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From the Priest,
Greetings in the Risen Lord! Welcome to the St. Herman of Alaska
Orthodox Christian Church. I pray that your visit to our church will be a blessing to you.
I hope your first view of our website gives you a taste of the ancient, yet timeless
beauty of the Orthodox Church as it has existed for almost two thousand years.
This is the "Church of the
Fathers," beginning with the Holy Apostles of Jesus Christ and dating back to 33 A.D.
at the time of Pentecost. It is also referred to as the "Bride of Christ," and
in her holy embrace we begin to discover the meaning of liturgical worship, the Holy
Sacraments, a life of prayer, fasting and almsgiving in the name of Christ. Today over 225
million Orthodox Christians worldwide join the hundreds of millions from past centuries
who have worshiped and prayed together in Jerusalem, Athens, Constantinople, Moscow,
Antioch, Alexandria and all their environs, passing on to successive generations the
precious flame of Christ’s love for His disciples.
You may well ask, "But
where is that ancient church today? Does it still exist, and if it does, where can I find
it in America?" It is right here in our midst! There are over 5 million Orthodox
Christians in America, including our church here in Port Townsend, Washington, which is
named after the first Orthodox Saint of our land, St. Herman of Alaska.
Ours is a small but growing
church community that is excited to bring the Orthodox faith to the Olympic Peninsula. We
eagerly look forward to meeting you and getting to know you... perhaps for a long time!
Most of the people in our church were visitors once; some were baptized as infants, but
many of us are converts to Orthodox Christianity. We all count it as a great blessing from
our Lord to have the opportunity to share this wondrous faith with you in the beginning
years of the 21st century.
God bless you,
Fr. Nicholas Kime
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