History

The story of Saints Peter and Paul Greek Orthodox Church of Frederick, Maryland begins with a letter and a train trip. In 1981, Mrs. Catherine Flitzanes of nearby Mount Airy wrote to Archbishop Iakovos inquiring about the possibility of forming a Greek Orthodox parish in the Frederick area. The seed was sown, but nearly a decade would pass before it took root.

In 1990, Father Germanos Stavropoulos, Chancellor of the Diocese of New Jersey and an enthusiastic train enthusiast, was visiting Brunswick, Maryland to pursue his hobby. On the way home to New York, he opened a white pages directory with a singular purpose: to find Orthodox Christians in the Frederick area and invite them to a first liturgy. In January of 1991, over one hundred letters were mailed to Frederick area Orthodox Christians. On the Sunday of Thomas, April 14, 1991, the first Divine Liturgy was celebrated at All Saints Episcopal Church on Church Street in Frederick, presided over by Father Stavropoulos and Father Steven Vlahos.

The young community grew steadily. In December of 1993 the congregation purchased the Church of the Nazarene building at 920 West 7th Street, and the first liturgy at the new location was held on Christmas Eve. In May of 1994 the parish received its name: Saints Peter and Paul Greek Orthodox Church. In August of 1995 the Reverend Father Mark Arey served his first Divine Liturgy as the first full-time priest, giving the parish a stable pastoral foundation after several years of visiting and part-time clergy. The community celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2001.

Renovations over the years have steadily transformed the building into a true Orthodox church. A new barrel-vault ceiling, pseudo dome, and Corinthian columns were installed in the nave in early 2014, giving the former Nazarene building a distinctly Byzantine character in time for Holy Week and Pascha. The Social Hall was renovated in 2005 and renamed the Dr. Peter Tsaknis Social Hall in honor of a beloved parishioner. The 25th anniversary of the parish was celebrated in 2016.

Saints Peter and Paul Greek Orthodox Church at 920 West 7th Street serves as Frederick County's only Greek Orthodox church, a parish of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of New Jersey within the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, a community that has attracted not only Greek Orthodox families but many converts to Orthodoxy who have made it their spiritual home in the historic heart of western Maryland.