The Return Of Frankly Speaking with AHEPA

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 (00:26):
Well, this is not Frank Morangos, it is Brian Mud.
But I am pleased to reintroduce to you something that
many of us have been missing for about two years. Now.
Frank is back with us and frankly Speaking back on
the air. Frank, welcome back. We are thrilled to have you.
Tell us what's been going on in the past.

Speaker 3 (00:46):
Couples, generous introduction, that's amazing. It's great to be in
a privilege to be back here in the studios. Really,
and I wish I had your voice. You know, I
may not be Brian Mud, but you know I wish
I had Brian's voice.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
You're maybe the one person who would say that I
have never really cared for my voice. Some people say, oh,
you got a great voice. I'm like, I would rather
have yours. Frank, you have the voice.

Speaker 3 (01:06):
No, I don't have the voice.

Speaker 1 (01:07):
You do.

Speaker 2 (01:08):
And you also have a lot of wisdom to impart
on us as well.

Speaker 3 (01:11):
Just keep it coming, keep it. Yeah, so I've been busy.
I have missed everybody here. I just saw Joel. Great
to see him and great to see that he's lost
in weight. He looks great. You know, any available women
out there, you know, just got knock on the door
here at the iHeartRadio. But yeah, I've been helping some nonprofits,

(01:32):
doing some work with the universities. I've been doing a
little bit of teaching at Pombich Atlantic University and helping
them also with some plan giving, which I really really enjoy.

Speaker 2 (01:42):
A lot of people may not know this about you,
about your your deep spiritual background, your faith background, your
level of education, what your your depth of expertise really is.
For folks who may not be aware of that aspect
of Frank, tell us about him.

Speaker 3 (01:59):
Well, first thing I would say is, I'm married to
my high school sweetheart, which really is my inspiration. She's
the smartest, most wisest individual that I know. Really is
my friend.

Speaker 2 (02:08):
That might make you the smartest for recognizing that that
is an important series anyway.

Speaker 3 (02:13):
Yeah, no, but I have two PhDs. When in education
and when in theology. I've taught at a number of universities.
I worked extensively for the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese in Manhattan.
I was their executive director of Communications. I was a
director of education for the United States for many years,
about ten years, to say the truth. Then I retired,

(02:34):
came to Palm Beach, started a small consulting company, and
I've just been helping a faith based organizations as much
as I can.

Speaker 2 (02:42):
And you were telling me that really is part of
your mission with the reintroduction of frankly speaking, we need
to have more of what matters most in our lives
in our society today that often is not on the
proper track, that moratl and righteous path that we're called
on the take.

Speaker 3 (03:03):
Yeah. So, my wife and I just returned from a
three week cruise the Italian seashore. We went to some
beautiful places there, saw some classical art, saw some beautiful
locations and museums and churches. But it was amazing to
see the Hellenic, the Greek influence. It was truly amazing
because this is a small country, but it's been around

(03:26):
for four thousand years. The culture has been around, So
the influence in Italy, in Spain, obviously in the Greek
Islands and I didn't realize there are two thousand Greek islands,
most of them I didn't happen either, Yeah, two thousand
of them. And the influence in architecture, art, philosophy, politics, music,
business is truly amazing. So after that, we come back

(03:52):
to the United States and I see what's going on here,
and I see what's going on with the Ukraine. Still,
I see what happened just a few days ago with
the bombing of the Iranian nuclear facilities that we're talking
about now today Saturday. You know this happened, I guess
two days ago. Now I see what's going on with
the violence, the gun violence, the addiction, the immigration issues.

