Saint Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church of Jamaica

History

Saint Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church of Jamaica, New York traces its origins to 1927, when the church was erected to serve the Greek Orthodox faithful of Queens. The inaugural service was held on October 26, 1927, the feast day of Saint Demetrios the Myrrh-Streamer, a date of particular significance as the community's patron saint is the great third-century martyr and military officer of Thessalonica whose intercessions Christians have sought for nearly seventeen centuries. The founding of the Jamaica parish marked a pivotal moment for Greek immigrants who were making the transition from Manhattan to the borough of Queens as the Greek community of New York spread outward from its original urban foothold.

From its earliest years, the community recognized that preserving Greek Orthodox faith and Hellenic identity required not only a church but a school. The challenge of limited space prompted the creation of various annexes across different locations throughout Queens and Brooklyn, so that Greek language and religious instruction could reach children across a wide geographic area. By the mid-1950s, a new chapter opened with the construction of the present-day Saint Demetrios Church at 84-35 152nd Street, complete with an educational wing, unveiled on April 8, 1965. By 1962 the afternoon school had expanded to include five additional annexes in South Ozone Park, Howard Beach, Cyprus Hills, and East New York, and by 1965 the community operated an impressive network of twelve afternoon schools across Queens and Long Island. In 1966, the Saint Demetrios Jamaica Day School was established as a full parochial school, educating children from Pre-Kindergarten through eighth grade for nearly half a century until its closure in 2013.

Saint Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church at 84-35 152nd Street in Jamaica serves the Orthodox Christian faithful of Queens as a parish of the Direct Archdiocesan District of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, a community of more than eighty-eight years of continuous service that has shaped the Greek Orthodox presence in the borough of Queens through worship, education, and the faithful transmission of the ancient Christian faith.