From top: Metropolitan Evangelos presides at the Opening of the Doors of the newly constructed St. George Greek Orthodox Church on April 1. Some 600 members of the congregation gather for the first liturgy celebrated in the new church. The Rev. Andrew Eugenis is pastor of the church, which relocated to Ocean Township from Asbury Park. St. George Greek Orthodox Church dedicated its new complex just in time for one of the congregation’s most important holidays.
The church, which moved to Ocean Township after more than 80 years inAsbury Park, is preparing for theApril 15 Easter holiday, the first that will be celebrated at the newly constructed facility at the intersection ofWest Park Avenue and Route 18.
“It’ll be a new experience, we will have our midnight service,” the Rev. Andrew Eugenis, pastor, said in an interview last week. “It will be an experience for everybody because it will be the first Resurrection service here in Ocean Township.
“It will be a special occasion for us and everybody is looking forward to it,” he added.
The church, which has about 350 members, dedicated the new facility April 1 with the traditional “opening of the doors,” called Thyranixia.
“We had approximately 600 people here for our grand opening,” Eugenis said. “Opening up a new church is quite a feat; it is not every day that you open up a new church.
“We had a lot of people from the surrounding area, a lot of people from the town wanted to come and see,” he added. “A lot of the local people saw the church going up for the last two-and-a-half years and wanted to see what it is was like from the inside.”
According to Eugenis, planning for the new church started more than two decades ago.
“The process began probably 20 years ago but we started the planning process for this site about five years ago,” he said. “We decided about 25 years ago that the facility in Asbury Park was too small, it was outdated and there wasn’t enough parking in an urban setting.”
After scoping out several locations, the church council settled on the 6.5-acre plot of land in Ocean Township in 1996 and broke ground in 2008.
The new complex features an expansive church at its center surrounded by a chapel, a three-story administration and educational building, regulation size gym and a ballroom/ cultural center.
The project is estimated to have cost approximately $8 million, with the majority of the funding coming from fundraisers and donations to the parish.
Eugenis said the new facility accommodates parking for 200 people and the location is central to a large population of churchgoers. “Demographically it is more central to our constituents,” he said. “It is more accessible because Route 18 [is convenient] for people from Colts Neck or Howell.”
Eugenis said that the early feedback on the church has been universally positive.
“The feedback has been all positive from all the people I’ve spoken to,” he said. “They really are impressed with the structure.”
In the new setting, Eugenis said the church would adjust some of the services and initiatives it provides to fit the needs of the community in the new location.
“We had a soup kitchen in Asbury Park [but] here in Ocean Township that will probably go away because there is no need,” he said, adding that the church will continue with Meals on Wheels and other social services programs.
According to the church’s website, some of the events scheduled for the coming month include Tuesday night volleyball, Greek school on Wednesdays and weekly services each Sunday.
There is also an oratorical festival scheduled for April 21 and a soccer tournamentApril 28.
St. George sponsors eight ministries including altar servers, choir, Greek School, Philoptochos School, St. George Socialites and Sunday school.
While St. George brings a vibrant faith community to the new location, it leaves behind an 80-year history in Asbury Park.
Eugenis said the hope is that the congregation will double in the next three to five years.
The community of St. George had been located in Asbury Park since 1929, when the first official church service was held in the basement of theAsbury Park Library.
In 1949 the church held its first service at 700 Grand Ave., where it remained until this month.
When St. George opened its doors 80 years ago, most of its parishioners lived around Asbury Park, but over the years, many of the members of the congregation have moved away from the city.
“The physical church in Asbury Park was built right after World War II, so there was a lot of history,” Eugenis said. “We brought a lot of physical history with us, the icons and things like that.
“People understood that the physical plant was no longer meeting the needs of our parishioners and therefore it was happy-sad,” he added. “It was sad that we were leaving the history behind but a happy occasion that we were moving into a more modern, spacious facility that would accommodate the needs of our parishioners.”