Saint John the Divine Greek Orthodox Church - Jacksonville, FL
N 30° 18.353 W 081° 37.577
17R E 439781 N 3352846
Saint John the Divine Greek Orthodox Church is located on Atlantic Blvd in Jacksonville, Florida, USA.
Waymark Code: WM30K7
Location: Florida, United States
Date Posted: 01/20/2008
Views: 99
The
Saint John the Divine Greek Orthodox Church website provides the following history:
"The history of this parish dates back to the first Greek immigrants who arrived in the Jacksonville area at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. They began arriving in significant numbers from approximately 1905 onward until the immigration laws became restrictive in the late 1920's."
"The earliest records of Greek Orthodox services in Jacksonville can be traced to 1907, when a Fr. Arsenios is mentioned as the first clergyman to officiate here. From time to time, services were held whenever a clergyman was available, but a permanent parish organization did not come to pass until 1918. At that time, the community was organized and incorporated and its first priest was Fr. Michael Sarris. In 1916, a home had been purchased and converted into the first Greek Orthodox Church of Jacksonville. The "godfather", so to speak, of our church was the Very Rev. Parthenios Kolonis from Patmos, Greece, and had bestowed the name of St. John the Divine on our parish.(Originally named The Church of the Revelation of St. John the Divine). On April 17, 1919, the community purchased a larger church facility in the downtown area from the Christian Science Congregation. This building, for the next 39 years would see innumerable weddings, baptisms, funerals, and visits, by many high ranking clergymen. As far as can be determined, the consecration of this church was in the early to mid-1920's by the late Archbishop Alexander."
"St. John the Divine is the third oldest parish in the state of Florida, being superceded only by Tarpon Springs and Pensacola. At one time the parish lines of St. John the Divine extended from Tallahassee, on the west, to Valdosta, Georgia, Thomasville, Georgia and Waycross, Georgia, on the north, to Titusville, Florida, in the South. Therefore, such parishes as Tallahassee, Gainesville, Daytona Beach, St. Augustine and others are extensions of our community. Worthy to mention, is to say, that the ground work for St. Photios National Greek Orthodox Shrine in St. Augustine also came from our parish."