(04:14):
And I'm looking back at what I just came from,
and I'm noticing that what society needs in America, if
I can be so bold, is a return to values,
a return to morality. And that's exactly what frankly speaking,
is planning to do for this for the next twelve months.
I have a great sponsor in a HEPA and talk
a little bit about who they are, and also a

(04:35):
co sponsor in the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church of North
Miami that I help on Sundays, and it's a privilege
to do that. And I said to myself, this is
perfect to offer an inspiration, to offer to the contemporary
culture a more a greater aspiration and appreciation of the

(04:55):
influence of the Hellenic ideals and the values. And that's
my goal here. You know, I don't want to be
too cutesy here, but you know Trump talks about maga
make America great again. Yes, what I want to do
is to kind of change that a little bit, if
I can kind of usurp that and and use that
to say, make America Greek again. If I can do that,

(05:16):
and I mean what I mean by that is to
bring back this emphasis of culture and values in its
in its aspiration.

Speaker 2 (05:24):
I think there's so much merit and so much to
expand upon with what you just said there. There are
a couple points I want to pick up on. But first,
you mentioned you have assisted with the church in North Miami.
That is an understatement. You know, for quite some time
you have made sure that you are there for the community,

(05:46):
and you live here in the Palm Beaches, and you
every Sunday for how long now it.

Speaker 3 (05:51):
Was supposed to be for three weeks, four weeks, And
I'm in my seventh year.

Speaker 2 (05:58):
That is, uh, that's longer than a contractor. You know
the old joke about contractors. How long is it gonna take?

Speaker 3 (06:04):
Two weeks? You know?

Speaker 2 (06:05):
And you know months later now. And I think that
became more than just a habit or a help.

Speaker 3 (06:11):
It truly is a privilege to me to be with
the people down there. And I hope I'm not being
too bold and saying that not only have I fallen
in love with them, but they've fallen in love with
me as well. We've built I think, a pretty close
relationship with the community. It's very small, it can't afford
a full time clergyman, and it's really my privilege to
be able and honor to be able to serve them

(06:32):
to the best that I can.

Speaker 2 (06:33):
And I think that's part of the underlying importance of
Frank and what he represents to this community as well,
that you know, you have people that serve their self interests,
You have plenty of people that are interested in promoting themselves,
but Frank genuinely is somebody who is given back at
that level. And again, with your knowledge base, with your expertise,

(06:57):
you have so much to offer, and so it's a
real blessing.

Speaker 3 (07:00):
And well, very gracious of you to say it's accurate.

Speaker 2 (07:03):
Though, and so you know, you just have so much
to give and you do that, and it's it's great
to have you with this audience. Getting again you talk
about the Greek culture one of my favorite related factoids.
And as you're talking about, you know, faith and the
importance of morality in our society, is the influence even

(07:24):
extended to the New Testament. Yes, a lot of people,
even many Christians that are well versed in the Bible,
may not realize the origin the language of origin of
the New Testament.

Speaker 3 (07:39):
Yeah, it's in Greek, of course, you know. And it's
interesting that I get this question quite a bit in
Bible studies or in some of the conference lectures that
I provide. Someone will say, well, what did Jesus mean
when he said my time is not yet come?

Speaker 2 (07:52):
You know?

Speaker 3 (07:52):
And we find the answer to that because he wanted
to touch base with all three of cultural influencers of the time.
So of course he talked to the Jewish Pharises and
the Sadducees, you know, you check that off. He talked
to the Roman authorities, check that off. Okay, And then
finally the night before Palm Sunday, a group of Greeks

(08:16):
are brought to him, if you recall that story, and
they reject him as well, and finally he says, now
my time has come. So why the Greeks, Well, it
was a Hellenic culture. People who are barbarians that were
at Varvaros in Greek actually means an individual who does
not speak Greek, does not have is not a cultured individual.

(08:38):
So everyone spoken Greek, even though much of the writings
at the time were in Aramic. The New Testament is
primarily in Greek, the Greek language, and it's interesting. One
other fact which is interesting now I'm jumping two thousand
years that I don't know if you realize or my reader,
my listeners realize, that the United States almost had Greek

(08:58):
it's act as it original language. No kidding, one vote away.
I had no idea. Yeah, many individuals think that that
really is a fable, but there are historians who actually
note in their biographies that that was the case.

