History

The community of Saint Spyridon Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Worcester, Massachusetts was officially established on October 15, 1914, when a constitution was enacted at a meeting hall at 9 Bartlett Street. The first Greeks had arrived in Worcester in the late 1890s and early 1900s, mostly single men from Epirus in northwestern Greece who came seeking a better life after centuries of political, economic, and religious persecution under Ottoman rule. By 1914 there were between 3,500 and 4,000 Greeks in Worcester, but only about 25 families, the rest being bachelors or men whose families had remained in Greece. For the first years, services were held at Beaver Hall at 69 Grafton Street, later at 126 Green Street, and at the AOH Hall on Trumbull Street, while meetings were held at Bartlett Street and Bartlett Street.

The choice of patron saint reflected the community's geographic roots. Because most of the early Greek immigrants came from Epirus, just across the water from Corfu where the body of Saint Spyridon is still preserved, they named their church in his honor. There was also a practical consideration: Saint Spyridon's feast day under the old calendar fell on Christmas Day, one of the few days on which the factories of Worcester were closed, allowing the first Greek immigrant workers to celebrate their patron's feast day without losing a day's wages. The parish received its charter from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on September 26, 1916, its stated purposes including not only maintaining a Greek Orthodox church but establishing a Greek school, a reading room, a library, and a lecture hall. Parish finances in those early years were memorably simple: there were no dues, but for every loaf of bread eaten, households paid one cent to the church, with bakers required to note the quantity consumed and a church collector making monthly rounds.

The first priest of record, Father Vasilios Papanikas, arrived from Greece in early 1915. The church board had appealed to the Holy Synod of Greece for a permanent priest, and before Father Papanikas the community had relied on visiting clergy from other parishes. Before 1914, Worcester's Greeks had worshipped at Saint George Syrian Orthodox Church, a testament to the Pan-Orthodox solidarity that predated the establishment of their own community. The present Cathedral building at 102 Russell Street, the community's second church, has stood across from Elm Park since 1951, completed the following year in 1952, giving the parish one of the most beautiful settings in Worcester. In 1976 the Cathedral established the first ethnic festival in New England, the Grecian Festival, launched during the nation's bicentennial year, and in 1985 Metropolitan Methodios of Boston elevated Saint Spyridon to the rank of Cathedral. The parish has played a central role in the remarkable Pan-Orthodox unity movement that distinguishes Worcester's Orthodox community, participating in the Council of Eastern Orthodox Churches of Central Massachusetts and in joint ventures including an Orthodox Section at Hope Cemetery and a weekly Orthodox Food Pantry.

Saint Spyridon Greek Orthodox Cathedral at 102 Russell Street in Worcester serves the Orthodox Christian faithful of central Massachusetts as a Cathedral of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Boston within the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, the largest Orthodox Christian community in the region and a cornerstone of the most celebrated model of Pan-Orthodox cooperation in New England.