Saint George Greek Orthodox Cathedral stands on Hanover Street in Manchester, New Hampshire, in the neighborhood that first welcomed Greek immigrants to the city's mills in the 1890s. The cathedral is the spiritual home of the oldest organized Greek Orthodox community in New Hampshire, the host of Glendi, the largest Greek festival in New England, and the only Orthodox parish in the state that carries the title of Cathedral. Worship is celebrated in English and Greek in the Byzantine liturgical tradition, sacraments and pastoral care are offered to anyone who walks through the door, and the building itself is a gathering place for more than four hundred children and adults each week in Sunday School, Greek School, youth groups, athletic leagues, choir rehearsals, and Ladies Society meetings.
From City Hall to Cathedral Status
The story of Saint George begins before the parish had a building. The first Orthodox priest to celebrate the Divine Liturgy in Manchester was the Reverend Father Kaparellis, who traveled to the city at different times between 1896 and 1899 to serve the spiritual needs of the small Greek community that had gathered around the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company's mills. Services were first held in private homes and later in a room at City Hall.
On June 5, 1905, the Ecclesiastical Brotherhood of Saint George was organized at the City Hall auditorium. Soterios Nicholaou served as the first president, and the community filed its petition of incorporation with the State of New Hampshire on October 4, 1905. Approval came ten days later, and the seal of state was affixed to the charter of Saint George Church at the coffeehouse at 24 Spruce Street.
In 1907, the first Greek church in Manchester was built and named Saint George, constructed for fifteen thousand dollars on property donated by the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company. A second Greek Orthodox church, the Evangelismos, was built on Pine Street in 1912, and in 1917 the first Ladies Society was formed, a group that would eventually be reorganized as the Anagennesis Ladies Society. In 1932, the Evangelismos congregation merged back into Saint George, and the Pine Street building became the Greek school and community center.
After the Second World War, the second generation of Greek Americans began enrolling in large numbers in the Sunday School program. By 1950, four hundred pupils were being taught at the Hellenic Community Center on Pine Street and then bused to the church for the Divine Liturgy. The arrangement strained both buildings, and in 1958 the parish purchased the McShane Gardens on Hanover Street with twenty-five thousand dollars from the church treasury. A fund drive led by Arthur Kehas, with Peter Agrafiotis, Dr. George Colitas, Dr. Michael Michaels, Socrates Skalkeas, Harry Theodosopoulos, Elektra Voulgaris, and a dedicated team of canvassers, raised the rest of the money needed to build. On September 13, 1964, His Grace Bishop Gerasimos of Boston presided over the groundbreaking. The last service in the old Saint George Church was held on Tuesday, March 22, 1966.
On October 4, 1970, the Church of Saint George was formally consecrated and elevated to the rank of Greek Orthodox Cathedral of New Hampshire by Archbishop Iakovos of the Greek Orthodox Diocese of North and South America. The community marked 120 years of Orthodox life in Manchester with an Anniversary Gala on October 4, 2025, and the parish now looks back on more than a century of continuous worship on Hanover Street.
The Sunday Cycle of Worship
Sunday at Saint George follows the rhythm that Orthodox Christians have kept for centuries. The day begins with Orthros at 8:30 in the morning, the service of morning prayer that prepares the congregation for the principal act of Christian worship. At 9:30 the Divine Liturgy begins, the Eucharistic celebration in which the faithful gather around the altar to give thanks to God, to hear the Gospel, to recite the Nicene Creed together, and to receive Holy Communion from a common spoon at the chalice.
Worship at the cathedral is centered on the iconostasion, the panel of icons that separates the sanctuary from the nave. On the right of the screen stand the icons of Christ and Saint John the Baptist; on the left, the icon of the Theotokos and the icon of the patron saint, Saint George. The faithful light candles before the icons upon entering and venerate them during the service. The choir, directed by Senior Choir Director Cathy Moufarge and accompanied by organist Joyce Trapotsis, leads the congregation in the chanting that fills every service. Standing is the preferred posture of prayer, and the sign of the Cross is made frequently throughout the Liturgy.
