A Greek Has Been Knighted! Frank Marangos & The Knights Hospitaller

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
Welcome to frankly Speaking, your weekly destination for insight and
inspiration with your host, Frank Morangos. Frankly Speaking is sponsored
by Heppa four two one Chapter of North Miami in
partnership with the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church of North Miami.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Welcome back to frankly Speaking. I'm Brian Mudd along with
Sir Frank Morengos. You're laughing, but you have been knighted.

Speaker 3 (00:41):
I have. I actually have been. It was given the
honor of being knighted by the Order of Saint John
of Jerusalem. This is Talaris remarkable.

Speaker 2 (00:50):
So the Knights Hospitality are that this is an order
that goes all the way back to the Crusaders. It
is what has has kept each traditions alive, a lot
of good will and a lot of good work around
the world as well. So tell us what happened here.
The next thing I know, I get a picture from
Frank the nighted.

Speaker 3 (01:11):
Well, I wanted to share that with you. Brian. You
know I've been going to the Galas of osj Order
of Saint John Jerusalem for many years. Down in Boca.
A wonderful woman was the commander the Grand Domes, as
they call her because it's a woman. Her excellency Isabelle
Paul and I'm sure many people know who I'm speaking about.

(01:34):
Just a fabulous, fabulous lady, very humble, philanthropic cares for
the sick, the poor, and education of young people. And
somewhere along the line, you know, I met some people.
They got to know who I was. I was actually
given a proclamation years ago when I was in Manhattan
by the Chamber there by the really the City Council

(01:55):
of Manhattan for the work that I had done with
young professionals feeding the the homeless there. And then when
I came back here to the Palm Beach area, I
helped a number of organizations once again with the homeless.
I really care about that, and of course, being a clergyman,
I always cared about at the same time the sick.

(02:16):
So I was recommended for knighthood. I went through the
process and then I get a call and an invitation
to have that happen. And I was really honored because
it just so happened that this particular nighting that took
place in New Jerseys past week, a Lieutenant Grand Master
Paul Borg and the Grand Commander Knowle Vassalo for Malta

(02:39):
happened to be in the United States, and while they
were here, they said, you know what, we're going to
do the nighting. So it was really incredible to be
to have that happen to me and to know that
I was I'm part of an organization of group of
knights is only about a thousand in the entire world,
less than one hundred in the United States that date

(03:01):
back all the way to the eleventh century.

Speaker 2 (03:03):
Really is remarkable, and for those who may not be familiar.
In the time of the Crusaders, Malta ended up becoming
their their capital. Basically, it was their their home, their
epicenter from which they ended up operating and to this
day is a huge part of what takes place on
that island and the traditions throughout the area.

Speaker 3 (03:24):
You know, during the Crusades, they actually were pushed out
of Malta unfortunately because and they ended up having to
go to Cyprus. Here's the Greek connections. Connections, that's good,
this is good. So they went to Cyprus and then
ended up on the island of Rhodes, where they stayed
for two centuries. And what's very interesting that if you

(03:45):
ever go on their website and take a look at
the order, you will see an icon of Byzantine icon
of the Virgin Mary. As a matter of fact, in
the Greek it's it's called the Econa Yes Philermond. In
the English it is the Our Lady of Leerman And
it is an Orthodox icon, Greek Orthodox icon, and it
has a picture of the Madonna of Mary from a

(04:09):
side view with an eight pointed cross around her halo.
And that is a very important thing because ultimately that
has become part of the Maltese Cross.

Speaker 4 (04:24):
To see.

Speaker 3 (04:24):
So here's the Greeks influencing the Catholics with a Byzantine icon,
which then became the protectress of the Order of Saint
John of Jerusalem. And when they were thrown out of
Rhodes and then made their way back to Malta ultimately
and then to Rome, their standard on the ship was

(04:46):
this icon. And the phrase that was used as they
were leaving Malta being pushed out to me of roads
as they were being pushed out was in my misfortune,
thou art my help. And the icon has remained there
protectorists to this very day. So I find myself at
home being a knight of the Order of Saint John
of Jerusalem.

Speaker 2 (05:07):
It's really interesting something I've find fascinating. Obviously, many Greek
people in this country, around the world, and historically since
the time of Jesus, have been among the most avid
and loyal followers of Christ. But there is all of
the Greek history, the Greek God, something that independent of

(05:31):
any religion around the world, people are familiar with culturally
that influence to this day when you talk about, you know,
Greek culture that anybody could point to in any country.

