Saint George - History Continued

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PART II

On June 30, 1991, Rev. Spyros Mourikis retired, ending a ministry of 42 years. At his retirement ceremony, the community center was officially named the Reverend Spyros Mourikis Community Center.

On July 1, 1991, the community welcomed its new priest, Rev. Fr. Panagiotis K. Giannakopoulos, Presbytera Paula and their two children, Simela-Niki and Constantine Nicholas. Fr. Peter arrived from the Holy Trinity of Fitchburg, MA where he served for five and half years. Fr. Peter served his first assignment of two years at the Holy Trinity of Chicago, IL and later at St. Sophia, Faith, Hope and Love in Elgin, IL, for four and half years.

Fr. Peter was born in Keratsinion, Piraeus, Greece, on October 10, 1949. With the assistance of the Parish Council members and the parishioners, several projects were immediately undertaken by Father Peter. Repairs to the church and our entire roofing system, the change of the heating system from electric to gas, a new climate control system and correction of the air conditioning in the community center were realized. With financial assistance from Philoptochos, the community center was upgraded with beautiful Greek columns, decorative molding and two-tone coloring. The enhancements were then executed and finalized by Mr. George Moudouris and Mr. Costas Tsoleridis who painted the hall, both donating their services.

With the help of architect, Sevy Strekalovsky, our church received a new look. The 120 circular windows were replaced with seven 3' x 5' arched thermo pane windows on each side, adorned by Byzantine iconography and angels from the Monastery of Chora, Constantinople, executed with great faithfulness to detail and tradition by Mr. Michael Martino and his studio in Framingham, MA. A copy of one of our windows depicting a green angel was donated by Mr. Martino to Patriarch Bartholomew I on his first pastoral visit to America. A total of twenty-eight large windows adorn the interior of our church complimenting the beautiful Byzantine Iconography along with the other front circular windows that were also replaced.

Donations of church artifacts and embroidery from parishioners have been generous. The project brought about successfully the conversion of two acres into our new parking lot facilities, and a park area utilizing the Botsey family endowment to our church. Additionally, many parishioners have made donations towards our ongoing beautification program of the church grounds. This project was under the capable guidance of Mr. Gregory Straticoglou who did the work for our new parking facilities and park areas.

On October 1997, a very ambitious effort was adopted by the Parish Council and the finance committee. The plan was to eliminate the church mortgage of $142,820 in three years. The finance committee introduced a matching plan and through some generous donors raised $62,000 in matching funds. The miracle is that in less than two years, we were able to retire the church mortgage and thanks to the great love and generosity of all who contributed; the parish has done the impossible.

As the community has grown, its needs have also been redefined. One of our great areas of need has been storage. Mr. Angelo Kaldis and his brother Elias donated their services in building a large shed behind the church. This gave us the needed space to store all our festival equipment; thus, providing additional space in our community center for an activity room for our youth. Through the expertise of Mr. Gregory Racheotes, the room has become functional and attractive.

The Fall of 2002 brought structural changes and repairs to the front and back rotting arches of the church.

In 2005, the interior iconography of the church was washed and the renowned iconographer, George Kopsidas, his wife Angie and their son John from Greece repainted, by hand, the entire background, giving it an antique look and truly revitalizing the whole iconographic richness of the church. Mr. Spiros Balodimas generously provided the scaffolding used by the iconographer.

In 2006, Mr. Marius Dimitrakis passed away and left the church $125,000. His brothers, George and John Dimitrakis, are honoring their brother’s memory by using the donated funds to build a new narthex for St. George. In 2009, the New Narthex was completed:

Part of the addition has beautiful stained glass (more pictures coming soon), all of which have been donated by several parishioners. There is also a cry room.

In 2007, a gift of $125,000 in memory of Mr. Marius Dimitrakis was presented to the November General Assembly which overwhelmingly accepted the gift. Mr. & Mrs. George Dimitrakis of Arlington and Mr. John Dimitrakis allocated the funds to proceed with plans to expand the front of the church with the addition of a narthex. Contractor de Martin Building & Remodeling LLC of Falmouth was granted the bid. The entrance includes a connector into the back office, five stained glass windows, a copper roof, and hand-carved front doors. Right outside the French door and will be surrounded by memorial gardens.

In addition to this new construction in the front of the church, we are getting a much-needed walk-in cooler/freezer out back along with an additional storage room.

St. George Greek Orthodox Church of Cape Cod has indeed been an active community wherein the work of Christ and His Church is actively pursued by the many talented and dedicated parishioners who strive to promote their faith, culture and traditions. Thus our life at St. George and our involvement in the larger community through our annual Greek Festival, in conjunction with the numerous activities and events by all the groups and organizations, proudly reflects our life in Christ and the church. We have been blessed with 50 years of Christian living. As we face the third millennium, we hope and pray that with God's help, we will continue to grow and prosper in faith and in all areas of our life with harmony, unity and concord!

2009 marked St. George's 60th year as well as the anniversary of Father Peter's ordination to the preisthood.

This history has been compiled and edited by Mary Vrountas with significant contributions by: Seva Anestes, Mary Sethares' article in the volume "The Seven Villages of Barnstable", Elpiniki Terpos Yannatos, Mary Panesis Childs, Theo Vagenas Long, Helen Panesis George, Denise Panesis Apostol, Mary Demetras, Alice Stasinakis Demetriou, Rosetta Chalpara, Alexandra Karacalidis, history from the THYRANOIXIA album, Father Peter Giannakopoulos for the history from 1991 to the present.