The cathedral livestreams its services on YouTube for those who cannot attend in person. Weekly bulletins, going back more than a decade and published every Sunday, are available in PDF form, and a monthly bulletin carries the church calendar, parish news, and announcements.
The Sacraments in the Life of the Parish
The Orthodox Christian life at Saint George is shaped by the seven sacraments, called Mysteries in the Orthodox tradition: Holy Communion, Baptism, Chrismation, Confession, Marriage, Ordination, and Holy Unction. Baptisms are scheduled with the parish priest at least one month in advance, and infants who are at least three months old are received into the Church through three-fold immersion in the Name of the Holy Trinity. Immediately after Baptism, the priest anoints the newly-baptized with Holy Oil that has been blessed by the bishop in the Sacrament of Chrismation, the personal Pentecost of every Orthodox Christian. Sponsors must be devout and practicing Orthodox Christians in good canonical standing, and at least one name of Orthodox Christian origin must be given to the child. Adults who wish to become Orthodox receive catechism from Father and are received into the Church by Baptism, by Chrismation, or by a Profession of Faith depending on their previous baptismal status.
Confession may be scheduled at any time the faithful feel the need for spiritual cleansing, with at least one confession a year the recommended practice. Weddings must be arranged with the priest at least six months in advance, and all couples are required to attend one of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Boston's Marriage Preparation Seminars. A wedding is performed in the Orthodox Church only between two Orthodox Christians or between an Orthodox Christian and a non-Orthodox Christian baptized in the Name of the Holy Trinity, and the cathedral follows the Orthodox calendar that prohibits weddings during Great Lent and Holy Week, on the feasts of Christmas, Theophany, the Dormition, and the Exaltation of the Cross, and on several other holy days.
Holy Unction is offered to anyone who is sick in body, mind, or spirit, and the cathedral celebrates the sacrament for all its members during Holy Week on Holy Wednesday. The Great Blessing of Water at Theophany and the Lesser Blessing of Water for homes and businesses are scheduled through the church office, and families provide a small bowl of water, a fresh twig of basil, an icon, and a hand censer for the service. Funeral and Memorial Services follow the centuries-old Orthodox practice: the Trisagion is prayed at the wake, the Divine Liturgy is ideally celebrated on the day of burial, and a Memorial Service with kollyva, a dish of boiled wheat that symbolizes the Resurrection, is offered on the third, ninth, and fortieth day after a death, on the yearly anniversary, and on the Saturdays of the Souls leading into Great Lent.
Pastoral Outreach Across Greater Manchester
Fr. Demetrios Costarakis, the Dean of the Cathedral, is the parish's pastor and the contact for every sacramental and pastoral need. A native of New York raised in San Bernardino, California, Father Demetrios is the sixth generation of priests in his family. He attended Hellenic College and Holy Cross School of Theology in Brookline, Massachusetts, graduated from Hellenic College in 2000 and from Holy Cross Seminary in the fall of 2003, served as pastoral assistant and youth advisor at Saint Demetrios in Weston, Massachusetts, was ordained a Deacon on January 23, 2005 and a Presbyter on February 20, 2005, and was assigned as Presiding Priest to the Transfiguration Church in Lowell in January 2006 and to Saint Nicholas in Lexington in November 2008. On September 15, 2022, His Eminence Metropolitan Methodios assigned him as the Presiding Priest and Dean of Saint George in Manchester. He and his wife Gloria have two sons.
The pastoral ministry of the cathedral extends well beyond Sunday morning. Hospital and nursing home visits, house blessings in the weeks after Theophany, Forty-Day Churchings for newborns, First Day and Eighth Day blessings for mothers and infants, preparation classes for adults entering the Orthodox Church, pre-marriage counseling, and bereavement support are all part of the everyday work of the parish. Because of privacy rules, the church office does not always know when a parishioner has been hospitalized, and families are encouraged to call the priest directly at any time of the day or night.