Speaker 2 (09:14):
It's truly remarkable. I'm just curious. As a quick follow
to what we were just talking about, a lot of
people are curious when it comes to the parables, and
a lot of Jesus' teachings, how they almost sound like
riddles at times. There's a lot to be interpreted there.
What do you make of it? Was it something to

(09:34):
be figured out in time? Was it maybe a level
of understanding that wasn't just understood at that point?

Speaker 3 (09:42):
Well, I think that parable and myth in the capital
letter M and storytelling allows individuals to process the information
based on their level of understanding spirituality. So yes, I
would agree with what you said that a lot of
that is there. That no matter what our intellectual depth is,

(10:05):
whether it's high or low, a parable has something for
us there. And no matter how much we think that
we'veencompassed we've grasped the entirety of a parable, there's always more.
And that's I think the mystery of Christianity, the mystery
of the Church, is that God's revelation to us is
ever expanding. We can never contain God. He is the

(10:28):
one who contains us. Otherwise, you know, if we could
contain him, then he's not God, you know. And so
there's a level of humility there in education, and there's
there's a level of humility in coming before and reading
the New Testament and listening and studying the parables, and.

Speaker 2 (10:46):
I suppose at a certain level it gets back to
no matter how much you think you know, no matter
how much you learn, you figure out how little you
actually know. In the grand scheme.

Speaker 3 (10:58):
We're back to the Greek Philosophus again, right What I
know is that I do not know?

Speaker 2 (11:02):
There you go, Yeah, it's very well stated. We will
be right back on Frankly speaking Brian Mudd with Frank Brangos.
It is a pleasure to be back on the air
with frankly Speaking, where we have a message from the
Greek Orthodox Church of North Miami.

Speaker 1 (11:18):
Both right back.

Speaker 2 (11:28):
Have a great announcement to share with you. The Annunciation.
Greek Orthodox Church of North Miami is hosting a scholarship
luncheon for a Heppa four to twenty one coming up
next Sunday, June twenty second, and noon. A Heppa will
be presenting thirty two scholarships. They're twenty five hundred dollars
each to college students. All are invited to attend the
complimentary luncheon. The church is located at one twenty two

(11:51):
fifty Northwest Second Avenue in North Miami. For more information,
call three h five six eighty one ten sixty one.
That's three or five six eight one, ten sixty one.

(12:14):
Welcome back to Frankly speaking, it is Brian Mud and
I am joined by the man himself, Frank Morangos, who
is going to be joining you weekly once again. Truly
an honor and a privilege to have Frank back in
the studio, back on the air. Always. So much that
I personally learned from Frank, and I know so many
listeners have benefited from his wisdom and his thoughtfulness and

(12:38):
your ability to entertain as well. You do have a
way with words and a great sensition, so do you.

Speaker 3 (12:45):
And whenever I come in here are we're learning something
from you, especially about wines, because I know that you
and your wife.

Speaker 2 (12:50):
Enjoy yeah, but maybe not as much good wine as
you recently.

Speaker 3 (12:55):
Yeah, being in Italy, we did ingest some beautiful wine.

Speaker 2 (12:58):
I imagine. I am all right, So tell us a
little bit about a hepa. And you know, even beyond
those that may not be well versed in Greek culture,
it seems like there is a lot that is worthy here.

Speaker 3 (13:13):
So a heppa stands for American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association.
I know that that's a mouthful, and it was founded
in nineteen twenty two in Atlanta in response to the
KKK No. Yeah, so the Greeks that had come here,
that migrated here from Greece, we're having problems with them
as others did, discrimination, bigotry, the hatred, and so they

(13:36):
thought this is a way of fighting that kind of
discrimination and to focus on the culture of Greece and
the virtues of Greece, the morality of Greece. The goal
of a Heppa is education, philanthropy, civic responsibility, family, which
I'm going to emphasize throughout of the shows, and individual

(13:59):
excellence through community service and volunteerism. And they see all
that tied up in the Greek culture, its principles and ideals,
humanism and the use of reason to create the ideal person,
the ethical human being. And I thought that that would
be a perfect way a segue to get the show

