History

In the spring of 1988, a small group of Orthodox Christians dedicated themselves to bringing the Holy Church to the Temecula Valley. Through hard work and prayer, this small group steadily grew, and on June 30, 1991, the first Divine Liturgy was held in a small office building, with the Very Reverend Father Leonidas Contos presiding. On September 27, 1991, His Eminence Metropolitan Anthony officially confirmed the new community as the Mission Parish of Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church. In his remarks to the young congregation, the Metropolitan observed that the true strength and beauty of Orthodoxy is found when it transcends ethnic identities and strives to identify only with Christ, within the sacred tradition that is the common inheritance of all Orthodox peoples, a reflection of the diverse ethnic backgrounds present among the parish's founders from the very beginning.

Through the years that followed, the faithful grew, and ministries for spiritual growth took root and flourished in the Temecula community. Fundraisers ranging from Greek festivals to a community thrift store helped finance the parish's growth and supported outreach programs, and the community became intertwined with other philanthropic organizations throughout the Temecula Valley, giving not only financially but of themselves. Services were held in a succession of converted office buildings as the parish worked steadily toward purchasing a permanent home.

That determination never wavered, and on February 20, 2014, with the blessing of Metropolitan Gerasimos, the parish purchased a two-and-a-half-acre parcel that included a 3,000-square-foot building in Murrieta, California. The building was converted to include a sanctuary, fellowship hall, office, and kitchen, and the first Divine Liturgy at the new location was celebrated on Saturday of Lazarus, April 4, 2015, with Father Andrew Lesko presiding. Father Lesko served the parish faithfully for nine years before entering retirement on September 1, 2021, and Metropolitan Gerasimos subsequently assigned Father Konstantinos Douvikas as the parish's new priest.

On September 27, 2025, the community celebrated its thirty-fourth anniversary, honoring the legacy of Father Eugene Tarris, the parish's first priest, alongside generations of parish council members, Sunday School teachers, Philoptochos members, youth ministry leaders, choir members, and countless volunteers who labored, taught, and prayed to build the community into the family it is today.

Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church at 41132 Guava Street in Murrieta serves the Orthodox Christian faithful of the Temecula Valley as a parish of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of San Francisco within the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, a community founded on the conviction that Orthodoxy unites Christians of every ethnic background in a shared inheritance of faith.