History

Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Church of Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania was born from a blizzard. On the cold winter evening of March 6, 1979, several Greek Orthodox families were making the long drive home from church in Easton when a snowstorm stranded them on Route 33 in the Pocono Mountains. Trapped through the night, they made the best of the situation with laughter and stories, and by morning a shared conviction had taken hold: it was time to build a church much closer to where they actually lived.

That conviction carried them forward with determination. The group collected approximately forty signatures as proof of community need and presented their petition to Metropolitan Maximos of Pittsburgh, who granted his blessing for a new community to begin. By February 18, 1980, they had raised enough money to purchase and renovate an existing building, giving the new Holy Cross community its first permanent home. The parish has grown steadily in the decades since, becoming what its own members describe as a little secret hidden in the Pocono Mountains, welcoming Orthodox Christians from throughout Monroe County and the surrounding region.

The community has long embraced its role as a spiritual presence in the broader Pocono community, hosting monthly community outreach meals, cultural festivals that draw its neighbors into a celebration of Hellenic traditions, and an ongoing catechism program for those exploring the Orthodox Christian faith. Its dedication to the Elevation of the Holy Cross, celebrated each September 14, gives the parish a patronal feast that speaks to the heart of the Orthodox Christian gospel.

Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Church at 135 Stokes Avenue in Stroudsburg serves the Orthodox Christian faithful of the Pocono Mountains and Monroe County as a parish of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Pittsburgh within the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.