MEMPHIS, TN – Father Nicholas L. Vieron, son of Leonidas and Ellas (nee Metaxas) Vieron, was born in New Orleans on November 13, 1925 and lived across the street from the first Greek Orthodox Church in the United States. Greek was his first language, according to his biography. He graduated from high school at the age of 16 and immediately went to Pomfret, probably the youngest ever to enroll at the seminary. A 1947 Holy Cross graduate, he was ordained to the priesthood October 26, 1948, by Bishop Germanos Polizoides, and served one year in Louisville, KY, and five in Huntington, WV, before being assigned in 1955 to the Annunciation Church in Memphis, TN. He retired in 1991 and is now Pastor Emeritus of the Memphis church.
He earned a Master’s Degree in History from Marshall University in 1955, and later, in 1970, a Jurisprudence Degree from Memphis University School of Law. Though retired, Fr. Vieron is still active in the community and teaches an Adult Greek Class which began its 46th year this January.
The energetic “elder statesman” in the Memphis Ministers’ Association, Fr. Vieron enjoys teaching his Adult Greek Class. Students from all walks of life enroll in the course, which is not a fundraising effort, but a fun, educational program where all graduate “with honors.” The majority of the students who have taken the 14-week course were not of Greek origin. This year, all the students are not Greek. They learn the New Testament Language, ancient and modern Greek history and art, as well as the Orthodox Faith and Greek traditions, culture, food, and dance.
Showing no signs of slowing down, Father V, as he is affectionately known, told 4Memphis, “Ever since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was declared a holiday, I have started my Greek class on that day- the thirdMonday of January- in honor of the fact that my students reflect a cross-section of people, the kind of world Dr. King envisioned.”
Fr. Vieron also has a special connection to Dr. King, who was assassinated in Memphis exactly 50 years ago this April 4. As reported in The Commercial Appeal (TCA), Fr. Vieron was part of a group of ministers attempting to help end the Memphis sanitation workers’ strike by meeting with city officials and union representatives. The Memphis Ministers Association mediated the talks with their president Rabbi James Wax of Temple Israel leading the effort. When the talks reached a standstill, Fr. Vieron made a suggestion that Rabbi Wax ask all the questions and the talks continued through the night, but inevitably broke down. In support of the striking African American workers who suffered under terrible working conditions and unequal treatment, including much lower pay than white workers, Dr. King traveled to Memphis. He arrived on April 3 and gave his powerful final speech, now known as the “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech in which he mentioned Greece and Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Euripides, and Aristophanes, among other aspects of civilization, and then at the end addressed bomb threats that had delayed his arrival in Memphis with words that seemed to prophesy his death. The next day, April 4, 1968, Dr. King was assassinated.
On April 5, the Memphis Ministers Association again met at St. Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral parish hall with Fr. Vieron among the clergy who planned to vote on a statement urging the mayor and city council to find a solution as quickly as possible with the union to bring the strike to an end. Before the vote was taken, Fr. Vieron knelt before Rev. James Jordan of the First Baptist Church- Beale Street, and asked for forgiveness. Fr. Vieron told TCA, “It was a day that we were all tense. It was the day after [Dr. King] was shot. I knelt before my fellow minister. I know even now it may sound corny and I might get emotional. I said, ‘Please forgive me for what a member of my race did to Dr. Martin Luther KIng.’”
Rev. Jordan did not say a word as he raised Fr. Vieron to his feet. Following their vote, the Ministers Association marched to Mayor Henry Loeb’s office and delivered the statement on the sanitation strike. TCA reported that Fr. Vieron thought of the mayor as a friend before the strike and even after, “we remained friends,” he said, “but we were on opposite sides of this particular issue. He had what people referred to as the ‘plantation mentality.’”
Fr. Vieron began teaching his Greek class in 1972. “The class is composed of a crosscut of people, not all black, not all white, not all Christians, or all Jews, or all of other faiths. It’s the type of world I believe Dr. King would envision,” he said, TCA reported.
For 17 years, Fr. Vieron was the editor of the Retired Clergy Association’s monthly publication. He and wife Bess have two sons, Leonidas and Paul, four grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.
More information on Fr. Vieron’s Adult Greek Class at the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Memphis is available by phone 901-355-2809. Those interested in participating should register early as the class fills up quickly.
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