The Heart of the Greek Community

St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral is truly the center of Greek-American life in Tarpon Springs, FL.  At a time when a lot of churches in America are half full there is literally standing room only at St. Nicholas.... not just during regular Sunday services but also for their several special religious holidays.

It was built over one hundred years ago in 1907 and later added on to in 1943.

Front entrance.

Close up of Bell Tower.

Here on the side of the building you can see the dome modeled after the Neo-Byzantine architecture.

There is a large court yard on the side.

In the court yard near the front is a statue of a Greek Boy depicting his capture of the cross.... each January 6 on Epiphany (the remembrance of the Baptism of Christ) the Archbishop throws a cross into the waters of Spring Bayou and young Greek boys dive for it....the one who finds it and brings it up gets a special blessing for a year.

This cupola in the courtyard is where the Priest stands at midnight on Easter eve and declares, "Christ is alive!"...then firecrackers go off and everyone sings!

I had put in a call early this morning hoping to get photos inside this beautiful church...no one called me so I had not changed clothes.  Long ago when we lived in this area they were very strict about who was allowed in plus no woman could go in if she was wearing pants.  I walked around to the front and read a notice there saying the church building was open until 5p...just then a man went in and soon came back out.... I asked him if I could go in and take pictures and to my surprise he said YES!

I was awe struck as I walked in ….. so beautiful....

Three of the 23 stained glass windows installed between 1942 and 1943.  They were hand painted by Joseph Llorens of Atlanta. 

I was sitting up front on the side when a woman walked in wearing pants!  Her name was Irene and she was early for choir practice... what a blessing!  She was born and raised here and gave me a great tour!  She knew about the installation of each window and what each painting represented.

This is the large 60 ton altar made of marble from Greece.  It was displayed at the first World's Fair in New York....the war broke out right afterward and it could not be returned and eventually was bought and donated to St. Nicholas. 

Close up of the Altar showing paintings behind.....can you guess what that rooster on top left represents?

Almost everything was donated from the spongers giving the $ from their best harvest to the buyers bidding really high knowing the $ was going to build this Cathedral.  

Two of the three rose windows.

This Sunday night the Cathedral will give a gift to this community..... It will be a choral celebration of carols sung by their choir joined by a men's group from Orlando and an opera singer. 

Now, I leave you with God's gift to us tonight... sunset from the Sponge Docks!