Step back in time and try to imagine a bustling city in 1885. Chicago was a melting pot of cultures, where immigrants from all over the world came to seek new opportunities. Among them were Peter and Georgia Pooley, a Greek couple who dreamt of establishing a place where Orthodox Christians could come together. They quickly organized a society for Orthodox Christians, regardless of their ethnicity, and together, they sought to build an Orthodox parish in the city.
The following year, in 1886, the first documented Orthodox liturgy was celebrated in Chicago. It wasn’t in a grand church, but rather in a place called “Berry’s Hall”, where they had improvised an altar table out of two dry goods boxes. The music was performed by Greeks and Serbs, and about a hundred people were present. This event marks the beginning of the journey of the Holy Apostles Greek Orthodox Church.
This early community, a diverse mix of Greeks and Slavs, went on to meet with Bishop Vladimir, the new bishop in San Francisco, in 1888, discussing the possibility of building a church. This dream, however, was thwarted by numerous scandals surrounding the Bishop, and in 1892, a priest named Fr. Panagiotis Phiambolis arrived in Chicago, establishing Annunciation, the second exclusively Greek parish in America. This was the beginning of a new era for the Orthodox community in Chicago.
The establishment of Holy Apostles Greek Orthodox Church was a significant event in the journey of the Orthodox community in Chicago. It was a space where people of diverse backgrounds and ethnicities came together, united by their faith and their shared history. This church, built on the foundation of the dreams of Peter and Georgia Pooley, stands as a testament to the unwavering faith and the enduring spirit of the Orthodox community.