New Greek Cultural Center

    The Greek Orthodox Church of the Hamptons will celebrate the completion of the Johnides Family Cultural Center on Sunday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and blessing by Bishop Andonios Paropoulos, chancellor of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.

    The cultural center, funded by a gift from Coula Johnides, who ran the Old Stove Pub in Sagaponack for many years with her siblings, is one of three new buildings that the congregation has finished or is in the process of completing to house church programs and serve the broader community. Also under construction are the Dormition of the Virgin Mary Sanctuary and the Nicholas S. Zoullas Hellenic Center.

    Ms. Johnides committed $1 million to the center and also established the Johnides Family Foundation to fund educational programs, provide scholarships, develop cultural and religious programs, and “advance Hellenism and Orthodoxy on the East End,” as well as to aid in the upkeep and maintenance of the cultural center named for her family.

    “With the Johnides Family Cultural Center, we will be able to improve these ministries and we will be able to offer exciting new ministries for the enrichment of our members and for the enrichment of the broader East End community,” the Rev. Alex Karloutsos said in a release. “Coula, along with all of our supporters, has opened up a new horizon of possibility for us.”

    The center has seven classrooms, a recreation room for youth, a conference room, administrative offices, a library, and a kitchen. With the additional space, the church plans to expand its language and cultural institute to offer instruction in Russian and Romanian in addition to Greek, and to offer a summer Bible camp as well as additional adult programming.

    The ribbon-cutting on Sunday will follow 10 a.m. services at about 11:30  and is open to the public. The church is on St. Andrew’s Road in Southampton.