Sunday School from Nursery Through High School
Christian education at Saint George is the oldest continuous program in the parish, and its mission is to help educate, develop, and support the youth in a loving, caring, and creative environment where Christian learning is a way of life. Children gather each Sunday during the academic year. The Nursery and Pre-K class meets in the classroom under the church at 10:00 in the morning and joins the congregation at 11:00; children in kindergarten through second grade follow the same schedule; and students in third grade and above meet at the church at 10:00. At the end of the Liturgy, parents pick up their children from the classrooms. The Sunday School staff is led by Athena Beven.
Greek School, Altar Boys, and GOYA
The Greek Afternoon School, free for all members of the parish from kindergarten through sixth grade, meets Monday through Friday from 4:00 to 6:30 in the afternoon, depending on the level. Classes use the I Learn Greek book series and the Greek Now! software, and the program aims to develop oral and written communication, reading, and listening comprehension while initiating students in the Hellenic-Christian ideals, customs, practices, and traditions of their heritage. Special activities throughout the year include the OXI Day Celebration, the Greek Independence Celebration, the Christmas Program, an Ice-Cream Social, a Barbeque, and a Greek Play. The school is coordinated by Veneta Tatakis.
Boys from the age of eight through their senior year in high school are invited to serve as altar boys, the attendants and assistants of the priest at the altar. Training meetings are held four times a year, and new members are welcome to sign up each August.
For teenagers in grades seven through twelve, the cathedral supports a chapter of GOYA, the Greek Orthodox Youth of America. The mission of GOYA is to lead young people into experiencing the Orthodox Faith by putting what they learn in Sunday School into practice. The chapter visits orphanages and nursing homes, takes trips to Boston and New York, holds monthly meetings with lunch, and elects its own President, Vice President, Treasurer, and Secretary.
Basketball Leagues and the CYO Tradition
Athletics have been a part of the parish almost as long as the church has stood on Hanover Street. The Saint George basketball program serves boys and girls of Greek Orthodox descent with an instructional clinic for ages four through seven and organized teams that play in Catholic Youth Organization leagues. Teams are fielded for co-ed third and fourth graders, boys in the fifth and sixth grades, girls in the fifth and sixth grades, boys in the seventh and eighth grades, and high school boys. Registration is handled through the parish office.
The Anagennesis Ladies Society
The women of the parish have organized themselves for religious, cultural, and humanitarian work since 1917. The Anagennesis Ladies Society is open to all women who are members of the parish, and the society publishes a monthly newsletter under the leadership of its 2026 Board: Cathy Moufarge as President, Kathryn Dovas Jaskolka as Vice President, Nicoletta Moutsioulis as Treasurer, Marga Patterson as Secretary, Dorothy Chakas and Nicoletta Moutsioulis leading Membership, Diane Spiro LaRoche as Sunshine Chair, and members Helen Awad, Jenny Dakos, Angela Dion, Vaya Handras, Veneta Tatakis, Tracy Terrio, and Joyce Trapotsis.
The Choir and the Sound of the Liturgy
The cathedral's Senior Choir, under the direction of Cathy Moufarge with Joyce Trapotsis at the organ, leads the congregation in the chanting of every major service. Choir members are volunteers, and not all of them read music or have sung with a group before. New singers are warmly invited to join, and even one evening a month in rehearsal helps the worship go smoothly and beautifully. The choir meets once a month, and the parish choir loft on the side of the nave is always open to anyone who wishes to sit among the singers and join in.
The St. George Library and Memory Project
A library space on the ground level of the cathedral houses the historical materials of the Saint George community. The collection includes Greek Orthodox and cultural books, newspapers, periodicals, church bulletins, community photographs, journals, membership files from various parish organizations, historical icons and church artifacts, folk costumes, and memorabilia. The St. George Memory project, founded by Meleti Pouliopoulos of Greek Cultural Resources and Phil Liakos, Education Committee Chair, catalogs the holdings, organizes them for easy access, and interviews senior members of the parish aged seventy-five and above. When complete, the library will serve as a resource for all generations of the Saint George community. The online catalog and the parish newspaper archive are available for the community, and donations to the Library Fund can be made by check.
