Very Reverend, Protopresbyter, Theofanis V. Nacopoulos

Phone: (814) 838-3516

In 1963, His Grace, Bishop Theodosius of Pittsburgh, assigned a young priest named Theofanis Nacopoulos to the Erie congregation.  Father Nacopoulos was born in a small, remote, mountainous village of Vlasi, in Karditsa, Greece, in 1936.  He attended the renowned Halki Theological Seminary in Constantinople before immigrating to the United States.  He was a teacher at St. Basil’s Academy for a short time before being assigned to the Diocese of Pittsburgh and then to the Erie parish.  He and Presvytera Helen, have four children and ten grandchildren.  He has married and baptized generations of Orthodox Christians, their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.  He is one of the longest-serving Greek Orthodox Priests in this county.  In 1985, when our original church was destroyed by fire, he led his parishioners to build a beautiful Byzantine-style basilica at its present location.  With the grace of our Lord and the all-holy Theotokos, and with the steadfast love and support from Presvytera Helen, his family, and the Erie congregation, Protopresbyter Theofanis Nacopoulos has served the Erie Greek Orthodox community for over 60 years.  His service and dedication to this community continues to the present day.

Rev. Fr. Constantine Alexandrides, Priest 

Phone: (610) 944-4894

Fr. Constantine Alexandrides is originally from Youngstown, Ohio where much of his family still resides. After being raised in the Assemblies of God tradition of Christianity and assisting with the planting of a church he encountered Holy Orthodoxy, the faith of his ancestors (Greek immigrants from the islands of Kos and Samos) before him. He shortly left the faith tradition of his youth to become a catechumen and was received into the Holy Orthodox Church through Chrismation. After further study and steeping in the faith he was obedient to the call of God which drew him to attend Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, Massachusetts. While there he met Presvytera Jessica who had also arrived to further her studies in the faith and receive a Masters Degree of Theology. They were married at the chapel on the campus of Holy Cross in the summer of 2018 and graduated together the following year. Upon completion of their schooling they were assigned to Sts. Constantine & Helen Greek Orthodox Church in Reading, PA where they served for a little more than 4 years. Fr. Constantine was ordained to the Holy Diaconate on April 17 and to the Holy Priesthood on April 18, 2021 by His Eminence Metropolitan Savas of Pittsburgh. While still in Reading they welcomed their son Nektarios. They were excited to receive placement in Erie and continue building on the strong foundation already established by Fr. Theofanis and the community of Assumption.