[The following article was published on 27east.com]

On a Sunday morning that was as accommodating as a spring day, members of the Greek Orthodox Church of the Hamptons gathered outside the church for a ribbon-cutting ceremony, celebrating the opening of the Johnides Family Cultural Center.

According to Father Alexander Karloutsos, the building—which primarily contains classrooms and meeting rooms—will allow the church to expand existing programs and play host to community groups seeking a meeting place. He said the new building also would allow the church to grow and its people to flourish.

During the ribbon-cutting ceremony, the chancellor of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, Bishop Andonios of Phasiane, blessed and dedicated the building, which is named after the Johnides family, who owned and operated the Old Stove Pub in Sagaponack since 1969. The building was funded by Coula Johnides, the surviving member of her family—who donated $1 million toward the building’s construction.

“Here we are today, realizing the vision and dream that has really been a part of this church’s vision from its conception,” Father Constantine said. “Coula allowed us the infrastructure to allow our ministries to grow. We want this church to be a place of spiritual solace and refuge for people on the East End.”

Father Alex said that when he joined the church in 1998, he realized the congregation had “no place to grow spiritually and culturally.”

“That was all banished yesterday,” he added. “We design churches, but it is God who builds churches.”

The Johnides Family Cultural Center will be the biggest of three buildings that will make up the church’s new $13 million complex and will provide meeting space for children’s and seniors’ programs, language and culture classes, administrative offices, and community groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous. The other two buildings—the Dormition of the Virgin Mary Sanctuary, a new church building; and the Nicholas S. Zoullas Hellenic Center, a community hall for large gatherings—are still in the works.

The sanctuary is slated to open its doors for the first time to the public on April 21, and Archbishop Demetrios of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America will bless and dedicate the building.