building besides churches, schools, schools with the proper and appropriate teachers to immortalize the Greek language and Greek religion, thus bringing religious, educational, and national unity to the Greek race the world over. Xmas and the Greeks must be synonymous and must be perpetuated in the eons to come."