The minister of Greyfriars Kirk is a position within the Church of Scotland's Presbytery of Edinburgh. The current minister of Greyfriars Kirk is Richard Frazer, who was admitted in 2003. Greyfriars originated in 1598, when Robert Rollock and Peter Hewat were appointed ministers of the South West Parish of Edinburgh, then meeting in the Upper Tolbooth portion of St Giles’. The charge of Greyfriars continued with two ministers until 1840, when St John's Church, Victoria Street, was erected and the last minister of the second charge, Thomas Guthrie became the first minister of the new church. New Greyfriars was erected in 1722 and occupied the western half of the kirk. It was a sole charge served by one minister. In 1929, the congregations of Old and New Greyfriars united under one minister.