Rev. Protopresbyter Nicholas P. Petropoulakos

Father Petropoulakos was born in Lowell, MA and entered Hellenic College/Holy Cross School of Theology in 1967 in order to fulfill his calling to become an Orthodox priest.

Father Nick, as he is known to his parishioners, was ordained to the Holy Diaconate in 1973 at Holy Cross Chapel on the campus of our seminary by His Eminence, Metropolitan Iakovos of Chicago and was assigned as assistant to the Pastor of Annunication Church in Woburn, MA.

On June 1, 1974, he was ordained to the Holy Priesthood at his home Parish, Holy Trinity in Lowell, MA, again by His Eminence, Metropolitan Iakovos. He graduated with Honors from Holy Cross the next day with an M.Div degree, specializing in Biblical Theology.

His first Parish assignment was at SS. Constantine & Helen Cathedral in Merrillville, IN. He served as Associate Pastor, Director of Youth Ministries, Sunday School and Alter Servers. He was also active in the building and decoration programs for the new 900-seat Cathedral.

After two years, Father Nick was called to his first Pastorate, Assumption Church, in Danbury, CT. During his Pastorate, he led the effort to re-build the fire-damaged church and to restart various Parish Ministries.

He returned to Indiana in 1978 to become the Pastor of St. Andrew Church in South Bend. He was again involved in a building program that included the multi-purpose Community Center and the Neo-Byzantine-style Church building. During his years in South Bend, Father Nick attended the University of Notre Dame, receiving a M.A. in Biblical Theology in 1987.

In July of that year he returned to Assumption Church, Woburn, MA as Pastor. While there, he served the Metropolis of Boston as a member of the Metropolis Stewardship Committee and taught the Marriage Preparation Seminars. At the same time he served on the National Stewardship Committee of the Holy Archdiocese.

Father Nick accepted the Pastorate of Holy Trinity – St. Nicholas in August of 1996. He has been very active in all of the Education Ministries, establishing two Adult Education Ministries, the Lenten Lecture Series, the monthly Question and Answer Sunday and the monthly Orthodox Study Sunday. He instituted the Weekly and Monthly Bulletins, and has led the creation of the Parish Website. He has guided the Youth Ministries (GOYA and JOY) and the Education Ministries(Sunday and Greek School). The Junior Hellenic Dancers were created at Father Nick’s suggestion as well as the Dance Ministry for 3-6 year olds. The Hellenic dancers also have participated in the District’s PARATHOSI (Dance Exhibition and Competition).

Father Nick serves the Holy Archdiocese and the Direct Archdiocesan District as a member of the Spiritual Court of 1st Instance and the Court overseeing Ecclesiastical Dissolutions.

In his efforts to serve the needs of the parishioners, Father Nick created the ELEOS Ministry (healing and support for cancer and other illnesses), a monthly anointing service for healing and THARROS (ministry to separated and divorced Orthodox Christians).

Under Father Nick’s guidance the building program for the Community Center was completed. The Church building was renovated and decorated with beautiful iconography in preparation for the Holy Consecration which took place on June 3, 2013. Celebrant of the Consecration was His Eminence, Archbishop Demetrios of America.

Father Nick and Presvytera Patricia have two children and four grandchildren.