RYE, NY – The parish of the Church of Our Savior, in Rye, NY has undergone a complete renovation of its buildings (except for the nave) for the first time after half a century of continuous use.
The parish launched a $6.5 million renovation project. From start to finish – design, approval and construction – the renovation project was a five-year journey. During the construction, the Church complex was gutted and rebuilt.
The renovation resulted in a modern, 21st Century Church from a utility standpoint, while still maintaining the historic architectural and aesthetic of the original Church.
His Eminence Archbishop Geron of America Demetrios to officiate at the Divine Liturgy opening on May 6 and bless the renovated facilities.
Presiding Priest for the past 19 years Fr. Elias Villis told The National Herald that “we are just finishing a one-year-plus renovation of the entire facility except the church. So every inch of the facility, offices, classrooms, main hall, and kitchen has been fully renovated and refurbished. The archbishop will come to basically give an Agiasmo and step into the place on the right foot with the blessing.”
Asked why the nave was excluded, Fr. Villis said “the church is in great condition; we just did some very sizable renovations by replacing the windows, we finished over a million dollars of iconography so it is very much complete. We would like to do some things with marble, but we have other priorities.”
According to Villis, “the cost of the renovation was a little over $6 million. We had three sizable donations from Michael and Robin Psaros, Theodore and Keryn Mathas, and John and Joella Lykouretzos, and also other people gave sizable amounts.”
Villis said that the parish is comprised of 400 registered families.
So how does he approach the matter of the unchurched and non-financial participants?
“You just you offer your best,” Villis said. “The priests are obviously the face of the most churches; we aren’t perfect. We will disappoint people. We will help people and just to be as real as possible and a humble as possible. I take the Liturgy very seriously; we have to do the Liturgy as well as we possibly can; it has to be in a language for people understand Greek and English. Sermons have to be prepared, precise, and well-thought- out The faithful are not going to tolerate priests who are not prepared, and that happens a lot.”
He added that the parish is doing well. “There is always room for improvement. We try our best to represent the Gospel in an Orthodox Christian passion; I am very passionate about it, people seem to be responding. It is going well, but we can always do better.”
So what is the secret to Fr. Villis’ longevity at that parish? He said “this is a very unique parish with incredibly wonderful people. They love my wife, they love my family. Of course, when I first came here I had the blessing and the honor to be with Archbishop Iakovos. I was blessed to be chosen one of the clergy to vest him for his burial; we were very close.”
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