A Greek Orthodox Parish at the Edge of Forest Park
St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church stands at 4967 Forest Park Avenue, on the eastern edge of St. Louis's Central West End neighborhood near the corner of Kingshighway and Forest Park Avenue. The parish is part of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and belongs to the Metropolis of Chicago. Its mission is "to live and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ and spread the Orthodox Christian Faith witnessed through us as a Christ-centered Community that loves, guides, engages and serves all people." Visitors and guests are warmly welcomed at every service.
The current Byzantine-style church was completed in 1931, but the community that worships inside it has been gathering in St. Louis for more than a hundred years. Free parking is available in the BJC Laclede garage east of the church. A second facility, the St. Nicholas Family Life Center at 12550 South 40 Drive in west St. Louis County, hosts many of the parish's fellowship, education and outreach activities.
Sunday Worship and the Divine Liturgy
The central act of parish life at St. Nicholas is the Sunday celebration of the Divine Liturgy. Orthros, the morning service of prayer and psalmody, begins at 8:15 a.m., followed by the Divine Liturgy at 9:30 a.m. The cycle of services follows the Orthodox liturgical calendar, and the full weekly schedule can be found on the parish calendar.
Worship at St. Nicholas is rooted in the ancient liturgical tradition of the Orthodox Church. Services combine prayers, hymns, scripture lessons, gestures and processions, many of which trace back to the time of the Apostles. The congregation stands, kneels, bows, makes the sign of the cross, and receives Holy Communion and antidoron (the blessed bread). The setting is traditional and liturgical: incense, iconography, chant and the rhythms of the Byzantine rite fill the sanctuary.
A virtual walk-through tour of the sanctuary and Family Life Center is available for those who would like to see the spaces before attending in person.
The Seven Mysteries of the Orthodox Church
St. Nicholas describes the sacraments as "Holy Mysteries," moments when "the perception of God's presence and actions are heightened and celebrated." The Orthodox Church has never formally fixed the number of sacraments, but the parish teaches seven major ones: the Eucharist, Baptism, Chrismation (often called Confirmation in the West), Confession, Marriage, Holy Orders (Ordination), and the Anointing of the Sick (Holy Unction). Funeral services, memorial services and the Great Blessing of the Water are counted among the many other blessings and special services that mark the life of an Orthodox Christian.
In the Orthodox tradition, Baptism and Chrismation are two distinct yet intimately related sacraments celebrated together since the early centuries of Christianity. The candidate is immersed in water three times in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and is anointed with Chrism, the sanctified oil that conveys the seal of the Holy Spirit. Marriage at St. Nicholas follows the ancient Orthodox rite, composed of the Service of Betrothal and the Service of the Crowning, with its five sections of prayers, the Crowning itself, scripture readings, the Common Cup, and the Dance of Isaiah. Couples interested in being married at St. Nicholas and families wishing to schedule a baptism are invited to contact the church office to begin the process.
From Greek Immigrants to a Century on Forest Park Avenue
The history of St. Nicholas is the history of Greek immigration to St. Louis. In 1904 a group of prominent local Greeks organized Hagia Trias (Holy Trinity) as a Greek church-community. A Protestant church at 19th and Morgan Streets was rented for worship, and in 1906 the Rev. Panageotis Phiambolis, the first permanent Greek Orthodox priest in St. Louis, was assigned to serve the small congregation.
Disagreements among parishioners led to a split in 1910 and the founding of the Church of Evangelismos (Annunciation) at 17th and Olive Streets. By 1917 the factions had come back together. On Palm Sunday of that year a general meeting voted to organize a new community named St. Nicholas; on September 29, 1917, the Rev. Constantine Liakopoulos arrived in St. Louis as the new pastor; on October 21 the parish celebrated its first Divine Liturgy at Henneman Hall; and on December 22, 1917, the first Hierarchical Liturgy was celebrated by His Eminence Germanos, Archbishop of Antioch, assisted by Father Liakopoulos, in Greek and Arabic.
The early years were marked by the customs of the Old Country. Women sat in the balcony until it filled, then on the main floor; later they were assigned the left side of the aisle while men sat on the right. By the 1950s, families began sitting together. The Greek Ladies Benevolent Society "Elpis" organized the first parish social programs, and in 1924 the men of St. Nicholas chartered AHEPA Chapter 53.
On September 29, 1927, a tornado reduced the church on Garrison and St. Louis Avenues to rubble. Parishioners responded with renewed determination. After renting a former synagogue at Kingshighway and Enright, the community chose a new site on Forest Park Boulevard. Chicago architect Ernest K. Eugene drew the plans, the Welch Construction Company won the contract, and the cornerstone of the present church was laid on January 11, 1931. The parish officially opened the new St. Nicholas Church on Sunday, September 20, 1931.
