LYNN — In his last month leading the St. George Greek Orthodox Church, Father George Tsoukalas reflected on his more than 50-year standing as a religious leader, and his lifelong motivation to spread love and community to anyone who stepped foot in his church.
In an interview with The Item Wednesday afternoon, Fr. Tsoukalas spoke about his upbringing and how it sparked a life of humble service.
Fr. Tsoukalas, 79, was born in Lowell in the Fall of 1942. He said that growing up poor not only gave him and his family strength, but instilled in him a sense of obligation to help others.
“There were days we didn’t have food to eat. But my mom would give me a quarter and then go off to the bakery to get a day old bread and come home with it and cut it up into various pieces, put some water and tea bags and sugar and cinnamon on it, and put it in the oven to warm it up. And that would be our meal. It was tough, but it made us stronger. We all slept in one bedroom, four of us,” Fr. Tsoukalas said. “We didn’t have food to eat. Christmas, Easter, we didn’t have food to eat. I didn’t have shoes to go to school. There were holes in my shoes, it was cold, and I didn’t have clothes. So those commandments of God: feed the hungry, feed the poor, feed the sick, visit the sick, all those things meant something to me in my life because I witnessed them I lifted and I dedicated my life to serving God whom I loved from a young age.”
After graduating from Lowell High School in 1960, Fr. Tsoukalas went on to seminary school at the Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, where he would study theology for six years, and meet his wife, Francine.
“From there, my life changed immensely,” Fr. Tsoukalas said. “I found a lovely, lovely person to get married to […] my wife Francine, from Brockton, we met in Brockton, at a social in the Greek church with 16 other seminarians. We went out one night and it was a junior social for young women and boys and girls from the community. And so we attended that and I met her and from the very very beginning, I knew this was my wife-to-be.”
In the summer of ‘66, only a few months after his wedding, Fr. Tsoukalas was ordained a priest by Archbishop Iakovos in New York. As a minister at the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary Church in Woburn, he said that he was finally able to start some of the programs that he envisioned, holding Christmas parties for the elderly, and making and delivering food baskets for those in need during the holidays.
In the winter of 1996, Fr. Tsoukalas started his career at the St. George’s Greek Orthodox Church, allowing him to begin working on a number of programs to serve the Lynn community. He said that he was excited to join a church named after his patron saint, Saint George.
“We have our language program, we have our church school program, our Sunday school program, we have recreation programs, and other youth programs related. And so we’ve worked diligently with the church leaders here and the lay leaders to promote all these programs and caring sharing programs in this city. And so now, for the past 26 years, we have been here every year [at] Thanksgiving bringing food baskets to about 50 elderly families provided to us by the senior services, and the social concerns of the city,” Fr. Tsoukalas said. “We help single parents, we have adopted a couple of the halfway houses in the city, […] whatever their needs, whenever that comes up, we help them.”
On Oct. 2, three days before his eightieth birthday, Fr. Tsoukalas will retire, leaving a leadership position at the church he’s led for 26 years to spend time with his four grandchildren — and he noted a fifth is on the way.
“It’s time for me to sit back and enjoy some time with my family and try to catch up with my grandchildren, [try to] keep up with them, although difficult because they’re faster than I am. But they’re adorable, and they are the love of my life,” he said. “It’ll be mixed emotions for me, but everything has its time and place for everything. And it’s time for me to sit back and enjoy life and the fruits of my labor and turn it over, turn the helm of the parish and the pastor to new priests that all come with vigor, and accept the challenges and bring the church to another level.”
When asked about his dedication to helping others, Fr. Tsoukalas said that the trick is to spread love and help others without seeking recognition or praise.
“The left hand should not know what the right hand is doing. So you do these things and provide the things that are necessary without fanfare, without recognition,” he said. “I always did what I did in the best interests of the church, in the community. You know, we’re not in the role of needing a fanclub.”
Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at [email protected]
