When people talk about New Orleans being a “Catholic” city, they’re often referring to the Roman Catholic church, with its 500,000 local members, 230-year-old archdiocese, and deeply ingrained traditions rooted in Roman Catholic culture.
Perhaps less well known is the city’s deep, historic ties to the Greek Orthodox Church, which established its first North American congregation—Holy Trinity Cathedral—in New Orleans more than 150 years ago.
On Friday, the head of the Greek Orthodox Church in America, His Eminence Elpidophoros, Archbishop of America, paid his first visit to the Crescent City, bringing a message of unity and shared values between the “Eastern” and “Roman” churches, which split nearly 1,000 years ago.
Archbishop Elpidophoros of America at the Archdiocese of New Orleans office on Friday, March 14, 2025.
His tour of the city included a visit with clergy candidates at the Notre Dame seminary, lunch with civic leaders at the Rex Room at Antoine’s, and a meeting with Archbishop Gregory Aymond at the Archdiocese of New Orleans’ headquarters.
Later Friday, he was scheduled to preside over a worship service at Holy Trinity, which holds a special place in the Greek Orthodox church, not only for its long history in the city but because of its resilience. The cathedral and adjacent Hellenic Cultural Center were devastated in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina’s flood waters but reopened to worshipers just 90 days later, after the community and local business leaders rallied to rebuild.
“We very quickly re-established, rebuilt and restored our community and our cathedral,” Elpidophoros said in an interview Friday. “Maybe we can inspire everyone to know that disasters may come but we have to be strong, united and build our future again and again.”
‘Open for everyone’
Elpidophoros, 57, was elected Archbishop of America in 2019. Unlike the Roman Catholic Church, which has a single archbishop for each of the nearly 200 archdioceses in the U.S., the Greek Orthodox church has just one archdiocese in America, with nearly 600 parishes, 800 priests and approximately 1.5 million faithful. Of those, about 1,200 worship at Holy Trinity in New Orleans.
In his role as archbishop, Elpidophoros is responsible for visiting all 600 parishes around the country. Over the past six years, he’s made it to about 200, hampered by pandemic-era delays that slowed his travel schedule. It’s important, he said, to meet the people, and get to know the local communities.
“The Orthodox Christian religion is ecumenical in the sense that our teachings, traditions and services are open for everyone to attend, to admire and eventually to join our church,” he said. “We have proven, I think, that in the United States we can be an integral and dynamic part of the American reality.”
Archbishop Elpidophoros of America, right, embraces Archbishop Gregory Aymond as the two clerical leaders meet at Aymond’s office inside the Archdiocese of New Orleans on Friday, March 14, 2025.
His personal mission is to foster Christian unity, he said, at a time when the world is increasingly riven by political, cultural and religious divisions. To the seminarians at Notre Dame, he underscored their shared understanding of the Christian Gospel teachings of Jesus Christ.
“Our ministry is the same because we are Christians and our traditions are so close to each other,” he said.
To Aymond, he brought a message of friendship.
“We have a long and beautiful tradition dating back centuries, where the heads of our churches meet together when regularly,” he said.
Sharing the faith
Holy Trinity was the first Eastern Orthodox church in North America when it was established in New Orleans in 1864 in the Sixth Ward on what is now North Dorgenois Street. It relocated in the 1980s to its current location on Allen Toussaint Boulevard, overlooking Bayou St. John.
Over the years, it has remained the cultural nucleus for Greek-American families throughout the region.
Like the Roman Catholic Church, the Greek Orthodox church has seen its membership shrink in recent years, amid growing secularism and disillusionment among younger people with organized religion. One of Elpidophoros’ priorities is to reach new communities around the globe.
“We have to develop our faith and share our faith with everyone, with all nations,” he said.
Promoting ecumenism, a movement within Christianity that promotes dialogue and communication among denominations and faith traditions, is another priority. At a time when religion is often weaponized and politicized, Elpidophoros said it important to guard against radical forms of any organized faith.
“Christian nationalism is dangerous, and any alignment of religion with radical ideas is extremely dangerous for our world,” he said. “I will never encourage any identification of Christian faith with any political party, nor I will not allow any idea of violence to enter in our communities using the faith and the teachings of the gospel.”