(14:22):
back on the road again, and I HEP immediately jumped
at the opportunity to be able to talk about their goals,
to advance their ideals, and at the same time in
the show, I'm going to do two other things Brian
as I did in my other shows. One is I
want to introduce. I'm going to invite a guest, a

(14:42):
successful prominent hellen on the show, and some of them
will be calling in throughout the country. Others will be
here and will be locally and they'll come into the
studio and we'll talk about how their life progressed and
how Hellenism affected their success in the United States. So
that'll be one other component of the show, So be

(15:03):
a min monologue, an interview with a guest. And then third,
I'm going to do something that if you remember mister
Portoclos in my big fought, fat good red, my big
fat Greek wedding there, you know he said, you know,
give me any word and I'll give you the Greek root. Well,
I'm going to take a word, a Greek word of
the week, and then talk a little bit about its
influence on the American culture. So that's going to be

(15:24):
my focus and my.

Speaker 2 (15:26):
Goal, and we'll have one of those here in just
a little best a little bit. Yes, I'll look forward.
Imagine that'll be a great deal of fun. Okay. So
as we take a look at the evolution of a
hepa over time and the Greek Orthodox Church, often we
will operate in our silos. Right, So I'm Catholic, and

(15:47):
a lot of Catholics, you know. There there's the the
Catholic Orthodoxy, and if you're Baptist, it's Baptist Jewish.

Speaker 3 (15:55):
You're Jewish.

Speaker 2 (15:56):
The commonality. I tend to look at things as you know,
being brothers and sisters and all for folks who maybe
culturally are don't understand it, or you might have walls up.
What would you say to those individuals?

Speaker 3 (16:09):
Well, the misunderstanding is that Greek Orthodox Churches, the Greek
Orthodox communities for people who are Greek, and that is
a misnomer. What we mean by that is that we
offer a Christianity that developed in the Hellenic culture. So
there are African Orthodox, there are Chinese Orthodox Church. The

(16:31):
Russian Orthodox Church was actually missionized by the Greek Orthodox
in Constantinople during the time of Byzantium. We have Orthodox
in Uganda that do the church, that celebrate I should
say the liturgy in Swahili and they dance. If you
go to a liturgy there, they were the traditional garb,

(16:51):
but they've got drums, they jumping up and down and.

Speaker 2 (16:54):
I want to see you do this.

Speaker 3 (16:56):
No, you're not going to see me doing that. One
thing I can't do, Brian is dance my wife. For
the test of that, you and me both so Orthodox
is Japanese Orthodox Church, of the Church in Paris, in France, Australia,
I mean throughout the world. It's a large group of people.
Similar to when we say the Roman Catholic Church, we're

(17:17):
not saying everybody's Italian right, it's the same thing. It
was two parts of the same empire. As a matter
of fact, Pope John and Paul now sat Jane Paul
Is said that the Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church
are two lungs of the same body, and I really
like that a lot. The issue is to bring us

(17:37):
together so that we can find theological unity and affinity,
so that both lungs can breathe appropriately. And oftentimes what
keeps people apart is arrogance, politics, the economy, as opposed
to really bending the need to Jesus Christ and recognizing

(17:57):
that He is our father and we are his sons
and daughters. I didn't want to preach, but he gave
me an opportunity, so I did it.

Speaker 2 (18:04):
That is, I'm going to pass the train now wonderfully stated,
I think it's important. Far too often we do culturally
put up those barriers unnecessarily, and I think part of
what you are doing here is going to help bring
those down.

Speaker 3 (18:18):
I'm hopeful you know. Ecumenicity is important, and that's what
we're talking about here, is to bring everybody to get
an ecumenical way. But the thing is not to dumb down.
So we don't want to dumb down, nor do we
want to throw the baby out with the bathwater, but
we want to be honest and have integrity and theological
precision is important. So that's one of the things that
I'm going to try to do as well.

