Saint Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church of Fort Lauderdale

History

Saint Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church of Fort Lauderdale traces its beginnings to 1946, when a handful of Greek families living in Broward County would gather at a beachside hotel to celebrate their faith together, too few to form a church but too devoted to go without worship. As more families made South Florida their home through the late 1940s and early 1950s, the idea of a permanent Greek Orthodox community in Fort Lauderdale began to take shape. In 1953, a lawyer named Duke Jordan and other Greek leaders contemplated approaching the Archdiocese, only to be told they needed a minimum of 75 families, far more than existed at the time. Rather than be deterred, the community organized an AHEPA chapter to build their numbers and their case.

The breakthrough came through the determined efforts of Elizabeth Athanasakos, a young attorney, and a small circle of motivated individuals who pressed the effort forward. On January 11, 1959, the Greek Orthodox Church of Broward County was formally incorporated, and a charter was granted by the Archdiocese on December 31, 1960. A four-and-a-half-acre property was purchased on Riverland Road, and on September 16, 1960, the first service was held in a small vacant storefront donated by the Food Fair Store on Route 441, with Father Angelides, a retired priest from Daytona, officiating and Mrs. Helen Nichols leading the choir with a piano. The Ladies Philoptochos Society was organized at that first location, and a handcarved icon screen by carpenter James Bizas was installed, a screen that would later be transferred to the new cathedral itself.

Through the 1960s and 1970s the community grew steadily under successive priests, adding Greek School, youth programs, and organizational life that gave the parish its full character. On January 17, 1988, the new Saint Demetrios Cathedral opened its doors, the culmination of decades of growth and sacrifice. The architectural design of the Cathedral draws on Byzantine themes and reflects the sacred traditions of Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Built in the form of a Byzantine cross with all arms equal, the building is crowned by a dome rising more than fifty feet above the floor, spanning seventy-two feet in diameter and weighing two hundred and fifteen tons, resting on twelve columns dedicated to the twelve Apostles and symbolizing the Dome of Heaven. Eight towers surrounding the exterior are dedicated to Old Testament Prophets, and the bell tower stands as the tallest among them.

Saint Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church at 820 NE 14th Avenue in Fort Lauderdale serves the Orthodox Christian faithful of Broward County as a parish of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Atlanta within the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, a community that grew from a handful of families gathering at a beach hotel into one of the most architecturally distinguished Orthodox cathedrals in the American South.