Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Church of Brooklyn

History

Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Church of Brooklyn had its origin in early 1956, when seven determined men convened in the Little Fur Shop at 85th Street and 4th Avenue in the Bay Ridge neighborhood and unanimously agreed that there was a definite need for a Greek Orthodox Church in the area. They recognized that Bay Ridge was home to hundreds of Greek Orthodox families living in what they described as a near spiritual and communal vacuum, and that a church would serve not only their spiritual needs but also as the center of Hellenic culture and the instrument by which the Greek heritage would be passed to the next generation. Those seven founding fathers were John Apostolakis, Constantine Butsikares, Alex Coufos, Costis Generalis, Angelo Kappakas, Emile Murat, and Gus Nicholas.

The first general meeting was convened on December 11, 1956, with approximately forty Bay Ridge residents present, and the decision was unanimous: the project would be expedited. The temporary committee quickly expanded to twenty-seven members, and the ecclesiastical authorization from Archbishop Michael, signed November 29, 1957, was filed with the clerk of Kings County on January 21, 1958. In 1959, a property on the corner of 84th Street and Ridge Boulevard was purchased for $95,000, with a large fifteen-room house on site immediately pressed into service as meeting rooms. The annual Christmas dance and fund appeal, launched that same year at the Hamilton House Banquet Hall with the generous support of the Vames family, became a beloved tradition that sustained the building fund through the years of construction.

The name of the church was decided by the parishioners themselves rather than by any single donor, through a ballot sent to all families. At the general assembly on November 16, 1965, the ballots were tabulated, and Holy Cross prevailed. Construction was completed in early March 1966, with the first Vespers celebrated on Saturday evening, March 12, and the official opening on Sunday, March 13, when the cornerstone was cemented in place. In 1980 the parish opened the Dimitrios and Georgia Kaloidis Parochial School, teaching education, religion, and Greek traditions to the children of Bay Ridge, and in 2013 the Holy Cross Brooklyn Outreach Center was established as a charitable organization serving communities across the New York area.

Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Church at 8401 Ridge Boulevard in Brooklyn serves the Orthodox Christian faithful of Bay Ridge as a parish of the Direct Archdiocesan District of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, a beacon of faith and community in one of Brooklyn's most storied neighborhoods for nearly seven decades.