Dear brothers and sisters in Christ of Brookings and Harbor Oregon, 

My family and I have been very blessed to pray and fellowship with many of you here in our beautiful seaside town, both at our house and at the house of our mutual friends, a particular couple who have been very generous in opening their home. You all know who they are!

I sent out a recent screenshot to several of you of an email from Fr. Mark Rowe of ROCOR-Western Rite, which said that he would be pleased to receive names from us for a mission in Brookings.

And I would like to say regarding this that I understand that there are a lot of different ideas as to how best to move forward in Orthodoxy. There are different jurisdictions and now two different rites which are available. Many of you may prefer a different jurisdiction of Orthodoxy to be established in our town or you may prefer the Eastern Rite.

I am choosing to partner with ROCOR-WR now because it is the open door for me to, Lord willing, become a priest. Besides the question of how best to move forward, there is another factor to consider and that is the fact that doors do not always open in the way we anticipate. That has been the case for me personally. I have made overtures to a couple of priests over the last several years in two different jurisdictions seeking a mentor and have not found an opportunity until now with Fr. Mark Rowe.

I have also been encouraged by Fr. Elijah Drake of ROCOR-WR who baptized our daughter, Ivana Bridget, I believe he is humble, meek and very blessed. He developed an interest in Orthodoxy a number of years ago while beginning to work on a doctoral thesis. He served as a missionary in China and then as an Anglican priest in California before starting All Saints Orthodox Church (www.orthodoxlodi.org) and being ordained in 2021. Considering the road that led me to ROCOR-WR, I can honestly say that God has chosen this path for me as much as I have chosen it.

I am not inflating the level of interest in ROCOR-WR of people here in Brookings and Harbor to Archpriest Mark Rowe. I’m doing my best to report to him accurately how many are interested or open to it. And anyone who has expressed an interest in ROCOR-WR to me has expressed nothing more than interest at this point.

Also keep in mind it may take a long time (at least three or four years) for me to complete my studies through the the ROCOR-WR pastoral training school, the Saint Irenaeus House of Orthodox Studies, and actually become a priest, if indeed God will bless me to complete that journey. A lot could happen between now and then, but barring any unforeseen circumstances I do hope to help begin an Orthodox parish here in Brookings and Harbor.

A word of caution, please do not expect that the various Western Rite divine liturgies on YouTube are exactly like the service that we can create here in Brookings. ROCOR-WR does not stream their services and their ethos is different than what you might find online. Their vision is to celebrate the Western Rite within the bosom of the Russian Church. So before you form any strong opinions about the Western Rite, especially ROCOR-WR, I would encourage you to experience it first hand.

Our mission will take on the embodiment and expression of the people in it, especially the core group. It will grow and find its “vibe” within the bounds of the Western Rite Liturgy without being innovative. The ROCOR-WR liturgy in many ways is a broad dance floor on which to dance. But if you go from one parish to another, you will still be able to recognize the steps. And it will not be like a 1950s Roman Catholic Church or any other past expression.

All of the above being said, I would really appreciate your prayers and participation in our Sunday morning prayers at 9:30 am each Sunday. And if you are ever able to attend All Saints in Lodi, please do. You will find the liturgy to have some different words than the liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, but still be quite comfortably Orthodox and “Eastern” due to the icons and candles and the priest’s robe and lack of pews, etc. etc.. As Fr. Elijah said, it’s like going to the a different branch of the same restaurant with the same chef. It’s the same feast to use a scriptural metaphor. We intend to be Orthodox Christian first, ROCOR second, and Western Rite, third.

Also I need to submit three name choices for our potential mission parish to Fr. Mark Rowe and I would like to submit them by this Monday, October 24. So if you have any suggestions I will consider adding them. I have already identified two of the three names of patron saints that I would like to submit. They are St. Brendan the Navigator, who is seen holding a ship on his icon, which would be appropriate for our seaside town, and St. Ita of Kileedy, who is the second most important Irish woman saint after St. Bridget and who was the foster mother of St. Brendan and seven other Irish saints who attended a school for boys at her convent. There are a couple of really lovely quotes attributed to her! But, again, I still need to decide on at least one more name suggestion to make three.

British and Irish saints are certainly among the appropriate patron saints for a Western Rite Orthodox Church in an English speaking country. Saint Arsenios of Paros (†1877) said, “The Church in The British Isles will only begin to grow when she begins to again venerate Her own Saints.” As a convert from Protestantism, this makes a lot of sense to me. The following website has a list of many more of these British and Irish saints:

oodegr.com/english/istorika/britain/British_saints.htm

For your reference, here are names that are already chosen within ROCOR-WR, so we would want to avoid these:

