Memoirs of Peter Boudoures Chapter 29 Fr. Lokis Moves to St. Sophia

Fr. Basil Lokis

By virtue of the fact that we had agreed to work together to unite the two churches and also because of the support that I gave him in defending him in court, I became friendly with Father Lokis. I took the initiative and convinced him that he best thing for him to do was to accept an appointment at the St. Sophia Church at 245 Valencia Street. At first, he was hesitant. I explained to him that, if he left San Francisco at that time he would have to do a lot of explaining to the archdiocese. His enemies might be able to blame the whole mess on him. I further told him that since his reason for coming to San Francisco was to accomplish bigger and better things and eventually to become a bishop here, his chances of achieving this goal would be much better if he accepted the appointment as head priest at St. Sophia.

At the time we had another priest, Fr. Spyridon, who had been there for many years. He was a fine man with a family and all, but he didn't have the education, or the qualifications, or the ability to perform what was needed. As a result we were way down in attendance and were concerned about collecting enough money to support the church. This was true even after we had no longer the obligation to make payments on the $93,000 mortgage debt. The only obligation we had at St. Sophia was to pay the rent of $100 per month, the priest's salary and expenses and a few other small items.

Father Lokis left Holy Trinity and accepted the job at St. Sophia at a minimum salary. He took less money than he could have received elsewhere in a large community. He had what it took and he was entitled to a larger salary. From the first Sunday that he officiated he increased the church's attendance. Eventually, the receipts increased 500% to 1000%. A new corporation was formed and the name of the community was changes to the Annunciation, "Good Tidings."

(When Fr. Lokis left Holy Trinity, he took with him Fr. Tsapralis, who had been there for over thirty years, and the psalti, Christos Makrigianis. Within a very short period of time, seventy to eighty percent of the membership of Holy Trinity became part of the Annunciation Community. This overwhelming support for Fr. Lokis would seem to support the allegation that the ballots at Holy Trinity on the vote for union were tampered with and did not reflect the will of the congregation.)