St. John the Evangelist Orthodox Chapel
Welcome to St. John the Evangelist Orthodox Chapel
Pittstown, NJ 08867 .:. Hunterdon County, New Jersey
(908) 367-7393
Welcome, and thank you for visiting our page! St. John the Evangelist Orthodox Chapel is a small, growing community that strives to worship God in the fullness of the ancient, patristic Orthodox tradition. As members of our diocese (Greek Orthodox Missionary Archdiocese of America G.O.C.), we hold to the unbroken practice and the traditional calendar of the Church Fathers.
Following the example of our patron, the beloved disciple, we try to live by the two great commandments Christ gave us: to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind,” and to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37, 39, NKJV). We take His harder command seriously as well: to “love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you“ (Matthew 5:44, NKJV). Our prayer is to grow into the kind of community described in Acts chapter 2, where the believers “continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers” (Acts 2:42, NKJV). In that same spirit, we strive to serve our surrounding community in love. As St. John Chrysostom reminds us, prayer offered together carries a strength that prayer offered alone cannot: “where there is a multitude… there is the union of minds, the accord of souls, the bond of charity, and the prayers of the priests.”
Our services are currently celebrated primarily in English, with Greek incorporated as needed, and we look forward, God willing, to weaving Spanish-language hymns and prayers into our worship as our community grows.
Because we currently meet in a home, we don’t publicly list our weekly service times. Please call or email us, and we’d be glad to welcome you and let you know when we’ll gather next.
Our Priest: V. Rev. Fr. Vasilios Avramidis
Fr. Vasilios Avramidis was ordained to the holy priesthood in 2010 by Archbishop Michael (Kampourellis) of America. He currently serves under the omophorion of Metropolitan Lazarus of Vermont.
Before marriage, Fr. Vasilios lived at the Monastery of St. Nectarios in Brimfield, Massachusetts, for a short time, where his life of prayer and formation for the priesthood took root. He was the spiritual son of Metropolitan Theophil of Vermont of blessed memory.
Fr. Vasilios holds a background in Fine Arts from Raritan Valley Community College, a Bachelor of Visual Studies from SUNY, and a Diploma in Theology from St. Elias Orthodox Seminary.
Trained in the sacred art of Byzantine iconography, Fr. Vasilios has been awarded two grants from the New Jersey Council on the Arts, and an icon of St. Elias the Prophet from his hand was exhibited at the New Jersey State Museum in Trenton. He continues to teach iconography in his home studio, passing on this ancient craft to new students. Alongside his artistic and theological work, he has also studied herbal medicine and now teaches it professionally. He leads a theology and apologetics discussion group for students at Princeton University. He previously ran the same club at Rutgers University.
Above all, Fr. Vasilios desires to help build a community of faithful Orthodox Christians who help one another through difficult times and celebrate joyous moments together. He often points to the wisdom of Ecclesiastes: “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10, NKJV) — a fitting picture of the kind of community he hopes to nurture, where no one walks the road of faith alone..
Fr. Vasilios is married to Presbytera Jana, and the two reside on a small rural property in Pittstown, New Jersey, with their two potbellied pigs and a flock of guinea hens.
