The new Greek Orthodox Mission Parish of Utah marked a milestone on Sunday. It hosted a visit from Metropolitan Isaiah, the regional bishop who oversees Greek Orthodox congregations in fourteen states.
About 200 people squeezed into the parish’s temporary meeting space at a reception center in Midvale on Sunday. The new parish has no regular priest of its own, so the Metropolitan took a turn officiating.
In his homily, Metropolitan Isaiah noted the growth of the church in the fourteen western and southern states where he presides.
“But I’m happy to tell you that this new mission parish is number eight of the new parishes that have been established in this metropolis in the past fifteen years. That’s a beautiful testimony to the power of the Holy Spirit,” Isaiah told the congregants.
Leaders of the parish say their goal is to have a priest assigned permanently and to find a new and larger meeting space in the coming year. Chuck Karpakis is vice-president of the parish council. He says the doors are open to everybody.
Karpakis told KUER, “A lot of us are Greek and proud of our heritage, but we don’t want this to be an ethnocentric thing. We want to expand to people of all ethnicities.”
The Mission Parish was formed last summer after members of Salt Lake City’s older Greek Orthodox parish felt they couldn’t resolve conflicts over church budgets and other issues. That parish includes Holy Trinity Cathedral in Salt Lake and Prophet Elias Church in Holladay.
