A Richardsonian Chapel on Straits Pond
On the seaward side of Cohasset, where Jerusalem Road skirts the edge of Straits Pond, a stone-and-shingle chapel with the look of a New England parish house stands with its windows thrown open to the salt air. The building is the home of the Nativity-Assumption of the Virgin Mary Greek Orthodox Church, a parish known to most of its people simply as Panagia. It is the same building that Colonel Albert A. and Abby Pope raised in 1900 in memory of their son Charles Linder Pope, who drowned nearby at seventeen. For many years the structure served as a multi-denominational chapel; in 1980 it was dedicated as an Orthodox house of worship and has carried the Panagia name ever since.
Inside, the ceiling still rises above the kind of warm wooden interior the Pope family commissioned, and the Richardsonian Romanesque details outside have been kept intact. In the warmer months the windows are left open during services, and worshippers have been known to glance past the icons to watch swans drifting by on the pond outside.
Two Feasts, One Name
The parish is named not for a single saint but for two feasts in the life of the Virgin Mary, the Theotokos. The first is her Nativity, kept on September 8, and the second is her Assumption, kept on August 15. In Orthodox theology Mary is honored above all saints as the one who bore the Son of God, the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy that the Messiah would spring from the root of Jesse. The parish therefore celebrates a Mother of God rather than a patron saint, and the icons on the screen carry her face.
Sunday Liturgy and the Byzantine Voice
The central act of parish life is the Sunday Divine Liturgy, celebrated at 9:30 a.m. The service is sung almost in its entirety. The priest, assisted by altar servers who carry the cross, candles, and liturgical fans in procession, leads the congregation through prayers that follow a form reaching back to the early centuries of Christianity. Worship is primarily in English, with selected responses preserved in New Testament Greek and the musical setting drawn from the ancient Byzantine tradition. The choir, under the direction of Audrey Jean Samara DiBona, leads the singing and is remembered in the Great Litany of the Liturgy, where the Church prays for those who serve and those who sing.
Because nearly every word of the service is sung or chanted, joining the choir is treated as a genuine ministry. New singers are always welcome and can contact the parish to learn how to take part.
Orthodoxy 101 and Bible Study
Faith formation at Panagia centers on a program called Orthodoxy 101. Led by Fr. Constantine Cambas, the sessions are open to inquirers, lifelong Orthodox, and converts alike, and they walk participants through the beliefs, sacraments, and worship of the Orthodox Church. Some meetings are held virtually, others in person, and a parallel Bible Study: Orthodoxy 101 group meets on Wednesday evenings as an introduction to Orthodox scriptural reading. The series reflects the parish's wider conviction that Orthodoxy is a faith to be learned, lived, and asked about, not simply inherited.
The Parish Priest
Fr. Constantine Cambas returned to serve the parish in October 2024. A native of the Bronx who grew up in southern New Jersey, he worked in physical therapy, including service as a medical service corps officer in the U.S. Navy, before answering a call to ordained ministry. He studied part time at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, earned his Master of Divinity in 2004, and was ordained by Metropolitan Methodios that August. Over two decades he has served parishes across the Metropolis of Boston in Cranston, Pittsfield, Marlborough, Cohasset, Keene, Lowell, and Fitchburg. He and Presvytera Marilou have two daughters and two granddaughters. He still works part time in rehabilitation health care and continues an active interest in pastoral care and Byzantine music.
A Leadership Team and a Family Council
The parish is shepherded by a Parish Council elected from among the faithful. Peter Bourikas, who joined Panagia with his family a quarter century ago and now serves as Parish Council President, has spent decades in small-business leadership and brings that experience to running the parish. Vice President George Jordan, a Framingham State graduate with a long career in television production and in his family's Barker Tavern restaurant, joined the council in 2024. Treasurer Becky Smith is the daughter of one of Panagia's founding members in 1980; she has served on the board before, was married at the parish, and raised her family in the faith. Secretary George Belezos rounds out the executive committee, and a wider council of men and women supports the work of the parish alongside the priest.
