Transfiguration of Christ Greek Orthodox Church of Corona

History

A small group of Greek pioneers living in Corona, Queens met for the first time in March 1926 with their primary concern being the establishment of a Greek Orthodox community to meet the spiritual needs of the Greeks in the area. Their decisiveness manifested itself one week later, on Palm Sunday, when they held their first Divine Liturgy in a church converted from what was formerly a store on Roosevelt Avenue and 94th Street. In September 1926, the community purchased a house located between 38th Avenue and 99th Street, which was converted into a church and remained in use for three decades as the parish grew steadily through the postwar years.

In April 1957, the beautiful Byzantine church that became the jewel of the neighborhood opened its doors, the dreams of thousands of residents realized after decades of toil and sacrifice from the tireless faithful, both notable and anonymous. Archbishop Michael of America presided at the opening of the new church, and the community celebrated the fulfillment of a vision that its founders had carried since that first Palm Sunday gathering in a converted storefront. The interior, adorned with icons and sacred furnishings that reflected the ancient Orthodox Christian aesthetic, became a source of pride for the Greeks of Corona and the greater New York area, and for those who no longer lived in Corona but traced their roots to the neighborhood, the Transfiguration church stood as a unique spiritual center-point.

On a night in 1988 fire devastated the interior of the church, a loss that the community absorbed with grief before undertaking restoration, and then again in 2017 when a second fire caused substantial damage that required years of renovation before the parish could reopen. Through both ordeals the faithful sustained their community life as best they could, gathering in neighboring parishes and in the School of Transfiguration's auditorium until the church could receive them again. The parish has in recent years launched a Spanish-speaking ministry to extend its outreach to the broader Hispanic community of Corona, a reflection of the neighborhood's transformation over the decades.

The Transfiguration of Christ Greek Orthodox Church at 38-05 98th Street in Corona serves the Orthodox Christian faithful of central Queens as a parish of the Direct Archdiocesan District of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.