Fr. Steven Klund, Director of Ionian Village, spoke with the Orthodox Observer’s Marissa Costidis about his path to the priesthood, Ionian Village and the importance of “unplugging” today’s young people from technology to allow them to focus on their relationship with God.
Marissa: Fr. Klund, I wanted to thank you for taking the time today to speak with me. First, tell me a little bit about yourself, where you grew up, and your journey to the prieshood.
Fr. Klund: I was born in Alexandria, Virginia, and moved to Charlotte, North Carolina when I was about seven and I spent the rest of my childhood there attending both Holy Trinity Cathedral, and then eventually St. Nektarios.
I was baptized as an infant. My mother is 100% Greek by descent and my dad converted when I was six. My path to the priesthood was really a natural progression, an organic thing that didn’t come because I was looking for it or, because I had it set in my mind that that’s what I wanted to do from a very young age.
I’m an art major, and a graphic designer by trade. So, for a long time, I thought I was going to become an iconographer. I thought that was how I was going to use the talent that God gave me to glorify Him. I always knew that I wanted to serve the church in some capacity. My mom was, and still is, the parish administrator at St. Nektarios. She’s been there for twenty-six years. I remember getting picked up from school and being brought to the church to do our homework there, and then going home once she was done working. In fact there were some weeks where we had more dinners at Church than in our own house. Safe to say, we were at church all the time.
So, the church was the environment I felt at home in, but still the priesthood itself wasn’t something that I thought of. In my last year at East Carolina University studying Fine Arts, I had the chance to intern with iconographer Tom Clark for about ten months. It was Tom who first suggested that I go to Ionian Village as a staff member. I went to IV as a camper in 2004, but I was planning to work with Tom for the rest of that year. Furthermore, in the previous three years I had committed myself to serving at Saint Stephen’s Camp as a counselor. Tom spoke with me as we were in the dome working on the Pantocrator icon and told me that IV was having a hard time finding good, young men to be counselors and suggested that I apply (his wife Sophia was working in the IV office at that time). I thought it was a crazy idea, but I had a good experience as a camper, so I applied and was accepted. I met my wife at Ionian Village that summer in addition to so many other really amazing people, many of whom would become my classmates at Holy Cross over the next few years.
I have also been blessed to have many influential spiritual leaders in my life. But three men in particular had a significant mark on me. The first was Fr. Nicholas Triantafilou, who in my opinion is the epitome of what a priest should be. He was so inspiring and got me excited to serve as an acolyte in the altar as a young boy. I absolutely idolized him, and he was the first person to tell me that he saw a higher calling in store for me.
The second clergy who impacted me is Metropolitan Gregory of Nyssa. He was my Sunday School teacher growing up in Charlotte for many years and remains my spiritual father to this day. He answered his calling to the priesthood later in life. So I was able to see what the process could look and feel like through his example. The way he humbly and prayerfully accepted this new vocation was a huge benefit for me, and something that I would frequently reflect on in later years as I found myself walking along a similar path.
The third priest is Fr. Constantine Lazarakis, who I met at Ionian Village in 2008. He had an uncanny way of connecting with people and took a genuine interest in the lives of all of us on staff. He was approachable and down to earth – relatable. He was the first to show me that the priesthood might actually be something that I could consider for my life.
All three men gave me a unique and yet invaluable perspective. Fr. Nick showed me what the priesthood could and should be, Metropolitan Gregory demonstrated what it looks like to decide to pursue the calling, and Fr. Constantine proved to me that the priesthood is something that you can actually do so long as you have an honest love for Christ and desire to serve others. And I wonder, if I had met these priests in a different order – would it have made the same impact on me? But their examples and what each of them did for me truly affected me.
Marissa: That is truly beautiful. Priests do make a difference in encouraging young people. Thank you. Fr., this will be your first year as Director of Ionian Village, will anything change for the program this year?
Fr. Klund: We have a lot of veteran counselors who are coming back this year. They are exceptional, and even many of them have been asking me that same question. I’ve replied saying: change is not my focus. While I haven’t been at Ionian Village in the last 16 years, I have spent each of those summers serving at Saint Stephen’s Camp in the Metropolis of Atlanta. During that time as a camp director I, along with Fr. Mark Leondis (my predecessor), have been employing the same guiding principles at SSC that we first learned at Ionian Village. I still value, and try to adhere to, all of the core foundational blocks which have made IV the standard of excellence in camping ministry for over 50 years. It’s my hope that IV 2025 is recognizable in its essence to all our returning participants, and that anyone coming for the first time will enjoy the same transformative ministry that has impacted the tens of thousands of campers in its storied history.
Marissa: Yes, this Camp has transformed so many with, as they say, friendships that last a lifetime. Let’s tackle an important issue, one of the most difficult parts for parents and their campers to understand is that phones – and technology – are not permitted at camp. What do you say to those who say to those who question that?
Fr. Klund: Well, the first thing that I’d say, is that you’re not losing your child. It is very important to make sure that parents feel that they can reach their child in the event of an emergency, or just to simply hear their voice. We have installed several new wall-mounted phones on campus that the campers can use to call home during free time each day. Parents can also send messages via email that staff will deliver to their child, and any parents who are in Greece can even schedule visits to camp each Sunday. Finally, we will have an online photo album that all parents will have access to, and our staff will be very active on social media making daily posts of photos and video from the camp.
BUT what makes IONIAN VILLAGE so special is that it is a technology detox for kids of today. We currently find ourselves in Lent – and Lent is all about fasting and abstinence from worldly distractions and appetites. Saint Basil agreed that “fasting is not only abstaining from food, but true fasting is being a stranger to all vices.” Vices don’t have to be just things done in back alleys or on street corners. Vices can simply be any worldly comfort or attachment. So, that could be hours of binge watching or gaming or incessant scrolling on your phones. Lent presents us a yearly opportunity to renew ourselves spiritually and refocus our priorities through this fasting and detachment.
In the same way as Lent, Ionian Village offers this opportunity for detachment in the summer, and lets our kids break away from the noise of today’s nonstop technology – an overload we all experience – and focus on the real priorities in their lives. Priorities such as deepening their relationships with God, establishing lasting identities as Greek Orthodox Christians, and forming lifelong relationships with peers from all over the country. Ionian Village will be an incredible experience where they’re going to actually be able to focus – for the first time – on things that really matter without the distractions, interruptions, or push notifications that come from their devices.
They’re going to see their faith and culture firsthand and uninterrupted in their natural environment in Greece. I mean, what an opportunity – why would we want to distract them with the never ending, subconscious pull to check their phone in their pocket?
Marissa: What an incredible opportunity for our children.
Fr. Klund: Amen. There is a book called The Anxious Generation, by Jonathan Haidt, who describes the epidemic we are now facing regarding technology and the social deprivation that kids have today… they can’t make eye contact, they have sleep deprivation, they have short attention spans… all the addictive qualities that technology presents them, at such young ages. I know that Ionian Village, in a very real way, will offer tangible help by exposing them to the beauty of the natural world, and get them to really sink their teeth into who they are as Orthodox Christians, so that identity lasts them their entire lives.
Marissa: That is so very well said, Fr. Thank you so much for your time today, for your thought provoking comments and for your dedication to Ionian Village. I pray for the continued success of this ministry.
Find out more – and register your child at ionianvillage.org.
Scholarships are available for both Ionian Village and IV Next (for older campers) and spots are filling quickly.