Philoptochos and the Care of Those in Need
The Panagia chapter of the Greek Orthodox Ladies Philoptochos Society is the philanthropic heart of the parish. Founded in the Archdiocese as the accredited women's charitable society, Philoptochos works to aid the poor, the hungry, the aged, the sick, the orphaned, the widowed, the handicapped, and the victims of disasters, and to assist anyone who turns to the Church for help. Locally, the chapter partners with two food pantries, Well Springs in Hull and the Cohasset Food Pantry, and parishioners are asked to bring non-perishable goods for weekly donation. The Society also works to preserve Orthodox Christian family life and to support the wider mission of the Archdiocese through education and fundraising.
Sunday School and the Ministries of Daily Parish Life
Children's formation is carried forward through a Sunday School ministry, and the parish council supports Altar Servers, young people who assist at the Divine Liturgy by carrying the cross, candles, and fans in processions and entrances. Around the clergy and council, a set of working groups keeps the parish running day to day: Buildings and Grounds, Stewardship, Events and Fundraising, Fellowship, Communications, Outreach, Legacy Planning, and the Bible Study and Sunday School committees. Each of these teams is a place where newcomers can find a foothold, and a single email to the Parish Council President is enough to volunteer.
The New Community Center
A recent renovation has transformed the parish's Community Center, and the building was formally blessed by His Eminence Metropolitan Methodios of Boston at a Hierarchical Liturgy and Agiasmo in September 2025. The new space seats up to 125 guests and is available to parishioners and neighbors alike for weddings and wedding showers, baptisms, birthdays, bereavements and celebrations of life, business meetings, small leadership conferences, and fundraisers. It has already become the gathering place for community meals, the annual Mardi Gras celebration with its buffet, music, dancing, and kids' activities, and the free Share the Table luncheon that welcomes anyone who could use a little extra support. Avgolemeno soup, sandwiches, cookies, and coffee are served in the center while neighbors talk across the tables.
Two Feasts of the Animal Companions
Each year the parish opens its doors and grounds for the Blessing of the Animals, an outdoor service at which pets and their people are welcomed for prayers of thanksgiving and protection. Visitors bring leashes and carriers; the parish collects clean, used towels and facecloths for the Scituate Animal Shelter and Hull Seaside Animal Rescue at the same gathering.
The Greek Food Festival
The annual Greek Food Festival is the best-known event on Panagia's calendar and the largest fundraiser of the year. Held on the second weekend of September, the festival fills the church grounds with the smell of roasting lamb and lemon chicken soup, with music from a Greek-American DJ, and with parishioners ladling out plates for friends and strangers. The two-day event draws visitors from across the South Shore and is the parish's way of opening its doors to the wider community.
Faith and Tradition
Panagia sits within the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and, through the Archdiocese, under the spiritual care of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. The parish teaches the faith handed down from the Apostles through the seven Ecumenical Councils, looking to the Scriptures, the Nicene Creed, the sacraments, the writings of the Church Fathers, and the liturgical life of the Byzantine tradition. Worship follows the twelve great feasts of the ecclesiastical year, the cycle of fasting and Pascha, and the daily office. Orthodox Christianity is one of the four major faiths recognized in the United States, and the parish makes clear that, while it carries the Greek Orthodox designation, no ethnic background is required to worship or to become Orthodox there. The community includes converts and members of varied backgrounds who share in the Divine Liturgy and in the life of the parish.
Reaching the Parish
The church is open to all who wish to attend the Sunday Divine Liturgy at 9:30 a.m., and newcomers are encouraged to arrive a few minutes early. Major services and feasts throughout the year are also marked on the parish calendar and streamed online. The Community Center on the same grounds is available to rent for gatherings large and small, and donations to the parish can be made online, by mail, or in memory of a loved one. The parish is sustained by an annual stewardship pledge, and a downloadable commitment form is available for those who wish to formalize their support.