Glendi: The Premier Greek Festival in New England
In the 1970s, Saint George held an Annual Bazaar each fall. In 1980, several board members traveled to other Greek festivals in New England to see how the parish might enhance its own event. The board renamed the festival Glendi, a Greek word meaning good times, and those good times have expanded far beyond what anyone imagined. The three-day festival now draws close to forty thousand visitors from New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Vermont, and Maine, and is recognized as the premier Greek festival in New England. Television coverage on WMUR has brought governors, senators, congressmen, mayors, and, over the years, candidates for President to the cathedral grounds.
The festival is a family event. Visitors find authentic Greek dancers, live Greek bands, Greek food and pastries, tours of the cathedral, and a wide range of booths in the community center. The festival is held each September on the cathedral grounds at 650 Hanover Street.
The Orthodox Faith at the Cathedral
Saint George teaches the faith of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church as that faith has been preserved in the Orthodox tradition from the time of the Apostles. The parish is a member congregation of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, which ministers under the spiritual care of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, and it falls under the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Boston. The cathedral holds the seven Ecumenical Councils in high regard, proclaims the Nicene Creed at every Divine Liturgy, and venerates the holy icons as windows that link heaven and earth.
The cathedral's worship is shaped by the liturgical year and by the fasting calendar. Great Lent begins on Clean Monday and continues through Holy Week, the Nativity Fast runs from November 15 through December 24, the Apostles' Fast begins the Monday after All Saints' Day and continues through June 28, the Dormition Fast is observed from August 1 through August 14, and Wednesdays and Fridays are kept as fasting days throughout the year in addition to the eves of the great feasts. During these seasons, meat, poultry, dairy products, fish, olive oil, and wine are set aside, while fruits, vegetables, grains, and shellfish remain part of the table. The Church never reduces fasting to a legalistic observance of dietary rules and recognizes that the degree of fasting is a matter between the individual and his or her spiritual father.
The cathedral teaches the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, the Incarnation of the Son of God, the saving work of Jesus Christ, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and theosis, the spiritual pilgrimage in which each person becomes ever more perfect, ever more holy, and ever more united with God. The icon of Christ the Almighty, the Pantocrator, looks down from the dome of the cathedral, reminding the worshippers of the truth that, as Saint Paul writes, all things are theirs, and they are Christ's, and Christ is God's.
Life Together at the Cathedral
The parish is governed by a Board of Directors elected from among the stewards. The 2026 Board is led by George Skaperdas as President, Maria Dongas as First Vice President, Nicholas Stavropoulos as Second Vice President, Timothy Giotas as Secretary, and Andrew Papanicolau as Treasurer, together with members Steve Chakas, Christos Chrisafides, Frank C. Comerford, George N. Copadis, William Hughen, Cathy Moufarge, John Nacos, George Sioras, Theodore Tzimopoulos, and Theofilos Vougias. The office is managed by Beth McFarlane, and the cathedral building is cared for by custodian Dan Robitaille.
Virtual candles may be lit by anyone who wishes to remember a loved one or offer a prayer. Stewardship pledges are made by submitting a pledge form to the parish office at stewardship@stgeorgenh.org, and general donations are accepted online. The monthly bulletin, the weekly bulletins, the parish calendar, and the icon studies of the cathedral are all available online, and the community stays connected through its Facebook page, its YouTube channel, and the Saint George Observer archive.
Saint George Greek Orthodox Cathedral is the spiritual home of New Hampshire's Greek Orthodox Christians, the host of New England's largest Greek festival, a school of faith for hundreds of children and adults, and a parish where the ancient liturgies of the Orthodox Church are celebrated week by week in the language and rhythm of the present day. Visitors are warmly welcomed at 650 Hanover Street.