In 1983, some of the parishioners of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in San Jose asked His Grace, Bishop Anthony, to give his blessing to begin a Growth and Expansion Team for the area of south San Jose. This team, under the direction of the presiding priest of Saint Nicholas, the Reverend Father John Berris and his associate priests, the Reverend Father Paul Palesty and the Reverend Father Photios Pentikis, sought to amplify the reach of Orthodox Christianity to an ever-growing Silicon Valley.
In 1984, that Growth and Expansion Team acquired the legal designation of, “The Greek Orthodox Church of San Jose - Incorporated.”
In late 1985 this fledgling community purchased the property at 6430 Bose Lane in Almaden Valley from a fleeting Baptist congregation.
In 1986, His Grace, Bishop Anthony, granted us a charter designating us as a mission church. As part of that inaugural charter, he assigned Father John Bakas as part-time priest to lead its beginning efforts. At the time, Father Bakas was an assistant priest at a parish in Fresno, who was also instrumental in the creation of the Saint Nicholas Ranch Camp & Retreat Center in Dunlap CA. Under the strength of God’s grace, Father Bakas drove from Fresno every week to conduct the Divine Liturgy in San Jose and to inspire the faithful to fruitfulness. Father Bakas procured a cross from the Saint Nicholas Ranch Barn-Chapel and brought it to our new mission-parish in San Jose. Fr Bakas’ go-to man, Floyd Pettis, installed the cross above the front entrance of the Church. That cross remained there until 2017, when due to years of wood-decay, it finally had to be replaced with a new wood replica for safety reasons. Reflecting the spirit of this new mission effort, a window with an etching of the Archangel Gabriel’s Annunciation of the Good News of Jesus Christ to Mary was also acquired from Saint Nicholas Ranch and installed in our sanctuary, behind the altar. That etched window of the Annunciation was later moved to the space above the front doors of the Church, to continually remind us, as we enter and exit the Church, of our God-given task…the proclamation of the Good News of Jesus Christ. These were exhilarating times in the life of our parish, as people united together to forage for items to turn what once was a Baptist church building into a place that could facilitate Orthodox Christian worship. Inspired by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, some of the same people who helped build Saint Nicholas Ranch also helped build Saint Basil. The brothers, Glen & Harry Barlas (whom everyone lovingly called the Wood Chucks), attentively built our parish’s original iconostasis. Later in 1986, His Grace, Bishop Anthony, finally gave us our name and our parish’s patron, Saint Basil the Great Greek Orthodox Church.
In 1988, since we had grown to about 50 families by this point and began demonstrating some stability, Saint Basil Church also finally received its first full time priest, Archimandrite Father Michael Rymer.
In 1990 an important milestone occurred when Father Konstantine Mendrinos became our presiding priest, offering our parish some much needed intensity and enthusiasm for growth. He would go on to fruitfully serve our community for the next fifteen years.
By the early nineties the Parish Council, under the leadership of president Mark Judge, began to intensify the vitality of our parish’s stewardship ministry, inspiring parishioners to use creative strategies for thankful offering…in the spirit of God’s generosity. With the imaginative help of Tony Pettis and his company, Ace Mortgage, a lending fee rebate plan was offered, whereby Saint Basil parish would receive money when parishioners refinanced their home loans. By the grace of God, timely bequests from friends and gifts of stock, as well as other innovative ideas, the parish was empowered to meet its obligations and move forward with its programs.
In 1995, to create a more appropriate environment for Orthodox worship, and to better facilitate a growing Sunday school and other developing ministries, significant remodeling and refurbishment of our Sanctuary and Community Hall was begun. Church architect, Chris Kamagas, was commissioned to redesign all of it. Funding for the project was provided by parishioner George Elliot and the faithful of St. Basil. Mr. Elliot volunteered countless hours managing this ambitious project. Cleo Constantine and Tula Kasnestis worked with George to bring the renovation to completion. Father Konstantine Mendrinos continued to lead our parish in building and creating missions programs, outreach, youth ministries and stewardship. He was especially adept at leading the parish in developing meaningful relationships with surrounding Almaden residents and in drawing them beautifully to Saint Basil Church and to the mystery of the Heavenly Kingdom. By 1998, through Father Mendrinos’ unique skills and the grace of the Holy Spirit, the St. Basil community had grown to comprise around 120 faithful families.
