Excerpt from “House of God; Gateway to Heaven” by Nicholas M. Prevas, Parish Historian:
The arrival of the S.S. Sofia Hohenberg to Ellis Island in the spring of 1907 generated a fervor of excitement among the congregation of the “Evangelismos” (Annunciation) Greek Orthodox Church. Traveling aboard that steamship was a notable Greek Orthodox priest and his entire family. Within two days, the immigrant parish, established in Baltimore in the spring of 1906, would welcome its first full-time priest, Reverend Constantine A. Douropoulos. The story of another Greek Orthodox church community was about to unfold.
In the early years of the 20th century, Greek immigrants came to America with the hope of gaining economic independence. They also sought to preserve their Orthodox faith and heritage in the New World. By 1909, Father Douropoulos, along with a determined group of immigrants, had acquired a permanent house of worship at the corner of Homewood Avenue and Chase Street. The seed of Orthodoxy had been firmly planted in Baltimore, Maryland.
Over the next three decades, church membership grew along with the religious and educational programs of the parish. By the mid-1930′s, the congregation at Homewood Avenue desperately needed to expand its facilities. The decisive actions of the Greek community during the early months of 1937 led to the purchase of the historic Associate Congregational Church on Preston Street. The magnificent edifice was saved from the wrecking ball and a new era of progress and assimilation into American society began for Baltimore’s Greek Orthodox community. This book chronicles the first 100 years of development of one of the most prominent Greek Orthodox Cathedrals in the United States with a congregation staunchly proud of its past while aspiring toward its future.
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