The Archangel Gabriel Greek Orthodox Church was founded as the Traverse City Orthodox Mission Church  in 1999 by a group of devoted Orthodox Christians looking for a place to worship in Northern Michigan. We are the only Orthodox Church in Michigan north of Grand Rapids and serve the entire region as part of the Metropolitan of Detroit. Father Iakovos was named as our Priest in July of 2007. In November of 2009, we were blessed by a visit from His Eminence, Nicholas, Metropolitan of Detroit during the celebration of the church’s 10-year anniversary. In recognition of the church’s achievements, H.E. Nicholas gave the church a permanent name, Archangel Gabriel Greek Orthodox Church.

Our parish includes over 80 families and is active in many community activities such as the Father Fred Foundation and Habitat for Humanity.

The Greek Orthodox Church in America

The Orthodox Church today, numbering over 250 million worldwide, is a communion of self governing Churches, each administratively independent of the other, but united by a common faith and spirituality.

The first Greek Orthodox community in the Americas was founded in New Orleans, LA by a small colony of Greek merchants. The first permanent community was founded in New York City in 1892, today’s Archdiocesan Cathedral of the Holy Trinity and the See of the Archbishop of America. The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America was incorporated in 1921 and is composed of an Archdiocesan District - New York and eight Metropolises: New Jersey, Chicago, Atlanta, Detroit, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Boston and Denver.

There are 540 parishes, 800 priests and approximately 1.5 million faithful in the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.