Over the decades that followed, the parish expanded to meet a growing congregation. In 1952 the Ladies Philoptochos Society was chartered. In 1960 a community center was added and the church was enlarged under plans by Raymond E. Maritz and Sons. In 1973 the Fr. George Mastrantonis Library and the Stewardship Program were inaugurated and a new church organ was installed. In 1978 Sunday Chapel Liturgies for children were introduced. After decades of planning and a parish vote in 2007, the parish celebrated the ribbon cutting of the St. Nicholas Family Life Center, a community center with an attached chapel built on land purchased on South Outer 40 Drive in 1998.
Men's Fellowship, Women's Faith Group, and the Young Adults
Parish life at St. Nicholas is shaped by a network of small faith communities that meet throughout the week. The St. Nicholas Men's Fellowship gathers every Wednesday from 7:00 to 8:00 a.m. at the Family Life Center, with the exception of the day before Thanksgiving, the Wednesday after Christmas, and Holy Week. Bagels and coffee are served, there is no attendance commitment, and meetings are also live-streamed on Zoom. Twice a year the Fellowship hosts a larger social evening: Steak and Stogie Night in the spring and Barbecue and Beer in the fall, to raise funds for the parish and for FOCUS Gateway City. A recent Lamb Shank Dinner raised $8,500 to support FOCUS in its service to people in need.
The Women's Faith Group meets twice a month, excluding July and August, to study scripture and books written by Orthodox Christians. The group reads and discusses the Orthodox Christian faith and how to live it throughout one's life, with a focus on enrichment, enlightenment and encouragement to live a Christ-like life.
St. Nicholas also ministers to college students and post-college young adults. Because it is the closest Orthodox parish to Washington University in St. Louis, St. Nicholas hosts the WashU chapter of Orthodox Christian Fellowship (OCF), the official collegiate ministry of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America. OCF students also connect with peers at Saint Louis University and the University of Missouri - St. Louis and participate in national OCF events such as the annual College Conference during winter break and the Real Break service projects. The post-college Young Adults ministry hosts monthly Zoom discussions on the second Tuesday of each month, along with in-person gatherings and opportunities to worship together.
The St. Nicholas Dance Troupe
The St. Nicholas Dance Troupe has been teaching traditional and modern Greek folk dancing to generations of parishioners since it was founded by Georgia Johnson in 1983. After forty years of service, Georgia Johnson retired in 2023. The Troupe is now directed by Demi Holt and includes four groups organized by age: the Adriadne Dancers (ages 6 to 8), the Garagouna Dancers (ages 9 to 12), the Caryatides Dancers (ages 13 to 18), and the Souli Adult Dancers (ages 18 and up). Practices are held at the Family Life Center or at St. Nicholas Church on Sunday afternoons for adults and Tuesday evenings for teens and younger children.
The Troupe performs regularly at the annual Labor Day Greek Festival and the Taste of St. Nicholas, and has appeared for more than twenty-six years at the Festival of the Nations, as well as at the Ameren Festival, Holiday at the Plaza, the St. Louis Zoo, the St. Louis Art Museum, The Muny, Scott Air Force Base and various Forest Park events.
Church School, Youth Groups, Altar Boys, and the Youth Choir
The St. Nicholas Youth Ministries strive to lead young parishioners closer to Christ and to each other. Children, youth and their families are formed by Church School, by a tiered set of youth groups, and by hands-on ministries that put young people at the heart of the parish's worship.
Church School meets on Sunday mornings from mid-September through May, beginning immediately after Holy Communion and ending at 11:30 a.m. Classes serve preschoolers as young as three and bathroom trained through high school seniors. Registration is free of charge.
St. Nicholas offers age-specific groups for every stage: Cherubs (tots and parents, birth through kindergarten), HOPE (kindergarten through second grade), JOY (third through fifth grade), Junior GOYA (middle school), and GOYA (high school). Activities are tailored to each age, ranging from a walk in the park for the youngest to a ski trip to Wisconsin that integrates stillness, prayer and service to those in need for the oldest.
Young people can also serve at the altar. The St. Nicholas Altar Boys assist the clergy during the Divine Liturgy and other services, carrying out processions, incense, and the cutting of the altar bread. Boys in fourth grade and above are welcome under the supervision of the clergy and parent volunteers. The Myrrh Bearers, young ladies in grades four through twelve, care for the candles and icons in the narthex and assist on special occasions, and occasionally help with broader projects such as preserving Liturgy booklets, reorganizing the library or making sandwiches for those in need.
