Of all the nice things St. Philip Greek Orthodox Church parishioners said about Father Tom, their spiritual leader for the last 18 years, one oft-uttered comment has always been his favorite.

“They still introduce me as ‘our new priest,’?” the Rev. Thomas Chininis said, beaming the smile that has welcomed, warmed and consoled so many of his St. Philip flock for nearly two decades.

“I love hearing that because it means they don’t see me as ‘the priest who should have moved on.”

The announcement several weeks ago that Chininis, who succeeded the legendary Father Soterios Alexopoulos as St. Philip’s leader 18 years ago almost to the day, was leaving to lead the 88-year-old Transfiguration of Our Savior Greek Orthodox Church in Lowell, Mass., understandably evoked a mix of expressions of “We’ll really miss him” to “Good for him.”

But to Chininis, who’s surrounded by change at home – son Christopher enters Tufts University this year, while older daughters Nicole and Alexis have moved on to careers in the Boston area – it’s the ideal time for him to make a change, as well.

“With all that going on, I thought it’s my turn now to experience a change in environment,” he said in between tasks at the West Hollis Street church. “It’s a healthy thing.

“Not that I won’t miss everyone here. … We’ve experienced too much together. And I’ll miss the beauty of this church. Transfiguration is a beautiful church, but this has a special feeling to it,” he said, mentioning the church’s grand dome, teeming with beauteous artwork that makes it a sight to behold from below.

Named to succeed Chininis is the Rev. Alex Chetsas, an associate priest at St. Demetrius parish in Weston, Mass. At Transfiguration, Chininis is taking over for the Rev. Steven Lawrence.

Saturday is the first day for Chetsas and Chininis at their new assignments, and on Sunday, each will lead his first services at his new church.

If Chininis harbors any regrets about the move, they surely have to do with missing the regular contact with the countless friends he has made throughout the Greek community and beyond.

On the bright side, though, his new assignment is near enough that he and his wife, Karen, don’t have to pull up roots and leave Amherst, their longtime home and where their kids grew up and graduated from high school.

And the logistics allow another upside, which Chininis plans to take advantage of.

“I’ll definitely keep a connection to this place and the parishioners,” he said.

Working “just down the road,” relatively speaking, has also helped greatly with his transition.

“But the important thing is I’ll be able to maintain the friendships and relationships I’ve established here,” he added.

What Chininis said he won’t do is let those friend-friend relationships morph back to priest-parishioner.

“It’s Alex’s ministry now,” he said of Chetsas. “He’s their spiritual leader. Just as I built on Father Alexopoulos’ accomplishments, he’ll build on the things I did at St. Philip.”

Worth noting here are a few coincidences.

For one, there are two Father Alexes in the equation: Chininis’ successor is “Father Alex,” and the Rev. Soterios Alexopoulos, Chininis’ predecessor, happily went by “Father Alex” because of the complexity of his name.

Also, both Alexopoulos’ and Chininis’ priesthoods at St. Philip ended on the last day of August; the former in 1994, the latter in 2012.

In addition, Transfiguration held a welcome reception for Chininis on Thursday, the same day St. Philip held its reception for Chetsas.

Finally, Chininis and Chetsas both begin their new jobs on Sept. 1.

For Chininis, born and raised in the Toledo, Ohio, area, the road to Nashua began nearly 30 years ago in Dallas. Fresh out of seminary at Brothers of the Holy Cross in Boston and newly married to Karen, a Hellenic College student and daughter of one of Chininis’ professors, he was assigned to an assistant priest post at Church of the Holy Trinity.

It was there where Alexis, now 28 and the couple’s first child, was born.

“It’s true what they say: that you always remember your first assignment the most,” Chininis said.

That includes the parishioners, too, as he demonstrated during a visit several years after his 1987 departure.

“Everyone was really surprised I remembered them and their names so well,” he said.

Second-born Nicole, now 26, was a toddler when her dad’s next assignment came down: St. Spyridon Greek Orthodox Church in Newport, R.I.

Chininis said he enjoyed the parish, the people and his environs, but he discovered that the swanky, erudite Newport of legend isn’t the whole story.

“It’s sort of like there are two Newports,” Chininis said. “A lot of it is made up of working people and lower-middle-income families.”

Alexopoulos’ retirement in 1994, roughly 21 years after he celebrated the brand new St. Philip Church’s first services on Oct. 28, 1973, drew Chininis to Nashua. Here, at the parish that represents the merger of Nashua’s former Church of the Annunciation and St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, Chininis resumed the lifelong calling he embarked on “because I really wanted to do something positive with my life.”

While all assignments come with certain amenities, it’s a good bet that few can match the one St. Philip has become famous for.

“It’s such a great time,” Chininis said of the Greek Food Festival, the legendary two-day, must-do event each May that pleases thousands of palates and makes oodles of money for the church.

“Plenty of other churches have festivals, but this is really something. Just getting to work with your hands, working hours and hours in the kitchen … nothing is like spending the day up to your elbows in marinated lamb.”

It’s precisely those kinds of experiences that help not just priests, but parishioners, as well, complete the circle that is life, Chininis said.

“People ask me, ‘Doesn’t it make you really sad that after (presiding over) a baptism or wedding, you have to do a funeral?’?” he said. “Well, I tell them, it’s all part of life. We have tragedies, and when we do, we share them together as a community. There’s sadness, yes, but it’s balanced by happiness, the good times, like the baptisms and weddings.”

Dean Shalhoup’s column appears Saturdays in The Telegraph. He can be reached at 594-6443 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com. Also, follow Shalhoup on Twitter (@Telegraph_DeanS).