New London – The Rev. Charles J. Simones, 91, died Tuesday during the holiest week of the Greek Orthodox calendar.

A priest at St. Sophia Hellenic Orthodox Church for 45 years, he retired in 2006. He leaves behind generations of baptisms, marriages and burials.

Thomas C. Simones said his father died a few hours after an afternoon fall outside his Waterford home led to significant bleeding in his brain. He’d lived in town with his wife, Joan, for 55 years. They were married for 64 years.

Simones also is survived by their son, Gregory, and two grandsons.

He said Simones hung on until the Rev. Peter Kostakis, the current priest at St. Sophia, arrived at his bedside at Lawrence + Memorial Hospital that evening. Simones died minutes after the private visit, according to his son.

The younger priest came to the church in 2021 from Texas, where he was ordained in 2014.

Kostakis on Friday described Simones’ “long and faithful ministry” as an inspiration.

“I think he gave a great example of keeping the faith and being dedicated to Christ throughout all those years,” Kostakis said.

Simones’ death came during the somber week on the Greek Orthodox calendar leading to Jesus Christ’s crucifixion. Next week dawns with Christ’s resurrection on Pascha, or Easter Sunday.

Thomas Simones said if his father could have picked a week to go, he would have considered this one a blessing.

Services will be held next Thursday and Friday during the celebration of the resurrection known as Bright Week. To be buried then is another blessing, according to his son.

“When Christ rises, you’re rising with him,” he said.

Jo-Ann Ballassi of Waterford was at the church Friday helping Athanasia Kostakis, the priest’s wife, fill luminary bags with rice, for weight, and battery-operated candles, for light. The small, white sacks were being prepared for the evening’s Good Friday procession outside the church.

Ballassi told Kostakis they were out of rice.

“I’ll find more rice,” Kostakis said, running out of the community room where Simones’ photo presided over the entrance.

Ballassi recalled part of the service, steeped in tradition, during which parishioners parade outside along a path made by the luminaries. Before entering the church again, the priest bangs loudly on the door to signify Jesus at the gates of hell, while repeating a psalm in parts.

“It’s a conversation that goes back and forth between the priest and somebody inside,” she said. “Father Charles did that many, many times, and I think everybody will be thinking about him tonight.”

Ballassi was four years old when Simones arrived at Saint Sophia. Until his retirement, he was the only priest she ever knew. She said he attended the engagement party for her brother because he was family.

“Because he baptized and married and buried families, he became part of all the families,” she said.

She said Simones attended church more sporadically in recent years, but added people “congregated” around him whenever he came through the doors.

Gregory Simones in a phone call Friday said hearing from people over the past few days reminded him the priest’s memory does not just belong to his wife, sons and grandsons.

“People are remembering a pivotal moment when he was there to assist them in their time of need,” he said.

Athanasia Kostakis has heard from parishioners that they hope for the same continuity from her husband.

“It is really, really special to have that secure attachment with a priest across many generations,” she said.

George Papadopoulos walked into the church Friday afternoon before the afternoon’s vesper service. That’s when the icon of Jesus Christ is unnailed from the cross.

He said he’d come to the country in 1957 and had been a cantor at the church for only a few years when Simones became priest there. They were together for “45 some-odd years.”

“He cared for his parish. He talked to everybody. He had a great voice, in English and in Greek. His sermons were a little long, but he did a good job,” he said.

Papadopoulos’ last conversation with Simones took place over the phone after the longtime priest did not attend church on Palm Sunday. The celebratory feast commemorates Jesus Christ’s entry into Jerusalem after raising Lazarus from the dead.

“I told him, I says, I want to see you Holy Week,” Papadopoulos recalled. “He says, ‘I don’t know, George.’ And that was the last time I talked to him.”

e.regan@theday.com