1904 - A Notable Year for Holy Trinity Archdiocesan Cathedral, New York City

The January 2015 issue of the Orthodox Observer, page 18, included an article titled:

1904:  A NOTABLE YEAR FOR HOLY TRINITY ARCHDIOCESAN CATHEDRAL

by William H. Samonides, Ph.D.

1904 was a momentous year.  Internationally, the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War in the Pacific hastened the collapse of the Russian empire, imperiling the lives of tens of millions of Orthodox Christians.  Nationally, the World's Fair and the third modern Olympic games in St. Louis preceded the election of President Theodore Roosevelt.

In New York, the modern city was taking shape:  construction began on Grand Central Station, and the first underground stretch of the subway went into operation.  There were also major developments at Holy Trinity, the first Greek Orthodox parish established in New York.

In April 1904, the Holy Trinity parishioners purchased their first building, and later that year a new priest, 40-year-old Fr. Methodios Kourkoulis (1864-1941), arrived from Greece.

Both developments brought stability to a community sorely in need of it.  The fledgling parish, established in 1892, was not the majestic Archdiocesan Cathedral of today.  During the first dozen years of its existence, Holy Trinity rented three spaces and was served by 10 priests.

at the time, establishing a Greek Orthodox parish in America was not easy, but maintaining one proved an even greater challenge, even in the city with the largest Greek immigrant population in the Western Hemisphere. . . . . 

READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE - Page 18