Speaker 2 (18:38):
Well. I think you're already succeeding in the early going here.
So as we're taking a look at the opportunities from
a listening standpoint, how is it that you'd like the
audience to engage with you, engage the show and the
information you're sharing with us.

Speaker 3 (18:54):
Well, they can always email me, and I really celebrate
it when I receive it at Frank at Rank talk
radio dot com. That's the email directly to frankly speaking,
And previously, when I had my show two years ago,
and I think I was on air for almost three years,
I would get a lot of emails with individuals suggesting

(19:15):
topics and or the debating with me whatever, and I
enjoy that's that's great. So I hope that people will
continue to do that. And what I want them to
know is that I'm going to take Aristotle's twelve virtues,
and I'm going to take one of those virtues every month,
and I'm going to break it out and break it
out from a cultural point of view, a theological point
of view, a political point of view if it fits,

(19:37):
and an individual point of view. Because if the goal
of this show is to show how Hellenism and how
the Henic culture can influence a culture for the better,
I think if I can do that in a little while,
I will be successful.

Speaker 2 (19:54):
The great thought leaders, certainly you've identified an important figure
from your perspective. Who are the greatest thought leaders historically?

Speaker 3 (20:05):
Oh, my God, Socrates of course, Plato, Aristotle, Pythagoras, Epicurious.
Really they set the foundation for the Western political thought.
And I know they're all Greeks, you know, but they
did influence the Italians as well, you know, as you mentioned,
I just came back from a cruise throughout Italy and Sicily,

(20:27):
and it's amazing to me how the churches and political
buildings had these Greek philosophers there. Yeah, well, and that's
what I was thinking.

Speaker 2 (20:33):
Part of the reason I asked that, Frank, is, as
you're talking about Aristotle have me thinking I couldn't think
of another historically great philosopher beyond Greeks. That's where it
came to mind. And if I work hard at it, yeah,
I'll come up with some others. But I think that's

(20:54):
kind of to the premise of what you're talking about.
With Greek culture influencing all aspects.

Speaker 3 (20:58):
It's in our DNA, it really is. And philosophy and theology,
you know, work hand in hand. It was almost as
though not almost, as though it was the case that
philosophy really was the foundational the foundation for theology. You know.
Saint Paul did it when he went to Athens and
you know, went to the Agora and he said about, well,

(21:20):
let me talk to you about the your unknown God.
You know. He was talking to them about from what
they knew to something that they did not know, you know.
And I think that's the way a good educator, a
good radio program for that matter, should should do the
same thing.

Speaker 2 (21:37):
Frank, you mentioned the conflict in the Middle of Us.
You mentioned what's going on with with Israel and uh
and Iran most recently. Some people will take a look
at that and wonder, if we're in biblical times, what
is transpiring there? How do you analyze what's taking place

(21:59):
right now? And do you think those conversations are constructive?
Are they sensational?

Speaker 3 (22:06):
I don't think they're constructive, That's my personal opinion. Throughout history,
you'll find that every generation thought we were at the
end times. Yes, you do that, and even during Jesus's time,
the disciples were curious as well, when give us a sign,
tell us when? And what was his response? You know? Again,
going back to the Greek, he answers them by saying,

(22:28):
now is the time of salvation. And in the Greek,
which is lost in the English translation, he says in
Greek he says ninin okay at us ninin is an
emphasis for you were to translated, you would say now
now is the time. He uses the word twice to
emphasize don't worry about the times in the seasons. We
always have to be prepared, you know. So I think

(22:48):
that oftentimes we get sidetracked with that. Looking to the
distance and missing the opportunities that the moment provides us.
Now that that is not to say that we shouldn't
care about the end of times. Of course we should,
but we shouldn't I think pass it through the filter
constantly that well, you know, because Israel bomb the Iranian facilities,

(23:11):
that now we are now at the end of times
and you know there's going to be nuclear holocaust. You
know that's not the issue. The issues well, how did
we get here in the first place, that's the question.

