The Second Church: 1942

The House Church on De Camp Street reached its limit in the late 1930s.

His Eminence Archbishop Athenagoras, the then Archbishop of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America, chose the location where the new church was to be built.
Construction for the new church began in 1941, with special permission from the U.S. Government. Because of the scarcity of steel during the Second World War, the church was built entirely of wood.
The new church, completed in 1942, would seat 260 people. It was the pride and joy of the Greek Community.

 

According to a letter written by Demetrios Rekas, Parish Council Secretary, the idea of construction of a new church was presented at the Parish General Assembly meeting on May 3, 1940. The members present adopted the opinion that there was a need to build the church...but disagreed on the location.

After some discussion as to the location to build the new church, Archbishop Athenagoras, on a pastoral visit to the parish in 1941, asked the community to resolve their differences and work for a solution.

On January 26,1942, the parish voted to build the church at the same location and to purchase the property next door to add more room. This decision was blessed by His Eminence. A special building committee was formed. Members of this committee were George Manos, George Paouris, Charles Efstration, George Boudoucies, and George Bobotis.

Accordion to a Greenville News Newspaper article that appeared in early 1942, "the cost of the new church structure was $14,000* and was to be built on site of the present structure that had been condemned by City Building Inspector H.Q. Ricker. The building permit issued by the city listed C.J. McKinney Lumber Company as the contractor." The Architect was G. Cunningham.

The new church was the pride of the local Greek community as it would seat about 275 people. Katina Efstration had commissioned the monks at the Mount Athos Monastery to paint the icons for the iconostasis. They were painted in the Renaissance style and arrived in Greenville in 1940. The icons and stained glass windows were donated by members of the parish. The name of the church was awarded to the person who donated the largest amount of money, and that was Mr. George Manos. Currently, these furnishings have been reassembled in the chapel in the lower level of the cathedral. Even today, while looking at those icons and furnishings one can still feel the presence of so many that came before sand who sacrificed so much to ensure that the Orthodox faith would always be forefront in our lives.

In December 1941, the parish of Saint George was assigned a new priest. Father Aemilianos Pouleropoulos arrived in Greenville to serve as priest of Saint George. He had been in America for only 18 months. He was a graduate of the Theological Academy in Istanbul, Turkey. He served the Archbishop of North and South America as an Archdeacon before accepting his Greenville community assignment. Because Greek Orthodox clergy in America were scarce, and because smaller parishes did not have large financial resources, Father Aemil also served as the spiritual leader of Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Spartanburg and Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in Asheville, North Carolina.

Father Aemil oversaw the building of the new church for the Greenville Community, and it was completed later in 1942.

The first Liturgy was celebrated on December 25, 1942 when Right Reverend Germanos Polyzoides visited the Greenville Community; the Church Consecration was March 23, 1943.

The now locally established Greek immigrants became loyal American citizens. They never took for granted the opportunities that America had offered them. When the occasion arose, they volunteered without hesitation to serve the country that had given so much opportunity and freedom.

Father Aemil sent letters of support to soldiers fighting overseas in World War II, telling the soldiers that the entire community attended a special service dedicated to each of them and all the allied forces fighting the war. He told them that the Holy Cross that each of them wore would serve as a shield and protection against the enemy.

The families of the Saint George Community and surrounding parishes were greatly impacted by the number of young men that served in the Armed Forces in both the European and Pacific Campaigns.

*$277,873.85 in 2026 dollars