Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church turns 100 this weekend

MOBILE, ALABAMA USA- Pearl Patronas, 97, Sophia Pappas, 93, and Mary Pafudakis, 94, remember cooking late into the night for Greek Fest, sharing stories and friendship, looking back on decades of involvement at Annunciation Greek Orthodox church.

Nick Lukes, 85, recalls saints days, both festive and spiritual, when people visited house to house.

Callieroy Andreades, 84, and her little sister, Virginia Andreades, 67, who grew up in downtown Mobile, remember walking to the church when it was closeby.

As Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church turns 100 this weekend, these parishioners and others celebrate faith, community, and heritage.

“It’s a blessed time,” says Father Elias Stevens, who arrived at Annunciation church in 2009, becoming its eighth priest over the course of a century. “I feel humbled.”

For its centennial, His Eminence Metropolitan Alexios of Atlanta, Orthodox faith leader of the region, plans to visit Mobile.

There will be a weekend of prayers, dinners and fellowship, and recognition of the past.

Established in 1912 by Greek newcomers to the Gulf Coast, Annunciation was downtown on Government Street for the first half of its existence.

In 1961 it moved to its current location on Ann Street, in midtown Mobile.

Some older parishioners were born in Greece; many grew up as children of Greek immigrants.

Nick Stratas, 80, says that the church was composed early on of parishioners with origins in two Greek islands — Chios and Patmos.

Parishioners with ties to Chios sat on pews to the left, Patmos to the right.

Rose Karagan, 79, who gives tours of the church, tells of Deep South households where mom and dad spoke Greek, and where the new generation took on American ways.

The families often gave energy and direction to their new land.

The church’s Philoptochos Society, for example — philoptocos is a Greek word meaning love for the poor — devoted itself to good works.

“We were not just a group of Greek women who took care of themselves,” says Katherine Coumanis, 75. “We were part of the community.”

Coumanis’s generation was sometimes the object of prejudice, too.

She recalls a Ku Klux Klan banner in an earlier era that disparaged Greeks, Jews, and blacks.

But the Greek Orthodox community flourished, she says, with pride and economic impact.

Jason Malbis, with other members of Malbis plantation at Spanish Fort, established a bakery and numerous other enterprises, and acquired valuable land.

Throughout the area food stores and restaurants gave families visibility in the larger community.

Jim Lignos, 73, tells of his father’s grocery in downtown Mobile, with Greek olives and other delicacies.

The Lignos store, he says, was a forerunner in Mobile of the notion of “imported foods.”

Zenia Roussos, 86, says that she and her late husband, George Roussos, owned the former Silver King on the Causeway, then Roussos on the causeway and later locations.

Throughout the evolution of the Greek community, the church stood like a rock.

The language has changed, says Virginia Andreades, “but the liturgy has not.”

With Orthodox Christians moving to the area from all parts of the world, the Lord’s Prayer, says Father Elias, is recited in diverse languages in addition to English and Greek, including Russian and Romanian.

Alexandra Roussos, 26, granddaughter of George and Zenia Roussos, says she feel close as a young generation to the faith and values of her heritage.

“The tradition,” she says, “is strong.”