Last night, a “paraclisis” or prayer service was held at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, which was facing an auction of their property this morning on Chicago’s Northwest side.
The community was one of the first Greek Orthodox parishes in the nation, founded in the late 1800s and catering to the spiritual needs of the early Greek immigrants who were arriving in Chicago at the time.
Generations of Holy Trinity parishioners came from far and wide, some carrying placards admonishing the bank not to take their church.
Worshipers prayed for what they called a “Christmas miracle,” at the special service officiated by Metropolitan Nathanael of Chicago and Fr. Nicholas Jonas, the parish priest.
Friday morning, that Christmas miracle appears to have happened.
A group of parish leaders came through with enough money to stave off the auction that was to take place today, while allowing the parish to re-organize its finances under the protection of bankruptcy court.
Parish Council President Stanley Andreakis spoke to the local ABC affiliate about the last minute miracle.
“Last night, we were all here praying, we were praying for a Christmas miracle, and it came through,” said Parish Council President Stanley Andreakis. “We had some individuals approach us and they were able to come up with a proposal that our lawyer put together and our lawyer, a t the last-minute, at the 11th hour, put together a bankruptcy plan so we can restructure because of these guardian angels. Call it a Christmas miracle.”
Andreakis said there won’t be an auction Friday morning and the church will have services on Sunday.
“With 121 years of service to the community, ministering to the community, this church, which is a house of God, will remain here,” he said. “It will not be auctioned off to a developer. They would probably knock it down for financial gain and build some kind of development.”
The television network also interviewed Fr. Nicholas Jonas, who confirmed the news.
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