History

Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church of Palos Hills, Illinois was officially organized on April 25, 1909, with its first location on 61st Street and Michigan Avenue in Chicago, making it one of the oldest Greek Orthodox parishes in the Midwest. Its founding was inseparable from the waves of Greek immigration that brought thousands of young men from Greece to the industrial neighborhoods of Chicago in the early twentieth century, each carrying with them the Orthodox faith as the defining center of their identity and community life.

Just one year after the parish's organization, in 1910, Koraes Elementary School was established, making it one of the oldest continuously operating Greek Orthodox parochial schools in the United States. Through the church and Koraes School together, the early immigrant families ensured that their faith, their language, and their Hellenic cultural heritage would be passed to succeeding generations in the new land. That dual commitment to church and school has defined the community's character across more than a century of parish life, through four different locations and three different neighborhoods of Chicago and its suburbs.

Approximately fifty years ago the parish relocated to its present home in the southwestern suburb of Palos Hills, where its building with an easily recognizable gold dome has become a neighborhood landmark at 11025 South Roberts Road. In September 2024 the parish celebrated its 115th anniversary alongside the 114th year of Koraes Elementary School, marking one of the longest uninterrupted runs of Greek Orthodox parochial education in the country. The school serves nearly 200 students from preschool through eighth grade, drawing families from across the south and western suburbs, the city of Chicago, and beyond.

Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church at 11025 South Roberts Road in Palos Hills serves the Orthodox Christian faithful of the southwest suburbs of Chicago as a parish of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago within the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, a community of more than 585 steward families whose more than a century of unbroken parish life in the Chicago area stands as a testament to the faith and sacrifice of the immigrant generation that built it.