TheLeader VOLUME XXVI ISSUE1 Winter2025 - Flipbook - Page 13
Peter J. Skeadas Receives
2024 Nicholas J. Bouras Award
for Extraordinary Archon Stewardship
repeated the memorial tribute given by His All-Holiness
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who described
Archon Bouras’ humility and philanthropy in this way:
“He was righteous in his ways, generous in his heart,
faithful in his soul, and noble in his spirit.” This applied,
said Judge Bozonelis, to Archon Skeadas as well.
Peter J. Skeadas is joined by his wife, Aphrodite,
and his children Nicholas and Constantina, as he receives
the Nicholas J. Bouras Award for Extraordinary Archon.
On Friday, October 18, 2024, Peter J. Skeadas received
the 2024 Nicholas J. Bouras Award for Extraordinary
Archon Stewardship at the Archons of the Ecumenical
Patriarchate’s annual Bouras Award Dinner. The award is
presented annually during Archon Weekend in New
York City to an individual who has demonstrated
extraordinary and incomparable stewardship to the
Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate (AEP),
empowering Archons to vigorously pursue securing
religious freedom for the Mother Church of
Constantinople.
Dr. Anthony J. Limberakis, National Commander of the
Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, began the
evening by informing those in attendance that the
Bouras Award Dinner was the traditional kickoff event
of Archon Weekend. “All morning long,” he stated, “new
Archons have had Boot Camp to learn how to be
Archons like Nicholas J. Bouras.” Listing some of Archon
Bouras of blessed memory’s accomplishments, Dr.
Limberakis stated that Archons try to emulate him from
alpha to omega.
The Hon. B. Theodore Bozonelis, National Vice
Commander of the Archons of the Ecumenical
Patriarchate and trustee of the Nicholas J. and Anna K.
Bouras Foundation, then offered a toast to Archon Peter
and Aphrodite Skeadas, noting their “lifetime
commitment of service to our faith,” which he said
“exemplifies all the attributes of Nicholas J. Bouras.” He
Judge Bozonelis also said that while Archon Skeadas had
achieved great professional success both as an engineer
and in restaurant and real estate investment, what was
always most important to him was his service to the
Church in numerous arenas and multiple capacities,
including as Archon National Treasurer and member of
the Archon National Council.
“In his righteousness and humility, “said Judge
Bozonelis, “Archon Peter embodies the legacy of
Nicholas J. Bouras.” Judge Bozonelis then led the
attendees in three wholehearted cries of Άξιος!
The son of Archon Peter and Aphrodite, Nicholas P.
Skeadas, thanked Dr. Limberakis and the Archons for
their service and dedication. He praised their dedication
in working to meet the global challenges facing the
Greek Orthodox Church, and to relieve the plight of the
faithful in areas in which practicing the faith had become
more difficult. Then Nicholas Skeadas’ sister,
Constantina Skeadas, spoke fondly and movingly about
her childhood, saying that her father was a “truly
remarkable man.”
Archon Skeadas, in his remarks, stated that he was
humbled and honored, albeit undeserving of such
recognition. He stated: “My narrative is ordinary, much
like yours.” He recounted his early life in East Harlem
and Yonkers, and his time at Prophet Elias Church in
Yonkers, where he met Aphrodite. Archon Skeadas told
the rapt crowd of the young couple’s experiences living in
Cape Town, South Africa, when he worked in the oil
industry, and his disgust at the apartheid system that
prevailed in that country in those years. He recounted
their return to the U.S., early days in the restaurant
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