St. Paul's began as the vision of less than a handful of Greek Orthodox Christians living in south Orange County in 1976. Three people - Steve Bonn, Harry Kollias and John Kitsianis - took the initiative to begin organizing a new parish, closer to their homes than the St. John the Baptist parish in Anaheim. By early 1977, the group had grown larger and started more actively working to meet the requirements of the Archdiocese for establishing new parishes. After an extensive telephone campaign, by the end of the year, some 57 families had committed to support the birth of the new parish. On October 16, 1977 the first parish council was elected. The officers and members were: Steve Bonn, president; Sam Soter, vice-president; Iris Callas, secretary; John Kitsianis, treasurer; and Chris Arger, Peter Dames, George Grabits, Angela Henderson, Harry Kollias, Effie McCormick, Dean Papas, George Peters, John Salis, Jim Sardonis and Lambros Sekeris. On November 14, 1977 the Archdiocesan Council of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America granted the charter for the establishment of "The Greek Orthodox Parish of South Orange County, CA."

On June 1, 1978 the late Father George Stephanides (of blessed memory!) was assigned as the priest of this new parish and the first Liturgy was celebrated at Mission Viejo High School on June 11, 1978. Immediately followed the organization of the choir, youth groups, Sunday School and Philoptochos. Presvytera Elaine Stephanides, then as now, directed the choir, which sang for the first time on August 15, 1978 for the feast of the Falling Asleep of the Theotokos.

On April 26, 1980 the new parish chose its patron saint: Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles. The choice of St. Paul was to reflect the evangelical spirit of the new parish. By July 1980 the need for a full time parish secretary was realized and Mrs. Iris Callas, who had volunteered her time in that capacity since 1977, took on this position.   Iris continued to faithfully serve the parish until her death in 1999.

On December 10, 1980 George Peters, who was then serving as parish council president, signed an agreement with the Irvine Company for the purchase of our current 5.6 acre parcel of land. With him was Father Stephanides and Ted Konopisos, the building development chairman for the parish. The purchase price for the land: $629,000.

During this time, Sunday services were still being held at Mission Viejo High School while sacraments and Holy Week services were held at St. George's Episcopal Church on Avenida de Carlota and I-5 in Laguna Hills. By 1982, Sunday services had moved to Woodbridge High School while sacraments and Holy Week services were held at St. John Neumann's Roman Catholic Church.

In March 1982 the first building fund drive was held. Chaired by Tom Mallos, a professional fundraising firm, Church Fundraising Services, was hired to organize the campaign. The 3-year pledge program raised $1,000,000. This enabled the parish to retire all remaining debt on the land and allowed for the first building - our current parish center - to be built debt free. Sam Grillias of the GPRA archtectural firm was hired to design our parish center and develop a master plan for the entire complex. Bob and Kent Lucas of the Lucas Development Company were hired as contractors and were to build both our parish center and our current sanctuary. By July 22, 1985 the first Liturgy on our own land was celebrated in the parish hall.

With the continued growth of St. Paul's came new opportunities for ministry. In 1984, Father Jim Pappas, now the pastor of St. George's Church in Fresno, was assigned as St. Paul's first lay pastoral assistant (prior to his ordination to the priesthood). In the years to come, a number of equally fine young men would serve with Father George at St. Paul's: Father Martin Ritsi, who after leaving St. Paul's, became a missionary in east Africa and Albania and is now the Director of the Orthodox Christian Mission Center in St. Augustine, FL; Father Dean Kouldukis, who went on to serve as dean of the Sts. Constantine & Helen Cathedral in Honolulu and is now the pastor of the Assumption Church in Seattle; and Father John Konugres, who now serves as the pastor of the Sts. Constantine & Helen Church in Vallejo, CA. In September 1988 Mr. Dean Langis accepted the position of lay pastoral assistant here at St. Paul's and continues to serve in that capacity today.

The current sanctuary of our parish was built at a cost of $3,500,000. It is of American classical architecture with Byzantine elements. Cross-shaped, with a dome in the center 28 feet high and 36 feet in diameter, the building is 20,000 square feet and has a seating capacity of 600 people. Groundbreaking ceremonies were held on April 28, 1991. The building was completed a year later and the first Liturgy in our new sanctuary was celebrated on May 17, 1992. Consecrated on October 29th and 30th, 1994 by His Grace, Bishop Anthony of San Francisco, the uniquely designed altar in the sanctuary now houses the relics of St. Kyrikos (whose memory is celebrated on July 15th); St. Boniface (whose memory is celebrated on December 19th); and St. Panteleimon (whose memory is celebrated on July 27th).

