Our history

The history of this parish had its beginning in the hearts and minds of our founders who immigrated to America around the turn of the 20th century.

The first known Arabic-speaking Orthodox Christians to locate in central Indiana were Saada Nijm Kfouri of Talia and her husband, David Sliman Freije of Zahle, Lebanon, who settled in Indianapolis with their children in 1890. They operated a dry-goods store close to downtown. They and those who followed came to escape economic privation and persecution of Christians in the Middle East. They quickly became a vital part of Hoosier society. Many of them owned and operated grocery stores through the 1950s, before the advent of today’s supermarkets. They contributed in many ways and in many fields to the strength and richness of this country: public servants, physicians, scholars, scientists, artists, athletes and entertainers. They were all greatly devoted to their families and to family values. Many served their new homeland of America in the World Wars and subsequent conflicts. Most importantly they brought their Faith with them from the birthplace of Christianity. Today, moreover, St. George Orthodox Church has grown in size and diversity, serving those immigrants’ descendants and people of all ethnic and racial backgrounds. Finding no church to call their own, these early immigrants accepted invitations to use other churches until they could build their own, and services were sometimes held in the home of an Orthodox family whenever a missionary Orthodox priest came to town. Baptisms and weddings were often scheduled on these occasional visits.

On February 8, 1925, a newly organized Knights of St. George filed Articles of Association with the Secretary of State of Indiana. The main purpose of the new group was to build a Syrian Orthodox church to serve the Indianapolis community. The first officers under the charter were Salim K. Freije, President; John Hider, Vice President; A.G. Corey, Secretary; and Abraham Joseph, Treasurer. As new interest was generated, a firm establishment of the new parish was aided by the Kurker, Risk, Eid, Albert and Kafoure families as well as many other individuals.On January 6, 1926, the young and energetic Archimandrite Antony Bashir met with the Knights of St. George, and, in that same year, the St. George Orthodox Church was erected and consecrated at 2745 North Sherman Drive. For many years this small brick edifice served the newly established parish’s spiritual needs. The parishioners, however, still felt a need for a fellowship hall.It was obvious that the church could not exist without the loving and working hands of her ladies. So it was that on March 20, 1932, the newly organized St. George Ladies’ Aid Society elected its first officers. Mrs. Salim (Katherine) Freije served as president of this new group. From its inception, the Ladies’ Aid has played a prominent role in the life of the parish, contributing thousands of hours of hard labor, self-sacrifice and financial assistance anywhere they were needed. They continue to prepare for mercy meals and many other occasions, and they strive to instill the Orthodox Faith in our youth, with particular concern to see that young girls today find a meaningful role in the life of their Church.After many years of planning and saving during the lean depression years, the parish embarked on building a social hall on ground adjacent to the church. Several church members and the parish priest, Reverend John Corey, actually took shovels, saws and hammers in hand to help in building the Knights of St. George Hall.

After World War II, the church’s administration was reorganized. A new constitution and set of by-laws were drafted by A.G. Corey and his committee, and these were adopted at a parish meeting. A board of trustees was elected as a representative administrative body of the parish. Once again a building fund was set up because a definite need for future expansion was foreseen. In 1949, the parish purchased a home on Princeton Place to serve as the parish rectory. The Indianapolis parish hosted an Archdiocese Convention in August, 1951. At that Convention, a young man named Michael Shaheen was ordained to the priesthood by both Archbishops Antony (Bashir) and Samuel (David) and assigned to the Indianapolis church. Father Michael was subsequently ordained as an Archbishop. In 1956, the Board of Trustees found a 21-acre tract of ground centrally located in the city and decided to make it the site for a new church. The St. George Progressives helped the parish with a generous contribution of $50,000 to purchase the property. On the grounds stood a lovely, two-story home which was to serve as the new parish rectory, a grove of trees for picnic grounds, a creek in the woods, and ample fields for a Little League baseball diamond. As a dynamic young priest, Fr. Joseph Shaheen oversaw in 1961 the start of construction for a new church and social hall. The edifice was completed the following year, and, on September 23, 1962, Metropolitan Antony officiated at the consecration and Hierarchical Divine Liturgy. The church is constructed of brick and Indiana limestone. Huge floor-to-ceiling stained glass windows depict the life of Christ and honor major saints of the Church. The stained-glass panels were designed by Ralph Craig of Indianapolis, who also painted the icons on the iconostasis.