In 2005, we welcomed Father Gregory Koo and his family. Father Gregory and his family expanded our parish’s vision for outreach and foreign missions. A very important event under Father Gregory’s leadership is when our parish received its own Holy Relic of Saint Basil the Great on January 29, 2010. This joyful experience introduced our parish towards a more intimate relationship with our patron saint, Basil, putting us on the road toward learning about the distinctive type of domestic outreach and evangelism to which he was so committed. One special guest of honor at this monumental event was Missionary Sister Nektaria, from Calcutta India, who administrates the Orthodox Orphanage there that our parish helps support. Father Gregory Koo and Presvytera Lisa, lead us for 10 years, nurturing and guiding our parish through stormy seas as well as many joyous times.
In September of 2015 we welcomed the preschool “Safari Kids” to our property. This turned out to be an important step in developing our parish’s economic stability and our emergent fulfillment of God’s caring ministry to the people of San Jose. This fortuitous relationship with “Safari Kids” would not have been possible were it not for the amazing efforts of Tony Pettis and Brian Pettis.
In December of 2015, we welcomed Father Gabriel-Allan Boyd to Saint Basil Church. He was assigned to us from Saint Sophia Cathedral in Los Angeles. This represented our parish’s history coming full circle, as Father Boyd had been ordained under the tutelage of Fr John Bakas who helped to start our parish. Father Boyd immediately set about to having repairs made on the church-building, including remodeling the cry room to accommodate new, young families coming to the parish and installing lighting in the back parking lot, to enhance parishioners’ safety. Because the outside of the Church building was suffering wood-decay, efforts were made to have it all repaired and painted. Soon, Father Boyd also led the parish council through the process of defining our new mission statement, “BE disciples, MAKE disciples, and GROW disciples of Jesus Christ.” As well, Father Boyd began teaching a weekly class called, “The WHYs of Orthodox Christianity,” where parishioners and “seekers” are learning why we Orthodox believe what we believe, and why we do what we do. This longstanding family education class has consistently grown in popularity, with an enthusiastic following who say they actually look forward to the class each week.
In 2016, St. Basil celebrated its 30th anniversary. In a greeting given by our founding priest, Father John Bakas, he reminisced about the way some early parishioners helped to make Saint Basil Church’s first altar using the large trunk of a three-branched fig tree as its base. That fig tree foundation stood as a healthy reminder of the fig tree in Matthew 21:18-22, which Christ used to illustrate to His disciples the importance of bearing-forth fruit. When the fig tree that Christ encountered didn’t bear fruit for Him, our Lord caused it to wither. Likewise, from that very first altar, our parish was also created to bear fruit. From the gifts received at the altar, we are called to bear them forth as the fruit of Christ into the world, “through us to all Your people,” and “on behalf of all and for all.” Father John Bakas went on to remind us how important it is for us to understand why we are here…to proclaim the Gospel message of Jesus Christ as He taught it to the Church. Fr John further energized us with the reminder that the main mission of the Church is for us to be witnesses of Christ’s Gospel by way of our Christian living…and then to bring others to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. He encouraged us to grow, not for the mere sake of growth, but for the sake of God’s Kingdom being made manifest in ourselves and in a dark world yearning so desperately for such light.
In late 2017, it became evident that facilitating the future ministries of Saint Basil would require a new remodeling of the parish hall. Accordion-door room-dividers that were once necessary to enable a burgeoning Sunday School ministry more than 20 years ago, were now in fact, no longer necessary, due to the construction of the school facility in back. Now, those room dividers had become obtrusive, encumbering the use of the hall for ministries now being developed. A rejuvenation project was embarked upon to create an open floor plan, to set tools in place for an updated multi-media teaching and presentation ministry, to adorn more purposefully befitting our mission, and to update the space with cordial warmth.
