Saint George Greek Orthodox Church of Lynn

History

Saint George Greek Orthodox Church of Lynn, Massachusetts traces its origins to July 1903, when 110 Greek men gathered for the express purpose of organizing a religious society. These men understood that they could not preserve their identity in the new land without their Church, and they elected their first officers: George Vatsineas as president, Haralampos Patsiades as vice president, Panagiotis Maimonis as secretary, and George Papathanasopoulos as treasurer. To finance the venture, every Greek home contributed five cents per person weekly, and a penny tax was levied on every loaf of bread purchased from the local Greek bakery. The constitution was ratified on April 2, 1905, and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts incorporated the community under the name "Hellenic Association of St. George of Lynn." That same year the Swedish Evangelical Church building on Pleasant Street was purchased, with papers passed on December 26, 1905. The first priest, the Reverend Vasilios Lambrides, was sent directly by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.

As Greek immigration surged between 1909 and 1912, the Pleasant Street building proved too small, and the community purchased the Unitarian Church property on South Common Street for $17,000, the same site where the current church stands. In 1922, the Reverend Archimandrite Christopher Argyrides arrived and would serve the parish faithfully for 48 years, shepherding St. George through its most formative decades. Under his guidance the dream of an entirely new temple and community center took shape. From small beginnings in 1937, the building fund grew through WWII years and beyond. Ground was broken for the Community Center on May 10, 1952. The cornerstone of the new church was laid on May 3, 1954, and the Thyranoixia, or Opening of the Doors, took place on January 30, 1955. The church was formally consecrated on May 14, 1978 by Archbishop Iakovos.

The parish is deeply connected to one of Lynn's most beloved sons. On June 27, 1955, the Saint George community mourned the loss of Harry Agganis, known as "The Golden Greek," a parishioner who had been playing first base for the Boston Red Sox at the time of his death. In April 1956 the community dedicated their gymnasium to his memory and established the Harry Agganis Basketball Tournament, which grew into a national commitment of Greek American youth spanning the entire country. A life-size statue of Agganis, sculpted by Armand La Montaine, was unveiled in 1995 and placed permanently at the Boston University Harry Agganis Sports Arena.

The interior of the church has been enriched over many decades by the work of Lynn native and parishioner Demetrios Dukas, a renowned Byzantine iconographer whose 14,000 square feet of murals and icon panels, including the magnificent Platytera completed in 1984, adorn the full facade of the altar and iconostasion. In 1985 the women of Saint George made history when, after sustained advocacy, they won the right to vote in parish assemblies, a reform that Archbishop Iakovos had long encouraged. In 1997 an extensive renovation transformed the church into a full Byzantine aesthetic, with new brick arches, columns, Byzantine domes, and iconography by Alexandros Melo of Greece.

Saint George Greek Orthodox Church at 54 South Common Street in Lynn stands as one of the largest Greek Orthodox congregations in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, a parish of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Boston that has grown from 110 men in a rented hall to a community of an estimated 10,000 Greek Orthodox faithful in the Lynn area.