Orthodox Presence in America
The Founding of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese

Rev. Fr. Dr. George Papaioannou

From ancient times the Greek people have had a most interesting tradition of emigration and colonization. Greeks seemed to travel everywhere. Describing the tradition, Thomas Burgess, a historian of the Greek emigration to the United States, wrote, "Greek wanderers from all classes may be found, Odysseus-like, in every nook and cranny of the world."

But when did the Greeks come to America? There are several theories about the first appearance of Greeks in the New World. To the many nationalistic claims to the ancestry of Christopher Columbus the Greeks added their own, calling him a Greek nobleman who migrated to the West after the Fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453.

From a Spanish chronicle dealing with an expedition to explore the Gulf of Mexico and the coast of Florida in 1527 we learn for certain that a young Greek sailor, named Theodoro, was a member of the crew and played an important role in that exploration. Since that time there were other notable and ordinary Greeks who arrived at the shores of the New World, but the largest group of Greeks ever to cross the Atlantic and settle in America was associated with the efforts and ambitions of a British colonizer named Andrew Turnbull, whose wife Maria was Greek. In 1768 fourteen-hundred Greeks, led by Turnbull, crossed the Atlantic and settled in Florida. The colony was named New Smyrna, an experiment that ended in disaster. There was no spiritual guidance and the few Greeks who survived the horrible living conditions and disease lost their religion and ethnic identity. The colony was dissolved in 1773.

Since the New Smyrna settlement, the Church has entered the scene and through its religious influence, its programs, and its guidance has assumed the role of the protector of both Orthodoxy and Hellenism in America. The first Greek Orthodox Church was built in 1864 in New Orleans. The year of the founding of the first church has been accepted as the beginning of the official Greek Orthodox presence in America.

Greek Immigration to America, which accelerated with the beginning of the twentieth century, created the need for new church communities and organizations. By the year 1916 there were fifty-nine churches and new ones were about to emerge. Yet during this time, because of problems in Greece and Constantinople, there was no episcopal supervision and priests were acting as free agents. There was complete administrative chaos.

The man to whom credit is due for the organization of the Greek American Church is Meletios Metaxakis who first visited America in 1918, in his capacity as Archbishop of Greece, to organize the Church in the New World.

On September 13, 14, and 15, 1921, during his second visit to America, Metaxakis called the first Clergy-Laity Congress in New York City that prepared the ground for the founding of an Archdiocese. Following his election to the Patriarchal Throne, Meltios issued the Tomos of May 17, 1922 through which the Greek Orthodox Church in the Americas was proclaimed the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America.

In its seventy-five years of life, the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese has had four Archbishops: Alexander, Athenagoras, Michael, and Iakovos. Archbishop Spyridon is the fifth.

The eight-year tenure of Archbishop Alexander coincided with political divisions in Greece. The passions involved in those controversies were transmitted to America and helped disrupt the life of the Church community. His tenure, therefore, can be described with one word: a nightmare.

In 1931, Athenagoras, the Metropolitan of Corfu, was chosen to try to reunite the young Archdiocese and lead the people to peace and prosperity. It was an impossible task, but he succeeded because he was an extraordinary man. By 1940, Athenagoras had succeeded in his main objective of reconciling the people and had laid the foundations for the future. Perhaps the greatest contribution of Athenagoras to the Church in America was the establishment of the Holy Cross School of Theology that produced American clergy and thus helped transform an immigrant Church into one of the major faiths in America.

The second most important accomplishment was the establishment of St. Basil's Teachers' Academy in Garrison, NY. The third accomplishment was the acquisition of the new administration building in Manhattan. Following the ascent of Athenagoras to the Patriarchal throne in 1949, Metropolitan Michael of Corinth was elected Archbishop of North and South America.

Michael was a very devout and spiritual man and brought new dimensions to the American Church. It was Michael who first allowed the use of English in the sermon and other services out of love for the youth. Michael's greatest contribution was to advance the rights of the youth in the Church. He left as his legacy GOYA, the Greek Orthodox Youth of America, that fulfilled and continues to fulfill the dreams of thousands of young people to "learn and live their Orthodox Faith".

The man who succeeded Michael in 1959, Archbishop Iakovos, had the longest and perhaps the most productive tenure of all the previous Archbishops. He built on the labors of his illustrious predecessors and then went beyond them. The ecclesiastical unity of the Archdiocese became a reality during his tenure. The founding of SCOBA (Standing Conference of Orthodox Canonical Bishops), is his work. To his credit he did not hesitate to deal with the thorniest issue, linguistic reforms. Religious education was given the love, the attention, and the resources it deserved. Higher education was considerably advanced and the voice of Greek Orthodoxy was heard all over the land.

One of the highlights of the tenure of Iakovos was the reconstruction of the Archdiocese and the emergence of bishops as heads of their own Dioceses. The 1977 Charter, written in accordance with the specifications of Iakovos, has served the Church well for about twenty years. Finally, Iakovos succeeded in leading the Church out of the isolation of an "ethnic ghetto" and into the mainstream of American religious life.

Iakovos' greatest accomplishment was the preservation of the unity of the Church and the passing of the torch of leadership to his successor, Archbishop Spyridon with grace. This accomplishment was perhaps the crown jewel of his tenure.

On July 31, 1996, His all Holiness, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and His holy Synod elected Metropolitan Spyridon of Italy as Archbishop of America. He was enthroned on Saturday, September 21, 1996. No other man was better prepared for this high and unique position. He is a man of impeccable character, deep faith, multilingual, a world citizen, a loving shepherd, and flesh of our flesh.

The faithful expect, hope and pray, that His Eminence will lead the Church to new heights of progress and spiritual exaltation.