MEMPHIS, TN – The Tennessee city of Memphis, is home to the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church. Serving the community since 1955 is Pastor Emeritus Fr. Nicholas Vieron, who is 90 years old.
According to the Church’s website, Vieron “has been an active participant in the spiritual life of the entire Memphis area for several decades: active in the ecumenical circles of the city, the Memphis Ministers’ Association and among several other distinctions, he also serves as Chaplain of the Memphis Touchdown Club. His Adult Greek Class has been a popular annual event, attended by hundreds of local Memphians over the years.”
WKNO radio in Cordova, a smaller city east of Memphis, recently reported that Vieron is regarded as a “treasure.”
With regards to his Adult Greek Class, which runs in 14-week-increments, from 6:30 to 7:30PM Eastern Time on Monday evenings and costs $75, Vieron described his qualifications for teaching Greek: “I don’t have any. Some of you will earn a little, and some of you will learn a little less,” WKNO reported.
“You already speak Greek, whether you realize it or not,” he says. “When you use such words as philosophy or zoology or biography or chemotherapy or theology, they are all Greek words.”
And Vieron makes the class relaxing, with no pressure, as evidenced by the only three grades he issues: good, very good, and excellent.
He has taught the Greek class 44 times, and his humorous interjections are included in the package.
Vieron’s self-deprecating humor notwithstanding, he is actually more qualified to teach Greek than he lets on. As WKNO noted, when he graduated from Holy Cross Seminary in the 1940s, most Greek Orthodox Churches conducted the Divine Liturgy exclusively in Greek. And most of the sermons Vieron wrote were completely in Greek as well.
Vieron says that he began the Adult Greek Class in order to connect his church’s congregants to the gospels, WKNO reported. “Since God decided to speak to us in Greek,” he explained, in reference to the New Testament’s original Greek language, “the least we can do is tune him in.”
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