Speaker 2 (23:21):
That is some of the great wisdom that Frank can
help impart as we navigate the current events throughout the
course of the show as well. But Frank, so you
are setting us up for a word of the week,
tell us about it.

Speaker 3 (23:39):
Oh wow, this is going to be my favorite part
of the show. I can't wait to do this. So
each week I want to take a word and show
you the influence of this Greek word on the English language.
And I want to do the same thing that mister
Constantine portoclos gus portoclos, in my big fat Greek way did.

(24:00):
He would say to the kids, give me any word
you know, and I'll give you the Greek word for it,
and it was humorous, but there was a lot of
truth to that. So, based on what we've been talking about,
especially what's going on in the Near East, in Russia
and the Ukraine, I thought of the word makroimia. Makroimia
is the Greek word, and it's a key term in

(24:21):
the New Testament as well. It's often translated patience and
long suffering. It's a compound word long tempered at combining
macros which means long, and themos or themos, which is anger.

(24:41):
And it's interesting to me that there's an allegory that
is offered by Plato. So everybody knows Plato's allegory of
the cave, but they don't know the allegory of the chariot.
So the allegory of the chariot is that he believed
that the soul is made of three parts, Plato said,

(25:01):
and so he used the chariot as an allegory to
represent the soul. It is pulled by two rebellious horses,
he says. One is the black horse, which represents appetites,
and the white horse represents our emotions femos. He says.

(25:23):
The rider is the third part of the soul, and
that's reason our minds. And he said that what's important
for us to do is for the mind to bring
the two horses into balance, the appetites and our hatred,
our emotions. And if we can bring the two horses
into balance, he says, then the chariot can be led
up into heaven and humans can become like God. So

(25:47):
for me, that what a beautiful image that is, and
what our society needs is to be able to harness
our emotions and our appetites. If we can do that,
according to what Plato said, we can become not God
in the capital g but in a sense we can
find some divinity in humanity. As opposed to the base
of who we are. We need to be looking at

(26:09):
the aspiration of who we are. And if I if, I,
if I may. When I was on the trip, we
went to the Louver. And while we were at the Louver,
believe it or not, I was I was scandalized by
the number of individuals that were standing in front of
these fantastic statues in the louver, one of which was

(26:30):
Venus Demilo for example, stunning example of beauty in artistry.
As a matter of fact, often people say that that
sculpture set the tone for all art afterwards. And here's
Venus Demilo and people are taking selfies in front of
the statue of Venus Demilala. They were doing the same

(26:52):
thing in front of the Mona Lisa. You know, it's
almost as though I can I'm like that, and in
reality we are not like that. We must aspire to
be like that, and I think that was the genius
of the Greek mind.

Speaker 2 (27:05):
Remember that they don't let you take pictures of like
the David, for example, in Florence. Yes, maybe that would
be good.

Speaker 3 (27:14):
I think that's a good I think that's a good
law to have in a museum. But do we need
a lot to tell us that, my God, we stand
before these ancient artifacts and we put ourselves on the
same level. I think the chariot it is off kilter.

Speaker 2 (27:33):
Well, Frank, it's wonderful to have you back. It is.
I know we could talk for hours, and we're going
to have the opportunity to with time. Any final thoughts
for listeners To wrap up this week's.

Speaker 3 (27:46):
Show, know that I wish them a wonderful Father's Day tomorrow,
and I hope that they will tune in again at
twelve thirty next Saturday for another episode of Frankly Speaking.

Speaker 2 (27:59):
And it'll be all Frank next week. I'll be in
the background listening like you and enjoying what Frank has
to offer. By the way, this will also be available
the frankly Speaking podcast. You can get it on iHeart,
you can get it anywhere you get your podcasts, and
you can also find it with w j O's podcast. Frank,
you know we never took you out of w j
Oh's podcast. I knew you would be back.

Speaker 1 (28:21):
Thank you.

Speaker 3 (28:21):
It's great to have you back. Great to be back
to