Dear Parishioners and new Friends of Kimisis,

I send you my blessings and greetings and I pray that this message finds you and
your families well in this upcoming new season for our Church’s calendar and for
the life of our beloved Community here in Holmdel. I hope you all enjoyed a happy
and healthy feast day of the Dormition of our Panagia and that you all had this summer the chance for some time to relax and recharge.

My name is Archimandrite Avgoustinos Psomas and it is truly an honor and a
privilege for me to serve as your new priest here at Kimisis. It is a great blessing to
have you all not just as part of our parish family, but also as my own family. I am
forever grateful to His Eminence, our Archbishop Elpidophoros of America, for
assigning me to one of the most historic and awesome parishes of NJ, Saint Thomas
in Cherry Hill, a community which I had the honor to serve for almost four years
and thankful to His Eminence, our Metropolitan Apostolos of NJ, for assigning me to Holmdel, to one of the most beautiful parishes and congregations within our
Metropolis.

I am grateful for the blessing received from our Metropolitan allowing me to be your priest, honored and humbled to be a part of this parish, and already amazed and thankful to God for the commitment, dedication and love that you all, together with your blessed families, show towards our Community, our Church, and our Orthodox Faith throughout the years.

I am looking forward to working with you all, inviting and supporting every parishioner, and everyone who’s walking through the doors of our community, to become a disciple of Christ, as well as an active member of our family, building our parish, supporting our community and growing God’s Church through our prayer, service, our talents, gifts, hard work and outreach to others in faith.

Kimisis has been in service to the community in the pursuit of serving God for almost 50 years and I pray that all of us will find warmth, encouragement, and spiritual growth in our parish in the days to come. I’m truly looking forward to getting to know you personally in the weeks and months ahead and I strongly invite and encourage you to connect with me.

Here at Kimisis, we will strive together to bring to life the words of our mission statement: “To Love God. Love Your Neighbor. Make Disciples of Christ.” Working together, we will seek to build a strong parish community where all feel welcome and inspired by the Gospel to live God’s mission with faith, hope and love.

I want to take this opportunity to express my great thanks to our beloved brother and friend, Rev. Prot. Panagiotis Lekas. Thank you, dear father, for all the amazing work you have done these past years, for your devotion, for your hard work, for your love and for the heavy but so blessed inheritance you are now passing on to me. Above all I thank and appreciate you for making yourself available to me and to our community for the days to come in order for us to continue to grow our community.
Thank you, Mrs. Mattos, president of the Parish Council, for welcoming me and
thank you all beloved Board Members, Philoptochos Members, Ahepans, Staff,
Directors, Advisors, Teachers, Chanters and Volunteers for everything you do and continue
doing for this great community. I’m looking forward working together with you all
for the progress and benefit of this great Community, as your priest, and as your
spiritual brother and friend in Christ. It is, indeed, an honor for me to be your priest
and a fellow member of this blessed family.

My brothers and sisters, as we undertake this blessed work together, please pray for the Mother Church of Christ, for our Holy Archdiocese, for our Sacred Metropolis and our Metropolitan. Please pray for me, pray for our beloved President and all the members of the Parish Council, for our staff, and for all our lay leaders here at Kimisis. Although we’re experiencing tough times in a daily basis, and in so many ways, the days ahead are full of hope and potential for our Community, and we need every single one of you together with the gifts the Lord has given you to build up the Body of Christ here in our Home, in your Home, at Kimisis!

I wish you all a Healthy, Blessed, Productive and Joyful new Ecclesiastical Year!
May our Panagia, the Theotokos and the Mother of Christ, protect our parish,
strengthen, guide, and enlighten us all.

Prayerfully Yours in Christ,
Archim. Avgoustinos Psomas

Biography

  V. Rev. Archimandrite Avgoustinos Psomas was born and raised in Corfu and settled in the village of the Saints Theodore in Lefkimmi, Corfu. While completing his undergraduate studies, he studied electrical engineering at the Electrical Engineering Department of the Sivitanidios Technical School in Athens. He also attended Byzantine music classes at Saint Marina in Illisia under Dr. Athanasios Vourlis.

  After completing his military service in 2000, he passed the qualifying exams for admission to the School of Theology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in 2003, from which he graduated in 2007. In 2008, he graduated from the Conservatory of Northern Greece, where he completed his Master’s Degree in Byzantine Music with courses in Speech Training, Choir Directing, Liturgical Studies, and Reciting Readings.

   During his theological studies, he studied for three consecutive years in the Byzantine School of Music under the guidance of the famous Panagiotis Neohoritis who is currently the Archon Protopsaltis of the Patriarchal Church of Saint George in Fanar, Constantinople. 

   He served the Holy Analogion of the Church of St. George of Ormylia, where he had the privilege of serving as the head chanter from 2004-2012 until he arrived in the United States. From 2013 to 2019, he served at the Hellenic Community of Saint Demetrios of Astoria as head chanter until his ordination to the Holy Diaconate on Christmas Eve 2019. He was then ordained to the Holy Priesthood on September 29, 2020, and elevated to the rank of “Archimandrite” on June 21, 2021, both by the hands of His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America. 

  He graduated from the Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, in Boston, the Masters of Theology Program in 2021 with distinction and since his ordination to the holy diaconate, he served the Greek Orthodox Community of Holy Trinity in New Rochelle, NY and Saint Thomas in Cherry Hill, NJ.