History

The birth of Ascension Greek Orthodox Church of Fairview, New Jersey traces to the 1940s, when Greek Orthodox Christians of northern Hudson and Bergen Counties found themselves traveling to churches in Jersey City, Newark, and New York for worship. As more Greeks moved to the suburbs, a dedicated group began renting space on the second floor of a private house in Union City, New Jersey, to celebrate the Sunday Divine Liturgy closer to home. As the community continued to grow, the desire for a permanent church became urgent, and a group of founders gathered signatures and petitioned Archbishop Michael in early 1952 for permission to establish a new parish. When the application was rejected, the founders refused to be deterred, enlisted more followers, and pressed forward until the first General Assembly was held on May 25, 1952.

A Presbyterian church was available in Fairview, New Jersey, and despite the obstacle of limited funds the community moved forward with determination. The first Divine Liturgy in the new church was celebrated on Thanksgiving Day, November 27, 1952, a date that has held a special significance for the parish ever since, observed each year as the birthday of the community. Archbishop Michael granted the honor of naming the church to Mr. John Peterson, who became the church's godfather, and the parish was officially named the Greek Orthodox Church of the Ascension of Our Lord, its dedication chosen because the official opening coincided with the celebration of that great feast. In an extraordinary demonstration of communal resolve, the mortgage on the church was paid in full on May 6, 1953, less than seven months after the opening.

The parish grew rapidly through the late 1950s and early 1960s, establishing Greek School and Sunday School programs that attracted new families and expanded the congregation's reach beyond Fairview into Fort Lee and Bergenfield. The present church building sits atop the Fairview cliffs overlooking the Hudson Valley, its majestic Byzantine exterior and interior adorned with original icons commissioned and painted in Greece, including the great Pantocrator in the dome, visible from many miles away and a landmark of the Bergen County skyline.

Ascension Greek Orthodox Church at 101 Anderson Avenue in Fairview serves the Orthodox Christian faithful of northern Bergen County as a parish of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of New Jersey within the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.