Zembillas spent seven years in Oxford, including two years as a deacon, the first step toward priesthood. While Greek Orthodox priests can marry, they must remain celibate if they are unmarried at the time of ordination. In 1995 Zembillas, then single, was ordained a priest and assigned to a parish in Kalamazoo, Mich. Two years later, he moved to a parish in Merrick, N.Y., on Long Island. All those years after Mick and the Malignants and The Glass Menagerie, Zembillas once again found himself at center stage.

"It isn't the script I would have written for my life," he admitted. "I think for all my performing background, I really felt rather reticent about being a community leader, the shepherd of a flock. It really felt like too big a thing for me."

But Zembillas has grown into the role. As in years past, he speaks with quiet passion of the tenets of the Greek Orthodox faith and its emphasis on leading a life "transparent" to God's divine purpose, its rejection of any polarization of body and spirit. But Zembillas's duties go beyond abstract theological matters. He blesses babies, performs weddings. He delivers eulogies at funerals and sermons in both English and Greek. He blessed 170 homes in January and February. "A typical Sunday morning service for me is three and a half hours. I mean, people can drift in toward the end if they like, but I'm up there chanting for three and a half hours. And in Holy Week, the week leading up to Easter, the deeper you get into the week the more demanding the services become. I mean, Holy Friday–you're just in church from morning to night. Till late at night."

And then last year the new archbishop looked around for a chancellor for the 1.5 million-member church and chose Zembillas. He was surprised; friends from his past are not. "He was going to be great at whatever he did," said Steve Kirstein '80, keyboard player in the Malignants and now an Internet marketing manager.

The new administration was put in place at a time of contention in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. The previous leader of the church in America, Archbishop Spyridon, was ousted amid charges that he was autocratic and didn't understand Greek Orthodox culture in America. Archbishop Demetrios–and his chancellor, Zembillas–represent a new Greek Orthodox Church of America. Kinder, gentler and, in Zembillas's case, well loved.

"Is no words to express how the whole parish feels about Father Savas," said Peter Loucas, a service station owner and president of St. Demetrios parish in Merrick. "Getting his new post in the Archdiocese, it is heartbreaking for everyone."

Loucas said it was time for Father Savas to move on because he's both educated and gifted. At St. Demetrios, Zembillas is credited with increasing the number of families in the parish from 260 to 320. Loucas also pointed out that Zembillas has donated his time to the parish for the past six months, a gesture that recently drew the attention of the Greek-American media. "He's loved by all the kids and everybody," Loucas said. "Old and young. Unfortunately we're going to lose him."

But not yet.

As devoted to his parishioners as they are to him, Zembillas has not yet picked his successor. So he commutes daily from Long Island into Manhattan, juggling his chancellor duties and his parish job. His archdiocese position involves hours of meetings, public appearances–he was interviewed recently on WNBC in New York–and other obligations. During the interview for this article, Zembillas's cell phone rang several times. He answered, saying he could not be disturbed. Later he learned that the consul general of Cyprus had dropped by to pay him a visit.

With his archdiocese day done, Zembillas drives back to Long Island where the parish duties await. "The youth groups, the philanthropic societies, the Greek language school, the catechistical school," Zembillas recited. "It's a seven-day thing."

"Like the store?" he was asked.

"Exactly."

It seems there are some traditions that cannot be escaped by drawing a circle on a map with a compass, nor should they be. "I remember what I wanted and I wonder how I ended up where I am," Zembillas said. "But I'm of the tradition that believes it's God's will. And so I bow my neck to it."

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