At the consecration services, seven parishioners were honored with the Archdiocesan medal of St. Paul for their service to Christ and His Church: Ted Konopisos, Tassos Livitsanos, Chris Louis, Tom Mallos, Presvytera Elaine Stephanides and Steve & Eve Tibbs.  (Prior recipients, in 1983, had included Steve Bonn, Stella Chavos and George Peters.) Also honored for their devotion to the Church as Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate were two more of our parishioners: Ron Matthews and Tykye Camaras.

On January 27, 1996 St. Paul's celebrated Father George and Presvytera Elaine's 35th wedding anniversary, as well as the 35th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood, with a festive evening at the officers club of the El Toro Marine Base. But later that year, on December 17th, Father George suddenly collapsed and died of a heart attack. This unexpected tragedy left the people of St. Paul's in shock, mourning the loss of their pastor of 18 years. The Trisagion service was held on the evening of December 20th, with Bishop Anthony of San Francisco presiding, assisted by clergy from throughout the diocese. Father Peter Costarakis, a lifelong friend, delivered the eulogy that evening and an all night vigil service followed. The funeral service took place the next morning with the celebration of the Liturgy by Bishop Anthony of San Francisco. Father Spencer Kezios, another close friend of many years, offered the eulogy. Father George was laid to rest at Pacific View Cemetary to await the second coming of his Lord.

Father John Konugres and Mr. Dean Langis provided St. Paul's with leadership and pastoral care throughout those dark days in December and in the early months of 1997. There were two bright spots during this time of grief. One was the first Spiritual Odyssey held in January of 1997, a festival of faith that Father George had been planning at the time of his death. Hundreds of people attended and this has now become an annual event here at St. Paul's that has featured speakers like Father Thomas Hopko, Father Theodore Stylianopoulos, Father Anthony Coniaris, Father Peter Gillquist, Father Michael Oleksa and Frank Schaeffer. The other bright spot was the installation of the icon of Christ and the Virgin Mary in the apse of the sanctuary. This depiction of the Theotokos with Christ as the center of her being, her arms outstretched in prayer and flanked on either side by the Archangels Gabriel and Michael, is the traditional icon that adorns the apse of an Orthodox Church. This mosaic masterpiece, which consists of over 1.5 million individual pieces of glass and covers approximately 1200 square feet, was completed by the iconographer Sirio Tonelli on May 17, 1997, the fifth anniversary of the opening of the sanctuary, and was given with love by the faithful of St. Paul’s in memory of Father George.

On March 27, 1997, Bishop Anthony of San Francisco formally announced his appointment of Father Steven Tsichlis as the pastor of St. Paul's, effective May 1st of that year.  Father Steve's initial concerns as pastor were twofold: to assist the people of St. Paul's in grieving the loss of Father George; and to articulate our direction and potential as a parish as we prepared to enter the 21st century. This latter process involved the parish council and over 50 lay leaders on a variety of committees ranging in scope from education and outreach to fundraising and building. Chaired by Ted Konopisos and working with Steve Tibbs, this 8-month process ultimately produced  Vision 21: Entering the 21st Century, a document that was unanimously approved by vote of the parish General Assembly on May 17, 1998. For the past 5 years, the vision outlined in this document has guided our efforts in continuing the iconography of our sanctuary, developing broader ministries, continuing the parish building program and defining our outreach to the larger community in Orange County.  

But changes in the staff at St. Paul’s continued as Father John Konugres was reassigned by Bishop Anthony to the Sts. Constantine & Helen parish in Vallejo, CA in August, 1998. On October 1, 1999 Father Timothy Robinson, a former Baptist and a recent graduate of Holy Cross Seminary, was assigned as the new assistant pastor of St. Paul’s.

On July 8, 1999, Mrs. Iris Callas, who had served as the secretary of the parish for more than 2 decades, died following a brief battle with cancer. She had been a tireless worker for St. Paul’s, affectionately known to many as “Mom” Callas. Prior to her entering the hospital for surgery Father Steve and Iris talked a great deal about her illness, the many changes that she expected it to bring to her life and even the possibility of her death. When discussing a possible successor, there were no doubts in her mind as to who that should be: Dorothea Hartford was the first and only name that crossed her lips. Dorothea, a member of St. Paul’s since 1991, became the administrator of the parish office in July 1999 and was soon joined by Joanne Petas, who had worked with Iris in the parish office from 1991 until 1996.

