Niovi Phillipou
Office Staff
Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Community of Whitestone is a parish under the jurisdiction of the Greek Orthodox Archdioceses of America. The parish is headed by a canonically ordained and duly appointed priest. Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Church has the Rev. Fr. Nicolaos Paros. as a head priest.
The aims and purposes of the Parish are to keep, practice and proclaim the Orthodox Christian Faith pure and undefiled.
Adding to the numbers of the faithful by receiving persons into the Church through instruction, baptism and/or chrismation. In addition, our Parish has established educational and philanthropic activities which foster the aims and mission of our church and edify its parishioners in the Faith and ethos of the church.
Holy Cross church has the following ministries: Acolytes (Altar Boys), Sunday (Catechetical) School, an early learning academy “Stars Academy“, A Greek Afternoon school, chapter of the Ladies Philoptochos Society, Greek Orthodox Youth of America (GOYA), a Junior Orthodox Youth (JOY) program, and a PTA of the afternoon school.
The Parish Council is a ministry and all those who serve are called to represent Christ and the Orthodox Faith to all whom they meet in all aspects of life. The Parish Council consist of the Priest, as the head of the Parish, and 21 elected lay members. The Parish Council shall be deemed to mean also Board of Trustees or Board of Directors.
It is often said that the “father” of our church is Mr. Elias Betzios. This title was bestowed upon him because of the following circumstances:
Mr. Betzios was a longtime board member of the neighboring St. Demetrios Church of Astoria. When he relocated his family to the Whitestone area, the distance was too far to worship at St. Demetrios. It had been his lifelong-dream to establish a new church some day. In his conversations with Archbishop Iakovos, he was encouraged to pursue this dream and establish a new parish in the Whitestone area.
