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On Sunday mornings in the Central West End of St. Louis, Missouri, angelic voices chanting the Kyrie Eleison echo throughout Forest Park Avenue. The Avenue is lined with the various buildings of Barnes-Jewish Hospital, one of the preeminent hospitals in the nation, and nestled in a corner sits the beautiful church and community center of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church.
The St. Nicholas parish was established in 1917, and in the early 1960s underwent a major expansion during which the parish built the current community center you see today on Forest Park Avenue.
The parish has seen several remarkable priests; for example, former Proistamenos Fr. George Mastrantonis was a visionary priest who recognized the need to present Orthodox Christianity in English at a time when such resources were rare. While serving as Proistamenos, he established the O Logos Mission in St. Louis, producing pamphlets, catechisms, and explanatory tracts that introduced the faith to English-speaking audiences. Through O Logos, Fr. Mastrantonis pioneered an innovative ministry of outreach and education that left a lasting impact. Fr. George Nicozisin, who served as the Archdiocese’s Director of Religious Education, also held the role of St. Nicholas’s parish priest. Even Archbishop Iakovos of blessed memory served briefly, spending six months with the community.
The church is currently served by Proistamenos Fr. Doug Papulis and Fr. Michael Arbanas. Fr. Papulis notes that the community is successful today because each parish priest built upon the foundation of his predecessor’s hard work, allowing the community to not only survive but thrive. For decades, each priest prioritized education so that the parish’s faithful can be actively involved in the life and mission of the Church.
In the latter half of the twentieth century, St. Louis experienced what many American cities did–migration into the suburbs. At this time, there was a movement to relocate the church out of the city and into the suburbs. However, the community never reached the necessary ⅔ vote to make this happen.
Fr. Papulis explains that although many individuals and families voiced a strong desire to move the parish out of the city, others retained a strong attachment to the location on Forest Park Avenue. “They were baptized there or their parents or grandparents were instrumental in the founding or building of the parish. They were also part of the group who oversaw the expansion in the early 1960s,” Fr. Papulis said, “People born and raised there didn’t want to see the Greek Orthodox community abandon the location, but [wanted to] stay there and remain a presence in the city.”
However, this desire to move to the suburbs persisted among parishioners throughout the decades. Fr. Papulis proposed a satellite location in the St. Louis suburbs to serve parishioners who no longer lived downtown but still promoted the preservation of the historic parish. This came to fruition in the late 1990s, when St. Nicholas became one parish with two campuses. The construction of the second location was completed in 2010. Sunday liturgies still occur at the location in the city, but weekday services are provided at the West County location. The parish’s motto is now “A light in the city, a beacon on the hill.”
Fr. Papulis notes the significance of remaining at the Forest Park Avenue location, where the parish is surrounded by a preeminent hospital, in a healing environment. “The hospital ministers to bodies, and the church ministers to minds and souls,” Fr. states. He also shares that the hospital did not want St. Nicholas to leave, as it felt the parish benefited the hospital and its Central West End location as a whole.
Patients at the hospital often report how comforting the church is to them, as their rooms overlook the church or allow them to hear the parish choir. Many request prayers from St. Nicholas’s clergymen, and Fr. Papulis reports that even a Hindu patient once asked that he pray over him, as he desired an Orthodox prayer.
The echo of prayer off of the hospital buildings, ringing through the Central West End, is due to a new system with speakers on the outside of the church buildings. The sound is not only comforting to hospital patients, but to anyone passing through the street.
“The parish is strong. We’ve seen many people, especially young people, seeking to learn about the Orthodox Church, and some eventually becoming Orthodox Christians,” Fr. Papulis says, “What’s made us strong and what attracts people is our outreach and our strong Orthodox Christian presence…meeting people that way is how they are then drawn into the church.”
One way the church has brought in new parishioners is through its prison ministry efforts. Clark Porter came to St. Nicholas after serving time in federal prison for an armed robbery he committed as a 17-year old. Introduced to his facility by Fr. Stephen Powley, studying Orthodoxy was at first simply a prison pastime for Porter. But upon completing his sentence, Porter continued to find the faith’s teachings meaningful, and says he was most drawn to Orthodoxy because of the emphasis on growing through God’s love.
“It’s about the spiritual relationship, growth, and development with Christ,” Porter says. He now works with the probation office in St. Louis as a program support specialist, supporting recently-released individuals by providing basic services that lower rates of recidivism (re-offence).
St. Nicholas Church has many other active ministries including a women’s fellowship group, a men’s fellowship group, choir, chanters, Philoptochos, all kinds of youth groups, and most recently a healing ministry–this is the inaugural year, in which the church will hold a prayer service for anyone working in the healthcare industry. The church also has altar boys and handmaidens, the latter of whom welcome visitors, maintain the narthex, and lead the congregation in the recitation of the Creed, Lord’s Prayer, and pre-communion prayers. “There’s something for everyone, everyone’s called to serve,” Fr. Papulis shares.
Philoptochos is among the most active and long-running ministries of St. Nicholas. The St. Nicholas Philoptochos raises $8,000 each year and distributes the money to four different local charities; the donations are given to different charities each year. Philoptochos President, Carol Kamburis, emphasized the importance of serving local charities and supporting different sectors of the community. Among the charities, Philoptochos has donated to Gateway 180 (homeless services), Harris House (substance treatment center), Students-in-Transition (providing equal education to homeless children and youth), Colton’s Cause (provide financial support to families of special needs children and young adults), The Covering House (support sexually trafficked youth), and Cure SMA (support to patients and families affected by spinal muscular atrophy and funds and directs research leading the way to a cure for Spinal Muscular Atrophy).
Philoptochos also serve senior citizens providing books, Greek pastry packages, and more. Through the pandemic, the Philoptochos delivered groceries and provided “Gyros for Heroes” as well as almost 4,000 masks to healthcare professionals.
As the Philanthropic model of the Church, the women of Philoptochos not only participate in service themselves but lead the entire community in philanthropy. Philoptochos engages the entire St. Nicholas parish family in service, and each other ministry also actively participates in and leads volunteer efforts.
The church is also engaged with the Fellowship of Orthodox Christians United to Serve (FOCUS), a pan-Orthodox group serving local communities in need. FOCUS provides services for the working poor, such as the provision of food, clothing, and haircut services. St. Nicholas parishioners prepare and serve food and help organize clothing and food drives; one parishioner provided career mentoring and prepped individuals for job interviews. St. Nicholas is also a major contributor to International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC) and participates in missionary work with nearby parishes through Orthodox Christian Mission Center (OCMC).
St. Nicholas continues to grow as a parish, drawing strength from its history while embracing new opportunities to minister to those around it. With each generation, the community carries forward the legacy of Christ-like resilience, hospitality, and care for their neighbor that has defined it for more than a century.
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