About our Parish

Size of Saint Anthony Parish: 150 Stewardship Households (approx. 400 souls)

Founded : May, 1962

Our Community

Eastern Orthodox Christians have been in Northern Nevada since the late 1800’s, coming to work in the copper mining industry. Greeks have probably been in the Reno area since the early 1900’s.

Reno is Nevada’s second largest city.

The Reno area has become a melting pot for diverse ethnic groups, a feature that shows up also in St. Anthony Parish. Although the core group is Greek, the Parish also has Orthodox Christians of Russian, Romanian, Serbian, Ethiopian, Albanian, Bulgarian, Ukranian, Czech, Syrian, Armenian and Lebanese descent. In addition, the Parish is home to many converts to the Orthodox Faith, adding to the multi-ethnic makeup of the Parish.

During the Divine Liturgy, the Priest’s parts are all offered in English with the choir responding in Greek with some English responses.

Brief History

Orthodox Christians have, as noted above, been in the Reno area since the early 1900’s. Visiting priests from all over the West and many Orthodox jurisdictions would come or “stop by” to celebrate the Divine Liturgy, marry couples or baptize children. When deaths occurred, a Priest was called in to conduct the Funeral services.

In the early years of the Parish, the “Knights of Pythias” hall was used for Divine Liturgies. For weddings and baptisms, Trinity Episcopal Church was used. Funerals were usually conducted in the chapels of the funeral homes.

Around the year 1960, the AHEPA (American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association) had purchased a one acre parcel of land in southwest Reno (which was eventually to become one of the most prestigious areas of Reno) to build an AHEPA hall. The AHEPA gave the land to establish a Greek Orthodox community. Shortly thereafter, a church building and small hall were built and the Greek Orthodox Church of Reno became a reality. Because, at that time, there was no Diocesan architectural committee and because funds were limited, an “A” frame style of church was built. This came to fruition because a handful of dedicated Greek Orthodox Christians were willing to financially extend themselves and sacrifice in order to build the Church and small hall as it stands today.

The church received her name from the late Pete Cladianos Sr., who chose the name Saint Anthony, the patron saint of his beloved wife, Antonia. The church seats approximately 200 people.

Approximately 15 years later, another 1 acre parcel of land was acquired. But in 1980, a small fire occurred in the small hall and it blackened the church and hall. Fortunately, neither the church nor the hall were destroyed, although a great deal of smoke damage took place. This fire caused everyone to work for a new large hall, which was built in 1982 and dedicated in 1983. It must be noted that at that time, Bishop Anthony of blessed memory, was extremely instrumental in helping the Saint Anthony Parish deal with the insurance situation. With his blessing, the large 6400 square foot hall ultimately became a reality, and was dedicated to the memory of Pete Cladianos Sr. in January of 1983.

Parishioners of Saint Anthony have distinguished themselves in all professions, businesses, the education field and in all aspects of life in the Greater Reno, Sparks and Carson City area.

As with most other parishes of the Metropolis, Saint Anthony Parish holds an annual Greek Festival on the church grounds, with over 4000 attendees each year.

Organizations of the Parish

-9 Member Parish Council with men and women representing an excellent cross-section of the parish.

-20 Member Choir under the direction of Popi Anastassatos, Choir Director for almost 35+ years.

-Sunday School for children ranging in age from toddlers to junior high school.

-Philoptochos Society with 50 members.

-Order of AHEPA with 50 members.

-Daughters of Penelope with 45 members.

The Parish is primarily funded by the Stewardship Program, however, at the present time the Greek Festival is also used to supplement these funds for operating expenses.

Over the years, Saint Anthony has been served by four full time Priests. The first full time priest of the Parish was Fr. John Merkouris, who remained with the parish until 1971. Fr. George Bratiotis served the parish from 1971 through 1974. Fr. John Kallimanis served from 1974 through 1980, and again Fr. George Bratiotis, served from 1980 through 2010, having recently retired. The current priest is Fr. Stephen Karcher.

About our Priest

Fr. Stephen Karcher was born in Santa Monica, CA, the oldest of four sons to Robert and Carol Karcher, who were of German and English-Scotch-Irish descent.  In 1971 they moved to Mission Viejo, in South Orange County, California. There he grew up playing consecutive seasons of football, baseball, surfing and bicycling until his graduation from high school in 1982.  His religious experience throughout his youth entailed a rather nominal evangelical-protestant upbringing. 