Speaker 3 (05:44):
Interesting that historically the reason for that, I believe. One
of the reasons I would say is that Byzantium, which
was the epi center at one point of the world culturally, politically, religiously.
We talked about it at another Showanthropically, the hospitals, the orphanages,
I mean, like the schools that can go on and
on and on. Never went through the Renaissance. We fell

(06:06):
to the Ottoman Turks, so the entire eastern part of
the world, eacent part of Christendome went into darkness. We
never went through the Renaissance, and all of a sudden
we receive our freedom from the Turkish occupation Greece not
that long ago, and people say who are you, you see,
and we have an opportunity now to reintroduce I think educators, students,

(06:30):
the culture of the impact of the Greek heritage on
our life, and I think that's what, frankly speaking, is
all about making America Greek again. I know it's kind
of a humorous way of talking about it, but at
the same time, I'm serious that we need to we
need to recognize and rediscover the impact that the Greek

(06:51):
culture has had on our world.

Speaker 2 (06:54):
It's profound in ways that we learn from you every
week with the show, in particular, along with how you
are this international man of mystery a night.

Speaker 3 (07:08):
Yeah, well, my greatest achievement is that I'm a husband
to a fantastic woman.

Speaker 2 (07:15):
Well that just makes you a smart man. That just
ensures that you get to go home and you'll have.

Speaker 3 (07:22):
A good night tonight.

Speaker 4 (07:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (07:23):
Well, the icon you know that we were just talking
about is now in a museum in Montenegro. It was
lost for a while and it was rediscovered again and
it is in a museum there. As I said, Protectress
of the Order of Saint John, Jerusalem and tradition, the
Greek tradition based on what we call the scene Sadia,
which is kind of like the biographies of relics and

(07:48):
churches and saints, et cetera. The history of the church
says that it was actually painted by Saint Luke, no
kidding the evangelists, and there's a much of history that
supports that. So you can imagine that here's this icon
painted by Saint Luke of Mary that has passed on
from generations to a monasterian rhoads and now becomes the

(08:10):
protectress of the Order of Saint John Jerusalem to which
a Frank Marangus is invited to be a representative in
this area. And my job as a representative is to
raise awareness, to raise money, to be able to take
that those resources and redeposit those resources into nonprofits and
individuals who are feeding the sick, taking care of the homeless,

(08:34):
going to the hospitals, and to continue the motto, the
motto of the Order of Saint John Jerusalem, which is
profide at pro utilitate hominum, which ultimately means for faith
we do it and service of humankind.

Speaker 2 (08:52):
That's a good story on the front end. I'm still
not sure that the time you spend in Wellington hasn't
been horseback riding and rafting your skills with sword in
hand as you're getting ready to go out and defend Christians.

Speaker 3 (09:06):
I don't know if I could be a polo player,
that would be an achievement, Brian.

Speaker 2 (09:11):
No, but you are a knight and you're you're a
legacy at the Crusaders, so I'm sure you have it
in you.

Speaker 3 (09:18):
Well, thank you very much. I really appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (09:20):
Well, frank you have had so many wonderful experiences even recently,
and that you've shared with us throughout the course of
this year. Tell us a little bit of your thoughts,
frankly speaking, as you have been endeavoring to make America
Greek again. As we've discussed, you've even worked to make Kazakhs.

Speaker 3 (09:41):
Stand Greek again.

Speaker 2 (09:43):
During my trip there, yeah, some takeaways for us as
we're into the holiday season, hend down the home stretch
this year.

Speaker 3 (09:49):
Going down the home stretch, I would say that, and
I said, You've heard me say this many times that
storytelling is what keeps us human. And I think that
the story of Jesus', the story of humankind's desire to
help one another, the story of having our grandchildren and

(10:09):
our children sit on our knee and listen to our experiences.
The story of forgiveness, the story of desiring peace and
not war, the story of love and kindness. These are
the stories that I find in the mythology the capital
m the story of the myth of humanity that I

(10:32):
have found in my travels. Privileged to have had those
travels over the last few months. Exist in all cultures,
whether it's Kazakhstan, or whether it's the Island Roads, or
whether we're in Rome, whether we're in Boca Ratona or
at Palm Beach, Boston, even California. We have this story

(10:53):
that keeps us together. And as long as we can
maintain that story, then it really doesn't make a difference whether,
as Saint Paul says, whether we're Greek, goo Jew or
Roman free or slave, rich or poor, that we are
all one people under God.

Speaker 2 (11:09):
Well said, I'm Brian Mudd with Sir Frank Morangos.

