Summer Clergy - Ionian Village
2024 Summer Clergy
Fr. Steve Denas
IV Next
Fr. Steve Denas
IV Next
Biography
Fr. Steve is the presiding priest of Archangel Michael Church in Campbell, OH, for 20 years, a parish of about 600 families in the Metropolis of Pittsburgh. The parish community has a lot of youth and keeps a strong relationship with Greece in general, and with Kalymnos island in particular. He is the clergy chaplain for the Orthodox Christian Fellowship at Youngstown State University. Fr. Steve is a veteran of Camp Nazareth Metropolis Summer Camp since 1990 and served as camp counselor and co-directed a GOYA week prior to ordination. He is married to Presvytera Zoe for almost 29 years and has a son and a daughter. Fr. Steve is looking forward to serving the needs of the IV Next participants this summer!
Metropolis
PittsburghHidden Talent
Very skilled in Greek and international folk dancing from his youth till now!
Fr. David Hostetler
Session One
Fr. David Hostetler
Session One
Biography
Fr. David Hostetler was born in Queens, NY, but claims to have never lived in New York. In fact, don’t even ask him where’s he’s from or he’ll vapor lock and be unable to respond for a minute or two, because he’s lived in 11 states and two foreign countries and it’s far easier for him to answer more specific questions like “where were you born? ”or where do you live?” The answer to the second question (the first already having been answered) is Naples, Italy, where Fr. David and Prevytera Nora are enjoying la dolce vita in the temperate climate where delicious pizza, pasta, and cured meats abound. When he isn’t drinking espresso or eating aged cheeses with jams, honey, and nuts, he supervises the chapel operations on the U.S. Navy base in Naples and serves the Orthodox Christians—and others—stationed in Italy. Fr. David has been a Navy Chaplain for more than a decade, supporting Marines in the desert and Sailors at sea. He is looking forward to spending time enriching his faith at IV this summer where everyone and everything is Orthodox Christianity. That and the fellowship, food, and frappes are gonna be awesome!
Metropolis
ChicagoHidden Talent
An expansive knowledge of various camp songs
Fr. Kyriakos Hambos
Session One
Fr. Kyriakos Hambos
Session One
Biography
Fr. Kyriakos Hambos was born in NJ and raised near Tampa, FL. He served as Pastoral Assistant at St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church for 7 years in Tampa. Married Presbytera Elefteria (Garos) in November 2021. Before getting married, Pres. Elefteria and Fr. Kyriakos worked together at St. Stephen’s Summer Camp (Metropolis of Atlanta) as staff for many years. In fact, the camping ministry made them become close friends which eventually led to the relationship they have today. Fr. Kyriakos currently serves as the Associate Priest at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church of Greater Orlando, where Pres. Elefteria helps him in every facet of their ministry there together. Pres. Elefteria has been to Ionian Village many times in her life as both a camper and staff. Fr. Kyriakos experienced IV for the first time in 2023 and it was the best summer of his life. They are happy to return again as Clergy Staff to IV Summer 2024 where they can’t wait to help connect the campers to their rich Orthodox Christian Faith.
Metropolis
Atlanta
Fr. Zach Thornbury
Session One
Fr. Zach Thornbury
Session One
Biography
Fr. Zach is a scatterbrained, sci-fi loving, church nerd who was once described on Yelp as, “that one guy with the boots.”(1) Multilingual,(2) athletic,(3) and YouTube famous,(4) Fr. Zach has gifted the youth of the Church with his presence at 10 years straight of summer camps,(5) to which he attributes his masterization (6) of the ability to sleep anywhere.(7) The father of two young kids,(8) and husband to one wife,(9) Fr. Zach is a proficiant(10)(11)(12) of random thoughts and spontaneous creativity, and is also an up-and-coming unambiguator(13) in the twin worlds of youth ministry and the burgeoning new class of Paulians.(14) His hidden talent(15) is the ability to solve a Rubik’s cube(16) and to absolute saturate a document with footnotes.(17)
(1) This never happened.
(2) Well, he knows at least one word in a handful of languages.
(3) He played soccer for a few years as a kid.
(4) Compared to someone with no followers at all
(5) Nine at Saint Stephen’s in the Metropolis of Atlanta, and this one at IV.
(6) He also frequently creates new words.
(7) As long as it’s a bed.
(8) slash aliens, slash monsters, slash socutehewantstosqueezethem beings
(9) slash best-friend, slash confidant, slash personwhowillbesohappywhenshereadsthishehopesloveyoudear
(10) Proficiant - noun; a person who has become proficient in a topic. “Fr. Zach is a proficiant of word creation.”
(11) This is a footnote on a footnote.
(12) Now Fr. Zach has said ‘proficiant’ so much in his mind that it just sounds like random sounds…
(13) Unambiguator - noun; someone who works to make ambiguous subjects and situations clearer, easier to understand, and less confusing. “Jesus was the supreme unambiguator of the Father’s will for us.”
(14) This refers both to the Apostle Paul, as well as Paul Atreides, aka Muad’dib, aka Usul*
*Look, this is footnote in a footnote! Also, only his seitch can call him Usul.
(15) Well, not so much hidden as “not as useful in the real world as he thinks it should be.”
(16) His record is something like 56 seconds, but only once.
(17) Seventeen in four sentences!
Metropolis
Atlanta
Fr. Elias Pappas
Session Two
Fr. Elias Pappas
Session Two
Biography
Fr. Elias Pappas was raised in Cliffside Park, New Jersey, at the parish of the Church of the Ascension in Fairview, NJ where his father has been the presiding priest since 2001. Fr. Elias studied at Hellenic College Holy Cross where he received his Bachelor’s Degree in Religious Studies with a minor in Classics in 2019 and his Masters of Divinity Degree in 2021. One of the most important experiences he had was being selected as a steward of the Great and Holy Council which took place in Crete, Greece in 2016. He spent two months preparing for the Synod and he was involved with the logistics and security details of the Council. Fr. Elias currently serves as the Assistant Priest at the Cathedral of St Paul in Hempstead, New York.
Metropolis
Archdiocesan District
Fr. Peter Salmas
Session Two
Fr. Peter Salmas
Session Two
Biography
Father Peter Salmas was born and reared in Southern California and attended Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Northridge, Callifornia. Following high school, he attended and graduated from Hellenic College with a BA in Sociology in 1971 and a Masters of Divinity from Holy Cross Theological School in 1974. Following graduation from Holy Cross Theological School, he returned to Saint Nicholas Church where he served as pastoral assistant until his ordination to the Holy Priesthood in 1975. In 1983, he became pastor of Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church in Honolulu, Hawaii and has served as pastor of the Church of the Holy Cross in Belmont, California since 1988. He and Presbytera Nikki are blessed with two children, Konstantine and Khara-Maria and two grandchildren.