History

Saint Thomas Greek Orthodox Church of Cherry Hill, New Jersey was established in 1966, when Greek Orthodox families living in South Jersey and the Philadelphia suburbs recognized the need for a parish closer to home. The founding members had previously attended Saint George Greek Orthodox Cathedral in downtown Philadelphia, making the long cross-river journey to worship. From those beginnings the community has grown into by far the largest Greek Orthodox parish in the Delaware Valley, serving three counties in South Jersey as well as many faithful from the city of Philadelphia itself.

The original pioneers of the community established the American Hellenic Orthodox Center in Camden, a building housing AHEPA and a Greek School that served the South Jersey Greek community for decades before the proceeds from its eventual sale helped open the doors of the present Saint Thomas Church, built in 1967 at 615 Mercer Street in Cherry Hill. A Cultural Center was attached to the church and opened in 1977, providing a gathering space for the parish's many ministries and events. In 2006 the John Balis Educational Building opened, housing what has grown into the largest Greek School in the entire Greek Orthodox Metropolis of New Jersey. In 2016 the Saint Thomas Senior Housing Center opened, completing a campus that has expanded steadily with each generation.

Saint Thomas holds a distinction unique in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America: it is the only parish dedicated to Saint Thomas the Apostle, whose feast of Antipascha on the first Sunday after Pascha marks the day when the risen Christ appeared to the doubting Thomas and transformed his doubt into the glorious confession, My Lord and my God. A relic of Saint Thomas the Apostle is enshrined in the church and brought out for veneration on the patronal feast, giving the community a tangible connection to the Apostle whose name it bears.

Saint Thomas Greek Orthodox Church at 615 Mercer Street in Cherry Hill serves the Orthodox Christian faithful of South Jersey as a parish of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of New Jersey within the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, the spiritual home of the largest Greek Orthodox congregation in the Delaware Valley.