Speaker 4 (11:14):
This is frankly speaking, thank you.

Speaker 2 (11:16):
Breton, We thank you. You have a four to twenty one
North Miami chapter for their sponsorship of Frankly speaking, they
promote the ancient Hellenic ideas of education, philanthropy, civic responsibility, family,
and individual excellence through community service and volunteerism. They offer

(11:37):
scholarships annually to support students seeking higher education. I HEPA
supports other organizations including the Saint Basel Academy in New York,
IOCC hurricane relief efforts, and the local Annunciation GOOC. If
you're interested in donating to help support these efforts, email
I have a four twenty one North Miami at gmail
dot com.

Speaker 3 (12:00):
Welcome back to frankly speaking today, I'm thrilled to welcome
Robert Bailey to the show. Rob is a strategist, a creator,
storyteller whose professional life includes the sectors of energy, technology,
and expert services. He has helped build platforms, programs, and
partnerships that move people in industries forward for for profit
as well as nonprofit businesses. He is the first non

(12:22):
ethnic Greek that I've invited to be my guest. I've
done so, however, because as you will quickly see, he
is definitely a phil helling whose life, and I would
say his dance of life and his faith has been
influenced by the ancient Greeks and especially the Biblical Greek language.
Welcome to the show, Rob, Thank.

Speaker 4 (12:40):
You, Frank.

Speaker 3 (12:40):
It's on your first time here at the studio. Now
it's not you're back.

Speaker 4 (12:44):
But under this introduction, I need to modify my last nam,
I think to Robert Balyiacas, yes, sure, so that it
smoothly comes into the context.

Speaker 3 (12:55):
So Valiacos, who had actually mean someone who is heavy?
H it has had gravitas, So you know that's perfect.
The Greek there's a Greek word that's called that is
translated in English as discernment, and the Greeks, especially the
Greek theologians, would say that that's the highest of virtues,
to be able to have clarity in order to discern

(13:18):
truth from falsehood, to discern was right and wrong, et cetera,
et cetera in life. And we need to be able
to discern each other, to understand each other, to be
clear about who we are and what we are saying,
and that will bring us closer together.

Speaker 4 (13:31):
You know, when we're doing our best to be faithful.
As I prefer to say, now, it's hard, it's very hard.
I had a conversation this week where I was talking
about Toddy said, why don't you say you're a Christian
because anybody can say they're Christian? What does that mean now?

(13:53):
And to sort of pick a fine point. You know,
a lot of people excited about the people going to
church after Charlie Kirk's assassination. I think that's great, but
that's a step. That doesn't mean that they're all embraced.
They discipline that's necessary. Of course, the costs of disciple

(14:14):
show if we spoke.

Speaker 3 (14:15):
I spoke about that in one of my previous shows
that you know what, we need to make sure that
this is a return to Christ, a return to God
as opposed to being a personality cult that all of
a sudden, now we want to do something because here
is this individual who received the claim, you know, and
that could be a start. I mean, you know, but
we need to have clarity in our life as to

(14:35):
the motives. And that's where discernment comes in again. So
tell me more about this movie. How does it end?

Speaker 4 (14:41):
Well? It ends. I don't want to spoil this good
but there's there's a cameo at the very end of
the film which is put in there. I'm trying to
think where they I should tell you who it is.
I don't want to tell you who it is, but
there's a no no. But at the very end of
the film, there's there's a miracle that occurs, and a

(15:04):
cameo is with an American actor, well known American actor.
I didn't recognize him.

Speaker 3 (15:08):
I had to see it in the note you can
tell us that, you can tell us that.

Speaker 4 (15:11):
I'll tell you who it is, right, it's Mickey Rourke. Wow.
Mickey Rourke plays the man who has been paralyzed, who
is sharing a room with Nactarios when he's dying, and
the nurse comes and Nectarius is struggling to breathe, and
the nurse is taking off Nactarius's vestments and so forth,

(15:35):
and he she throws it over on this man's bed
and where he was paralyzed. A minute later he's moving
around and standing up and then weeping. So it's a
very moving scene. But it's Mickey Rourke, and ostensibly he
was put in there to soften the movie for the
American audience. But I think we've softened it now. I

(15:57):
think people will want to see this.

Speaker 3 (15:58):
I want to see it. I haven't. I know his life,
but I didn't.