In 1985, Archie Wilson, a convert member of the parish, was ordained as a deacon by Metropolitan-Archbishop Philip, who also elevated then Pastor Father Joseph Olas to the dignity of Archpriest at the same time. Now known as Deacon Athanasius, Archie served at St. George until he was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Antoun, in 1994, and became pastor of a new daughter mission in Bloomington, Indiana. That community grew quickly into a full-fledged parish, All Saints Orthodox Church. By 1987, having once again outgrown its facilities, St. George parish undertook to build an addition that included a conference room, lounge, Sunday School classrooms and improved kitchen facilities. 1992 was a banner year for St. George. His Grace Bishop Basil made his first visit to the parish in conjunction with the 60th Anniversary Celebration of the Ladies’ Aid Society. During his visit he tonsured young Joseph Olas, son of Father Joseph, as a sub-deacon. In preparation for these events the fellowship hall and foyer were completely redecorated in an elegant manner. While the early years of St. George’s history saw buildings going up, efforts gradually shifted toward greater ministry, service and the spiritual life. The process had begun with the formation of SOYO and accelerated in 1992 with the establishment of the Fellowship of St. John the Divine as its successor. The new organization was created to implement the concept, “Living the Orthodox Faith in Christ through worship, witness, service and fellowship.” The new Fellowship’s aims included the promotion of spiritual growth, humanitarian works, evangelism and missions through a variety of parish ministry teams matching members’ talents and interests with community needs.

In 1998 a young man from Ethiopia who had studied at St. Tikhon’s Seminary and had moved to Indianapolis with his wife a few years earlier, became our deacon. Dn. Workineh Belesse immediately began to contribute greatly to the worship at St. George’s through his humble and dignified assistance at Divine services. The same year, the Ladies’ Aid Society formally adopted St. Thekla as their patron during a Midwest Region Delegates’ Meeting that St. George’s hosted in September, where Khouriyah Elaine Hanna gave the keynote speech on “Role Models for Girls Today.” The next year saw adoption of the Mother of the Shepherds Church and School in Beit Sahour, Palestine, as a sister parish, with moral and financial support. At the 1999 Archdiocese Convention in Chicago, St. George Teen SOYO President Jad Najjar won the Oratorical Festival after previously winning the Midwest Region Oratorical Festival. A cornerstone of our Teen ministry lay in utilizing the Archdiocese camping program at the Antiochian Village. The parish makes a major investment in this by paying half the tuition and providing the transportation to enable more young people to participate. The Teens also undertake many local community service and fellowship projects. Later that same year, the parish celebrated the elevation of Fr. Nabil Hanna to the dignity of Archpriest by Bishop Demetri. The parish and groups within the parish have gone on various outings to monasteries, museums, retreats, conferences, etc., including a visit to the Shrine of the Weeping Icon, Our Lady of Cicero (Illinois). Fr. Nabil and a delegation of 18 persons from the parish participated in the historic canonization of Bishop Raphael (Hawaweeny) May 27-28, 2000, at St. Tikhon’s Seminary and Monastery in Pennsylvania—the largest group from any one parish. The “2000th Year of Our Lord” saw a year-long series of events culminating in a pan-Orthodox Liturgy at the Indiana Roof Ballroom, with Fr. Thomas Hopko, Dean of St. Vladimir’s Seminary, as special guest speaker. Special icons were commission for this millennial occasion, including a Platytera (“More Spacious than the Heavens”) icon, an enlargement of which was placed in the apse of the church. The Lilly Endowment helped fund this effort of the Central Indiana Council of Orthodox Christian Churches to keep Christ in the ‘millennium’ celebrations, with the message for the public of central Indiana that He is the reason for the year 2000, when God became a creature for the sake of redeeming all creation. That year was also marked by the departure from this life of a parishioner of international renown, Charles Bozidar Ashanin, a theologian and Church historian. He had been a professor at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis for many years, so the Seminary and the Orthodox Churches of Central established an annual, jointly-sponsored lecture in his honor. The close cooperation of area Orthodox parishes also led to the establishment of an Orthodox cemetery section and joint charitable work through the International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC).

As St. George parish looks forward to a bright future, we are looking for land and evaluating options for the challenge of ministering effectively to a growing number of parishioners in an ever-expanding metropolitan area. St. George is proud of its heritage, organizations and their accomplishments. Its steady growth and development are the result of a high-spirited and dedicated membership working devotedly with the following Reverend Fathers who have served faithfully as pastors over the years: