User:Lambrini Papangelis/Mark Petrakis

Mark Petrakis

The Rev. Mark Petrakis (1885-1951) was a Greek Orthodox priest in Chicago from 1923-1951, as well as the husband of Stella Petrakis and the author Harry Mark Petrakis. The name of his parish was Sts. Constantine & Helen Greek Orthodox Church.

Early years as priest

Fr. Mark was from the village of Villandreou, situated in the mountains above the city of Rethymnon in Crete. It was in Rethymnon that he studied to be a Greek Orthodox priest. The Bishop of Rethymnon introduced him to his future wife, the 17-year-old Stella Christoulakis. Stella would later say, “He was tall and very thin...but he was very polite and had sensitive eyes." They became engaged that same evening, and, after their marriage in 1908, Fr. Mark was ordained. While still in Crete, they had the first four of their six children (Dan, Barbara, Manuel, and Tasula). One of their sons, who would become the Chicago novelist and storyteller Harry Mark Petrakis, later wrote:

I have in my possession a faded, treasured photograph taken of my family in Crete about the time they began their journey to America. My father wears a tall, black stovepipe hat common to Greek Orthodox priests of the period, a long, black cassock mantling him from throat to ankles. My mother, a small comely woman with thick, long hair braided and then tied up in a bun, stands beside him. My two brothers and two sisters, ranging in age from six to twelve, cluster around them. --Tales of the Heart, p. 217

The family set sail for America, landing at Ellis Island in 1916. Fr. Mark’s first assignment was to plant a Greek Orthodox church in Price, Utah, where there was a coal mining community manned by Cretan immigrants who lacked a priest. The Utah days would later be fictionalized by Harry Mark in his novel Days of Vengeance. Fr. Mark and the family would stay in Utah for two years. The next parish Fr. Mark was sent to pastor was in Savannah, Georgia, where the family remained for three years. He was then transferred to St. Louis, Missouri, where Harry Mark was born in 1923. The family then moved to Chicago.

Chicago years

The majority of Fr. Mark’s years as a priest were spent at Sts. Constantine & Helen Greek Orthodox Church, located at 61st Street and South Michigan Avenue on Chicago’s South Side. Arriving in 1923, he served there for 28 years. Sadly, some years before the end of his tenure at Sts. Constantine & Helen, there occurred some dissension in the parish as to whether he would be allowed to continue as priest. Members of the Board of Trustees complained that he was not raising funds for a new church building with enough energy. He replied that the years of labor had taken their toll, that he suffered from diabetes and hypertension, and that in his entire time there as priest he had never taken a vacation. He asked for, and received, a year’s leave of absence to regain his health. Friends warned him: some members of the Board of Trustees were hoping he would never return. He went away for a year, to California, which reminded him of Crete and of which he wrote lovingly in letters to his family:

“In all my life I have never experienced a lovelier and healthier climate. The sun burns as if it were the middle of July instead of March. The sky is as blue as the sky over Greece I have not seen for so many years but can still remember. We are 3000 feet above sea level and surrounded by mountains. There are no flies, no dust, no clouds or storms. Only a clean breeze that blows into the spirit and purifies me. O I cannot tell you how lovely it is here and how much better it makes me feel.” --Fr. Mark Petrakis, quoted in Stelmark, p. 141

Only two months into his sick leave, friends notified him that another priest had already been selected. After the year was up, he returned to his church, but the new priest was already conducting services. Fr. Mark was determined to retain his parish and position as priest. He told his family, “I want my justice. If I do not have the strength or health I had once, neither am I worthless.” Nevertheless, in January of 1951, an official letter arrived from the Board of Trustees informing him that his duties and responsibilities as Rector had been terminated. Fr. Mark fell ill the very next month. His doctors feared pneumonia and admitted him to Woodlawn Hospital in Chicago. He stayed there for three months, growing emaciated. His son Harry Mark later wrote, “Yet, his anger and bitterness burned away, as well, until by the end he radiated an awesome tranquillity and calm acceptance at the imminence of death.” Harry Mark promised him that after he was well, the family would move to California, and the prospect seemed to please him. But before they could make the move, Fr. Mark died one night, in his sleep, on May 31, 1951. He lay in state for three days at his old church. He was 65 years old.

Further reading

1. Petrakis, Harry Mark. Stelmark: A Family Recollection. New York: David McKay, 1970.
2. Petrakis, Harry Mark. Reflections: A Writer’s Life, A Writer’s Work. Chicago: Lake View Press, c1983, c1970.
3. Petrakis, Harry Mark. Tales of the Heart: Dreams and Memories of a Lifetime. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee, 1999.
4. Petrakis, Harry Mark. Song of My Life (forthcoming, 2014).