History

The Greek community in Memphis measures its history from 1891, with the arrival of James Avdalis, the first known Greek to settle in the city. Through the 1890s and into the early 1900s, more Greeks made their way to Memphis, and by 1904 there were twenty families with both the religious fervor and the financial means to invite the first priest to the city. In 1907 that priest arrived from Greece, formally establishing the first Greek Orthodox parish in Memphis in a simple building on Front Street.

By 1916 the parish had grown to the point where the community could purchase land, and the cornerstone of a new church building was laid at Third and Poplar Streets in 1920. The first Divine Liturgy in the new building was celebrated in January 1921, giving the Memphis Greek Orthodox community its first purpose-built house of worship. Through the following decades the community continued to flourish, sustaining Greek School, Philoptochos, and the full round of Orthodox community life in the Bluff City.

In 1955 the Annunciation community relocated to its present home at 573 North Highland Street in the Midtown neighborhood of Memphis, with Father Nicholas Vieron serving as parish priest. The annual Memphis Greek Festival, which the parish hosts each year, has grown into one of the most beloved Hellenic cultural events in the Mid-South, drawing thousands of Memphians to experience Greek food, music, dance, and the hospitality of the Annunciation community.

Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church at 573 North Highland Street in Memphis serves the Orthodox Christian faithful of the greater Memphis area as a parish of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Detroit within the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, a diverse community of more than 250 stewardship families that has carried the ancient Orthodox faith in the Bluff City for more than a century.