Our Parish History
Welcome To St. Nicholas
We encourage participation in worship services through congregational singing. Please feel free to join your voice with ours in prayer. The Divine Liturgy is a Eucharistic celebration. The tradition of the Church is that only Orthodox Christians who have prepared themselves may receive Holy Communion. If you are not of the Orthodox faith, you are invited to share in some of the blessed bread which will be distributed by the Priest after the service. We appreciate the need for children to also experience the Divine Services and are quite tolerant of the usual noise that accompanies their presence.
Our Mission & Objectives
The mission of St. Nicholas Orthodox Church is to commit ourselves and one another to Christ Our God.
We accomplish this by serving the spiritual needs of Orthodox Christians, converts, those of interfaith marriages and the unchurched living in the central Massachusetts area. Our liturgical services are a warm, intimate, and meaningful experience of the Orthodox faith celebrated in the English language with congregational participation.
A Faithful People
St. Nicholas Church was founded in 1949 by a community of Romanian Orthodox Christians who had settled in the Worcester area. The community remains within the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese in America and Canada, under the leadership of our Archbishop Nicolae.
Today our community is comprised of people representing many of those original families, together with people who stem from the indigenous ethnicities of the Orthodox family, as well as many others who have chosen to become a part of the Orthodox Church. Our community is open to any and all people who seek to embrace what has been called the ark of salvation: the Holy Orthodox Church.
Our Family
Our community is a gathering faithful Christians sharing worship, fellowship and the love of God. We are a small and intimate group, with open arms to welcome another into the fold.
Weekly Services include Divine Liturgy on Sundays at 10:00 a.m. preceded by Matins at 9:00 a.m. Vespers are held on Wednesday evenings at 7 p.m. followed by a discussion group centered on the joys and challenges of living a Christian life. Feast Day Services will be announced as necessary. A vibrant religious education program for children occurs after Divine Liturgy during the time of the sermon. After the service, we hope you will join us in the hall for refreshments and fellowship.
Outreach
Our community is a leading participant in the Council of Eastern Orthodox Churches of Central Massachusetts (CEOC). We share responsibility for the sustenance of Orthodox Food Center, an emergency food pantry, and support of Holy Trinity Eastern Orthodox Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.
Our Priest
Up until May 2022, Rev. Fr. Nicholas K. Apostola had been the Pastor of St. Nicholas for over 40 years. Our community had been blessed by his ministry, and by the many talents and gifts he possesses and generously shares. Fr. Nick also played a major role in Orthodox Church relations. He served as Secretary of the Archdiocese. He also served as the Secretary of the Study and Planning Commission of the Standing Conference of Orthodox Bishops in the Americas.
Our Future
For almost fifty years, St. Nicholas Church was located on 14 Hammond Street in Worcester. In the Spring of 1997, after several years of prayerful study and exploration, a consensus was reached to sell that property and move to an interim location on Route 9 in Shrewsbury. In August of that same year, a decision was made to purchase a beautifully wooded lot on the corner of Memorial Drive (Rt. 140) and Gold Street in Shrewsbury as the site of the new Church. The Parish Council and Building Committee began carefully planning, researching and fundraising effectively posturing the project to move forward. Groundbreaking for Phase I of construction, the Community Center Complex happened in the Summer of 2002.
This is primarily a 250 seat banquet facility. We are now using part of this facility for worship services until the completion of Phase II, which is the construction of the Church proper, eight religious education classrooms, offices, and multi-purpose spaces. St. Nicholas Orthodox Church looks to the future trusting in the love of God, and confident that He will guide and bless this monumental effort we have begun to the Glory of His name. Please join us!
