About Us

he priests, deacon, and parishioners of Saint George parish welcome you to join with us in worshiping God. We encourage you to come and experience Orthodox Christian worship and hospitality with a Middle Eastern flavor. Our Liturgy is primarily in English with some anthems and prayers in Arabic. Please explore this website to find out more about the life of our parish community.

The first Syrian Orthodox family known in the State of Oregon arrived in Portland in 1889. Early arrivals from Syria attended a small Russian Orthodox chapel established around the year 1900. The first efforts to establish an Antiochian Orthodox parish began in 1920. Officers were chosen, but the venture soon faltered for reasons which are lost to history. The work of these intrepid founders, however, was taken up again a decade later when the community was once again organized and a religious corporation was formed under Oregon law. The difficult task of collecting money for the first church building fell on the shoulders of Father Shalhoub of Santa Barbara, California. He covered six Western states in this endeavor: Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California, Nevada, and Arizona. With the sum of about $700 the first church building on Southeast 62nd Avenue between Powell Boulevard and Foster Road was purchased in 1930. The St. George community gathered intermittently for services in its small, modest facility, served by a succession of well-traveled, itinerant priests. Fr. Elias Dacy, Fr. George Habib, and Fr. Samuel Makad are remembered for their labors during that era.

In 1960 Fr. George Harb arrived from Palestine and became St. George's first full- time pastor. Father Harb worked tirelessly to strengthen and consolidate the community and it was during his tenure, in 1965, that a larger building was purchased on Southeast Holgate Boulevard at 115th Avenue. This building was transformed by the labors and love of the community into a small, but nicely appointed Orthodox temple. A beautiful, walnut iconostasis was constructed by a local craftsman and was fitted with icons purchased second-hand from Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church. In those years the parish benefited greatly from its close relationship with the Syrian Lebanese American Club which built its clubhouse on land immediately adjoining the church property. "The Club" was the site of many church festivals, dinners and special events over the years. At the Holgate location, the parish continued to grow and diversify, adding many new members of Syrian, Lebanese, Palestinian and Egyptian descent, as well as many converts not of Middle- Eastern heritage. On Holgate, the parish was served by a succession of priests including Fr. John Edward Birch, Fr. Athanasios Suheil Salhany, Fr. David Buss, Fr. Anthony Scott, Fr. Paul Doyle, Fr. David Anderson, Fr. Gregory Cooke, and its present pastor, Fr. Alban West.

The Holgate Boulevard building was much loved by the community, but somewhere during the 35 years that St. George parish sojourned in that location its members began to realize that its home was too small for the growing community and its growing aspirations to live and share the Orthodox Christian faith. In 1992, after many years of prayer, discussion and fundraising, the parish purchased a two-and-one-half acre lot on Northeast 162nd Avenue. Several ramshackle old houses were removed from the land and plans were laid for the future.

In 1997 the dream of a new building began to take definite shape with the hiring of an architect who began to draft ambitious plans for the parish's new home. It was to be a building that would use the technology and building techniques of the twenty-first century to recreate a beautiful pattern inherited from the finest Orthodox churches of the Byzantine era. Fundraising efforts for the building campaign received a tremendous boost when His Eminence, Metropolitan PHILIP, visited Portland in 1998 to encourage sacrificial pledges from all members of the community. Very soon afterward a foundation was poured and construction began in earnest. By February of 2000 the new building had progressed far enough that it was time for the parish to take leave of its beloved home on Holgate. For nearly a year, Sunday services were held at the Syrian Lebanese American Club.

March 28, 2001, marked an unforgettable milestone in the realization of the parish's dream. On that date His Grace, Bishop JOSEPH, celebrated an Agiasmos service to bless the new house of worship and a Pan-Orthodox Lenten Presanctified Liturgy marked the opening of a new era for the St. George community. Finishing details were added to the construction over subsequent months, and in June of 2003, iconographer Ayman Bitar arrived from Syria to install the beautiful Byzantine icons that now adorn the iconostasis.

Throughout 2001 and early 2002, as the St. George community settled into its new home, it also eagerly anticipated the completion of the second major stage of construction on its new facilities. A new parish hall and classroom facility rapidly took shape next door to the church building. On Palm Sunday, April 28, 2002, parishioners enjoyed their first festive coff ee hour in the beautiful new hall.

On September 19, 2004, His Eminence, Metropolitan PHILIP returned to Portland, where, assisted by the newly enthroned Bishop of Los Angeles, His Grace JOSEPH, he presided over the consecration of a new Holy Table and the temple which houses it. The permanent home of the St. George community was now sanctified and complete.

With the help of God the community of St. George will go on to new accomplishments and new milestones. We look forward in the immediate future to a church building adorned with beautiful icons on the surface of its domes and walls, bearing witness to the presence of the Kingdom of Heaven in our midst. We look forward as well to a future of continued growth as a new generation is brought up in the faith of our forebears and as we seek to invite countless numbers of our neighbors in the Portland area to come and behold the glory, majesty and unchanging truth of the Orthodox Christian faith. We who have participated in this ongoing story count ourselves individually as merely weak vessels of clay. But we give thanks to God who has fi lled our small eff orts to overfl owing with the Grace of His Holy Spirit. To Him belongs all the glory!

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