His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon and members of the Holy Synod of Bishops visited Atlanta’s Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change and Ebenezer Baptist Church, where Dr. King’s funeral was held. In 1960, he became the church’s co-pastor with his father—a position he held until his death in 1968. They also placed a wreath at the grave of Dr. and Mrs. King at the MLK National Historic Site.
The hierarchs also visited the Loaves and Fishes Ministry of Atlanta’s Saint John the Wonderworker Church—a pan-Orthodox outreach to the city’s poor and homeless. Hot, nutritious meals are served daily, Monday through Friday, by volunteers, with canned goods, leftover catering items, and money supplied by area Orthodox Christian parishes. The ministry also maintains a food pantry for families and individuals with access to kitchens. Metropolitan Tikhon presented ministry representatives with a gramota in recognition of the tremendous contribution Loaves and Fishes makes to the local community. Father Thomas Alessandroni, Rector of Saint John Church, presented Metropolitan Tikhon with a rare original edition of the March 26, 1965 edition of Life magazine, the cover of which depicts Dr. King with the late Archbishop Iakovos of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North and South America at the historic five day, 54-mile civil rights march from Selma, AL to the steps of the state capitol building in Montgomery. Additional information may be found here.
