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November 15, 2010
Metropolitan Hilarion ordained new clerics for Georgia and Tennessee

atlanta.lg.jpg (41364 bytes)The Sunday of the Fathers of the Seventh Ecumenical Council, October 24, 2010 is one that will be long remembered in the lives of the many who gathered at St. Mary of Egypt Church in Roswell, Georgia. The warm and sunny autumn day was resplendent with the colors of the season outside, while it was the colors of the vestments of our First Hierarch, Metropolitan Hilarion, and the several priests and deacons that adorned the inside of the church. Approximately 200 people were assembled to witness and participate in the ordination of Deacon Alexander Lisnichuk (cleric of St. Mary of Egypt Church) to the holy priesthood and the ordination of Matthew Smith of Chattanooga, TN to the holy diaconate. The newly ordained Priest Alexander will now serve as the third priest at St. Mary of Egypt, joining the rector, Archpriest John Townsend, and Archpriest Steven Ritter. Deacon Matthew Smith is the first deacon to be assigned to the six-month old St. Nektarios of Aegina Mission in Lenoir City (near Knoxville), TN. Father Matthew joins the rector of St. Nektarios, Priest Job Watts, as well as the second priest, Archpriest Stavros Rousos, his father-in-law. Fr. Stavros recently celebrated the first Divine Liturgy at the newly-formed Protection of the Mother of God and St. Nektarios Chapel on October 1/14. The chapel is in his home in Chattanooga, TN, and is associated with St. Nektarios Mission in Lenoir City. While Fr. Matthew is assigned to St. Nektarios in Lenoir City, he also assists Fr. Stavros with the spiritual needs of the budding community in Chattanooga. The two new organizations mark a new epoch for ROCOR in Tennessee. A year ago, there was but only one ROCOR mission in the state, but now there are three potentially vibrant parishes expressing traditional Orthodoxy.

St. Nektarios in Lenoir City was officially founded in August 2009 by a handful of dedicated Orthodox Christians. In this short period of time the mission church has grown from a dream to an idea to a reality, a result of answered prayers. Last fall, though still without a rector, the new community purchased a nearly 90-year old church building with an attached fellowship hall on 1½ acres of land. Restoration of the church building is underway. The young group celebrated their first Divine Liturgy with their new rector only six months ago on St. Thomas Sunday. In the interim, the growing community worships in the chapel they have set up in the fellowship hall. Regular attendance is over 30.

During the Small Entrance of the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy, Priest Job Watts was awarded the nabedrennik and purple skufia in recognition of his six years of service as an Orthodox priest and for his accomplished leadership in guiding the fledgling church.

The clergy celebrating the Divine Liturgy with His Eminence were the parish rector, Archpriest John Townsend, Archimandrite Nazarios (Kastner; abbot of Holy Ascension Monastery in Resaca, GA), Archpriest George Alexson (retired-GOA), Archpriest Stavros Rousos (rector of Holy Virgin Protection Chapel in Chattanooga, TN and cleric of St. Nektarios Church in Lenoir City, TN), parish cleric Archpriest Steven Ritter, Priest Job Watts (rector of St. Nektarios Church in Lenoir City, TN), Priest Seraphim Scheidler (rector of St. Innocent Mission in Nashville, TN), Protodeacon Leonid Mickle (cleric of St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Washington, DC), parish deacons John Hanson, Zachary Rose, and Alexander Lisnichuk, and Deacon John Voloshchuk (cleric of St. John of Shanghai Mission in Jacksonville, FL).

Magdalena Cusick,
Parishioner of St. Nektarios Church
Lenoir City, TN

Media Office of the Eastern American Diocese