In October 1999, the official campaign to raise the funds necessary to complete the buildings and iconography according to the Vision 21 plan began. Chaired once again by Tom Mallos, and working with Church Fundraising Services, over $3,000,000 was pledged.  These funds have enabled both the expansion of the parish parking lot to accommodate a growing membership and the further continuation of the iconography in our sanctuary. The next mosaic installed by Mr. Tonelli is displayed above the main entrance to the Church and depicts the Apostle Paul standing in a boat to symbolize his missionary journeys across the Mediterranean Sea to preach the Good News of Jesus Christ throughout the ancient Roman world. With his right hand uplifted in a gesture of blessing, St. Paul holds an open scroll in his left hand that reads: “Make love your aim” (1 Corinthians 14:1). This magnificent mosaic of the patron saint of our parish was completed in time for Christmas Eve services, December 24, 1999.

The next mosaic to be installed fills the interior of the sanctuary dome and is a project that from design to installation took two and a half years to complete. Rising 60 feet above the floor of the Church and covering more than 2700 square feet, this depiction of Christ as “the Ruler of All” lines the 36 foot diameter dome with a scene from the Last Judgment drawn from both the Gospel of Matthew 25:31-46 and the Book of Revelation. Enthroned as “the king of glory” and surrounded by angels, Christ is depicted as the just and loving Judge at the Second Coming. Old Testament figures such as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Moses and Aaron are depicted in stained glass in the dome’s 24 windows; and New Testament figures such as the 12 apostles and the 4 evangelists – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John – line the base of the dome in mosaic. Finished in time for the feast of St. Paul on Sunday, October 29, 2000, this stunningly beautiful masterpiece of Christian art was unveiled to the public the following Friday and Saturday, November 1st and 2nd at two special concerts held in the Church. In conjunction with the Orange County Philharmonic Society’s Eclectic Orange Festival, St. Paul’s presented “Music for the End of Time,” featuring the Chilingirian String Quartet, the quartet-in-residence at the Royal College of Music in London, and the soaring voices of the Anonymous 4, in a North American premiere presentation of the famed British Orthodox mystic and composer John Tavener’s “The Bridegroom.”

This event was covered in both the Orange County Register

and the Los Angeles Times.

See the Photo Gallery of our Pantocrator Dome Iconography

Following the tradition of the New Testament concerning the commissioning of Sts. Paul and Barnabas as missionaries by the Church in Antioch, as recorded in Acts 12:24-13:3, St. Paul’s commissioned Anthony and Lara Callas as our missionaries to Albania on Sunday, April 1, 2001 where they worked for 2 years with Archbishop Anastasios Yiannoulatos in rebuilding a Church devastated by decades of communist persecution.

With a clear focus on the necessity of education, the Church School program directed by Eve and Steve Tibbs has continued to grow, with more than 200 children enrolled and a volunteer staff of 30. The Good Friday children’s retreat in April and the week-long Vacation Bible School program in August both attract more than 125 kids. For adults, there are currently 3 Bible studies, Orthodox Christianity 101, our catechumenate program, and a book club on prayer and Christian spirituality that is done ecumenically in conjunction with St. John Neumann’s Roman Catholic Church. Our parish library was officially opened on Sunday, October 7, 2001 with a special service of blessing and prayer conducted by His Grace, Bishop Kallistos Ware, the longtime professor of Eastern Orthodox studies at Oxford who was at St. Paul’s to conduct a two-day seminar on the practice of the Jesus Prayer. The parish library, organized by Patricia Zioga, now has some 2,000 volumes. Our parish bookstore, organized by Joanne Lorton, has greatly expanded over the last 5 years and in 2001 did more than $23,000 in sales.

There is so much more to say about our dynamic and multi-faceted parish in addition to what has been written here. This is just a glimpse into the life of our community, past and present. As we begin the 21st century, we at St. Paul’s are on a journey to build a vibrant, Christ-centered, Spirit-filled community of faith that serves as a witness to the love that God has for us all. Just as the Apostle Paul was called by a vision of the Risen Christ to become the Apostle to the Nations, so the vision of our parish is to share the Gospel of Christ with one and all. In order to make this vision a reality, each member of St. Paul's must make the words of the Apostle Paul their own:

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!"
(Philippians 4:13)