Greek Orthodox Cathedral Is Reaching Beyond Ethnic Roots

For 50 years, the stunning edifice of L.A.’s other cathedral--St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Church near downtown Los Angeles--has survived essentially unchanged. This “crown jewel” among Orthodox Christian churches still glitters with imported crystal chandeliers, dramatic religious icons and an interior awash in 24-carat gold leaf. It was designed, says Father John Bakas, to remind worshipers that “light comes from within.”

The liturgy remains virtually identical to services offered centuries ago, since the days of the early church--albeit with more English these days than Greek.

But as the golden cathedral approaches its golden anniversary, dramatic changes are taking place inside. Once an insular Greek enclave in the largely poor, crime-ridden Latino neighborhood, the congregation has began to reach out in many directions.

“We can no longer be just an ethnic church,” says Bakas, dean of the cathedral. “If you try to stay that way, you will become irrelevant in American society.”

In recent years, St. Sophia has helped start a free summer camp for underprivileged youth, raised funds to help provide uniforms for a nearby public school and counseling, art and tutoring programs. After a three-decade hiatus, the church has restarted its annual Greek Festival, which fits its neighborhood by putting a Cuban show band alongside Greek dancing and dolmas up against a margarita booth and tacos with lamb and feta cheese.

Church leaders have spearheaded monthly town hall meetings to bring neighbors together, air concerns to local officials and help the area’s immigrant population learn to demand services and participate in the democratic process.

When the meetings first started in 1996, some drew as few as five people. Many immigrants who fled corrupt Latin American regimes without legal papers were fearful of authority figures, church members say. Today, the meetings draw as many as 200 people to quiz representatives from law enforcement, education and government.

And St. Sophia has been a driving force in transforming the neighborhood from an embattled bus corridor between downtown and the Pico district into a bustling business district officially christened the “Byzantine-Latino Quarter.” An associated nonprofit corporation, the members of which include St. Sophia, St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church, two Catholic schools and local merchants, has won more than $3 million in grants for neighborhood improvements such as street cleaning, tree planting, better lighting and art projects.

At the corner of Pico and Normandie, a once-nondescript office building now displays a huge mural of two angels and the quote, “We are each of us angels with one wing. We can only fly embracing each other.”

“For the better part of 50 years, we were an island in a sea of Latinos,” said Ted Pastras, president of the St. Sophia parish council board of directors. “But if you’re really there to promote Christianity and do outreach, as Christ did, then you really have to reach out and embrace everyone.”

Pastras and others say many of the changes have been sparked by Father Bakas, 56, an effusive, dynamic man who was born in Greece, raised in New Mexico and assigned to Los Angeles in 1995. An amalgamation of spiritual leader and tireless salesman, Bakas rolls out a passionate vision in which religious and civic forces are marshaled to unify neighbors and improve an area troubled by some of the highest crime, poverty levels and unemployment rates in the city.

As the tall, bearded Bakas strolled through the streets in his black clerical garb one day recently, he called out to merchants and passersby in a booming voice and fluent Spanish. At one corner, he pointed out a shopping mall that the absentee landlord was forced to bring up to code after community members alerted city officials to myriad violations.

At El Farolito restaurant, owner Yolanda Rodriguez motioned him inside. “Father, there are some people here who really want to meet you,” she said. A group of men were downing burritos smothered with melted cheese and green tomatillo sauce, designated the “Father John Special” on the menu, and they wanted to know if such a man really existed.

“Before Father John came, everyone was isolated and only focused on themselves,” said Rodriguez. “He is a blessing to the community because he’s brought us all together and made us a community that helps each other out.”

The Orthodox priest, who is married with four children, brings his Bible study class to Rodriguez’s restaurant every week. He encourages his congregation to also patronize local businesses instead of rushing back to their own suburban neighborhoods after services. “Now I have so many Greek customers,” Rodriguez said, a phenomenon that began only after Bakas arrived at St. Sophia.

The priest said his passion to reach out was inspired partly by an encounter he had shortly after arriving in Los Angeles. He was invited, without knowing why, to meet the widow of a Japanese diplomat named Chiune Sugihara. The mystery deepened when he arrived at the mayor’s office and saw several rabbis there. He was told that Sugihara, at the cost of his own career, had helped save thousands of Jews in Lithuania during World War II by giving them transit visas in defiance of government orders.

Then Bakas learned the reason he was invited: Sugihara’s actions, the diplomat’s family said, were propelled by his faith as a member of the Greek Orthodox Church.

“Here’s a man who did not take the comfortable road, who reached out beyond himself and did something sacrificial in providing service to others at the expense of himself,” Bakas said, tearing up even today as he recounted the story. “Sugihara had a tremendous impact on how I perceive my ministry.”

Bakas’ vision meshed perfectly with people like Pastras, who had started a culture and civic affairs department at the church a year earlier to try to start reaching out. Bakas was the sparkplug, Pastras says.

Southern California’s Greek Orthodox community traces its roots to 1906, when members began raising money to build their first church at 12th and San Julian streets in what is now downtown Los Angeles.

According to longtime church member Faye Demetriou, the aftermath of World War II brought an influx of Greeks to the region, and they quickly outgrew the original church. As satellite churches began popping up in the region--there are now 17, Pastras said--a move began to build a new cathedral that would serve as the mother church for both the local community and the Western United States.

Eventually, the cathedral efforts found a champion in Charles P. Skouras, a Greek immigrant who became the owner of 20th-Century Fox movie theaters across the country and raised $1.5 million to finish the church, which was designed to replicate the denomination’s original mother church in Constantinople--now the site of a mosque.

The church begins its weeklong anniversary celebration with an ecumenical service Sunday, at which the Rev. Robert Schuller of the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove will deliver the keynote address. Next Saturday, a black-tie dinner will mark the exact day 50 years ago that the church was consecrated. A liturgical service the next day will feature one of the cathedral’s original priests, the Rev. Anthony Kostouros.

“The anniversary will honor those who sacrificed to leave us this golden jewel of life,” Bakas said, waving toward the double-domed cathedral. “We have to merit this gift by being bearers of light to all through service, good works, love and charity.”