About Athenian Candle Co.

Themistocles Godelas in the original store in the 1940s.

The Athenian Candle Co. is a four generation, family-owned business established over 90 years ago, in 1922.  Founded by Themistocles and Efthimia Godelas, the family tradition has stayed alive as the only original Chicago Greek Town proprietorship existing on Halsted Street today.  The company continues under the leadership of Thomas and Jean (Godelas) Paspalas and their three children.

Athenian Candle serves the liturgical needs of the Greek and Orthodox communities locally and throughout the United States, as well as churches of all denominations. Located in the heart of Chicago’s Greek Town community, we manufacture a variety of hand-dipped tapered candles in house, ranging from 8 inches to 5-foot length “lambathes”. Our products are used in the celebration of the sacraments and ceremonies of every day life, including weddings, baptisms, candle ceremonies, memorial services, fund-raisers, dinners and other festivities and special events.

Our Commitment to Quality Craftsmanship

We at Athenian Candle pride ourselves on our commitment to quality craftsmanship, excellent service and competitive pricing, a reputation well known throughout the industry.  Only the highest quality materials are used - 100% high density, highly refined paraffin wax, and 100% pure beeswax - thereby assuring a good burning, long lasting, hard candle.  Our retail store carries a wide selection of religious, altar, cultural heritage, colored tapered, scented/unscented, self-fitting, votives and beeswax candles, in various sizes and dimensions, and also candles in glass and plastic containers.

And that’s not all. For Orthodox sacraments, our inventory includes wedding and baptismal items, including stefana (wedding crowns), stefanothikes (wood box frames to display crowns), koufeta (white coated almonds), favors, baptismal ribbons (martirika), gold and silver crosses, and more.

Our items for the home include a large selection of icons, iconostasia (decorative wood boxes to display icons), electric and oil lamps (kandilia), censors, charcoal, incense (livani), cemetery lamps, vigil lights, decorated Easter candles, medals and religious jewelry.  Our ethnic items include Greek readers and cookbooks, Greek/English greeting cards, Greek and American flags, worry beads (komboloi), key chains, magnets and other souvenirs.  Many of our products are directly imported from Greece.

Athenian Candle also carries a large selection of statues, rosaries, prayer cards, crucifixes, essential oils, sprays, incense (rock, powder, sticks, cones), and books, catering to diverse religious faiths.