By Evan C. Lambrou
ITHACA, NY – Saint Catherine Greek Orthodox Church in Ithaca celebrated the 50th anniversary of its official church charter recently with a special event, to which the Saint Catherine’s parish community had also invited the wider public. Local ministers and Orthodox Christian priests from the area, as well as professors from Cornell University and Ithaca College, attended.
Rev. Dr. George D. Dragas, professor of Patristics and Church History at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Boston, was the event’s featured speaker. Father Dragas has represented the Greek Orthodox Patriarchates of Constantinople, Antioch and Jerusalem in scores of interfaith dialogues at the ecumenical level for more than 35 years.
“Christ, who is both human and divine, mediates between created man and the Uncreated God. What, then, is the Church? The Church is the Body of Christ, which implies that the Church also mediates between man and God, in order to help man enter into communion with the Creator. That means the world was built for the Church because the world is called to be part of the Body of Christ,” Father Dragas told more than 100 people who had gathered to hear him speak this past November 21st about the life of the saints and ecclesiology of the Church.
“We are familiar with the fact that each of us has a physical and genetic composition. When we are physically conceived, we receive our biological DNA. But what about our spiritual DNA? What does that mean? During our physical conception and development in the womb, God stamps our souls with the Breath of Life. That is our spiritual DNA. And that is what makes human beings not only physical creatures, but spiritual beings, as well,” he added.
SACRED HISTORY
To mark the occasion, His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios of America also sent his archiepiscopal greetings to Rev. Dr. Athanasios Parthenakis, pastor, and the Saint Catherine’s parish community for the event:
“For the last 50 years, you have gathered humbly and joyfully before God in prayer. You have proclaimed the Gospel with power and conviction. You have taught the precepts of the Orthodox Christian faith, through your words and deeds, to each generation… As a parish of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Detroit under the omophorion of His Eminence Metropolitan Nicholas of Detroit – and within the canonical jurisdiction of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, which is an eparchy of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople – you share in a sacred history as an ecclesial community of the Great Church of Christ. On this day, when the Rev. Dr. George D. Dragas will be addressing your community, I pray that you will be enriched by his knowledge and strengthened in the understanding of the direct and unbroken link the Greek Orthodox Church shares with the Holy Apostles themselves. I offer you my heartfelt best wishes for a festive 50th anniversary celebration,” His Eminence wrote.
Alderman Joseph Murtagh of Ithaca’s 2nd Ward (where the church is situated) presented the St. Catherine’s community with an official proclamation from the City of Ithaca:
“Whereas the Apostle Andrew founded the Holy Mother Church of Constantinople almost 2,000 years ago; whereas the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America is an eparchy of the Holy Mother Church; whereas Saint Catherine’s Church in Ithaca, incorporated under the Archdiocese, is this year celebrating the 50th anniversary of her official church charter; and whereas, Saint Catherine’s Church commemorates the memory of her patron saint each year on November 25th… now therefore, I, Svante L. Myrick (mayor of Ithaca), do hereby proclaim November 25th, 2015 as ‘Saint Catherine Greek Orthodox Church Day’ in the City of Ithaca, New York,” the proclamation states.
Local Greek-Americans had started settling in the Ithaca area in the mid-to-late 1890’s. By the early 1950s, they decided they needed a church of their own. After drawing straws, the late Peter Poulos – owner/operator of the former Pop’s Place, a popular eating establishment in Collegetown – named the new parish in honor of his mother.
Initially a mission of the Annunciation Church in Endicott (now located in Vestal), Saint Catherine Church became a fully incorporated parish of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese in 1964, receiving its official church charter from the Archdiocese in September of 1965. The charter was signed by then Archbishop Iakovos of North & South America.
Located on the northeast corner of Seneca and Geneva Streets in downtown Ithaca, the building that is now Saint Catherine’s was designed in the late 19th Century by William Henry Miller, who studied under renowned Cornell University Professor of Architecture Charles Babcock. Originally built in 1884 for Ithaca’s First Congregational Society, which relocated to Cayuga Heights in 1960, the historic edifice was also where Ithaca College held its music and performing arts programs from 1960 to 1966.
By that time, the local Greek-American community, which had once held services in the Saint John’s Episcopal Church rectory at Cayuga Street on Saturdays, was holding services at their first church in Collegetown (the former Cosmopolitan Club on Bryant Avenue). They purchased the historic downtown property from IC and reconverted it to a house of worship. The building’s original organ and stained glass windows, one of which was donated by the Treman family to the Congregational Church back in the early 20th Century, are still in their original place.
Saint Catherine Church started holding services at its present location in 1967, and has been faithfully serving Orthodox Christians at the Cornell University and Ithaca College communities, as well as the local Greek American community, ever since. The church today also has several non-Greek members. Dr. John Bezerganian is treasurer of the parish council, for example, and Dr. Steve Hoskins is the choir director.
Four sons of the parish graduated from Holy Cross, three of whom went onto become clergymen: the late Metropolitan Epiphanios (Gus) Perialas; Poulos’ son, the Very Rev. Seraphim (John) Poulos, pastor of Saints Nicholas, Constantine & Helen Church in Roseland, New Jersey; and Rev. Steve Dalber, pastor of Saint Nektarios Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Alderman Seph Murtagh recently presented an official proclamation to St. Catherine Greek Orthodox Church in Ithaca for the 50th anniversary of the church’s official charter. L-R: Fr. Tom Parthenakis (church pastor), Alderman Murtagh, Ann Bantuvanis (church president) and Rev. Dr. George Dragas, the event’s featured speaker.
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