The need of a parish is consistent with the faith, trust, and discipline of the church and this is very essential. November 6th 1988 marks the birth of our parish in conjunction with the feast of St. Gregorios of Parumala. Let us all give praise for the mercy and grace that we received from our Lord and our God.
Rev. Dr K. K. Kuriakose was the first vicar and president of our parish. Fr. Kuriakose celebrated the first Holy Qurbana at Zion Church, White Plains New York on November 6th 1988. The first secretary of our parish was Mr. Joy Kuriakose and the treasurer was Mr. Cherian Pooppallil. Considering the convenience of the parishioners, the parish was moved to Macedonia Community Center in Mount Vernon on March 16th 1989. His Grace Dr. Thomas Mar Makarios then the Metropolitan of the American Diocese) visited the parish on June 4th 1989, for the very first time and celebrated Holy Qurbana. Rev. Fr. Ninan T. Easo was appointed as the vicar and president of this parish by the Metropolitan of the American Diocese, His Grace Mathews Mar Barnabas vide kalpana number K6/96 dated January 16, 1996.
It was inevitable for our parish to find a suitable place of worship to accommodate the growing number of faithful worshippers. By the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, the parish was moved from Mount Vernon to the present location 42 Parkhill Ave., Yonkers in Oct. 1996. After continuous prayer, we finally established a permanent place for worship in 2009. A general body meeting was held on March 22nd 2009 which elected a building committee for the purpose of helping the managing committee for the purchase of the church building. Mr. Cherian Poopallil was elected as the building committee convener. By the grace of God we purchased the existing church from united Methodist church NY for an amount of $760,000.00 on October 1st, 2009 for the Malankara Orthodox church. By God’s grace and by the intercession of St. Gregorios Parumala, our dreams were fulfilled to renovate our church and madbaha. The divine surface of consecration was conducted in two parts. The first part was celebrated on Friday, October 10th and the second part on Saturday October 11th, 2014. The chief celebrant was our Diocesan, metropolitan Dr Zacharia Mar Nicholovas, assisted by a large number of priests, deacons and seminary students. God continued to bless us and we were able to purchase a parking lot on 181 Waverly street, 10701 that is able to accommodate around 40 vehicles.
After a long period of discussions and prayers, our vision of growing in numbers became a reality. On September 4th 2015, St. Gregorios Orthodox Church Parkhill merged with St. Gregorios Orthodox Church, Underhill, which was easily the biggest thing we have ever done. God blessed us abundantly with a healthy, growing, and vibrant congregation.