Speaker 4 (16:01):
It's available on movie our Prime video, and it's available
I think too, on YouTube. But it will. I was
really pleased that my wife, when I sat down. She
does not tolerate black and white movies very well. But
we were both wrapped watching this film. There's something about
it that is just terribly, you know, wonderfully engaging. But I,

(16:24):
you know, I didn't, I didn't stop daring thinking about this.
I went back because of our Greek focus. I thought
of other movies that I've seen too, and of course
the you know, one of the most famous Greek authors
is Nick's cousin Zakush and The Last Temptation of Christ,
which Marty Scerseisi is a very devout Roman Catholic made

(16:48):
in nineteen eighty eight. I think uh is A is
a very stirring movie too, because it takes the and
I don't know if this is a Greek thing, this
is every I think everything's it's certainly for the show,
and so I think that what happened the experience of
making this film was pretty extraordinary for Scorsisi. He talks

(17:11):
about it. He kind of blended both of his worlds.
He was very religious as a kid growing up. His
parents were very kind of responsibly Catholic. They didn't listen
to everything the Catholic Church said. I mean, he tells
us a lot about his background and making these films.
But that film in particular embraced the really scandalous idea
that what if The question was, what if Jesus decided

(17:36):
he didn't want to die on the cross? It was
terribly scandalous even as a book. But what happened for
Scarcese he read the book. He was so entranced by
the language of the book that he wanted to do
the film. But it took him six years to get
round to it and finally pull it together, and the
budget went up and up and up, and he ended up.

(17:58):
I think the funny part of that film is that
he ended up with a bunch of New Yorkers, people
he'd used in his mob movies, being you know, in
the parts and so Carbikitel. I always remember in one
scene he uh, you know, just in his Brooklyn accent,
he says, uh, lord, I remember how the other day
you should turn that you said you should turn the

(18:19):
other cheek. I didn't like that, right. It sounds like
he's got these guys right up in the street walking
around with them, and and so I think that what's
what's interesting about the the intention of the Greek directors
or directing these these Greek films around around religion, around
around a real believing Christianity, a deep Christianity. Is that

(18:45):
the Greeks can't get away from him. It's part of
even even these these films are not what you would
call religious films, but the Greeks are so so sort
of imbued with that.

Speaker 3 (18:57):
We we created tragedy. I mean everything is a tragedy
for us. Yeah, that's true, and so it's embedded in
our in our personalities, our families, when we tell stories.
Actually we love the tragedy because it really resonates with
the the ethos of humanity. But always when there's a tragedy,

(19:17):
there's always a way out, there's always a little bit
of light there. The issue is choice, you know, do
we choose it or do we choose the darkness. There's
another movie that we spoke about a little bit. I
recommended it to you some years back. I don't know
if you've got a chance to re watch it again,
called The Shepherd's Supper, which again I think it's in
black and white, but it's in Greek with English subtitles, right,

(19:40):
do you remember that?

Speaker 4 (19:41):
I do. I watched it twice and it was I
think the scene that most of us remember is that
this main character who's had a it starts off a
very normal way. He's leaving its home or he tells
us why, we'll be back soon, and anywhere's it going.

Speaker 3 (19:59):
He's he's trying to find the kingdom. It's a journey
to the king.

Speaker 4 (20:03):
He's trying to find the king.

Speaker 3 (20:04):
Trying to find the king.

Speaker 4 (20:05):
He's a simpleton and heard he heard the priest church
give a sermon and he said, you know, I'm going
to go and find it. That's right, Thank you, you reminded me. So,
so he's on this journey and the again kind of
spoiler alert, he goes through a series of he meets
a couple of people along the way and then he uh.

Speaker 3 (20:23):
And he's always generous.

Speaker 4 (20:24):
He's always he always giving everything away, the very kind
and them his simple nature is I think you let
it go. You don't think about it in every scene.
You think, well, he's kind of a normal guy too,
he's kind of being just a nice guy, and and
so you don't. And then the scene that I think
is most remembered is that he he speaks to Christ

(20:46):
on the on the large wooden cross.

Speaker 3 (20:49):
By himself in the morning and he says.

Speaker 4 (20:52):
Oh, the lad was talking to me, and they're like,
what are you talking about? And he said, oh, no,
he came down. He had a meal. A lad came
down and had a meal. And he realizes that none
of them are understanding what he's talking about. And it's
just it's so it's such a touching mom.

Speaker 3 (21:11):
Oh, I get chills when I think of that scene
because he's talking. He's he's upset about this young man
out of the cross. Why did they do this to him?
And he starts talking to him and he sits down.
He goes, it wouldn't have come down and eat with me,
and Jesus actually comes down off of the cross and
it's the people and eats at the table with him. Wow,
what a powerful scene that is. And then he goes

(21:32):
to tell the monks and they don't know what he's talking.

