“They want to be safe. They don’t want people who will harm them to have the means to do that. And it’s our job to help them achieve that goal and I’m prepared to become the arms of the young people to help them feel safe in their schools, in the malls, even in churches,” Symeonides said in in interview with Chicago’s SunTimes.
Thousands of students and activists, some 30,000 people crowded into Union Park in Chicago last Saturday to take part in the March for Our Lives rally calling for tighter gun control laws. The Chicago demonstration was among hundreds of others taking place across the country as part of a mounting youth-led movement pushing lawmakers to pass stricter gun legislation in the wake of the Parkland, Florida, shooting last month.
The gun control rallies is one of the issues Metropolit Nathanael has taken close to his heart.
Other priorities are accountability and transparency, Christian unity, increase help to those in greatest need. “Starting point” of his ministry will be to help people center their lives around Christ, he said.
Symeonides was elected after a decadeslong tenure by his predecessor, Metropolitan Iakovos, who died in June last year. He now leads the Metropolis of Chicago, spanning six Midwestern states with nearly 60 parishes.
Born in Greece in 1978, Symeonides moved to America at 4 years old with his parents, and he grew up in New York. He said he got involved more in the faith after his father’s death when Symeonides was 16. His father hadn’t been religious, he said, but called upon a priest days before his death.
At a time when many people are finding spouses outside of the ethnically based Church, Symeonides said the Church must continue to preach to all nations rather than just specific groups.
“Like the disciples, we have to go outside of our comfort zone, outside of the Greek community that knows about the Orthodox Church, that knows about Christ,” Symeonides said. “And we need to go into all neighborhoods.”
Symeonides, who is active on social media sites including Twitter, said he’ll be using social media to “help people find deeper meaning in life.”
“If anyone’s not on social media today, you’re really not communicating with anyone,” Symeonides said.