A BRIEF HISTORY OF OUR PARISH

In 1930, the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation was established in Modesto, California. The first church was originally located on 6th and “I” Streets, but moved to the present address in 1957. Serving Orthodox Christians from Merced to Manteca, Twain Harte to Patterson, the parish grew rapidly. This church complex was built through the generosity of the parish families.

As the Annunciation Church has grown, it has developed ministries to strengthen the Christian Orthodox fellowship of our Parish Stewards. Programs have been developed to minister to parishioners of all ages. These ministries include religious education, philanthropy, outreach to the local community, Greek education in language, music, and dance, and fellowship for the young people and the senior members of our Parish.

In 1989, our parish undertook a project to renovate our church interior. This resulted into a beautiful Byzantine House of Worship. In December 1995, icons depicting the life of the Virgin Mary were installed in the Narthex of the church. In September 1998, we completed iconography covering the entire ceiling of the church depicting the Life of Jesus Christ. In 2002 we renovated our Fellowship Hall to meet the growing needs of our parish. In 2003 more iconography was added to the front of the Holy Sanctuary depicting scenes of the Divine Liturgy. In 2005 a mosaic of the Annunciation was installed over our church entrance. During that same year, we placed 60 icons on the walls of the nave. In 2010 we installed the iconography in the choir loft. In 2017 we installed new Byzantine chandeliers in our church. In 2018 we upgraded our internet broadcasting of Church Services to high definition (HD). Divine Services may be viewed from our website, Facebook, Apple TV and ROKU.

The ministry and development of our Parish continue to the glory of God!