History

Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church was established in Chicago in 1897, making it the second oldest Greek Orthodox church community in the United States and the first in the Midwest, a distinction it has carried for more than 125 years. From its founding in the heart of Chicago, the parish served successive generations of Greek Orthodox faithful, maintaining a continuous presence in the city through the waves of immigration, the great civic upheavals of the twentieth century, and the gradual dispersal of Chicago's Greek community from the urban center to the suburbs.

For decades the parish made its home on Diversey Avenue, where it celebrated its final Divine Liturgy on December 29, 2019, before financial pressures forced it to vacate the building. What followed was a remarkable chapter of resilience. Beginning in January 2020, services were held at the Saint Lazarus cemetery chapel in Park Ridge. When the COVID pandemic arrived in March of that year, the congregation moved to the Holy Transfiguration chapel at Elmwood Cemetery in River Grove. Through a public health crisis, displacement, and financial uncertainty, the parish kept its liturgical life alive without interruption.

In April 2021, Holy Trinity leased the former Saint Maria Goretti Roman Catholic Church at 10050 Ivanhoe Avenue in Schiller Park from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago, which offered generous leasing terms in a gesture of ecumenical solidarity. The parish immediately began ministries, Sunday school, athletics, and community programming at the new location, and by July 2023 the faithful had raised more than half a million dollars toward purchasing the building outright. On September 22, 2023, Holy Trinity closed on the acquisition of the Schiller Park property, ending years of uncertainty and securing a permanent spiritual home. A dedication and blessing ceremony attended by Cardinal Blase Cupich of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago and Metropolitan Nathanael of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago marked the occasion, and Metropolitan Nathanael announced plans to establish a shrine honoring the legacy of Saint Maria Goretti within the building.

Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church at 10050 Ivanhoe Avenue in Schiller Park serves the Orthodox Christian faithful of the greater Chicago area as a parish of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago within the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, a community that has kept the faith through 128 consecutive years of parish life.