Holy Trinity & Saint John the Theologian Greek Orthodox Church of Jackson

History

Greek Orthodox life in Jackson, Mississippi dates to 1951, when a group of Greek immigrants, many of them originally from the island of Patmos and the mainland of Greece, formed two societies in the capital city: the Patmian Society and the Athenian Society. These two groups combined their efforts, raised funds from neighboring parishes in other states and from the broader American community, and purchased a piece of property on West Capitol Street that would become the permanent home of their parish. They brought the Reverend Basil Kleoudis from Patmos, Greece to serve as the community's first priest, and in the years that followed held services in the house located on the property while plans for a proper church building took shape.

In 1957 the beautiful church building on West Capitol Street was completed, giving the Jackson Greek Orthodox community its permanent house of worship. A decade later, in 1967, the Theo Costas Community Centre was constructed alongside the church, providing a parish hall, classrooms, and offices for the full range of community life. The church received its dual name, Holy Trinity-Saint John the Theologian, and was formally consecrated on September 30, 1973 by His Grace Bishop John of Thurmon, completing the canonical standing of the parish. As the surrounding West Capitol Street neighborhood changed through the following decades, the parish considered its future, purchasing ten acres of land on Lakeland Drive in Rankin County in 1996 for possible future development.

In December 2010 the parish approved a bold and practical solution: the purchase of the former Pear Orchard Baptist Church, a 5.2-acre property acquired for less than it would have cost to build a new church. The community moved into its new home in January 2011, gradually transforming the building through the installation of the holy altar table, iconography, and sacred furnishings from the old church, giving the former Baptist congregation's house a new life as a center of Orthodox Christian worship. The annual Jackson Greek Fest has become one of the most beloved Greek cultural celebrations in the American South, its menus spanning the full range of Greek pastries, traditional dishes, and coffeehouses that reflect the culinary heritage of the founders' Patmian and Athenian roots.

Holy Trinity-Saint John the Theologian Greek Orthodox Church at 5725 Pear Orchard Road in Jackson serves the Orthodox Christian faithful of Mississippi as a parish of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Atlanta within the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, a welcoming community of approximately seventy-five families that has carried the ancient faith in the Magnolia State for more than seventy years.