The Final Days of the Iconic Fashion Designer Billy Bo

Billy Bo (Vasilis Kourkoumelis) was a famous fashion designer in Greece in the 1980's, and the first well-known casualty of AIDS in Greece, passing away on the 13th of June 1987 at the age of 33. He catapulted to fame at a very young age, becoming the go-to fashion designer of the elite, and was referred to in the Greek press as an Adonis or Apollo due to his beauty. He was headquartered in Kolonaki with a couture salon and a network of boutiques all over Greece, including one in Mykonos attracting ultra-famous visitors from throughout the world. Before his death he even managed to open a boutique in Manhattan, with plans of opening dozens more throughout the United States.

What is not really known however is what happened to Billy Bo in his final days, faced with the prospects of an early demise due to his lifestyle. Father George Schinas shared not long ago what the spiritual father of Billy Bo revealed to him about the salvation of this famous fashion designer before his untimely death. Below is a translation of the transcript of what he said:

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Autobiography of Alexandros Papadiamantis

The short autobiography that the prose writer Alexandros Papadiamantis made for himself at the request of Giannis Vlachogiannis states the following:

I was born in Skiathos on March 4, 1851. I left the Greek School in 1863, but only in 1867 I was sent to the Halkidos High School, where I attended the 1st and 2nd years. The 3rd I studied in Piraeus, then I stopped my studies and stayed in my homeland. In July 1872, I went to the Holy Mountain for a pilgrimage, where I stayed for a few months. In 1873 I came to Athens and studied at Varvakeio for the 4th year. In 1874 I enrolled in the Philosophical School, where I took a few philological courses by choice, but I personally studied foreign languages.

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Alexandros Papadiamantis Resource Page

Alexandros Papadiamantis (March 4, 1851- January 3, 1911)

Autobiography of Alexandros Papadiamantis

Documentary on Alexandros Papadiamantis

 

Alexandros Papadiamandis: The Spiritual Dimension of His Work

The Cell Where Alexandros Papadiamantis Lived for Ten Years

 

Recollections of St. Nicholas Planas by Alexandros Papadiamantis

 

The Chapel of the Prophet Elisha in Athens: A Monument of True and Unadulterated Orthodoxy 

 

Saint John Koukouzelis as a Model for our Lives

 

The Grave and the Skull of Alexandros Papadiamantis

 

All-Night Vigil In Memory of Alexandros Papadiamantis

 

Photos From Vigil In Honor of Alexandros Papadiamantis  

New Book - Greece’s Dostoevsky: The Theological Vision of Alexandros Papadiamandis

 

Alexandros Papadiamandis and Sigmund Freud

 

Alexandros Papadiamantis and Neo-Barlaamism

 

Alexandros Papadiamantis and Bram Stoker's "Dracula"

 

Christmas in Greek Literature

 

"The Gleaner: A Christmas Story" by Alexandros Papadiamantis

 

"The Slacker's Christmas" (Alexandros Papadiamantis)

 

"The Christmas Bread" (Alexandros Papadiamantis) 
 

Christ at the Castle: Papadiamantis’ Tale Captures the Genuine Spirit of Christmas

 

The Reception of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" in Greece

 

Theophany (An Essay of Alexandros Papadiamantis) 

 

"All-Bright Theophany": A Short Story by Alexandros Papadiamantis  

 

Alexandros Papadiamantis and the Great Canon

 

Pascha With Papadiamantis: Lessons from a Panegyrist

 

A Village Easter: Memories of Childhood (A Story by Alexandros Papadiamantis)

 

A Romaic Pascha With Alexandros Papadiamantis  

The Dormition of the Theotokos (Alexandros Papadiamantis)

 

Saint Eusebius of Samosata as a Model for our Lives

 

The Romiosini of 1821 and the Great Powers (6 of 11) 

 

"The Immigrant": Papadiamantis's First Film Adaptation

 

Panagia Megalomata in Skiathos 

 

The Church of Panagia Prekla in Skiathos

 

How Great Spiritual Figures of Greece Helped Form the Renowned Conductor Dimitri Mitropoulos

Dimitri Mitropoulos (center) with St. Nektarios (left) and Alexandros Papadiamantis (right) and the Metochion of the Ascension in Vyronas of Athens in the background.

Perhaps the best known relationship of the renowned composer and pianist Dimitri Mitropoulos was his constant betrayer and eventual successor: Leonard Bernstein. Bernstein first heard and saw Mitropoulos as a recent émigré from Greece when he had given a Boston Symphony Orchestra concert in 1938 which electrified the Harvard graduate student. Mitropoulos took Bernstein under his wing, though the ambitious Bernstein later repaid his kindness by angling to replace him as the head of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. It was Mitropoulos, after all, who is primarily responsible for inspiring Bernstein to become a conductor. Another friend of Mitropoulos, Herbert von Karajan, also was entranced by the way in which music seemed to flow through the Greek conductor and communicate itself to both players and audiences. At Karajan's behest, Mitropoulos became a welcome return guest at the Salzburg Festival in the last years of his life. Mitropoulos exercised a formative influence on the two most dominant conducting egos in the second half of the 20th century.

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Artificial Intelligence as Artificial Brilliance (Metr. Hierotheos of Nafpaktos)

 

To an English speaker without a knowledge of Greek, this article won't make a lot of sense, since the author is using two different ways of talking about Artificial Intelligence (Τεχνητή Νοημοσύνη and Τεχνητή Εὐφυΐα). The literal translation of Εὐφυΐα is the word "brilliance", though it really is another word for intelligence, but the other Greek word for intelligence, Νοημοσύνη, contains the word "nous" or "noetic", which in Orthodox theology is the highest faculty of the human being that has spiritual connotations. This article therefore is about replacing the Greek word Νοημοσύνη with Εὐφυΐα, though in English both mean "intelligence". To understand the difference, I have rendered Εὐφυΐα as "brilliance". It is an important theological discussion, but not applicable in English, so do not think that "Artificial Intelligence" should be replace with "Artificial Brilliance" in English.

 

Artificial Intelligence as Artificial Brilliance

By Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos and Agiou Vlasiou

Nowadays, there is a lot of talk not only about Artificial Intelligence, but also about its consequences in our lives. Opinions are expressed about the benefits that will come from its implementation, but also the risks that result from the abolition of human freedom and the alteration of human rights.

Thus, the pioneers of Artificial Intelligence sounded the alarm of modern technology and emphasized that they must set limits.

For example, Geoffrey Hinton, who is described as "the father of Artificial Intelligence", in an interview he gave to the New York Times, explained that he left Google to speak freely about the dangers of Artificial Intelligence. In fact, he particularly emphasized that "some of the dangers arising from artificial intelligence Chatbots (software) were quite scary." “Right now, she's not smarter than us, as far as I can tell. But I think that soon it can be done."

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