Dear Family,

I greet you with blessings from His Eminence Metropolitan Alexios.

His Eminence said it best, “The Diakonia Retreat Center belongs to all communities in our Metropolis. That means everyone in our Metropolis can use the Diakonia Retreat Center as a chance to get away from the secular world. We can use it for recreation, as a place to vacation, as a retreat with our family and even for large family reunions. The purpose of the Diakonia Retreat Center is a to have a place where we can go connect with God. Think of it this way: each parish has a hall that communities use for gathering spaces. The Diakonia Retreat Center is that ‘hall’ the Metropolis of Atlanta family uses to gather."

2020 has been a difficult year. We have cancelled events at the parish, district, and Metropolis levels. Not having St. Stephen’s Summer Camp broke hearts all over the southeast, but especially here in the Metropolis office. We missed you. We still miss you. We are watching all eight states and strategizing how we can to get back together as a Metropolis, starting with the Senior Class of 2021.

Even though the Diakonia Retreat Center has been closed, the Staff and the Board have been working. The Diakonia Retreat Center has officially partially opened and is able to safely host 4 families at a time. The Board of the Diakonia Retreat Center has also begun an October Matching Campaign to try to make up for all the months that the Diakonia Retreat Center was unable to operate. Please take a moment to READ THIS LETTER from the Board about what has been going on at the Diakonia Retreat Center, pray as a family, go there as a family, and help in any way that you can. 

Hope to see you soon,