• Holy Trinity Orthodox Church, Alabama
• Holy Transfiguration Orthodox Church, Mountain Home, Arkansas
• All Saints Orthodox Mission, Lodi, California
• St. Joseph of Arimathea Orthodox Church, California
• Saint Joseph Orthodox Church, Sarasota, Florida
• All Saints of North America Mission, Decatur, Georgia
• Our Lady of the Angels. Na Pua Li’I Hermitage, Kapa’au, Hawaii
• Saint Anthony the Great Orthodox Church, Evansville, Indiana
• Saint Athanasius Orthodox Church, Davenport, Iowa
• Saint John the Wonderworker Orthodox Church, DesMoines, Iowa
• Holy Annunciation Mission, Sioux City, Iowa
• Monastery of Our Lady and Holy Forerunner and Baptist John (with the Convent of St. Mary Magdalene), Bush, LA
• Holy Archangels Orthodox Church, Waterville, Maine
• Christ the Savior Orthodox Church, Northville, Michigan
• Convent of St. Mary Magdalene, Pass Christian, Mississippi
• Saint Genevieve of Paris Orthodox Church, St. Charles, Missouri
• Ss. Peter and Paul Orthodox Church, Nebraska
• Saint Columba Orthodox Church, Fernley, Nevada
• Saint Andrew the Apostle Orthodox Church, Carson City, Nevada
• Saint Herman of Alaska Orthodox Church & Cloud-Bearing Mountain Christian Retreat & Training Center, Bovina, New York
• Holy Wisdom Orthodox Church, Gastonia, North Carolina
• Christ the King Orthodox Church, and Holy Family Benedictine Oblate, Tullytown, Pennsylvania
• Saint Cuthbert Orthodox Church, Pawtucket, Rhode Island
• Saint Bartholomew Orthodox Church, Chattanooga, Tennessee
• St. Mary the Virgin, Our Lady of Walsingham Orthodox Church & Skete, Dayton Tennessee.
• Saint Tikhon Orthodox Church, Ruther Glen Virginia
• Saint Patrick of Ireland Orthodox Church, Stanwood, Washington
• St Gabriel The Archangel Orthodox Mission, Washington
• Saint John the Wonderworker, Orthodox Mission, Holguín City, Cuba
• St. Edmund, King and Martyr, Orthodox Church, Nottingham, England
• Protection of the Theotokos Orthodox Church, Stockholm, Sweden
• Saints Nikolaus & Hallvards Orthodox Church, Gothenburg, Sweden
• Holy Archangels Skete, Sweeden
• Assumption of Mary Orthodox Monastery & Mission of St. Athanasius, Eisbergen, Germany

And here are names which are already chosen within Antiochian-WR.

• St. Michael Orthodox Church, Whittier, CA
• St Augustine Orthodox Church, Denver, CO
• St. Mark Orthodox Church, Denver, CO
• St. Columba Orthodox Church, Lafayette, CO
• St. Andrew the Apostle Orthodox Church, Eustis, FL
• Our Lady of Regla Orthodox Church, Miami, FL
• Church of the Advent, Atlanta, GA
• Saint Michael the Archangel Orthodox Church, Park City, KS
• St. John the Baptist Orthodox Church, Lewistown, MD
• St. Gregory the Great, Silver Spring, MD
• Emmanuel Orthodox Orthodox Church, Warren, MA
• St. Stephen Orthodox Church, Ludlow, MA
• St. Vincent of Lerins Orthodox Church, Omaha, NE
• St. Patrick Orthodox Church, Bealeton, VA
• Holy Trinity Orthodox Church, Lynchburg, VA
• St. Benedict of Nursia, Wichita Falls, TX
• Our Lady of Walsingham, Orthodox Church. Mesquite, TX
• Christ the Savior Orthodox Church. Jacksonville, TX
• St. Paul Orthodox Church, Houston, TX
• St. Peter Orthodox Church, Fort Worth, TX
• St. Nicholas Orthodox Church, Spokane, WA

The following saints were specifically mentioned in the Decree on the Veneration of Ancient Saints of the West by St. John Maximovich (April 23, 1953), which can be found here.

• St. Dionysius of Paris, France
• Venerable Genevieve of Paris, France
• Venerable Clodoald of Paris, France
• Hieromartyr Irenaeus of Lyons, France
• Martyr Victor of Marseille, France
• Venerable [John] Cassian of Marseille, France
• Hieromartyr Saturninus, Bishop of Toulouse, France
• Holy Hierarch Martin of Tours, France

These saints were suggested by Fr. Elijah Drake:

• St. Alfred the Great
• Saint Raphael of Brooklyn. “I believe St. Raphael even celebrated the Western Rite.”
• Saint Sebastian of Jackson. “First American-born priest. He helped many people in the west find Orthodoxy, helping many Catholics and Anglicans rejoin the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.”
• Saints Cyril and Methodius. They celebrated both Eastern and Western Rites.

Other possibilities:

• Saint Brendan the Navigator
• St. Ita of Killeedy
• Saint Theodore of Tarsus, Archbishop of Canterbury
• Saint Aristobulus Apostle of Britain, 1st Century
• Saint Bede, Historian of the English Church
• Protomartyr, Saint Alban
• Saint David of Wales
• St. Aidan of Lindisfarne
• St. Hilda of Whitby
• St. Gwinifrida (Winifred)
• Saint Ambrose of Milan
• And many more…

Finally, please let me know whether you would like to receive further communications from me via email and Facebook, including invitations to our Sunday prayers.

May God bless the people of Brookings and Harbor, Oregon, we pray through Jesus Christ and through the prayers of the Holy Virgin Theotokos and all the Saints. And may God save us Orthodox Christians and give us victory as we follow Christ.

In Christ,

Martin

Please give me a call anytime you would like to chat about anything related to our potential mission: 541-698-6832.