A Century on Sheridan Road in Edgewater
St. Andrew's Greek Orthodox Church stands at 5649 North Sheridan Road, at the southeast corner of Hollywood and Sheridan, in Chicago's Edgewater neighborhood. The parish traces its origins to 1926, and the year 2026 marks its centennial. Its mission statement sums up the spirit of the place: "Serving Chicago's faithful since 1926, St. Andrew's is a living body of Christ, offering God's grace to all, reflecting paradise in Edgewater and beyond." A century in, the church remains a working parish: Sunday worship, weekday services, religious education for every age, a busy women's philanthropic chapter, a large youth athletics program, and the annual Edgewater Greek Fest that draws thousands from across the North Side.
Sunday Worship and What to Expect
Sunday mornings begin with Orthros (Matins) at 8:00 a.m., followed by the Divine Liturgy at 9:30 a.m. The Sunday Divine Liturgy runs about an hour and fifteen minutes. During the week, Orthros begins at 9:00 a.m. and is followed by the Divine Liturgy, usually around 10:00 a.m. Services are held in the main church. First-time visitors are encouraged to attend the Sunday 9:30 a.m. Divine Liturgy.
Parking is ample, with the back door off the Chapel on the Lake (the parish offices) recommended for visitors. The building is wheelchair accessible, with ramps at every entrance and a Welcoming Committee ready to help. There is no formal dress code, but Orthodox worshipers typically dress from business casual to a suit and tie, with the rule of thumb being to dress so as not to draw attention to oneself.
All are welcome to attend services. Holy Communion, however, is reserved for baptized and chrismated Orthodox Christians who have prepared themselves to receive it; visitors are invited to come forward at the end of the service to receive a piece of the blessed bread called the antidoron.
Children worship with their families; the church does not offer a separate childcare service. After Holy Communion on Sunday, school-age children leave for Sunday School (kindergarten through twelfth grade), which runs from September through May.
Services are livestreamed on YouTube for those who cannot attend in person.
The Orthodox Faith at St. Andrew's
The parish belongs to the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, served by the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago, which includes fifty-eight parishes and two monastic communities across Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, central Missouri, and northern Indiana. His Eminence Metropolitan Nathanael of Chicago is the second metropolitan to preside over the Metropolis.
St. Andrew's frames its beliefs with a saying attributed to St. Athanasius the Great: "Orthodoxy is what Christ taught, the Apostles preached, and the Fathers kept." The full Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, formulated at the First and Second Ecumenical Councils in 325 and 381 A.D., is printed in the parish's statement of faith. The Creed confesses one God the Father Almighty, one Lord Jesus Christ the only-begotten Son, the Holy Spirit the Lord and Creator of life who proceeds from the Father, one holy catholic and apostolic Church, one baptism for the remission of sins, the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the age to come.
The church welcomes anyone curious about Orthodoxy to coffee in the fellowship hall after Sunday Liturgy and offers adult religious education throughout the year.
The Clergy
Rev. Fr. Kosmas Kallis is the Pastor (Proistamenos) of St. Andrew's. Raised in Livadia, Michigan, he was shaped by his home parish as an altar boy and through GOYA, Summer Camp, and the CrossRoad Institute. He earned a BA in Religious Studies from Hellenic College in 2012 and an MDiv with High Distinction from Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in 2014. He served as a full-time youth director at Saints Peter and Paul from 2014 until 2018, was ordained to the Holy Diaconate in October 2015 and to the Holy Priesthood in March 2016, and served as Director of Youth and Young Adult Ministries for the Metropolis of Chicago from January 2019 until he was assigned to St. Andrew's on November 1, 2023. He and his wife Anna have a son, Jonah, and a daughter, Mara.
V. Rev. Fr. Simeon Johnson has served at St. Andrew's since November 2019. Raised in a Lutheran family in Milwaukee, he came to Orthodoxy after encountering the word "homoousion" (of one essence) in the Nicene Creed during confirmation class. After studying history and political science at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, he attended St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, graduating in 1976 and studying under Fathers Alexander Schmemann and John Meyendorff. Ordained to the diaconate in February 1980 and to the priesthood in August 1981, he has served parishes in Milwaukee, Minneapolis, and throughout the Chicago area, including St. George, Annunciation Cathedral, and St. Nectarios. He specializes in Adult Religious Education. In November 2018, Metropolitan Nathanael elevated him to the rank of Archimandrite. He holds an MA and a PhD in Russian and Modern European History and teaches at a local university.
Music and Worship Leadership
Byzantine chant and choral music are central to worship at St. Andrew's. Constantine Theodoropoulos has served as Protopsaltis (head chanter) since November 2021. He first studied Byzantine music in college under Niko Christacos and Fr. John Kalomas and is an active member of the St. John of Damascus Sylogo of chanters in the Chicago area.
Choir Director Peter Jermihov holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in conducting from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is a Grammy-nominated conductor, and is a student of the famed Ilya Musin of the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Known as "Dr. J," he began serving Orthodox parishes at fourteen and has directed the St. Andrew choir for eighteen years; he is also founder and artistic director of the Society of Saint Romanos the Melodist in Chicago. He and his wife, Dr. Irina Riazanova, the parish's organist, have been married for thirty-seven years.
Children, Youth, and College
St. Andrew's has built a wide range of programs for ages eighteen and under.
- Hope and Joy gathers preschoolers through fifth graders on the fourth Thursday of each month for an evening of fellowship, activities, and dinner.
- Junior and Senior GOYA (Greek Orthodox Youth Association) serves sixth through twelfth graders with worship, volunteerism, fellowship, and learning opportunities.
