History

Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church of Oak Lawn, Illinois was established in May 1927, when Holy Trinity Church of Chicago purchased a Protestant church building on Peoria Street in the Englewood neighborhood to serve the growing Greek Orthodox population on the city's South Side. The Very Rev. Father Daniel Gambrilis was assigned as its first pastor, and the church is said to bear the name Saint Nicholas in part because it was his own baptismal name. The founding families sacrificed deeply to sustain the new parish, giving generously from their own pockets and mortgaging their homes to secure the loans needed to keep the community alive.

Through the 1930s the original building was completely renovated in the Byzantine style, transforming it into a true Orthodox church. In the 1940s a two-story structure was acquired to expand the Homer Greek School, which has carried the Greek language and culture forward to the present day. Then in the 1960s came a dual milestone: the parish was designated a Patriarchal Shrine, one of a small number of such designations in the United States, and the community made the decision to relocate to the southwest suburbs. The stewards sold their Chicago property and purchased the present site in Oak Lawn, breaking ground under the guidance of Father Louis Greanias on the gymnasium and multi-purpose building that would serve as the parish's home while the permanent church was under construction. Countless baptisms, weddings, and funerals took place in those buildings before the main church was completed.

The first Divine Liturgy in the new church was celebrated on a Palm Sunday morning in the early 1970s, and in July 1974, Archbishop Iakovos consecrated the church in a ceremony so significant that the World Book Encyclopedia included it among the important events of the year in its 1974 Yearbook. The mortgage on the church was fully retired in the 1980s, and a Legacy Fund endowment was established to provide for future generations. Through the 1990s and 2000s, a sustained renovation and iconography project transformed the interior of the church into one of the most beautifully appointed Greek Orthodox sanctuaries in the Chicago area. In 2001 the parish hosted the National Oratorical Festival, welcoming Archbishop Demetrios of America for a pastoral visitation that the community counts among its most memorable events.

Today, Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church serves approximately 300 steward families at 10301 South Kolmar Avenue in Oak Lawn as a Patriarchal Shrine and parish of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago, a community built on nearly a century of sacrifice, generosity, and devotion to the Orthodox Christian faith.