church and family | Service details and more

Ordination: Eleftherios Constantine, son of the Rev. Thomas and Vasiliki Constantine, will be ordained today to the deaconate in the Greek Orthodox Church at St. John the Forerunner Greek Orthodox Church, 4955 Glenwood Ave., Boardman. Orthros will be at 8:30 a.m. and Divine Liturgy at 9:30 with the ordination as part of the liturgy. Metropolitan Savas of Pittsburgh will conduct the ordination. Participants will be the Rev. George Callos, chancellor of the Metropolis of Pittsburgh; the Rev. Steve Denas of Archangel Michael Greek Orthodox Church in Campbell; the Rev. Polykarp Steve of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Youngstown; the Rev. Elias Stevens of Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Mobile, Ala.; the Rev. Dean Gigicos of Mobile; the Rev. Perikles Kallis of Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Buffalo, N.Y; Archdeacon Ryan, Metropolis of Pittsburgh; and Father Constantine.

Constantine family: In addition to Eleftherios Constantine, the Rev. Thomas and Vasiliki Constantine are parents of Maria, wife of Michael Gavrilos, who is becoming a priest; Angeliki, who has a master of divinity degree, works at the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America Department of Religious Education; Miltiadis, who studied theology, graduated from Westminster College and works at PNC Bank; Demetrios, a student at Hellenic College/Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology; Panayiotis, student at Westminster College who works with Youth Equipped to Serve, an Orthodox ministry; Theodora and Antonios, Poland High School juniors; and Gavrielia, Poland freshman.

In the parish: Eleftherios Constantine is only the second son of the parish to enter the ministry in recent memory. The Rev. Polykarp Steve of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Youngstown was ordained at St. John the Forerunner, his home parish.

Beard tradition: Father Constantine and his son, Eleftherios, both have beards. “Christ had a beard,” Father Constantine said. “We’re the human representations of Christ, emulating that.” He said the beards also reflect that priests and deacons are “in the world but not of the world.”