History

The Greek Orthodox Community of Kimisis Theotokou was founded in the heart of the Great Depression. In 1931, a small group of Greek immigrants, despite severe economic obstacles, sacrificed to establish a house of worship and a community center in the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn, determined to keep their Orthodox faith alive in their new country. The parish's founder and first president of the Parish Council was Panayiotis Bounacos, and the first home of the community, then known as the Greek Orthodox Community of Bay Ridge, was located at 861 Fourth Avenue near 32nd Street.

In 1932, under the leadership of the Reverend George Menexopoulos, the parishioners sold that property and purchased 239 17th Street. The following year, Reverend Simeon Emanuel joined the community and worked with the Parish Council to finalize the purchase of the present home at 224 18th Street, the address that has been the parish's spiritual home ever since. The early years of the community were formative ones for its institutional life: an annual dance and journal began in 1931, a choir was organized in 1935, Sunday and Afternoon Schools were established in 1933, the annual magazine The Herald began publication in 1935, a youth league was founded in 1936, and the Chiaki Adelphotita of Aghia Markella, a society dedicated to helping those in need, was also established in 1936 and continues to be a major contributor to the school and parish. In 1936, the Reverend John Strongilos joined the Kimisis Theotokou family and served the community diligently for twenty-four years. In 1937, Archbishop Athenagoras officially recognized Kimisis Theotokou as a member church of the Archdiocese.

By the 1960s the vision of a proper educational center had become a reality. Buildings on Fifth Avenue were purchased for the school, and after demolition in 1963 the groundbreaking ceremony for the new school building took place in June 1964, officiated by Archbishop Iakovos and then-Congressman Hugh Carey. The building was designed by community member and architect Emanuel Kontokosta, and has served successive generations of children in the teachings of the Orthodox faith, the Greek language and heritage, and secular education ever since.

Kimisis Theotokou Greek Orthodox Church at 224 18th Street in Brooklyn serves the Orthodox Christian faithful of the Park Slope and Bay Ridge neighborhoods as a parish of the Direct Archdiocesan District of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, a community built by Depression-era immigrants whose sacrifice and faith created an institution that has flourished for nearly a century.