The St. Nicholas Youth Choir welcomes any young person who can read and stay engaged during rehearsal. The Choir leads the congregation in the responses and hymns of the Divine Liturgy.
IOCC, OCMC, and the St. Nicholas Prison Ministry
St. Nicholas takes seriously the call to Orthodox Christians to serve those beyond the parish. Three formal ministries put that calling into practice.
International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC) is the international humanitarian aid and development agency of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America. The IOCC Committee of Metro St. Louis is a pan-Orthodox group that promotes IOCC's work and raises matching funds, typically seven dollars in matching grants for every dollar raised locally.
The Orthodox Christian Mission Center (OCMC) is the official missions agency of the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops. The Orthodox Mission Team of St. Louis nurtures awareness within local Orthodox churches of the call to evangelize, catechize and support missionaries around the world. The team meets monthly online to discuss a missions-related book and review missionary news, needs, projects and ways to promote OCMC, and hosts an annual benefit event showcasing a missionary or missions field.
The St. Nicholas Prison Ministry focuses on the redemptive value of those caught up in the justice system. The ministry has chartered eight all-expenses-paid trips to federal prisons for families to visit incarcerated loved ones, hosted a Mother-Daughter overnight visit at the women's prison in Greenville, collected an average of four hundred toys annually for thirteen years for children of former offenders, provided turkeys and sides at Christmas, helped former offenders obtain birth certificates, state identifications, bus passes, shoes, clothing, furniture, televisions, appliances, diapers and infant items, supplied medical equipment to those unable to get Medicaid approval, donated winter coats, given new laptops and dorm supplies to college freshmen, donated two cars, and stocked the Federal Probation Office's food pantry. Long-term goals include expanding prison trips to other facilities (especially women's prisons), continuing annual support to college-bound children of former offenders, expanding relationships with other Orthodox parishes, providing prescription medications and tooth extractions, and serving children of the incarcerated.
Philoptochos, the Library, and the Bookstore
The St. Nicholas Ladies Philoptochos Society, Chapter 2055, has served those in need locally and nationally since 1952. The society's name comes from the Greek word meaning "Friend of the Poor," and its mission is to promote charitable, benevolent and philanthropic outreach; to preserve the sanctity of life and family; and to perpetuate and promote the Orthodox faith and traditions. Each year twenty-one dollars of every pledge supports national and Metropolis Philoptochos commitments; the balance supports the local chapter.
The Fr. George Mastrantonis Memorial Library, on the main level of the church, houses more than 1,600 titles in English and a large selection of books in Greek. The reference room is open for browsing; the collection room, organized by the Library of Congress system, is available for check-out. The library's online catalog can be browsed from any digital device, and books may be requested by emailing the library.
The parish Bookstore is open Sundays after Liturgy. Its inventory includes icons, censers, incense, charcoal, Bibles, prayer books, lives of the saints, patristics, and Orthodox spirituality and prayer life resources.
The Family Life Center and Parish Stewardship
The St. Nicholas Family Life Center at 12550 South 40 Drive was opened in 2010 to provide a place for fellowship, education and outreach alongside the historic Forest Park Avenue church. The FLC hosts the Wednesday Men's Fellowship, Greek festival events, dance troupe practices, parish dinners and many other gatherings.
Each year the parish commits to a Stewardship campaign that funds the ministries described above. The 2026 theme is "Rise Up and Build: Building Up the Body of Christ," inspired by the Book of Nehemiah. Three stewardship levels are recognized: Steward (a financial pledge made according to means and ability, together with a commitment of time and talent); Super Steward (an annual minimum contribution of five percent of household income or five thousand dollars); and Leadership St. Nicholas (an annual commitment of ten thousand dollars for ten consecutive years). Stewardship contributions may be made by check, online, by recurring bank or credit card payment, by stock transfer, or through other giving options including appreciated securities, donor-advised funds, qualified charitable distributions from IRAs, and charitable bequests through wills and living trusts.
The parish also awards up to five academic scholarships a year to Orthodox students in the parish who are graduating from high school or enrolled in college, university, community college or vocational school, with a maximum of four thousand five hundred dollars in a given year and no more than one thousand five hundred dollars to a single recipient. The Family Life Center is also available for rental.
St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church is pastored by the Rev. Fr. Doug Papulis, Proistamenos, and the Rev. Fr. Michael Arbanas, Parish Priest. Together with the parish council, the Philoptochos chapter, the many ministries and the wider congregation, they carry forward a community that has been rooted in the same neighborhood for more than a century.