History

Saint Peter the Apostle Greek Orthodox Church of the Bronx began as a chapel of the Holy Anargyroi parish in Manhattan, established to serve the growing Greek Orthodox community of the Kingsbridge and Riverdale neighborhoods in the northwestern Bronx. The community's growth proved so rapid that it soon separated from its mother church and became a self-sustaining parish in its own right, a measure of the vitality and determination of the Greek Orthodox families who had made that corner of the Bronx their home.

In the early years of the parish, Saint John's Catholic School offered its cafeteria for church services, a gesture of ecumenical hospitality that sustained the community while it worked toward a permanent home. Father Halkias, a retired priest, was assigned as the first priest and guided the parish through its formative period, his part-time service credited with the early progress and success of the community. An afternoon Greek School was established almost immediately under the direction of Eydozia Levesano, who served the school for many years, carrying forward the dual mission of faith and Hellenic education that has always been central to parish life.

In 1995 the parish acquired its present property at 3245 Kingsbridge Avenue, recognizing that a permanent home was essential to the community's future. The house that stood on the property was demolished, plans were drawn up, and construction began on a purpose-built Byzantine-style church that would give the faithful of the Bronx the house of worship they had long envisioned.

Saint Peter the Apostle Greek Orthodox Church at 3245 Kingsbridge Avenue in the Bronx serves the Orthodox Christian faithful of the Kingsbridge and Riverdale neighborhoods as a parish of the Direct Archdiocesan District of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.