By: Deborah Johnson Wood
On June 1, the 80-year-old Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church community in Grand Rapids celebrated the groundbreaking of its 2,250-square-foot expansion with a traditional Ayiasomos—a service of the Blessing of the Waters.
The church building at 330 Lakeside NE was constructed in 1976 and is “bursting at the seams” on Sundays, says George Stamas, parish council president. The $1.6 million addition brings 140 more seats into the sanctuary for the 210-family congregation, bringing total seating to 350, and adds a lobby and coatroom, an updated choir loft, and a traditional bell tower, something the church does not currently have.
“Greek churches traditionally have bell towers,” Stamas says, “and this one will also provide ingress and egress to the choir loft and space for a chair lift to the choir loft.”
A dome and cross, smaller versions of the dome and cross that tops the worship space, tops the bell tower. The tower will have at least one bell, possibly two, and an electronic bell system that interfaces with the church’s organ.
To accommodate construction, the church removed canvas medallion icons of nine women saints from the front of the choir loft, placed them in storage and will re-hang them when construction is finished, sometime in October.
Holy Trinity, perhaps best known for its annual Greek luncheons and dinners, will update the kitchen facilities and add a walk-in cooler and freezer.
The church’s congregation consists of members from many Orthodox ethnic groups including Syrians, Lebanese, Romanians, Serbians, Ethiopians, Eritreans, Albanians, Cypriots and Russians.
Constantine George Pappas AIA Architecture/Planning handled the expansion’s architectural design. Pioneer Construction is the construction manager.
Source: George Stamas, Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church
Deborah Johnson Wood is the development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].
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