NEW YORK – On June 30, the Vespers service was held at the Church of the Saints Anargyroi, Cosmas and Damianos, in Washington Heights. The historic church was filled with the faithful from the tri-state area who make the pilgrimage every year in honor of these miracle-working saints.
Fr. Ierotheos Markopoulos, presiding priest of the community, along with priests from various tri-state area communities, presided over the service and led the procession with the icon of the saints which also took place through the streets of the once-Greek enclave of upper Manhattan.
The feast day of Saints Cosmas and Damianos is July 1.
Greeks began moving to the area in the 1920’s and by the 1950’s and 1960’s it was referred to as the “Astoria of Manhattan,” according to an online article from Macaulay Honors College at City College, CUNY, The Peopling of New York: Armenian and Greek Immigrants.
Since that time, however, the Greek community has moved away, though the church remains as a beacon of the Orthodox faith in Washington Heights.
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