History

Saint George Greek Orthodox Church of Southgate, Michigan traces its origins to the 1930s, when Mrs. Rebecca Loukas motivated seven Greek Orthodox families in the downriver Detroit area to establish a church. Their persistence paid off on June 7, 1941, when the State of Michigan formally validated the community. Four years later, on October 21, 1945, the cornerstone for a new church was laid on Porter and Garfield Streets in Lincoln Park. By February 16, 1951, the parish had grown to 35 families and received its official ecclesiastical charter.

The early years brought both growth and hardship. Father Demetrios Stamos celebrated services in the church basement in 1949, and a succession of priests guided the community through its formative decade. Father John Magoulias led the congregation to the completion and dedication of the church on April 24, 1955, a milestone in the parish's young life. Then, less than a year later, tragedy struck. On May 12, 1956, a tornado leveled the church entirely. Undaunted, the congregation relocated to Calvary Lutheran Church on Chandler Street in Lincoln Park and worshipped there for twenty years, a testament to the endurance and unity of the Saint George community.

Those two decades of temporary worship gave way to a remarkable period of building. Bishop Demetrios dedicated the Grecian and Youth Center on November 9, 1975. On March 4, 1979, Bishop Timothy dedicated the Education Building. The new church itself was completed on October 24, 1982, before which the parish had been holding services in the makeshift hall of the Grecian Center. The following year, the community opened the Deaconess Tower, a 150-apartment building for senior citizens, fully occupied by September 1983. In June 2003, the Reverend Philemon Karamanos Park was added adjacent to the church parking lot, honoring the priest who had served the parish from 1968 to 2013, one of the longest tenures of any priest in the Metropolis of Detroit.

The capstone of this remarkable history came on October 4 and 5, 2003, when Archbishop Demetrios, assisted by Metropolitan Nicholas of Detroit and area clergy, solemnized the Consecration of Saint George Church in a two-day service of Vespers, Consecration, and Divine Liturgy. At the consecration, the relics of three saints were sealed within the altar table: Saint George, Saint Kyricos, and the Holy Fathers Martyred in Sinai at Raitho Monastery. Today, Saint George Greek Orthodox Church stands as a flourishing community of 400 families in Southgate, a parish of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Detroit that grew from seven families and a vision into one of the most complete and vibrant Orthodox communities in the downriver Detroit area.