History

The Archangels Greek Orthodox Church of Stamford, Connecticut was founded in 1928 as a daughter parish of the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, the mother church of Greek Orthodoxy in Connecticut. Its founding came amid the divisive calendar controversy that touched Greek communities across America in the 1920s, when a dispute arose over the Church's transition from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar. Those who favored the new calendar broke away from the Annunciation and established their own parish, named Taxiarhai, the Archangels. The new community raised funds to purchase St. Mary's Catholic Church at 434 Elm Street in August 1928, converting it into their Orthodox house of worship. Despite considerable growing pains and the economic hardships of the Great Depression, the community paid off its mortgage by 1937.

Between 1951 and 1956 the Archdiocese facilitated an attempt to reunite Archangels with the Annunciation, but the two communities separated once again in 1956, each resuming its independent life. That year proved to be a turning point of a different kind. A General Assembly held on December 16, 1956 voted unanimously to abandon the aging Elm Street building and construct an entirely new church. A Building Fund drive launched on January 8, 1957, with an initial goal of $300,000, was completed with remarkable speed by the end of February, thanks in large part to major benefactors connected to the Greek shipping industry who donated generously and offered to supervise construction.

The design chosen for the new temple was inspired by a single prototype: the 11th-century Byzantine church of the Holy Apostles. Groundbreaking was held on November 25, 1957, the cornerstone was laid on June 25, 1958, and the completed church received a consecration in November 1959 celebrated by the newly enthronized Archbishop Iakovos, making Archangels the first church consecrated by Archbishop Iakovos as Primate of America. He was so impressed by the architecture that he requested the name of the architect and a copy of the drawings to guide the design of the Chapel at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, Massachusetts, which is why the Seminary Chapel bears a striking resemblance to the Archangels church, including its iconography. This makes Archangels the first 11th-century Byzantine-style church built in the United States.

In 1976 the parish added a Greek Cultural Center featuring a full gymnasium, an Olympic-sized pool, and extensive athletic facilities, which in 1995 was transformed into the Stamford Athletic Club and operated as one of the premier clubs in the city for many years. A priest who arrived in 1956 served the Archangels community for more than 53 years, the longest single parish tenure in the history of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, during which he also played a foundational role in establishing Ionian Village, the Archdiocese's renowned youth program in Greece.

Today, the Archangels Greek Orthodox Church stands at 1527 Bedford Street in Stamford as a parish of the Direct Archdiocesan District, a community of approximately 450 households carrying forward a legacy of architectural distinction, spiritual depth, and Hellenic heritage nearly a century in the making.