- Athletics include the Greek Orthodox Athletic League (GOAL) basketball program, October through February, and the Chicago Metropolis Junior Olympics. The St. Andrew program is combined with St. George Chicago and known as STAG.
- Parish Family Nights bring together adults, teens, and children monthly for dinner, crafts, activities, and small group discussions broken out by age.
- Sunday School covers kindergarten through twelfth grade and culminates in events such as the Christmas Pageant and the St. John Chrysostom Oratorical and Fine Arts Festival.
- Altar Servers include the Altar Boys and the Myrrh-Bearing Women, the latter assisting with Great and Holy Week services beginning on Palm Sunday.
For college students and young adults, St. Andrew's hosts Orthodox Christian Fellowship (OCF) at Loyola University and maintains a GOYAlumni ministry for college-age parishioners during summers and breaks. The Young Adult Leaders (YAL) program brings together worship, fellowship, outreach, and education for emerging adults.
Adult Formation: Religious Education Series
Adult Religious Education at St. Andrew's is led by Archimandrite Fr. Simeon Johnson and is often synced with the liturgical year. The parish runs a recurring seven-week Wednesday-evening series in the fall and spring, both in person and on Zoom, drawing on Orthodox scripture, councils, and the Church Fathers. Topics have included Salvation and Theosis, the Nicene Creed and Ecumenical Councils, and the Orthodox understanding of the sacraments and liturgical year.
Orthodoxy 101 runs alongside the lecture series and is designed both as a catechism course for those preparing to join the Orthodox Church and as a survey of Orthodox Christianity for the faithful and inquirers, covering Holy Tradition and its parts (Bible, Councils, Fathers, Worship, Saints, Canon Law) and Orthodox Christian life.
A separate annual Anne and Theodore Phillips Lenten Lecture Series fills the Wednesdays of Great and Holy Lent with Presanctified Liturgy in Holy Cross Chapel by the Lake, a free Lenten dinner, and a lecture. Recent subjects have included Modern Orthodox Saints and The Holy Cross.
Parish Family Life for Adults
Three ministries serve adults across stages of life. The Young at Heart Ministry provides social and spiritual enrichment for the parish's seniors, with monthly lunches and outings to local places of interest. The Fisherman's Club is the men's ministry, meeting monthly for dinner discussions, outings, and works of philanthropy in the Edgewater neighborhood. Parish Family Nights bring together all ages for dinner, crafts, and small group time on a monthly basis.
St. Andrew's Women's Philoptochos Society (SAWPS)
The Greek Orthodox Ladies Philoptochos Society is the duly accredited women's philanthropic society of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and is the second largest women's charitable organization in the United States, with 26,000 members nationwide. St. Andrew's chapter was founded in 1928, just two years after the parish itself, and has been supporting philanthropic outreach programs for over ninety years.
The society's stated mission includes aiding the poor, the hungry, the aged, the sick, the unemployed, the orphaned, the imprisoned, the widowed, the handicapped, and the victims of disasters; promoting the charitable and benevolent purposes of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America; preserving Orthodox Christian concepts and the Greek Orthodox Family; and cooperating with the Parish Priest and Parish Council.
Funds raised each year are donated to organizations chosen by National Philoptochos, Metropolis Philoptochos, and St. Andrew's Philoptochos. The chapter holds signature events including the annual Secret Garden Glendi dinner and dance and the Making Spirits Bright Christmas Cocktail Party, which serves as its principal fundraiser.
The Edgewater Greek Fest and Hospitality
Each summer the parish hosts the Edgewater Greek Fest on its Sheridan Road campus. The festival is St. Andrew's yearly expression of "filoxenia," the Greek concept of hospitality, to the surrounding neighborhood. The grounds include food and pastry booths, a Parish Boutique, and vendor displays inside the auditorium, with live Greek dance performances by Orpheus and the Cretan Youth and music from DJ Yianni throughout the weekend. Paid valet parking is offered in the parish's south lot, with free street parking along Sheridan Road between Hollywood and Berwyn and additional free parking across the street at Emanuel Congregation.
The year also brings a host of other events: the annual Edgewater Pet Blessing with Vespers, the Blessing of Lake Michigan and Dive for the Holy Cross hosted by the Metropolis of Chicago, the parish Feastday of St. Andrew the First-Called on the last weekend of November, the Vasilopita cutting after Sunday Liturgy in January, and the Annual St. Andrew's Parish Family Ski Trip to Grand Geneva Resort in Wisconsin.
A Working Building and the Centennial Year
The parish offices are open Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The complex includes the main church, the Chapel on the Lake (Holy Cross Chapel by the Lake), the President's Room for adult education lectures and small gatherings, a gym used for children's athletics and Family Nights, and additional spaces for Sunday School and the festival.
The centennial is a defining theme of the year. Centennial events include a Vision Brunch at Evanston Golf Club, the Centennial Homecoming Panigiri with Greek food, music, and dancing, a Byzantine Iconography Seminar led by iconographer, artist, and author Rip Kastaris, and the Centennial Gala at the Westin O'Hare in Rosemont. The parish has also launched a year-long strategic planning process led by Strategic Planning Committee Chair Stephanie Poulakides to chart the next chapter of St. Andrew's life beyond its first hundred years.
Getting Involved
Visitors who want to attend a service can simply show up on Sunday morning, with the recommended arrival being the 9:30 a.m. Divine Liturgy. Those wanting to learn more about Orthodoxy can register for the next Orthodoxy 101 class. Families with children can register for Sunday School, Hope and Joy, GOYA, or athletics through the parish's online forms. The Women's Philoptochos Society welcomes new stewards and volunteers. Stewardship, donations, and online giving are available. The parish's Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), and YouTube channels keep the wider community connected to daily life at St. Andrew's.