History

The presence of Greek Orthodox Christians in Missoula, Montana dates to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when a small number of Greek immigrants settled in the Bitterroot Valley and the communities of western Montana. In those earliest years the community had no dedicated building of its own, gathering in homes and rented spaces for worship services and the celebrations that marked the rhythm of Orthodox Christian life.

As the years passed and the community grew, the desire for a permanent church intensified. The decisive push came from an unlikely source: the youth of Missoula's Greek Orthodox community launched a fundraising campaign to raise the money needed to purchase a church building. The young people raised more than $1,300, which together with an additional $525 from the Philoptochos Society and other local contributions provided a down payment on a building at 301 South 6th Street West. That effort resulted in a great blessing: in 1955 the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church was officially established in Missoula, and in 1956 the parish received its formal charter from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, giving the community its permanent institutional standing.

From those founding years the parish has grown steadily, evolving from a community of Greek immigrants into the only Eastern Orthodox church in Missoula, welcoming Orthodox Christians of every ethnic background alongside those encountering the ancient faith for the first time. The parish serves as a beacon of Orthodoxy in the University of Montana city, its doors open to students, faculty, converts, and the Orthodox faithful of western Montana.

Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church at 301 South 6th Street West in Missoula serves the Orthodox Christian faithful of western Montana as a parish of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Denver within the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.