Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church

Elite '08

87

207

Kimberly V.

Portland, OR

Based on my wildly haphazard findings, I would be a great practitioner of Greek Orthodox. According to the tour guide in Athens, the church doesn't care how often you attend services. There's no whispering about your drinking habits behind hymn books. After all, their mythical grandpa is Dionysus. Parts of the services are conducted in that wonderful, building block language with all the staccato consonants strung together to sound like an old freighter clanking along the tracks. Heck, you don't even have to be Greek to join. Plus, the hope that fellow parishioners could bring homemade baklava makes my mouth dance.

But mainly, I'm enamored with the building. It sits near the edge of the Laurelhurst pillars on Glisan, almost defiant with its mottled bricks and tall narrow windows among the pastel paints and luxury sedans. It reminds me that there are many ways to be stately. And I won't lie - I didn't know a thing about the church until the Greek Festival, held annually at the tail end of summer. For three days, Laurelhurst residents and visitors watch folk dances, wolf down cheap gyros, and wash it down with rivers of booze under a sign that warns, "No Alcohol Permitted Off Church Grounds." Any establishment that helps the community celebrate the swan song of the warm season in such a loud, generous manner deserves some praise. I'd be in over my head to show my affection in the grand style of Sophocles or Homer. So, simply put: Laurelhurst needs Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox. Keep partying like the Greeks of old.

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