Speaker 4 (21:35):
About, right, Yeah, and he's found what he's looking for.

Speaker 3 (21:38):
Doesn't even realized he doesn't realize that. Yeah, don't give
away the end. I mean people think that that's the
end of the movie, but oh, but there's much more
to his journey.

Speaker 4 (21:47):
But I you know that, but you know, stepping back
from from these two films, three films. You know the
Greeks have it's the it's the language.

Speaker 3 (21:58):
So you should be saying that the Greek You say,
us Greeks.

Speaker 4 (22:01):
Oh, that's right. I forgot where I am right, So
you know, so.

Speaker 3 (22:05):
We Greeks, that's good.

Speaker 4 (22:08):
Uh, are are really embraced this. It's sort of an
inescapable connection two to this godly spirit. Uh. And you
know the reason I was interested, the reason I shared
that Socrates quote is I never really thought of Socrates

(22:29):
israeligious guy. But he wasn't talking about the gods. He
was talking about God invented God. And so we've got
the the.

Speaker 3 (22:36):
He began talking about a monotheistic gods among the God.

Speaker 4 (22:40):
That's the difference, and that that's the commonality between the
two book ounts of Socrates and Muhammad and and and
that which was different in the world. And so I
think the clarity of this is that you know we also, oh,
Jesus Christ started it all. Well, he's part of a
larger continuum, very important, very very very important. Is he

(23:02):
more than a prophet as the Muslims feel? I think so?
Is he more important than Socrates? I think so? But
that doesn't mean we throw those two bookends down. No,
it gives us greater clarity about why Jesus is so important.

Speaker 3 (23:19):
Yeah, many theologians rob actually say again, Greek theologists actually
say that this is what is meant when we read
in the scriptures in the fullness of time. The reason
why he came at that particular time is as a
bridge to all of that. You're what you're saying. He
brought together Jewish ideals, Hindu all these ancient religions, Christ

(23:43):
and Greek philosophy, so you see everything coalescing with him
at a time when you began to see the Romans
creating roads, and it was the road system that actually
allowed the missionaries to do their work. So the fullness
of time is exactly what you're saying. You cannot look
at Christ with Jesus incarnation and pull it out of history.

(24:03):
That's a mistake. That's to turn it into a myth story. No, no, no,
it's part of history, and that's I think part of
the evidence that we as Christians must know and not
be afraid to share with individuals so they recognize that
wait a minute here, Jesus is more than a teacher,
and many people say, ah, you know, I like Jesus.
He was a good teacher, moral teacher. Really, you know,
do moral teachers say that they're God? You know, just

(24:26):
think of C. S. Lewis's You don't have that opportunity.
You can't sneak away and call Jesus just a teacher
and sneak away. No, if he's a teacher, then he's
a trickster. At the same time, he's duping people because
he's saying he's God or at or he's a Charlatan.
He's trying to, you know, manipulate individuals. No, maybe the

(24:47):
third option, Lewis say, is that maybe what he said
is true, that he is Jesus Christ. And if we
give I think the evidence, a hearing, the clarity that
you're talking about would ultimately arise. It'll come forth, it'll
it'll percolate to the top.

Speaker 4 (25:04):
All right. That's that's one of the arguments that is
presented to atheists. They say, well, there's the universe will end,
and the Christian will say, oh, it hasn't end. It
had to have a beginning, didn't it. Yeah, that baffles everybody.

Speaker 3 (25:16):
Yeah, there's a great book. I think I may have
shared it with you. It's called I don't have enough.
I don't have enough to be to be an atheist,
right you know, which is exactly this. And the writer
was Kirk's Charlie Kirk's mentor. Isn't that interesting? So I
thank you very much for coming on. Frankly speaking, we
didn't even talk about your three dogs. You still have three?

Speaker 4 (25:38):
You still have during Yeah, Jack is blind, but amazing
when he's Jack the miracle dog. He gets around and
we take him out and people they say, he's blind.
How can he be blind? Look at how he walks,
look at how he struts. Well, he trusts me when
he's on the lage, so everybody's good.

Speaker 3 (25:56):
Yeah. So that's how God treats us. As often that
we are blind to life. If we allow God to
direct us and guide us, then we see the light.
You're here, so thank you very much for being on
the show. Please give my my regards and love to
your your wonderful wife Teddy.

Speaker 4 (26:12):
Well, okay, go bless