History

The first Greek Orthodox association began in 1864 in New Orleans, LA by a small group of Greek Merchants. The followers have come a long way and dispersed from the city of New Orleans. With over 300 million followers, the Greek Orthodox religion is very prominent in the country. The Greek Orthodox church is called the “Greek Church” because the New Testament was originally written in Greek and Christ’s early followers wrote pieces in Greek.

Quoted from the Greek Orthodox Church’s website, “‘Orthodox’ is used to describe our Church. The word ‘Orthodox’ is derived from two short Greek words, orthos, meaning correct, and doxa, meaning belief or glory. Thus, we used the word ‘Orthodox’ to indicate our conviction that we believe and worship God correctly.”

Furthermore, Christianity first began in Palestine and then spread all over the Mediterranean. It quickly became recognized as the official religion of the late Roman or Byzantine Empire near the end of the fourth century. At first, the Christian church remained undivided. Nevertheless, after the first schism that occurred around the fifth and sixth centuries, the church became split- one called the Assyrian Church of the East and the other called the Pre-Chalcedonian Church. Combined, there are about 22 million followers. Moreover, the Greek Orthodox Church was officially recognized in 1922 by the State of New York¹.