Three Hierarchs Greek Orthodox Church

It is unfortunate that I should be the one to write the first review for this church, as I am not, in fact a «believer.» In spite of my lack of faith, however, this church has been such a key institution over the course of my life, that I love it and can’t imagine my life without it. It’s where I went to nursery school and preschool and made my first childhood friends, and it’s where I went to my first Greek school class. It’s where my brother and many of my cousins were christened, and it’s the church that my family visited for many years during the Greek Orthodox Easter Holy Week. Its «Gold Room» is where I remember spending many a New Year’s Eve during my childhood, and its Greek festivals during special weekends were where I loved eating souvlakia and loukoumades, shopping at the massive flea market set-​up in the parochial school gym, and riding on the Ferris Wheel set up outside with my cousin. With or without a belief in the teachings of the Bible and Jesus, Three Hierarchs Church is an important part of who I am.
I could not write a review for Three Hierarchs and fail to mention the indomitable Father Eugene Pappas, the figure who most embodies what Three Hierarchs means for everyone who has ever been there, for better or worse. He is a controversial figure in the community, and maybe that is why he is my lifelong favorite priest, and a figure whom I regard with a mixture of awe and fear. I stand among the few in my own family who view him with admiration, because many are put off by his admittedly caustic brand of humor, and his befuddling combination of sincere compassion for the community mixed with an imperious disdain for what he decries as the failure of his congregation (always changing) to better support the Church and Christianity itself by living as better Christians. I imagine he would regard my own lack of faith with disappointment, but it is what it is; you can’t force faith. I think that’s why I feel comfortable at Three Hierarchs, and with Father Eugene’s sermons; he speaks a language that you can relate to regardless of what you might believe. My connection to this Church is more about the community, and even if I might not know, or even like, everyone who goes to Three Hierarchs, there’s a realness and history that connects us all. There’s a warmth to that, as soothing as the fragrant incense that the priest burns in the gilded censer that he holds as he chants the hymns of thatday’s service.