Sinking Sites: St. Photios Greek Orthodox National Shrine
Located along St. Augustine’s St. George Street is the St. Photios Greek Orthodox National
Shrine. If you were an average tourist walking along you could pass right by and not know it was
there. The lone Greek flag amongst the multitudes of American and Spanish flags that line the
street is one of the only things that outwardly sets it apart from the other buildings on St. George.
However, when you enter it is an oasis from the hustle and bustle of the busy shopping,
cigar-smoking, and dining going on all around. The Shrine today is a museum dedicated to
telling the stories of the first inhabitants of the building as well as being a place of peace and
prayer within the sanctuary of the shrine. Photos are not allowed while inside but even if they
were photos cannot do the beauty of the small sanctuary justice. The illustriousness of the colors
and biblical stories that decorate the walls are best seen with the naked eye.
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| Photo credit: St. Photios Shrine. |
The St. Photios Shrine was built between 1735 and 1743 during the first Spanish
occupation of Florida. This also makes it one of the oldest surviving structures in Florida! The
people who built the shrine were primarily Menorcan, meaning they came from the
Mediterranean island, Menorca, which was owned by Spain. They came to North America as
part of Andrew Turnbull’s colony that first settled in New Smyrna. After that colony failed in
1777, the colonists then moved to St. Augustine. Their primary religious leader was Father
Camps, a Roman Catholic priest. While the majority of the colony was Roman Catholic,
there were some individuals that were Greek Orthodox which is why the Shrine is so small in comparison to
the Basilica just a couple blocks away.
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| Inside, you can also check out an exhibit about the Minorcans and the archaeology of the Shrine. Photo credit: St. Photios Shrine. |
Over the next 100 or so years the building that once housed the Menorcan people
switched hands several times and housed a variety of businesses. It has been a dentist (I cannot
imagine how scary those dentist’s tools were then), a cigar store (the opposite of a dentist), a bike
shop, plumbers, and cleaners. In 1966 the Greek Diocese of North and South America acquired
the property as they were moved by the history of Greek immigrants at this site. Archbishop
Iakouous said this about the site:
“The Shrine will honor the memories and sanctities of the first script of pioneers of Hellenistic board to settle in the Western Hemisphere. It will be a natural shrine to which all of our people, at one time or another in other lifetimes, should make a pilgrimage”
Restoration of the building was finished in 1979 and is now the beautiful place St. Augustinians
know and love today.
So far in this series, this has been the most well-protected and most easily maintained site
since it is a museum and religious space that is open to the public. However, that does not mean
it does not face some threats. Due to where the shrine is, it is at risk for flooding and storm
damage that will come from climate change-related events. A 2019 report by Climate Central
indicates that it is not unreasonable, and rather likely, that we can see a sea-level rise of about
three feet by 2050. At three feet of sea-level rise water at high tide will be creeping up the streets
that are a mere block away from the St. Photios Greek Orthodox National Shrine. This is a
massive threat to the structural integrity of the shrine since, typically, seawater and buildings do
not go together well. The building is also threatened by the storms that hit St. Augustine. Once
hurricane season rolls around this fall the Shrine, as well as its neighboring buildings, are at huge
risk of storm damage. In order to protect this beautiful place full of history and religious
significance, we need to be more serious about our climate change mitigation efforts. I will be
completely honest with you all: to protect this space and places like it, we will have to fight the
big fight and do the best we can to mitigate climate change as a whole.
To learn more about the St. Photios Shrine and Andrew Turnbull’s colony click here!
Words by Emily Hulet. Photos courtesy of the St. Photios Shrine.