History

Saint John the Forerunner Greek Orthodox Church was founded in Youngstown, Ohio, in 1915, the first Greek Orthodox parish established in the city. The steel industry that defined Youngstown's economy in those years had drawn Greek immigrants from across the Aegean world to the Mahoning Valley, midway between Pittsburgh and Cleveland, and by December 1915 enough of them had settled permanently to make a church of their own possible.

On December 15, 1915, six immigrants met to plan the church, among them James Chelekis, who had been present nine years earlier at the first Greek Orthodox wedding in Youngstown in 1906. A fifteen-member committee named Antonios Glaros as the first president, drafted a constitution, and applied for a state charter that was granted on April 13, 1916. The community rented space in the YMCA building for its first chapel on February 17, 1916, with Father Neophytos Josepheos becoming the first priest. The parish received its name from John Bombolis, the godfather of the church, who chose the Forerunner in honor of his own patron saint. In the years that followed the political divisions between Royalists and Venizelists that split Greek communities across America gave Youngstown a second Greek parish, Saint Nicholas, while Saint John the Forerunner served those of the Venizelist persuasion. Through twenty-three priests in its first fifty years, the parish grew and sustained itself through the volatility of Youngstown's industrial cycles.

By 1964 plans for a new church in the suburbs were set in motion, with groundbreaking on July 17, 1965, and the cornerstone laid in July 1966 by Bishop Meletios of South America, himself a former Youngstown resident. The new church opened in Boardman, Ohio in 1966 with Bishop Gerasimos officiating at the Thyranoixia. On Thanksgiving Day, 1969, Archbishop Iakovos presided at the consecration, completing the canonical standing of the new suburban home. Among the clergy who served Saint John the Forerunner was Father Isaiah Chronopoulos, who went on to become Metropolitan Isaiah of Denver.

Saint John the Forerunner Greek Orthodox Church at its Boardman address serves the Orthodox Christian faithful of the greater Youngstown area as a parish of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Pittsburgh within the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.