FATHER GEORGE LIACOPULOS
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Our parish priest, Father George Liacopulos, was born in Boston, Massachusetts on April 1, 1961. He grew up in Marlboro, MA and also spent a considerable amount of his childhood in Baltimore, Maryland.
In 1979, Father George graduated from Marlboro High School and in 1983 he completed his B.A. with a major in Religion at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. He also took many classes in the fields of Philosophy, Psychology, History, Anthropology, Sociology, and Greek Studies.
In 1986, he received his Master of Divinity Degree at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, Massachusetts. During these years, he became president of the School’s Mission Society, thus inspiring his ongoing love and support of the missionary work done by our Church.
For the next two years, Father George served as a lay assistant at the Assumption Cathedral in Denver, Colorado under Father Christopher Metropoulos.
In the fall of 1988, our priest traveled back east to begin his doctoral studies at Princeton Theological Seminary. In June of 1996, he successfully defended his dissertation and received his Ph.D. in the field of Mission, Ecumenics, and the History of Religion. His dissertation is titled: “A Comparative Study of Selected Orthodox Missiological Approaches Emerging in Contemporary American Society.”
In 1991-1993, he served as the lay assistant at St. Luke Church in Broomall, Pennsylvania under Father George Gregory.
During this time, he met his wife, Voula Doulis, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The couple was married at St. George Cathedral on August 22, 1993.
Father’s first assignment as a second priest was at St. George Cathedral in Philadelphia, PA under Father Demetrios Katerlis.
In August of 1995, Father and Presvytera Voula arrived here in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey to serve our parish. Over the years, they have been deeply appreciative of the love and fellowship that they have enjoyed with the many faithful here at Holy Trinity.
In 1990, Father George became the co-founder of the Society for the Study of Eastern Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism. This organization hosted ecumenical dialogues between Orthodox and Evangelical theologians for twelve years.
In 1992, Father George became and continues to be a board member of the Orthodox Christian Mission Center. He has served as board president for six years, secretary for several years, and has served on the executive committee, the nominations committee, and the strategic plan committee of the organization. During these years, he has been blessed with the opportunity to lead a mission team to Korea, two teams to Mexico, and one team to Alaska.
In 2000, our priest’s first book, Lights of the Modern World: Orthodox Christian Mission and Evangelism in the United States, was published. In 2007, he edited a major volume in honor of the Reverend Doctor Demetrios Constantelos. This Festschrift is titled Church and Society: Orthodox Christian Perspectives, Past Experiences, and Modern Challenges, Studies in Honor of Demetrios J. Constantelos. Over the years, Father has written other articles that have been published for academic and popular journals.
In the past, Father George was blessed with the opportunity to teach classes on Orthodox Christian Mission and Evangelism at St Vladimir’s Seminary and at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology. For several years, he also offered a course on Early Christianity at Richard Stockton College in Pomona, New Jersey.
As a priest of the Metropolis of New Jersey, Father George has served on the Metropolitan Council, as youth commissioner of the Delaware Valley Youth Commission, on the regional divorce tribunal, as an annual priest-counselor at Camp Good Shepherd, and he is currently the vicar of the Delaware Valley.
Father George and Presvytera Voula are most thankful for their growing family. Their son Peter is married to Eleni, and they have a young son named George. Their son John is living and working in Chicago.