About Us

Our History & Heritage

From a small gathering of faithful families in Paterson to a vibrant Paramus parish, our story is one of faith carried forward across generations.

St. Athanasios Greek Orthodox Church

An enduring mission of faith

St. Athanasios was established on October 31, 1921, by a handful of immigrants who gathered in a small room over a restaurant on Market Street in Paterson, New Jersey. Together, they fostered and preserved the religious and cultural heritage of their native Greece.

As the community grew, generations of clergy and parishioners sacrificed with courage, faith, and conviction to build a parish that could meet the faithful's needs. Today, we are a proud, growing community of nearly 400 families.

Interior of St. Athanasios Greek Orthodox Church in Paramus — The present Byzantine church in Paramus, New Jersey.

Our journey

A century of building together

1921
A parish is born
A handful of Greek immigrants established the community on October 31 in a small room above a Market Street restaurant in Paterson.
1928
A place to grow
After purchasing land in Paterson in 1923, the parish laid the cornerstone for a larger church to serve its growing faithful.
1979
A new home in Paramus
The parish moved beside the Saddle River, building an educational complex and social center through the dedication of parishioners and donors.
1992
The Byzantine church opens
Following the 1989 groundbreaking, the doors of the present church opened on April 19, rededicated to St. Athanasios the Great.
2024
Consecration of the church
On October 6, 2024, His Eminence Metropolitan Apostolos of New Jersey consecrated our church, marking a historic milestone in the life of St. Athanasios.

Faith in action

A parish for every generation

Our mission is to carry the message of Christ and to teach our children the rich traditions of Orthodoxy and Hellenism. The legacy begun by pioneering Orthodox families continues to bear fruit in the life of our parish.

The parish offers Sunday Church School, Greek School, Bible Study and Catechism, Philoptochos, youth programs, choir and dance groups, senior ministries, visitations, and Diakonia Agapes, our parish food pantry.

“No generation alone builds a church; it is an ongoing mission of faith, linking generations past, present and future.”

Our priest

About Father Mataragas

Fr. Nikolaos Mataragas serves as the parish priest of St. Athanasios Greek Orthodox Church in Paramus, New Jersey.

Fr. Nikolaos Mataragas with Presvytera Arete and their child — Fr. Nikolaos Mataragas with Presvytera Arete and their family.

Fr. Nikolaos Mataragas was born and raised in Chicago, IL as the second of three children to Stefanos and Dionysia Mataragas. He grew up in the Metropolis of Chicago in the Southwest Suburbs of the city. Fr. Niko participated in the life of the Church ever since he was a young boy. His parents wasted little time to incorporate him into parish activities (i.e. altar boys, Sunday School, Greek School, etc.).

Since childhood, a serious, dignified and disciplined understanding of what it meant to both be an acolyte and an Orthodox Christian was instilled into Father. He then realized his vocation of becoming a clergyman when he visited Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, MA in 2001. However, it took him almost 14 years to see his vocation through, as he took a different path than what God laid out for him. Finally, in 2015, after confiding in his spiritual father about his vocation and obtaining the blessing from Metropolitan Iakovos (of blessed memory), he applied and was accepted to the seminary.

The miracle of God’s economy is truly great because within his first three years of the seminary, he met and married his wife, Presvytera Arete, and she gave birth to their first child, Stefanos Pavlos. On August 3rd 2019, he was ordained to the Holy Diaconate by His Eminence Metropolitan Nathanael of Chicago at his home parish, St. Spyridon in Palos Heights, IL. Then on August 24th, 2019, in front of the blessed faithful of Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in Waterbury, CT, Fr. Nikolaos was ordained to the Holy Priesthood by His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America. After spending 3 years serving the faithful of Holy Trinity in Waterbury, Father Nikolaos was assigned to serve at St. Athanasios in Paramus, NJ.

Parish council

Parish Council 2026

Elected from among the faithful, the Parish Council works alongside the clergy to steward the administrative and financial life of the community, supporting the ministries that carry our mission forward.

Executive Board