History

Saint George Greek Orthodox Church of Media, Pennsylvania holds the distinction of being the oldest Greek Orthodox church in Delaware County, its roots reaching back to 1915, when a group of Greek families in Chester, Pennsylvania first recognized the need for a church in their community. That early effort was ultimately disbanded by 1920 due to declining activity, but the dream was rekindled in 1926, only to be delayed again by the Great Depression. Through those years of waiting, the women of the community organized the Athena Sisterhood, precursor of the Philoptochos Society, and established a Greek School and Sunday School, building the institutional life of a parish that did not yet have a building to call its own.

By 1937 a renewed fund drive raised $3,700, and by 1942 the funds had grown to $16,000, enabling the community to purchase a stone house and carriage house on West Seventh Street between Butler and Kerlin Streets in Chester. May 4, 1943 was the date of formal incorporation, signed by fifteen Charter Members at the Delaware County Court House, with Father Demetrios Ouzounyanis serving as the first parish priest until his passing the following year. The church building itself was constructed on the adjacent lot between 1949 and 1950 and was named Saint George by its godfather Andrew Varikis in memory of his brother who had died during the First World War.

Through the 1950s and 1960s, as the Greek-American population of Delaware County grew and moved into the suburbs, it became evident that the parish would need to relocate. A Building Committee formed in 1966 began exploring options, and in 1970 a six-acre site in Lima, Middletown Township was acquired. Groundbreaking for the new church took place on September 25, 1977, and on September 9, 1979, Metropolitan Silas officiated the first Divine Liturgy and Thyranoixia at the new church on East Forge Road, with benefactor Lothar Budike playing a pivotal role in making the opening possible. On April 10, 2023, the parish welcomed Archbishop Elpidophoros of America for the first archiepiscopal visit in its history.

Saint George Greek Orthodox Church at 30 East Forge Road in Media serves the Orthodox Christian faithful of Delaware County as a parish of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of New Jersey within the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, the spiritual home of more than 450 Orthodox Christian families in the greater Delaware Valley.