This post was originally published on this site
Historians count Don Teodoro Griego, also known as Theodoros Griego, as the first Greek to set foot in America in 1528. He was the only person of Greek origin on the Spanish Narváez expedition; there is no evidence to suggest the Orthodox Christian faith was practiced by Theodoros or anyone else on the expedition. The expedition sought to find riches, gold, and other resources in the so-called New World. All but four members of the expedition perished, including Theodoros, whose memory is honored by a statue in Clearwater Beach, Florida.
Apart from Theodoros Griego, the first Greeks to build a life in America were part of the Andrew Turnbull expedition which landed in Florida and founded the New Smyrna Colony in 1768. Spanish historian Pedro Pablo Moreno Loucas-Torres recorded that twenty members of the Greek Orthodox parish of Mahon, Minorca left with the Scottish physician, Andrew Turnbull, to establish New Smyrna, a colony of indentured servants working on indigo plantations. One of the Orthodox priests on Minorca, Fr. Theoclitos, joined the expedition in order to minister to the Greeks on their voyage to America. In addition to Fr. Theoclitos, there were two Catholic priests who joined the expedition, Fr. Camps and Fr. Casanovas, who ministered to the needs of the other indentured servants. The indentured servants included Minorcans, Italians, and Greeks; the majority of Greeks were from the Mani region of the Peloponnese, while others came from Corsica and other islands. In all, some 500 Greeks undertook this voyage not as colonists or immigrants, but as indentured servants who were promised a better life which failed to materialize.
Life was hard in New Smyrna as indentured servants struggled to adapt to their new environment while working the fields of the indigo plantations. The Greeks survived by leaning on their Orthodox Faith and were comforted by the ministry of Fr. Theoclitos until he tragically drowned during the Forni rebellion. The surviving clergy, both Catholic, attempted to advocate for better conditions for the indentured servants, which eventually led to Fr. Casanovas’s expulsion from New Smyrna. Life became so miserable that the Greeks and Minorcans of the colony escaped New Smyrna in 1777 in order to build a life in St. Augustine, the first and longest-inhabited city in the United States.
The Greeks who made it to St. Augustine, with names like Fundulakis, Mauromati, and Stephanopoli, were granted clemency and a new beginning at the Avero House. The Avero House provided a place for the Greek community to practice their Orthodox Faith. Fr. Camps kept a record of all the baptisms, weddings, funerals, and other sacraments of the community in St. Augustine, noting the faith and nationality of each. Known as the “Golden Book” this record provides a rare and unique window into colonial America as it memorialized not only the sacramental life, but the ethnic and religious diversity of the community in St. Augustine.
Avero House lives on today in the form of the St. Photios Greek Orthodox National Shrine: the “Plymouth Rock” of the Greek diaspora in America and the establishment of the Orthodox Faith in the continental United States. In 1965, five families–Tom and Despina Xynides, James and Stella Kalivas, George and Olga Fotiou, Spero and Martha Zepatos, and Steve and Geraldine Sarris–recognized Avero House as a site of great importance to the history of Orthodoxy in America.
With the counsel of Archbishop Iakovos of blessed memory, the five families came together to make an offer to purchase the Avero House property. The Sarris, Zepatos, Kalivas, and Xynidis families signed the original mortgage. There were many more financial contributors from Jacksonville and St. Augustine, but it was the original five families who had the vision and clarity, recognizing what the Avero House was to Orthodoxy in America.
The property was later transferred to the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America in 1966, and through the wise leadership of Archbishop Iakovos, St. Photios Greek Orthodox National Shrine was established as the Archdiocese’s first national shrine. James George Couchell–later Metropolitan Dimitrios of Xanthos, of blessed memory– was named as the Shrine’s first Executive Director, and it was he who brought the St. Photios National Shrine into reality with its completion in 1982 as a site of spiritual pilgrimage and outreach.
As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States of America, St. Photios National Shrine reminds us of the humble origins of the Greek diaspora in America and the long, enduring history of Orthodox Christianity in America. At St. Photios National Shrine, celebrations will continue into 2027 as we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the landing of the Greek community from New Smyrna to St. Augustine, Florida. With celebrations commencing in New Smyrna on March 11, 2027, and continuing in St. Augustine from March 16 to March 21, 2027, we look forward to welcoming you to St. Photios National Shrine.
This article is published as part of the America at 250: Orthodoxy in a New Homeland media initiative co-organized by the Orthodox Observer and the Department of Inter-Orthodox, Ecumenical, and Interfaith Relations of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America to honor the contributions and experience of Orthodox Christianity in America and celebrate 250th anniversary of America’s founding.
The post In America’s oldest European city, the Archdiocese established its first shrine appeared first on Orthodox Observer.
