History

Saint Athanasios Greek Orthodox Church of Gulf Shores, Alabama was built as an act of faith and family devotion by the Catranis family, who constructed the chapel in the traditional Greek island Byzantine style for the visitors and residents of Alabama's Gulf Coast. The chapel was dedicated on October 17, 1998, to the Glory of God in memory of Chrisanthy and Theodore Catranis and Katie and George Kordomenos. Its patron saint, Saint Athanasios the Great, was chosen by the late Chrisanthy Catranis, for whom he held a place of particular devotion. The building, designed by architect Pete J. Vallas and originally seating forty-four people, was conceived from the beginning as a house of worship open to the Orthodox faithful who live in and visit the resort communities of Gulf Shores, Orange Beach, and Foley.

In the chapel's earliest years, without a resident priest, the community advertised across the country for clergy to come on vacation with their families and celebrate the Divine Liturgy for the congregation, a creative and deeply hospitable arrangement that brought priests from across the United States to the Gulf Shore and sustained the parish's sacramental life through its formative years.

From its founding the chapel has welcomed Orthodox Christians of every background, with Greek, Russian, Lebanese, Ukrainian, Romanian, Carpatho-Russian, and visiting parishioners and priests from across the country gathering under its roof. In recent years a full Sunday worship schedule of Orthros and Divine Liturgy has been established, and the parish has grown into a full and active community of multi-cultural and multi-national Orthodox Christians.

Saint Athanasios Greek Orthodox Church at 220 East 20th Avenue in Gulf Shores serves the Orthodox Christian faithful of Alabama's Gulf Coast as a parish of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Atlanta within the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, the only Orthodox church in the immediate resort area of Gulf Shores and Orange Beach.