Our Parish

Saint Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church of Hammond, Indiana, is a parish of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago, Archdiocese of America, under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.

 Organized in 1936 in Hammond, we have ministered to Orthodox Christians in Northwest Indiana and the Calumet Region for over eight decades.  While mostly founded by families of Hellenic (Greek) ancestry, many parishioners now come from other ethnic and cultural traditions, and we welcome all persons of all backgrounds to join our Orthodox communion in Christ!  We are sensitive to the needs of all our parishioners, and this is reflected in our worship and ministry programming.   We are always seeking new opportunities to enhance our life together in Christ!

The "Greek" in our name is not meant to be limiting or restrictive.  It is an acknowledgement of our history, but not simply that of our founders who migrated from Greece or were the offspring of Greek immigrants.  More importantly, it is a testimony to our long theological and liturgical tradition rooted in the Hellenistic culture of the Mediterranean world of the first years of the Christian era.  Greek was the original language of the New Testament, and the common language of the Ecumenical Councils which protected Christian doctrine. 

"Greek Orthodox" also demonstrates the "style" or "flavor" of customs and liturgical observances by which we live our faith everyday, among numerous Orthodox Christian churches throughout the world that maintain their own "style" such as Russian, Serbian, Romanian, Antiochian (Arabic), Albanian, Georgian, Bulgarian Orthodox Christians.  Wherever the Orthodox Church has been established over the centuries, it has naturally incorporated and transformed cultural elements (language, art, music, for example) in expressions of the "One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church."  This process is actually ongoing, for Orthodoxy is present and alive in America, and as Americans we have our own customs and traditions that we seek to transform into an authentic Orthodox Christian way of life.