After high school, he attended UC Irvine, majoring in Classical Greek and Latin.  His desire to study Greek was to be able to read the New Testament in its original language.  In 1984, he took part in a summer mission project to Panama with Campus Crusade for Christ, an evangelical para-church organization. It was also during this period that Fr. Stephen became spiritually restless in Protestantism, longing to find Christianity’s deeper roots. This search led him to the historic Orthodox Church, where he found a deep spirituality, sincere and powerful prayer, wisdom, consistency in scriptural interpretation and a regular and true way of worship. In the mid-eighties he became an Orthodox Christian, and in 1987 along with 2,000 other former Evangelical Christians he entered the Antiochian Archdiocese.

The following year, in 1988, Fr. Stephen graduated from UCI with a degree in Classics and moved to Northern California. During that same summer, he and his wife, Olga, were married in the Santa Cruz Mountains at SS. Peter and Paul Orthodox Church with 700 guests. They had met a few years earlier while attending a retreat for Orthodox college students, and then dated long distance with lots of loving correspondence and big phone bills. For the next nine years, they made their home in the Santa Cruz Mountains and his work included everything from bakery route sales and food catering to teaching high school Latin and purchasing & sales of computer equipment. 

It had always been his dream to further study in Greece, a dream shared by Olga. When an opportunity presented itself in 1997, they sold their home in Northern California, and moved with their three children (at that time) to Thessaloniki, Greece. There Fr. Stephen attended the Pastoral Theology School of Aristotle University after completing the Modern Greek language school. Two more children were born in Thessaloniki and the five years they spent in Greece were some of their fondest.

While living in Greece they made many close friends, khoumbari (godparents to their children), and happily immersed themselves in Greek culture and language. They were blessed to be able to make pilgrimages to holy places like the island of Patmos and visit the monasteries of Mt. Athos, Meteora, St. John the Evangelist in Souroti, and the Annunciation in Ormylia. They regularly attended church in Thessaloniki at St.Haralambos, a dependency of the monastery of Simonopetra on Mt.Athos, and enjoyed the spiritual guidance of Fr. Athanasios Gikas. They experienced as much as they could the life of the Church and the rich Christian heritage that exists in Greece.

Fr. Stephen graduated with a pastoral theological degree in the autumn of 2002, and having been solicited for ordination by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem and its representative in America, was ordained to the priesthood in the ancient Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem on October 24, 2002. His first liturgies were served in the Holy Land at the Church of the Dormition of the Theotokos in Gethsemane and then at the ancient Lavra of St. Savvas.

Upon returning to America, he was briefly assigned to the St. George Church in San Francisco as an assistant priest. In  June 2003, Fr. Stephen was sent to a mission parish in Escondido, California, that served a handful of Palestinian families. During that time he also became a Certified Notary Public, did substitute teaching while pursuing a California teaching credential, and worked on Greek-to-English translations.  Eventually, due to a lack of financial support, that mission was officially closed.  

After some time, Fr. Stephen was released to serve in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America and was assigned to be assistant priest at St. Paul's Greek Orthodox Church, in Irvine, CA, from 2006 to 2010.  While in Irvine, Fr.Stephen and Olga had their last child, Joseph, who rounded out their large family consisting of five boys and two girls, (Theodore, Alexander, Christiana, Sava, Athanasios and Eleni), born between 1989 and 2007.

During his years in Irvine, Fr. Stephen was fortunate to participate in the vibrant ministry of that dynamic parish, and especially in a mission trip to Tanzania in Africa where he helped build an Orthodox church with other members of St. Paul's. About this experience, Fr. Stephen wrote:    

During my short trip to Tanzania… I had the awesome experience of witnessing first hand a vibrant apostolic ministry. Putting aside for a moment the obvious cultural differences, variations in climate, clothing, diet, modes of travel, etc., I would have to say that the greatest impression I’ve been left with is the powerful hand of God working through the bishop, his priests and staff as we saw how they minister selflessly to the Tanzanian people, devoted to the work of God and their fellow countrymen. For me, the time spent working with and witnessing the work of His Grace, Bishop Jeronymos of the Bukoba Diocese in Tanzania was almost as if I had stepped into the New Testament book of Acts…. (Read the whole article at http://www.stpaulsirvine.org/lessons_from_tanzania.pdf ) 

In December of 2010, Fr. Stephen was assigned to be Proistamenos (Pastor) of Saint Anthony Greek Orthodox Church in Reno, Nevada.

About our Saint

Saint Anthony is commemorated each year on January 17